Sqare/Enix proposes Tecmo buyout (joystiq)

[diskoboy]

Talk about strange bedfellows. One is known for their RPG's, the other known for it's action/fighting games.

Both companies are very successful.
Both are doing well financially.

Am I missing something, here?? This came (literally) out of the blue. (Yes - I know about Tecmo's president recently stepping down, and Itakagi San's lawsuit.)

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/08/29/square-enix-proposes-tecmo-buyout/

[Sudo]

Tecmo is pretty much worthless without Itagaki and most of Team Ninja that left. If I were Square-Enix, I'd try to get them back ASAP if they do indeed buy Tecmo.

[Gapporin]

I propose the new merger to be called Squeemonix.

[Overbite]

as long as i can have barret be the QB in the new tecmo bowl i'd care

[SpaceHarrier]

Heck yes! Now there can really BE a "Dead Fantasy" series.

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/usermovies/115884.html

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/usermovies/193489.html

Dead Fantasy by Monty Oum, part I and II, respectively. Just in case someone hadn't seen this..

[Tron 2.0]

Hmm,i guess sqaurenix wants it all frist they buyout taito now they want tecmo huh damn !

[aclbandit]

Dead Fantasy... haha, would it not be AWESOME if there really came to exist such a game? I mean, the videos are wicked enough, but... a real game? 'twould be fantastic.

[Leo_A]

Tecmo is pretty much worthless without Itagaki and most of Team Ninja that left. If I were Square-Enix, I'd try to get them back ASAP if they do indeed buy Tecmo.

Tecmo puts out other stuff that puts the Ninja Gaiden series that Itagaki and his team ruined to shame, such as the Fatal Frame games. I think the company is better off without him.

[Sudo]

Tecmo puts out other stuff that puts the Ninja Gaiden series that Itagaki and his team ruined to shame, such as the Fatal Frame games. I think the company is better off without him.

Fatal Frame 4 got reviewed pretty badly in Japan. The only other recent game I can think of they made which wasn't DoA or Ninja Gaiden-related was Rygar, and that was like 5 years ago.

[Leo_A]

It's only been 6 years since Fatal Frame 1, and FF4 is getting good reviews like 34/40 from Famistu (sp?).

[Damaramu]

Yes. We need Final Fantasy Extreme Beach Volleyball NOW! That or a DOA vs FF/DW fighting game. Slimes attacking Kasumi?

Make it so!
http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/5794/picardvq7.gif

[The 1 2 P]

http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/5794/picardvq7.gif

Engage!

I just read this story on another site and it has an intrigueing premise. If Square Enix lets Tecmo do their thing it might work, but if they try to have Ryu collecting chocobos instead of scarabs in the next Ninja Gaiden--then I'm afraid we are already too late^^;

[Sotenga]

While I should be mad at this, I reluctantly admit that Tecmo is a nigh-worthless property after Itagaki left the company and took just about the whole company with him. I don't know what profit Squeenix stands to obtain, but if there's some strategy behind it, I fail to see the long-term benefit.

... though, maybe it would be fun to witness real men Ryu and Rygar sever the heads of namby Cloud and pamby Squall. LOL

[Blitzwing256]

celes and tifa as hidden charecters in the next dead or alive?

sold
(sure beats a muppet and a whiny ex-jedi as hidden charecters!)

[Damaramu]

Or some kind of Ninja Gaiden RPG? Hmm...

[vintagegamecrazy]

You think that's interesting, look at the latest idiotic fanboy Gamefaqs poll. Now I know there's losers in the gaming community.

link to gamefags.com (http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/index.html?poll=3225)

[gum_drops]

I propose the new merger to be called Squeemonix.

I propose mixing up all the names of the three companies and coming up with a new one.

Here are a few anagrams I think would work:

Anemic Sex Torque
Maxi Corset Queen
Mare Sex Cone Quit
Masque Excretion

[skaar]

Y'know, I'm amused that when EA does it they're EVIL, but Squeenix doing something like this gets people excited.

Funny how that works. Myself, I'd rather have a lot more devs and publishers out there rather than < 10.

[Kitsune Sniper]

Squeenicmo.

Seriously though, when Square merged with Enix, each company's properties stayed the same, right? If Squeenix buys Tecmo, they'll likely let them do the things they do on their own with minimal involvement... I guess.

[diskoboy]

Or some kind of Ninja Gaiden RPG? Hmm...

I literally shuddered when I read that.

[Tron 2.0]

Squeenicmo.

Seriously though, when Square merged with Enix, each company's properties stayed the same, right? If Squeenix buys Tecmo, they'll likely let them do the things they do on their own with minimal involvement... I guess.
I would think so afther all when sqaurenix bought taito they seem to have stayed the same.

