Yakuza series

[Riku Rose]

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Announced to be localised for China...

[OL]

Oh shit... is that Riki Takeuchi in the purple suit?
They really are aiming to emulated late-80s and early-90s yakuza flicks with this. The style of them was all over that trailer. Even the lighting in a lot of those scenes reminded me of old Miike flicks.

And don't feel too bad about a Chinese localization; most Japanese games seem to get Chinese/greater-Asia localizations as it is. It'd be nice if it signaled extra hope for it in English, but that's rarely the case.

[Cave Johnson]

The Sony 3rd party Localization team (Adam, Gio, et al.) really dropped the ball. They publicly acknowledged that the most vocal fans wanted Yakuza 5/Ishin to come to the west, and when E3 hit they read fan letters and announce a dead island game and grim fandago. Then crippled SOA/SOE brings all these Miku games to come to the west because its cheaper to localize, and smears the fecal matter on us with a Chinese localization on Zero.

In the times we live in with crowdfunding/kickstars bringing out games I don't understand how they cannot continue to translate this series.

[AnimeGamer183]

I fucking hate kickstarter anymore. The more I thought about what it actually was and did, the more I realized it was really bad for the video game industry. Gives devs an excuse to not strive to make a better game cause everything is given to them from the start and they know how many people are supporting it and it gives them information they wouldnt normally have, its kind of cheating in my eyes. Also its just sad that develops have had to resort to it, the sheer fact that its being used says there is something wrong with the industry. Its basically devs putting their hands out and asking the fans to pay for development AND buy the game, that is really asking alot and in some cases I could understand (like if S3 had a kickstarter I know alot of people who would jump on it), but some of these games are blatantly just trying to use fans money to get their game out to market and i just wish using kickstarter would die off, its panhandling gamers to fund development.

[Crimson Ryan]

The Sony 3rd party Localization team (Adam, Gio, et al.) really dropped the ball. They publicly acknowledged that the most vocal fans wanted Yakuza 5/Ishin to come to the west, and when E3 hit they read fan letters and announce a dead island game and grim fandago..

I'm sure they talked to Sega about Yakuza at least, but it was never a guarantee anything would come of it.

[Axm]

the sheer fact that its being used says there is something wrong with the industry.

You do realize that kickstarter isn't exclusively a videogaming thing, right?
Kickstarter is used for movies, music, theater, novels, electronics, webpages... it's literally used for anything that needs funding. The mere fact that it's being used doesn't say anything about an industry. If that were the case, we could say that almost every industry is in a sorry state at the moment.
Not really the case.

Its basically devs putting their hands out and asking the fans to pay for development AND buy the game...

Nope.
In every single case I've seen of kickstarter being used for a videogame, giving a certain donation means that the contributor will be automatically given the game in question once it's done. It's almost more like preordering a game that isn't a done deal. You don't pay twice. And if you donate more than the simple cost of the game itself, more often than not you'll be given extras like soundtracks or art books. It isn't just a case of "give me money just because."
You seem to be slightly misunderstanding how it all works. To some degree, it's almost more of a risk to use kickstarter, since there's always the distinct possibility that the dev will break entirely even. The game will be finished, the contributors will get their copies, and the dev might not even end up with anything leftover.

Worth note, the only games I've ever seen up for kickstarter are independent ones. I've never seen Square or Capcom or Rockstar or Sega or any other major studios utilizing it. I've only ever seen independent devs using it to fund passion projects. These are games that these people actually want to be working on, but wouldn't have the money to do otherwise. I'm not really sure where you got this idea that it's all a money-grubbing scheme by people who don't actually need the money.

We'll never see a kickstarter for Shenmue or Yakuza. That is, unless the property rights somehow leave the hands of Sega and end up with someone independent.

[AnimeGamer183]

That post doesnt do anything to change the validity of my opinion about kickstarter. It doesnt matter which devs use it, its still cutting in line, get a loan like everyone else that wants to start a business and hope for the best. Its still taking advantage of the fans and gamers, and while they dont control the decision if someone decides to donate, they do control the option to or not which is just as bad. I would be very embarrassed if I had to resort to something like that in order make something I wanted, its crossing the line of how much support you are willing to accept from your fans. The only way I could think that would make it better is if the people that helped support it got some kind of royalties from any profit the game made. Kickstarter is so bad for the industry, its holding a devs hand all the way to the finish line (if they make it there), its just not how business is supposed to be conducted.

