German release/translation gaff

[MarkG]

Gaius, can you please make a decent translation of the infogrames announcement?

http://www.infogrames.de/news.php?NID=25

systran doesnt do very well....

[Mercator]

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;
; Sid Meier's Civilization III
;
; Dialog box scripts
;
; Copyright (c) 2000, 2001 by Firaxis Games, Inc.
;
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

I don't see the name Infogrames in here anywhere... And Firaxis doesn't mind the editing...

[Farmer Jimbo]

I take back comment about Firaxis hosting the translation project on their server. I saw translation.civ3.de and assumed...

www.civ3.de appears to be a fan site (and a damn good one at that!) Apparently Firaxis has some doubts about the qaulity of the proposed translation prject.

On a side note, I'm not sure why I care so much about this. I live in Ohio and none of this has any bearing on my enjoyment of the game. I guess it all just smacks of poor corporate behavior IMO.

[MarkG]

Originally posted by Mercator
I guess we shouldn't invite Infogrames over to the Creation or Files forums then?

there are absolutely no problems with maps, scenarios or mods

[Mercator]

But the utilities and BIC file format description are an entirely different story.

[ravagon]

This all sounds most odd. In this age of global commerce and mail ordering Infogrames has to realize that a fair portion of the worlds population speaks English to the extent that many in non-English speaking countries would order English versions were they available first, and translate (or just use the English version) by themselves, regardless of supposed "deals" cut with official translators and distributors.

Originally posted by Mercator
I guess we shouldn't invite Infogrames over to the Creation or Files forums then?

Heh. After advertising the (presently non-existent ) scenario editor they would look pretty foolish coming out opposed to mods/scens now. That part sounds more like a standard form letter that they include to cover all bases but then don't enforce in order to allow approved fan-based editting.
It is their clause afterall so they can ignore any parts they wish.

[techumseh]

Originally posted by Farmer Jimbo
I take back comment about Firaxis hosting the translation project on their server. I saw translation.civ3.de and assumed...

www.civ3.de appears to be a fan site (and a damn good one at that!) Apparently Firaxis has some doubts about the qaulity of the proposed translation prject.

Your'e not the first one to make that mistake!

[Farmer Jimbo]

My goodness! Look at the scope of this project!:

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://translation.civ3.de/&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dtranslation.civ3.de%26hl%3Den

What a shame...

Hmmm. I appear to have pulled a cached version. This thing was huge! 14 different authours/contributors. They had the whole thing broken down by file and sub-section. If the above link is still broken, try doing a search on google for: translation.civ3.de

It should pull up one lonely entry. Click the translate button next to the entry and see if it's still in google cache. Otherwise I'll mail a copy to Mark or Dan and they can repost it if they see fit.

[korn469]

that is a bunch of crap

it almost makes me sorry i bought civ3 now
lawsuits certainly can't increase the fan base!

[TCO]

Ravagon...they have to think economically. Screwing over distributors means they end up losing since the distributors wo't push product.

[TCO]

One question I have. Is this a true issue of Infogrames losing money overall?? Or just an issue of which subsidiary gets credit for the sales?

[Nemo]

instead of Infogrames causing grief for people who are merely trying to help others. (which, they could have at least just sent them a damn e-mail asking to stop, no lawyer needed!) what they NEED to be doing is answering my damned technical support emails! I have sent 3 without any response. in my last one I stated that this games is being refunded on Tuesday, if I don't get responses by this monday. but this nonsense just shows how utterly stupid and anti-consumer Infogrames really is. if they keep this up I'll be warezing ALL infogrames (not firaxis, they seems like they are trying, despite the fact that their hands are tied, and they are a much smaller company, too). if they want to translate the files, then so be it. its not like they are selling the files, or decompiling the game to do so (its all in text files), all the people that use this translation ALL have to buy the game, its not going to decrease the amount of software piracy or anything, its not going to effect sales. and if it does effect sales, then that means that the 'localized' versions will be higher priced, which is nonsense.

see, what I think infogrames is trying to do is this: by march the US companies will be selling this POS game for $19.99. so, as the US prices decline, they can continue the $40 sales by selling 'localized' and MP versions, then localized MP versions. this will continue to have this games selling for $40 for the next year, instead of just 6 months. it is a scheme, a scheme that if you or I were to do, would be considered illegal, and have criminal charges brought against us...but this is Infogrames, who probably doesn't pay more in taxes per year than my dog.

[Wernazuma III]

Now that's a real shame!

I mean those guys were responsible enough to contact Firaxis and Infogrames and what do they get? A 500$ bill from the lawyer! Couldn't Infogrames be nicer? Why shoot with cannons on flys? This makes no sense! Why did they sue?

This is no way to treat fans! Especially when you rush out a game with the effect that it is a)buggy and b)ships to your country not inyour own language. I'm so annoyed that I bought the game, I wish I had pirated it (though it IS a great game and I generally don't pirate)!

[ravagon]

Originally posted by GP
Ravagon...they have to think economically. Screwing over distributors means they end up losing since the distributors wo't push product.

True indeed but the ability to mail order English versions means that the distributors marketing base is smaller than they think. A 3 month+ wait for German fans is an awful lot... especially as a fair number speak passable English anyway.

As a matter of interest does anbody know as a rough figure the proportion of English-language computer games translated into German/other languages?
If this is fairly low while the number sold (in English) is still high it may make for some interesting debate to say the least.

[TCO]

Originally posted by Nemo
instead of Infogrames causing grief for people who are merely trying to help others. (which, they could have at least just sent them a damn e-mail asking to stop, no lawyer needed!) what they NEED to be doing is answering my damned technical support emails! I have sent 3 without any response. in my last one I stated that this games is being refunded on Tuesday, if I don't get responses by this monday. but this nonsense just shows how utterly stupid and anti-consumer Infogrames really is. if they keep this up I'll be warezing ALL infogrames (not firaxis, they seems like they are trying, despite the fact that their hands are tied, and they are a much smaller company, too). if they want to translate the files, then so be it. its not like they are selling the files, or decompiling the game to do so (its all in text files), all the people that use this translation ALL have to buy the game, its not going to decrease the amount of software piracy or anything, its not going to effect sales. and if it does effect sales, then that means that the 'localized' versions will be higher priced, which is nonsense.

see, what I think infogrames is trying to do is this: by march the US companies will be selling this POS game for $19.99. so, as the US prices decline, they can continue the $40 sales by selling 'localized' and MP versions, then localized MP versions. this will continue to have this games selling for $40 for the next year, instead of just 6 months. it is a scheme, a scheme that if you or I were to do, would be considered illegal, and have criminal charges brought against us...but this is Infogrames, who probably doesn't pay more in taxes per year than my dog.

Nemo,

I agree that they should have sent a letter or called instead of going to a lawyer first. I really doubt that this guy will have to pay the $500. That is just Infogrames trying to be heavyhanded. The guy should just write back and say that he will shut the project down if Infogrames stops the lawyer. After that he should just shut the project down and ignore any lawyer threats. Noones going to come after him for $500. And they don't have a case.

You are quite within your rights to stop buying Infogrames games if you don't like their manners. But Warez is piracy. What that says is that you DO want the game...you just won't pay for it. It's like saying I shoplift crapy stuff only.

Infogrames is within their rights to launch the product at different times in different markets. And I agree with your analysis of the financial rationale for their actions. This is not "bad". They need to make monye to stay in business. Several software shops have been lsoign money lately.