[G-Boobie]

What exactly does Tecmo do besides Team Ninja games? Fatal Frame, Monster Rancher and Rygar. Not a whole lot.

Itagaki is gone. I personally can't see any reason at all to get excited about what's left,

[InsaneDavid]

What exactly does Tecmo do besides Team Ninja games? Fatal Frame, Monster Rancher and Rygar. Not a whole lot.

And Gallop Racer... ....what?

[G-Boobie]

And Gallop Racer... ....what?

yeah OK, I missed one, I.D... Apologies. :)

(The one I missed, for the record, is an arcade racehorse management sim. The last release was in 2006.)

I stand by my original statement.

[Cryomancer]

Well sign me up for DQ-DOA Itadaki Street anyway. And hey maybe they'll make a new Ehrgeiz or something.

[Aussie2B]

Not much different from them buying out Taito, and I wouldn't really expect to see any big changes in their output if the merger is successful. I'm not a fan of all these companies merging anyway, since usually any changes I do notice are for the worse (like Square's US branch taking over Enix's offerings, resulting in completely raped localizations like in Star Ocean 3). The Taito buyout was even worse since they're just going to be lost and forgotten under a company only known for RPGs, when Taito was the master of arcade action in years past.

[G-Boobie]

[...]The Taito buyout was even worse since they're just going to be lost and forgotten under a company only known for RPGs, when Taito was the master of arcade action in years past.

Have you checked out Space Invaders Extreme? It's new, it's Taito AND it's good. There's a new Chase HQ in arcades too. Taito is still rocking it.

[Kid Fenris]

...like Square's US branch taking over Enix's offerings, resulting in completely raped localizations like in Star Ocean 3.

It's supposed to be FATE not FAYT oh god they've completely RAPED the subtlety of this game's shitty, franchise-wrecking storyline.

Really, Enix's localizations were spotty before the merger. Remember the Dragon Quest VII translation partly written by RPG fansite staffers? Or when Enix turned Star Ocean 2 over to Sony for the U.S. market? And while I like Valkyrie Profile's English version, some of the voice work is annoying.

If anything, Enix was a worse influence on Square than Square was on Enix. It was only after the merger (prompted by Square's movie-related financial troubles) that Square started rehashing and re-releasing the crap out of Final Fantasy games, just like Enix did with Dragon Quest.

[Sotenga]

I literally shuddered when I read that.

Well... to the concept's credit, at least it would be an incredibly challenging RPG; an element which seems to have diminished in such games as of late. On the other hand, it might be TOO tough, so... yeah, scary idea indeed.

[Aussie2B]

It's supposed to be FATE not FAYT oh god they've completely RAPED the subtlety of this game's shitty, franchise-wrecking storyline.

:roll: Yeah, because I totally meant that the only problem with the localization was that they changed the main character's first name. While the random changes made to nearly every character's first and last name is a good place to start, that's just the tip of the iceberg. They also, with no rhyme nor reason, changed the names of nearly every location, move, item, etc. into STUPIDER terms than they were to begin with, despite that the Japanese game already had a lot of stuff written out English text. If they weren't so blatantly arrogant, trying to make the game their own, they could have saved themselves a lot of work. Then there's the fact that everything was changed to be "something of something", to the point that it sounds beyond dumb. I'll take "Battle Boots" over the ridiculous "Boots of Prowess" any day. And, of course, there's the, cough, stellar voice overs.


Really, Enix's localizations were spotty before the merger. Remember the Dragon Quest VII translation partly written by RPG fansite staffers? Or when Enix turned Star Ocean 2 over to Sony for the U.S. market? And while I like Valkyrie Profile's English version, some of the voice work is annoying.

Of course they were spotty, but I'll take some slightly unnatural sounding English in a localization that respects the original script and developers, trying to convey the story as accurately as possible, over a localization that may as well be done by fan translators, trying to change everything to claim the story as their own work, attempting to "spice" it up but ultimately making it more childish and nauseating. And while Valkyrie Profile did have a few sub-par voices, I still find it to be one of the best examples of an English dub, and I will take it over any post merger Enix offering. Lezard's corny British accent is even more annoying in Valkyrie Profile 2 than his cheesy nerd voice in the original, which at least better matched his personality.


If anything, Enix was a worse influence on Square than Square was on Enix. It was only after the merger (prompted by Square's movie-related financial troubles) that Square started rehashing and re-releasing the crap out of Final Fantasy games, just like Enix did with Dragon Quest.