[OL]

The whole point I was making is that no one is "being taken advantage of," as you seem to think. People are given the option to support something they're interested in, and in doing so they're typically given the final product automatically. The intention is that all financial support goes directly into the product. To some extent, I'd almost say doing it like this is actually a bit "purer" than doing it through the typical way of investors and producers and whatnot. By funding a game (or anything else for that matter) through kickstarter, the devs don't have an obligation to a small collection of rich investors, as is the usual route; instead, they have an obligation solely to the fans who want to see a product get off the ground.
Honestly, who would you rather a dev be obligated toward: investors whose only concern is whether the product is financially-successful, or fans who decided to put up a few bucks because they're hoping for something great?
That's the line being drawn here. Your investors can be people who just want more money, or they can be people who want you to make something great. I feel like the better option is kind of obvious.

It doesnt matter which devs use it, its still cutting in line, get a loan like everyone else that wants to start a business and hope for the best.

So it's somehow better if the money all comes from a faceless entity like a bank, whose only concern is getting their money back with interest?
I fail to see how that's better than being funded by folks who genuinely care about your vision enough to actually help you with it. The best thing about kickstarter is that it cuts out all the high-level corporate financial bullshit and brings things down to a much simpler place, where the only concern is between passionate developers and their fans.

Kickstarter is so bad for the industry...

...and yet you still haven't elaborated on how it's bad for the industry. I honestly haven't seen any ill effects on the industry itself. If anything, I've just seen more projects emerging that people are excited about and want to play.
The end times are near, clearly.

I would be very embarrassed if I had to resort to something like that...

...its just not how business is supposed to be conducted.

So "business" should be conducted based on a personal sense of pride?
"Business" is a really vague concept to begin with, but I imagine if everyone conducted it based on whether they'd be embarrassed to do things a certain way, the industry would be in much worse shape than it is in the presence of kickstarter. At least this way projects actually happen.

[AnimeGamer183]

I see some of what you are saying. Devs and fans can all hug it out and sing kumbaya, and thats great and everything. But where is the real money? Thats the whole purpose of video games, to make something cool that entertains someone in exchange for a flat rate, I guess im not such a fan of the little guys, but I see too many indie devs making 8/16bit looking games with kickstarters begging for chump change to make some shitty little game, sorry thats just my opinion on it, and yes there are some big names using kick starters (even if its developers that have left their big company to go work on their own, there are still well known people involved) although the quality of their stuff is usually alot higher. On the flip side, I dont like the big guys that sell out and have ridiculous policies (EA, Activision etc) balance is so key. Im also not saying I hate every game that had a kickstarter, I just dont like the way it works and I still find it to be cheating.

I think this convo has gone on long enough and has gotten way off topic, I have said my piece OL has said his, I will agree to disagree, we dont have to prove anything to each other, we have different opinions and thats fine.

[Yokosuka]

The whole point I was making is that no one is "being taken advantage of," as you seem to think. People are given the option to support something they're interested in, and in doing so they're typically given the final product automatically. The intention is that all financial support goes directly into the product. To some extent, I'd almost say doing it like this is actually a bit "purer" than doing it through the typical way of investors and producers and whatnot. By funding a game (or anything else for that matter) through kickstarter, the devs don't have an obligation to a small collection of rich investors, as is the usual route; instead, they have an obligation solely to the fans who want to see a product get off the ground.

Honestly, who would you rather a dev be obligated toward: investors whose only concern is whether the product is financially-successful, or fans who decided to put up a few bucks because they're hoping for something great?
That's the line being drawn here. Your investors can be people who just want more money, or they can be people who want you to make something great. I feel like the better option is kind of obvious.

I don't think the situation is as binary as you explain. Classic investors are maybe only concerned about the incomes but the goal is still the same : do the best product as possible or it's going to be a flop on the market and a loss of money for the investors (including banks), whatever your initial purpose.

Crowdfunding is really a good thing but only if there is no intermediary between devs and customers or it's the gateway to a lot of abuses, exactly like Crowdrive from Sega and FujiTV (see BlueMue thread) which I think it's a terrible shame, although it's maybe our unique chance to come back Shenmue.

[south carmain]

I don't think the situation is as binary as you explain. Classic investors are maybe only concerned about the incomes but the goal is still the same : do the best product as possible or it's going to be a flop on the market and a loss of money for the investors (including banks), whatever your initial purpose.

I really really have to disagree, there's a reason why marketing budgets are comparable to development budgets these days and that's because they have a greater influence on a product's success than the product itself.

[Crimson Ryan]

KHHSubs have almost completed their Ryu Ga Gotoku 5 cutscene translation project. I've been watching a few already, because you know..

[johnvivant]

just found this new yakuza 0 gameplay on youtube. the detail in the environment is amazing. looks like they have really improved animation as well.

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[Crimson Ryan]

YAKUZA 5 IS COMING!!

[Henry Spencer]

WHAT? NO WAAAAAAAAAAYYYY!!!



Hey Ryan!

Whatever happened to: "I'm not into games anymore...*sadface*"