Wall-E becomes first Arabic-language game for current-gen consoles

by Kyle Orland { Jul 5th 2008 at 2:00AM }

We know its July 4 an we should be focusing on celebrating our country's independence by eating dead animals and/or blowing stuff up (ideally at the same time). That said, we just couldn't resist sharing this story we just stumbled upon about THQ's Wall-E being the first current-generation game to be published in Arabic for the Middle Eastern Market.

Porting the game to Arabic was a no-brainer, according to THQ's Export Sales and Marketing Manager Luke Keighran. "There are only few games that would suit the Middle East's morals more than WALL?E," he told PC Magazine Middle and Near East. "The game depicts family virtues through a fun and adventurous story line." We guess that means WWE Smackdown Vs. Raw 2009 won't be seeing an Arabic port any time soon, huh?

[Via GameSetWatch]

Tags: disney, egypt, middle-east, movie, saudi arabia, SaudiArabia, THQ, wall-e

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

MarkHawk @ Jul 5th 2008 2:14AM

Finally I'll get some use out of my current gen systems.

I am surprised though that it is the first.

Damon @ Jul 5th 2008 2:15AM

Huh, well that was unexpected. I guess crappy movie-games can be "Enjoyed" no matter what language you speak.

theclaw @ Jul 5th 2008 2:19AM

Are the consoles themselves even released there? I haven't heard about that happening.

I think Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End for DS, is one of the very few current gen games available in Russian though.

Nightvortez @ Jul 5th 2008 2:45AM

Russians have pirated versions of most games dubbed by some drunk dude who does voices for women and men, it's actually quite amusing. I'm sure it's the only DS game that's compatible with the Russian langauge, but DS games don't hold much dialog.

Haggard @ Jul 5th 2008 6:41AM

Yeah, 'global release' obviously only means North America, Europe and East Asia.

Jakka @ Jul 5th 2008 7:18AM

@ Haggard

Nope.The only people that don't get screwed over are Americans.

Long long time ago, a bunch of farmers gained their independence by defeating the British Empire.They started a country called USA(which would later start a bunch of wars,racism and steal everybody's oil.)
Few hundred years later, they're still trying to rub it in by releasing overpriced products six months later.PS3 and Rock Band anyone?

juju187 @ Jul 5th 2008 10:06AM

american make overpriced ps3.
You sir are a Doo-Mas

Jakka @ Jul 5th 2008 10:32AM

Actually the American argument was directed straight at Rock Band and PS3 just tagged-along as it was another good example.

Still, you can't argue over preferential treatment if US got the PS3 first, can you?

Neebs @ Jul 5th 2008 11:21AM

Yes, companies release first and cheaper in areas with more buyers.

Yes, its called capitalism, and it sucks. We know.

hasbean @ Jul 5th 2008 2:31AM

Whoa, awesome! I really hope this is a sign of things to come, 'cause we're shafted by the gaming industry 24/7 despite the fact there's 300+ million of us.

All right, so it's a movie-game and apparently not that good, but still...

bm @ Jul 5th 2008 3:50AM

Somehow I don't think it's right to put the blame with the games industry for that.

Ammar @ Jul 5th 2008 2:38AM

What a waste of time Disney!!!... 2 bad 99% of Arabs that got PS3 speak English and prefer the English language when they play video games.

blahblahbloo @ Jul 5th 2008 3:26AM

For anyone wondering, the yellow thing says it's the first game for PS3, PSP, and Xbox 360 in the Arabic language, or something to that effect.