I don't really see a connection. I'd imagine it's just a coincidence. Enix didn't have much of a record of rehashing back then either. Just a few of its earliest Dragon Quest games were remade for Super Famicom and Game Boy Color and such, which wasn't any more than Squaresoft was doing with its Famicom and Super Famicom Final Fantasy games on PlayStation and Wonderswan. In fact, I think if you count up all the Final Fantasy/Chrono Trigger/SaGa/etc. ports/remakes that Squaresoft released, it may very well surpass the number of ports/remakes that Enix had done. They both ratcheted up once they hooked up.

[Kid Fenris]

:roll: Yeah, because I totally meant that the only problem with the localization was that they changed the main character's first name.

It's reflective of the way that pompous, oversensitive nerds cry rape and butchery over irrelevant changes made to things that were retarded to begin with. From what I see, you're complaining about names. NAMES. Oh, and the voice-acting, which was indeed lousy. Still, you can't say that the game's story deserved any better.


Of course they were spotty, but I'll take some slightly unnatural sounding English in a localization that respects the original script and developers, trying to convey the story as accurately as possible, over a localization that may as well be done by fan translators, trying to change everything to claim the story as their own work, attempting to "spice" it up but ultimately making it more childish and nauseating.

Are you aware that these localizations and name changes are often done with the Japanese developer's approval? They're at least implicitly done with the publisher's approval. A lot of names don't have official English spellings until an official translation is done, even if you see English names in Japanese magazines and strategy guides beforehand.


And while Valkyrie Profile did have a few sub-par voices, I still find it to be one of the best examples of an English dub, and I will take it over any post merger Enix offering. Lezard's corny British accent is even more annoying in Valkyrie Profile 2 than his cheesy nerd voice in the original, which at least better matched his personality.

I don't think you know what a "corny British accent" sounds like. Either way, Lezard's voice is an excellent fit (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z50feD9SPi0&feature=related) in Valkyrie Profile 2. In fact, the voices in that game are mostly acted well; the problem lies with the lip-sync, the awkwardly directed cutscenes, the scantly developed (and voiced) supporting cast, and the script, much of which wasn't the fault of the translators. The original Valkyrie Profile's voice-work and script are fairly good on the whole, but replaying the game on the PSP made me realize just how far game localizations have come.

While we're on the subject of recent localizations for Enix games, Radiata Stories had a rather enjoyable English dub (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpp_Hjb9-44). It was probably better than the game merited, and it was much more even and colorful than, say, Valkyrie Profile's voices. But you probably hated it just because Ganz had a British accent or something.

And speaking of British accents, what about the Dragon Quest VIII dub (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39Ms7ljIfAc)? As far as game localizations go, I thought it worked quite well.

Of course, I'm not saying any of this stuff is Oscar-caliber acting. It's just an improvement on this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEDnFXd3SMk) and this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IamevvV9w4).


In fact, I think if you count up all the Final Fantasy/Chrono Trigger/SaGa/etc. ports/remakes that Squaresoft released, it may very well surpass the number of ports/remakes that Enix had done. They both ratcheted up once they hooked up.

Yes, but it was only after the merger that Square turned to ports and remakes at the expense of pursuing original games. Enix wasn't to blame for Square's financial problems, but Square clearly looked to Enix as a model of how to pimp out a popular franchise.

[Aussie2B]

It's reflective of the way that pompous, oversensitive nerds cry rape and butchery over irrelevant changes made to things that were retarded to begin with. From what I see, you're complaining about names. NAMES. Oh, and the voice-acting, which was indeed lousy. Still, you can't say that the game's story deserved any better.

Pompous, oversensitive nerds? You're acting like a insulted your mother just by criticizing the translation of a game that you yourself say didn't have a good story to begin with, and I fail to see what you're trying to achieve. Right off the bat you're assuming I'm the sort to freak out of some minuscule singular change (like Fayt vs. Fate) like some kind of drooling otaku, when clearly I was talking about the whole picture, and even when I further demonstrate that, you still fail to take in anything I write and continue to make the same assumptions.

Was I saying that every localization Square Enix has ever done was bad? No, I was singling out one game for having a lousy localization, which it clearly had. I've done enough of that kind of work myself to know a quality job from one in which nearly all the decisions they made were illogical and unfounded. Yes, changing the name of nearly everything in the game constitutes a bad localization when the original terms were fine and the changes were for the worse. I don't understand the idea of what a game "deserves". So, what, a bad game should be made even worse by receiving a bad localization too? For better or for worse, the localization staff is working with somebody else's creation, and they should respect that work. I mean, if someone is assigned to edit a book, they can't go and rewrite the whole thing if they think it's a trashy novel. They have to work with what they have and try to convey it in the best light possible.


