30th March 2011, 11:05 PM
Well actually those warnings aren't really needed per say. There's really no evidence yet that it will interfere with mental development. (Personally I suspect that it'll turn out that mentally learning to combine fake 3D will stack just fine with real world 3D in a similar way to learning a second language not interfering with learning the primary language. However this is just an uneducated suspicion until further studies are in.) Nintendo's past regarding rulings that require big warnings for epilepsy are really just making them nervous.
As for numerous languages, yes it is a little odd. I'm sure you're with me on this, but supporting growing spoken languages in the U.S. isn't really a bad thing. That said, these games themselves weren't translated into different languages, so it is a little odd to bother translating the manuals into other languages. At the very least, they should simply put a warning in other languages that the game itself isn't in those languages.
Translation of games is a lengthy and expensive process that, in the case of recorded dialog, also requires a significant amount of additional storage space, so I'm not really complaining about them not translating the game into Spanish (let's say) as well as English for it's initial release. Putting so much work into translating manuals is a little weird though. As for the backs of boxes, it does reduce the room for descriptions, but I'm not too concerned about that since I tend to find out what I need to know about a game before I ever get to the store. I usually never even bother looking at them, since for the most part the backs of those boxes aren't exactly visually appealing to begin with. If they wish to attract the larger groups of alternative languages in the US though, then so be it. It's just odd to attract them to games that aren't in their language anyway. I personally would wait until they do eventually translate it into Spanish (usually around the time the European release happens) and simply bring those translations to the US that way. They'd probably only find a large market in specialty stores on "that side of town" but it would certainly be catering a lot better.
As for numerous languages, yes it is a little odd. I'm sure you're with me on this, but supporting growing spoken languages in the U.S. isn't really a bad thing. That said, these games themselves weren't translated into different languages, so it is a little odd to bother translating the manuals into other languages. At the very least, they should simply put a warning in other languages that the game itself isn't in those languages.
Translation of games is a lengthy and expensive process that, in the case of recorded dialog, also requires a significant amount of additional storage space, so I'm not really complaining about them not translating the game into Spanish (let's say) as well as English for it's initial release. Putting so much work into translating manuals is a little weird though. As for the backs of boxes, it does reduce the room for descriptions, but I'm not too concerned about that since I tend to find out what I need to know about a game before I ever get to the store. I usually never even bother looking at them, since for the most part the backs of those boxes aren't exactly visually appealing to begin with. If they wish to attract the larger groups of alternative languages in the US though, then so be it. It's just odd to attract them to games that aren't in their language anyway. I personally would wait until they do eventually translate it into Spanish (usually around the time the European release happens) and simply bring those translations to the US that way. They'd probably only find a large market in specialty stores on "that side of town" but it would certainly be catering a lot better.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)