MoFro @ Jul 5th 2008 3:53AM

Correct. Arabic speaker or did you read the translation elsewhere? :)

blahblahbloo @ Jul 5th 2008 3:57AM

I'm not fluent, but I translated it myself.

blahblahbloo @ Jul 5th 2008 4:02AM

I had to stare at all three of these phrases for a while before I figured out what was going on:

bilaaee sataayshun 3
bee as bee
aks books

Hotrod @ Jul 5th 2008 3:48AM

I know Kratos is Greek, buy could you imagine how much more bad ass Kratos would be if he spoke old style Arabic? (fus-ha)

aceofblitz @ Jul 5th 2008 4:50AM

Too bad most gamers around here actually prefer speaking English over Arabic.

iNZoW @ Jul 5th 2008 5:41AM

Well not most of them, i know alot of people who are very poor in english and yet they are deep into gaming. Sometimes i wonder how did they understand complicated stories like MGS for instance!!. All games released in middle east are in english, and our 2nd language is english. So that promotes speaking english. I personally speak it with friends to practice the accent.

aceofblitz @ Jul 5th 2008 11:35AM

Notice how i said "around here" =P
I know people who improved in English because they play video games too much.

theMockingNoob @ Jul 5th 2008 10:29AM

So that's why the game is being advertised so much here. I just thought the thing in the yellow meant watched the movie now buy the game.

Ethan @ Jul 5th 2008 5:48AM

Now kids can get a substandard game based on a good film as an Eid present as well as a Christmas or hannukkah.

Maybe Diwali? Did they translate it into Urdu?

carterman @ Jul 7th 2008 8:28PM

I'm still holding out for an Serrano-language version.

j.howlett @ Jul 5th 2008 5:58AM

i want a copy to help my nephew with his arabic. this is pretty cool.

j.howlett @ Jul 5th 2008 8:27AM

i'd just like to say i can't speak for this game yet but i don't think all movie games are bad. some of my favorite games of all time were based on movies, like Who Framed Roger Rabbit? that had those benny the cab parts. thats why i first got into gta. i loved Duck Tales, Alladin, Lion King, and a whole lot of others then. i even enjoy playing some now. they aren't always the deepest games but i have fun.

t_m @ Jul 5th 2008 9:10AM

i want a long kiss goodnight game! That was one underrated movie...

j.howlett @ Jul 5th 2008 10:49AM

its a great movie. also another great movie is the original Italian Job. Rockstar made a great game of it, one of the last i purchased for the first playstation.

Grant @ Jul 5th 2008 10:52AM

the old school ones were good, i definitely agree.
But they actually spent time on most of those, most movie games these days and made until they can pass most bug checks or are shoved out the door as close as possible to movie release. They are a marketing tool at best, not so much game.

j.howlett @ Jul 5th 2008 11:16AM

i wouldn't pay full price for most of them, but if its something i like, i'd pick it up for like 10, 15 bucks. my 6 y/o niece loves rattatoule for the wii, and she beat with very little direct help. i had trouble on some parts. she ran through some sponge bob games, and over the hedge on the ps2 in less than a week each mostly with no help and still plays them all the way through sometimes. my brother and i have fun playing those games with her. just wait till they're cheap and they make good quick games.

kingmohd84 @ Jul 5th 2008 6:35AM

Some games fit, others dont. For example, games like spore where you play "god" and create creatures might face trouble, god of war, where you are a god and beat up gods, gta where all you learn is beat up people, visit strip clubs, then beat her up to get the money back are not really welcome.
Other games like halo, gears of war, mario galaxy, call of duty, Gran turismo, MGS, are no problem and quite popular. Despite all of this, all games are selling in local markets as long as they dont get popular and brings attention of the media. There was one time a spread of warning about god of war that no one should play it, because you get to fight god, like the god. It was the part where he fights zeus, mythological god. And you thought people understood english!

For who ever said that 99% speak english obviously u r exaggerating, but a lot are extremely weak in english they don't play with english speakers online because they cant communicate. They prefer the english version of any game because the the localization and translation is sooo bad that it actually ruins the game. there is online game with good translation i think its villagers or something like that, and hence the arabic version is quite popular on that.

If you ask me, and I know you wont believe this, but the game that should definitely should be localized is winning 11(pro evolution soccer). People bought ps3 with no HD tv just to play the next version of it, people break ps2's playing it, there are A LOT of ps2 that are dedicated to playing only this game, football clubs hold tournaments with prizes for winner in this game, not only that but home-brew localization gets done and updated like every 6 month with local teams and arabic commentary , which amazes me, they are selling faster than hot cakes. I heard about one saudi guywho thought a playstation 2 only plays winning 11, he thought you cant buy other games to play on this system, its THAT popular.