Are you aware that these localizations and name changes are often done with the Japanese developer's approval? They're at least implicitly done with the publisher's approval. A lot of names don't have official English spellings until an official translation is done, even if you see English names in Japanese magazines and strategy guides beforehand.

Again, assumptions without information to back them up. Nothing gets more official than text within the game itself. I know translations in magazines and guides are often incorrect, and therefore none of my statements were based on such. Star Ocean 3 has every single location labeled in English on their respective maps. They could've have left those exactly intact and put their effort towards more worthwhile work, but, no, they felt the need to change nearly every single one. Just about every other proper noun in the game is in English represented by katakana. It would be a simple matter to romanize them, saving their effort to change a handful of things that are only familiar to the Japanese or don't sound right in English, but instead they wanted to start from scratch and rename virtually everything. While this would be a necessity in a game like Etrian Odyssey which has strict character limits (and even then they go to great lengths to capture the message of the original script), I have to wonder what moron at Square Enix of America is giving the okay to this pointless waste of time and money.


While we're on the subject of recent localizations for Enix games, Radiata Stories had a rather enjoyable English dub (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpp_Hjb9-44). It was probably better than the game merited, and it was much more even and colorful than, say, Valkyrie Profile's voices. But you probably hated it just because Ganz had a British accent or something.

Uh huh. Where exactly is this venom coming from? Why the bitter assumptions that I hate every localization ever? I think Radiata Stories had a pretty decent localization and dub. Still prefer Valkyrie Profile, though.


And speaking of British accents, what about the Dragon Quest VIII dub (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39Ms7ljIfAc)? As far as game localizations go, I thought it worked quite well.

It was okay. The voices got a bit over the top and some were plain grating, but I suppose it was in the nature of the series to give the characters a funny way of speaking reminiscent of olden times. As long as the use of accents doesn't get as insane and random as in Chrono Cross, I'm fine.


Yes, but it was only after the merger that Square turned to ports and remakes at the expense of pursuing original games. Enix wasn't to blame for Square's financial problems, but Square clearly looked to Enix as a model of how to pimp out a popular franchise.

Now you're just arguing for the sake of arguing when I clearly disapproved your theory. Squaresoft was already porting/remaking just as many games, if not more, as Enix, period. Back then Enix was also dabbling in many original properties, so their paths were pretty evenly matched.

[Kid Fenris]

Pompous, oversensitive nerds? You're acting like a insulted your mother just by criticizing the translation of a game that you yourself say didn't have a good story to begin with, and I fail to see what you're trying to achieve.

It was a joke about how you're kind of a whiner. Can't see why anyone would think that, though.


Again, assumptions without information to back them up. Nothing gets more official than text within the game itself.

You've missed the point. You complain about these localizations failing to show proper respect for the source material and its developers, but these localizations were very likely done with the approval of the developers or, at the very least, the publisher. As for information to back things up, you can check the credits (http://www.mobygames.com/game/ps2/star-ocean-till-the-end-of-time/credits) for Star Ocean 3, in which the producers are all Enix veterans, while the localization staff and translators have also worked on many Square Enix projects. Until a game is translated for an English-speaking audience, nothing in it is the "official" English spelling.


I think Radiata Stories had a pretty decent localization and dub. Still prefer Valkyrie Profile, though.

It's good to see you've changed your opinion from thinking that British accents make a character sound gay (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=68755).


Now you're just arguing for the sake of arguing when I clearly disapproved your theory. Squaresoft was already porting/remaking just as many games, if not more, as Enix, period. Back then Enix was also dabbling in many original properties, so their paths were pretty evenly matched.

You disproved nothing. Ports aside, Enix dabbled in few venues that weren't tried and true (even their dancing games followed the Parappa trend), and their plans were never as ambitious (or as stupid) as Square's attempt to conquer Hollywood. Enix stuck with familiar territory, including manga publishing and toy lines based on Dragon Quest. Square's ambitions have deflated considerably since the merger, while Enix's have stayed the same as they were before it.

But I've seen you do this many times before. With the self-imposed exile of Anthony1, you are quite possibly this forum's most obtuse and humorless poster. You'll miss the point of a thread entirely (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=70535), you'll complain at length about absolutely nothing (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=43207&highlight=starfox+translated&page=3), you'll rattle off completely irrelevant arguments (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=120624), and then, when all logic has bounced like rocks off your facade of pure, granite-hard delusion, you'll throw out some meaningless line like "well, I STILL STAND BY MY OPINION."

Go ahead and do it here if you like. I'm through trying to talk any sense into you.