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View Full Version : Languages you wish that you could play the Wip'Eout" games in...



Amaroq Dricaldari
27th October 2016, 07:41 PM
Hi. I'm writing this thread because one thing I noticed about all of the WipEout games... there are a few language options missing (regardless of the version) that probably resulted in the alienation of many potential consumers and fans. For instance, there isn't a Russian-language version of any of the WipEout games, to my knowledge... something that probably could have made Sony a lot of money, and possibly even saved the franchise.

So I will now compile a list of different languages that I wish that I could play the WipEout games in, for various reasons.
Russian/Polish/Czech/Estonian/Etc: The slavic language community would probably have GREATLY appreciated the WipEout series, had it been localized for their various languages. (Note that I cannot actually speak any of these languages, but I want to at some point in the future.) Also, it may be a good idea to change the loading screens in WipEout Pure to show Qirex instead of AG-Systems, in the event a fan ever reverse-engineers the game to make a Russian version.

Aurebesh: Not technically a language, but rather just a different writing system... Aurebesh is the collection of alien-looking runes in the Star Wars series, named after it's two first letters Aurek and Besh (their equivalents of Alpha and Beta).
Not only does Aurebesh look awesome (though it can be hard to read at first), but you can use it to change the font inside your secret documents (using the embed fonts function) and switch them to Read-Only, that way only you and/or hardcore SW fans can read them. This is also great to keep co-workers and family members from eavesdropping on your Instant Messages.
Adding an option to use the Aurebesh instead of our own Alphabet probably wouldn't draw in too many new people or make the game more accessible (except to immigrants from a galaxy far, far away), but it would still be really awesome.

Klingon: Every Star Trek fan would probably be excited about the WipEout series if Klingon was available in at least one of the games, maybe as part of a free Star Trek DLC pack or something. Which actually reminds me; one of the things I really want to make at some undetermined point in the future is a Star Trek-themed WipEout clone.

What languages, real-world or fictional, would you guys like to see in WipEout games, and why? Post your responses down-below. And yes, you may copy eachother's choices.

shotfan
4th November 2016, 09:28 PM
I do not think that more localizations would help Wipeout to sell enough to continue the series. I am Slavic myself, and needed no such thing to force my way through English menus of W2097 and W3. It is only when Fusion came out that I actually knew what the hell I am reading actually :g It is not like knowing the language is important for a racing game, since there is only a small amount of options to figure your way through, and the core game does not require understanding of the verbal commands either. If it was a RPG game, then things would become more difficult however...

Amaroq Dricaldari
5th November 2016, 01:05 AM
Well, not necessarily the language itself, so much as the fact that Russia and its related countries were all part of the SECAM region, but there weren't any Playstation systems or games officially marketed for the SECAM region through first parties. Without an official SECAM Playstation, there is no official SECAM version of WipEout. Without a SECAM version of WipEout, a huge potential audience is lost.

During the age of Halo: The Master Chief Collection, there was a large quantity of Russian players for Half-Life 2: Deathmatch, Team Fortress 2 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Microsoft wanted to steal this market by releasing Halo: Online in Russia on the same day that Halo MCC was released on both Windows and XBox One, that way Russians would play the free Halo: Online, and go "Эй, это действительно огромная! :D", and then buy Halo: MCC. Unfortunately, Microsoft rushed development of Halo: MCC so that they would have a Killer App ready when the XBox One launched (or maybe it was around Christmas), which resulted in A LOT of brokenness in the game while it launched months, if not a year ahead of schedule. The Windows version, though nearly finished, was never released. As such, Halo: Online was nothing more than a free Deathmatch game exclusive to Russia, with no follow-up, and Microsoft decided to kill it since they were spending money and not seeing any returns.

However, the fact remains that there is a huge, untapped market in the SECAM (Slavic Countries) region. If Sony were smarter, and actually sold games and consoles to this region (The NTSC and PAL family gets a new sibling!), then they would have made A LOT of money, and wouldn't have had to kill off all of their European studios. Meaning we would still have WipEout. In fact, games like WipEout would probably have some of the strongest appeal out of the existing lineup for the SECAM-region's market, which would have lead to increased sales of the WipEout series, and therefore would have further insured WipEout's survival.