French ONLY videogames in Quebec.
polycounter
Had to do multiple checks to make sure this wasnt an April Fools joke.
Still wondering if it is, where all kinds of news syndicates are in cahoots with each other.
http://www.thestar.com/article/611472
http://montrealtechwatch.com/2007/08/20/all-video-games-in-quebec-to-be-avalaible-in-french/
http://www.metronews.ca/toronto/entertainment/article/206129
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/90643-Quebec-Demands-French-First-Videogames
Still wondering if it is, where all kinds of news syndicates are in cahoots with each other.
http://www.thestar.com/article/611472
http://montrealtechwatch.com/2007/08/20/all-video-games-in-quebec-to-be-avalaible-in-french/
http://www.metronews.ca/toronto/entertainment/article/206129
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/90643-Quebec-Demands-French-First-Videogames
Replies
Sounds incredibly dumb to me. The ONLY people who I can imagine care at all about French-only video games are the people who decided to make this law, and somehow I doubt they are the gaming type.
I have faith that the Quebec people will find their English games regardless. (Although this might seriously screw some retailers, as mentioned in the article I read.)
Btw, that is crazy as hell. Retarded even
I suffer with you. Games helped me to learn the language in my younger years.
---
"There is no Canada like French Canada, it's the best Canada in the land, the other Canada is not Canada, if you lived here for a day you'd understand. "
[ame]
I hate having to be careful when buying games, to make sure they aren't in some atrocious french dubbing, often with no way to switch to the original language (thank god for steam which lets me get all my games in English).
Lame sauce all around.
I'm getting so tired of that bullshit in this country. why should the rest of the world have to bend over backwards to support a culture that's progressively being ignored?
pay attention to me! i'm important, and you should have to do something special to get me to cooperate with you!
"prohibiting the sale of new English-only video games in Quebec if a French version is available."
So isn't this making everything quite simple? According to that quote it's just a matter of not making a french version of the game at all and that's it, the english version hits the shelves and sells, problem solved.
The only ones to complain about a game only available in English would be french speaking supercasual gamers and kids. But this target audience always had a french version made for them anyways (DS games for kids, brain training junk and the like) (at least in my experience in France). Also in France I have never ever seen a store shelf with two versions of the same game, one french one English. It's just that the Euro release either has subtitles/dubs in it, or not. Except for certain stores selling Euro releases AND Jap and US imports since they come out earlier and some gamers want to play early (or, they have a US console ad can only play that one specific region-coded version). So maybe that's whats this text is about in the end? No imports in stores? In my experience only independent stores do that anyways. Chains like Gamestop or equivalent (from France and US experience) don't carry imports as far as I know.
Plus, french version doesn't mean french dub. I'm sure subtitles comply with that new Quebec rule just fine. And as opposed to the dark snes days when translators had to sit and watch the game being played in front of them for them to manually track down text to translate, localization is now a much more common process.
This is all confusing. And yeah french dubs in videogames are usually horrible, not because of the language, but because of the acting. MGS1 was probably the only exception : it was fantastic in french. The next ones just had subtitles tho and that was perfectly fine too. However I'm sure the NTSC US version didn't come with the french subtitles. So how does it work in Quebec? You guys get a special NTSC edition at the same time of the euro release or something?
Just rereding Bals post. Basically it seems like it's already like that in Quebec - when dialogue-heavy games are localized in french, they are the only option for the buyer. Not because someones decides to sneak behind the counter to steal the english discs, but just because that's the only disc being made and distributed. So basically that law doesn't change anything!
If there is something to be angry about, that's the current/historical situation, (french localised versions dropping the original English voices out of the disc), not the new thing which basically doesn't do anything (since no game ever get released in two versions, one English one french).
I guess it just shows how uninformed this law is!!
They have an inferiority complex. At the very least, it has to be bilingual packaging, and the french manual has to cover up the back of the box so us no good anglos can't read it.
People who don't speak French in Quebec often get discriminated against, or have to put up with abuse that the cops will do nothing about. A lot of people in this country are 'racist' towards people who don't speak French as their first language.
It's like the jews vs the muslims, on a MUCH tinier scale. The French even have their own little terrorist group.
Still that one line of the text is weird , right?
I'm lost haha
Also, the quebec government is constantly trying to fight it's little war against the continuing redundancy of French Canadian culture, and tries to protect it against natural selection.
They fight one battle at a time. Not just with games, it's with all kinds of products. New laws are made, they law low for awhile, and then they are back with stronger demands. :poly142:
France vs England still rages on in Quebec.