The problem with the area here is that people dont understand there is original games to buy and they dont understand why they have to buy them. They think games are not supposed to cost more than $3! but what do you expect them to do when the box of wii no bundle costs 468 cheapest price, maybe you get 1 shovelware game, ps3 40 gb version costs around $598 . Games are averaged priced at $83, and for $60 you are getting a hell of a bargain for an 8 month bad selling game. One guy bought GTA4 for $124! It was not that no copies were in supply, or he bought it at auction, that was the price!!
Not to mention, no rental, hardly price dorps(I was offered gta3+vice city for $93 current price!! thats 2003 game!), hardly used games market, not to mention no support or marketing.

it costs you shipping price of at least $100 to send your xbox 360 to america to get fixed if you get RROD. Most people rather buy a new one!

Batzarro @ Jul 5th 2008 6:33AM

I thought Wall-E's head was half of a Milky Way in that pic...

Haggard @ Jul 5th 2008 6:44AM

If the world's largest superpower invaded you, killed 600,000 of your people and sat around on your streets for two years, I bet you'd be pretty pissed too.

Lord Bowser @ Jul 5th 2008 7:11AM

No amount of oregano could freshen your nonsense, noamkat.

DiRT @ Jul 5th 2008 7:24AM

"If the world's largest superpower invaded you, killed 600,000 of your people and sat around on your streets for two years, I bet you'd be pretty pissed too."

Because they prefer killing 20 million of their own on their own? Good call.

Lord Bowser @ Jul 5th 2008 7:51AM

Dirt talks shit; are we surprised?

Ethan @ Jul 5th 2008 7:51AM

Hang on a bit - doesn't WALL-E have almost no dialogue, thus making this a bit of a cheap claim?

Jess Q. @ Jul 5th 2008 11:13AM

If it follows the movie to the letter, there will be plenty of dialogue from about the second half on. The "almost no dialogue" thing is sort of BS, but I think Pixar or Disney or someone actually conspired to start that rumor for some reason. *shrug*

Evan @ Jul 5th 2008 8:04AM

I like how Joystiq had to provide Wikipedia links to "barbeque" and "fireworks", for the basement-dwelling gamers who don't go outside on the 4th of July.

Grant @ Jul 5th 2008 10:55AM

real men set off fireworks in their basement.

Nailio @ Jul 5th 2008 12:25PM

Could of been because not everyone is from America and may not understand the references?

But you know, trying to bash people for your entertainment rather the realize not everyone is like you works too...

benny boy @ Jul 5th 2008 8:28AM

It's ignorant people like DiRT and noamkot that make us Westerners look like idiots with no understanding of other cultures except our own.

FSK405K @ Jul 5th 2008 10:22AM

But will the game play on US consoles? Because that's from whom 90-something percent of Iraqis get their systems.

Bayleaf @ Jul 5th 2008 10:29AM

I doubt that this game would attract that many audience. Soccer, racing and perhaps RTS are most popular genres in Arabian markets.

However, it could attract the kids, since Pixar movies are popular among them.

LaughingTarget @ Jul 5th 2008 10:52AM

The game does have racing and a cheap Mario Kart multiplayer rip-off.

Bayleaf @ Jul 5th 2008 11:12AM

Firstly : It doesn't matter since they are fans of pixar, they will play everything

Secondly : HUMMING BIRD ADs SUCK...IT IS FUCKING ANNOYING

Jakka @ Jul 5th 2008 2:13PM

I think those ads are financed by Mozilla.

GET FIREFOX + ADBLOCK!

Jakka @ Jul 5th 2008 10:36AM

@ benny boy

Imho, I'd much rather blame the government and media(tabloids).They created the stereotype and thanks to them,loads of Americans assume that people from Middle-East are all terrorists and Koran tells you to kill a bunch of people in the name of Allah.