EA to release Madden 08 in Spanish

[Oobgarm]

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/10/15/madden-nfl-08-en-espanol-que-vienen-este-ano/

A stand-alone title, with menus, commentary and other stuff in Spanish.

They're even changing the cover athlete to one that the Spanish community can identify with.

I'll go out on a limb here and say that this game will be a tough one to locate later on. It might not bring big $$(mucho pesos), though.

[Poofta!]

this isnt really news... microsoft has been doing this for quite a few releases already. including forza 2 and halo 3. they are sold in best buy and the only thing distinguishing them from the english is a small sticker and back language. so if one were to just grab it off the shelf, you could accidentally walk away with a game you cant read lol.

[Kitsune Sniper]

this isnt really news... microsoft has been doing this for quite a few releases already. including forza 2 and halo 3. they are sold in best buy and the only thing distinguishing them from the english is a small sticker and back language. so if one were to just grab it off the shelf, you could accidentally walk away with a game you cant read lol.

Those versions are also sold in Mexico and Latin America. I think they include Spanish manuals, and language options.

As for Madden, why? Seriously, WHY? Can't they fit another announcer in a DVD? Hell, they've already done that with the FIFA games!

[s1lence]

I wonder if they have different achievements as well. Either that or if they count as a different game.

[Oobgarm]

this isnt really news... microsoft has been doing this for quite a few releases already. including forza 2 and halo 3. they are sold in best buy and the only thing distinguishing them from the english is a small sticker and back language. so if one were to just grab it off the shelf, you could accidentally walk away with a game you cant read lol.

That must be a geographical thing because I've never seen anything like that.

But releasing a game well after the original release, in a different language? I think it's worth noting.

[Virtualogik]

This is something you're gonna get used to because there was a recent law here in Quebec (we're in Canada btw..) where every new game must be offered in french (not just an instruction booklet anymore)... Halo 3 was the first to "comply" to this law which is about to go live in the next few months... strangely enough, it seems the "industry" was ok with it...

The people in Quebec who speaks exclusively French must represent around 2 millions top... and those are mostly the elderly living in regions... not what I would call a "big" market... all youngsters these days speak english and french around here... and I would say most of the gamers are bilingual, regardless of their age... frankly, that's a stupid law... most gamers are p*ssed off about this around here.

So French NTSC games are gonna be common now... but we're probably only gonna get the "big guns" on the retail shelves now... many people were upset to find that their Halo 3 version was French only and there was no option to turn on the english track or anything... Online videogame sales is gonna be a booming market for Quebecers...

[Poofta!]

This is something you're gonna get used to because there was a recent law here in Quebec (we're in Canada btw..) where every new game must be offered in french (not just an instruction booklet anymore)... Halo 3 was the first to "comply" to this law which is about to go live in the next few months... strangely enough, it seems the "industry" was ok with it...

The people in Quebec who speaks exclusively French must represent around 2 millions top... and those are mostly the elderly living in regions... not what I would call a "big" market... all youngsters these days speak english and french around here... and I would say most of the gamers are bilingual, regardless of their age... frankly, that's a stupid law... most gamers are p*ssed off about this around here.

So French NTSC games are gonna be common now... but we're probably only gonna get the "big guns" on the retail shelves now... many people were upset to find that their Halo 3 version was French only and there was no option to turn on the english track or anything... Online videogame sales is gonna be a booming market for Quebecers...

quick question, so basically if a game comes out only in english, it cannot be sold in quebec? but everywhere else in canada its ok? seems to me like you guys might just be getting much less games. not everyone has the will or budget to make multilingual games.

[Virtualogik]

quick question, so basically if a game comes out only in english, it cannot be sold in quebec? but everywhere else in canada its ok? seems to me like you guys might just be getting much less games. not everyone has the will or budget to make multilingual games.

The official law isn't out yet, so we currently hear all sorts of stories... but it looks like it will be the case... we never had the first Guitar Hero sold around here just because Red Octane didn't include a cheapo black and white instruction booklet in french like every other company does... so it's only natural that if their game isn't translated in French when it comes out, the law will be similar as those stupid instruction booklets...

What will be legal though, supposedly, is to buy the English version as long as there is also a french version available on the shelves... doesn't help much.

Quebec has such stupid laws to try to protect their French language sometime... with this one, it looks like they can decide what we can use as entertainment or not... nevermind the fact that Canada has 2 official languages (English and French)... and, unless I missed the last referendum and it passed, we're still part of Canada...

Strangest part is that we're a strong force in the videogame industry, we have a lot of local talent working in the videogame industry (almost all major studios have one in Quebec/Montreal, and we have specialized classes in our colleges for Videogames where they recruit a lot)... ok... I've ranted enough :P

[PingvinBlueJeans]

As for Madden, why? Seriously, WHY? Can't they fit another announcer in a DVD? Hell, they've already done that with the FIFA games!My amigo at EA told me they did it just to give DreamTR more games to collect!

[Sothy]

The good news is they can fit 17 Spanish language games on one DVD!

[spoon]

They're even changing the cover athlete to one that the Spanish community can identify with.


LOL. I wonder when I will get an E-mail from EA asking me "Which of these players to you as a Hispanic Identify with: Tony Gonzalez, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, or Tony Romo?"

Or

"Which of these players do you as a Hispanic identify with: Tony Gonzalez,Orlando Mare, Martin Gramatica, or Tom Brady?"

so, When do we get an english language Policenauts?

[Flack]

quick question, so basically if a game comes out only in english, it cannot be sold in quebec? but everywhere else in canada its ok? seems to me like you guys might just be getting much less games. not everyone has the will or budget to make multilingual games.

If you are interested in all, skim this Wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charter_of_the_French_Language) on Quebec's "Charter of the French Language." It's quite interesting. Here is one part I found interesting:

As of 2003, all video games sold in Quebec must include French instructions. Stores holding unused games with English-only instructions will be fined for each individual offending copy and see their merchandise seized. The translation of the instruction booklets and the packaging are sometimes poorly made ("goop-spewing Piranha Plants" translated as "carnivore plante Piranha", a grammatically incorrect translation of "carnivorous Piranha Plant", behind Super Mario Sunshine's box). In addition, many French manuals lack colour (for example, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas); those that are coloured are usually printed on lower-quality paper than the English manuals (for example, Kingdom Hearts II).