ryohazuki

Ok, I know I'm just a troll when coming to Minecraft articles just to spew my rant... so if you don't want to read it, fine. But I'm gonna say this anyway....

Is everybody f-ing insane?!?!

It's ok to play a game that is under "alpha" or the "beta" phase of development. Many games go through this phase to make sure everything works, and that's fine. It's even fine for a game developer to give the public access to the beta of their game for mass testing purposes.

What's NOT ok, and what should be put to a stop before other game developers start doing the same thing and raping all of us is... Stop CHARGING us to test your game! I'm sorry, but as long as this game is under "beta", I don't care how playable it is, they shouldn't charge people for it. Guess what, all 800,000 people got duped into playtesting this game and paying the developers! Really?

And you know, if the game isn't really in beta, then don't call it a f-ing BETA! If the game is complete enough that you want the world to play it and earn the money that you probably deserve for a COMPLETED game, then call it Minecraft, and leave the beta off the name. If you want to add stuff to it, go right ahead. Heck, charge people for the additions for all I care.

But now, this is just rubbing it in people's faces. Here we are, 7 months from the games actual "release" date, and people have already been paying for it already? I can't be the only one to think this is completely wrong!!

Note to the developers of Minecraft or any other game for that matter: Until you feel that your game is complete, no matter how broken it actually is (cause we all know what patches are for), then do not charge people for it! Once you deem the game complete, finalize it, take it out of "beta" status, and then you can release it and reap whatever profits you can.

Thank you, jerk-offs!

a cell shaded grown up link? where have I seen that before? Oh right! HERE! http://ryohazuki224.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d26uib6

(sorry to pimp my own work... but i'm still proud of this Link I did back in 2004 using Lightwave 3D)

I can see what happens after a bad break up, who gets custody of a virtual child? haha

yay for FFXIII, Yakuza 3 (tho, minus host clubs... grr), GOWIII, and.... well that'll be it for me this month! (Sakura Wars next month!! Woot! ... wait... or is it this month? so many games, i'm confused!)

well, isnt that dissapointing?

I'll still get the game tho. Then maybe pray that sega provides us with DLC, and the return of Hostess clubs!

actually, in the case of FFXIII, disc space IS a concern. I cannot fathom how many hours of spoken dialog is in that game, but I'm sure that even on a blu-ray disc, it takes up a lot of space. (i'd love to know exactly how much)
But then for every language you put on a game, that doubles the amount of disc space devoted to dialog. It is already been documented that FFXIII had content cut from it for numerous reasons, one of which being size constraints.

That being said, yes I'd still rather listen to it in the original Japanese language (i came very close to importing it!), but with all the effort Square is making to ensure a great localization, I'll put my faith in them, and forgive them for not making room for a language option. I will play the game and enjoy the game, language or no. (for the record, my favorite FF game is still 6, long before "spoken dialog" was even an issue, and if you ask me, I would be just fine to go back to those muted characters in my RPGs)

I beg to differ. Japanese is not a language I understand, but I do understand emotion and tonal inflection. There been many times while watching anime that I was emotionally moved by what was said, purely on the sound of the voice and the emotion used to convey the scene. I've rarely seen an english dub that has effected me the same way, if at all. Perhaps I am biased, and while watching the dub, I already have it in my head to not enjoy it, even before a word is ever spoken. But when those words do come out, the dryness and fakeness of it all just makes me cringe. Sometimes it sounds like a US voice actor is trying too hard, which sounds unnatural.

And, much is lost in translation simply because we cannot pick up the subtleties of japanese culture! How many times a pun in the original japanese version is completly changed because english speakers simply wont get it? More often than you think. And its not just puns, but many cultural references. But I suppose I dont fault the translators for that. Its when they put words into a characters mouth that wasnt there to begin with, thats when i have a problem. (The entire opening scene in the original Vampire Hunter D had no dialog. The dub however, had dialog. It changed the mood completly of the scene)

Now, when something is made in america for US audiences, the performances are generally better. Especially games. GTA, Bioshock, Uncharted, the list goes on. I wouldnt want to play Heavy Rain (tomorrow!) in any other language than English, because thats the way the game was meant to be played. (for kicks i may switch the language just for a little while, for fun!)

@samfish
very very true. However, actors simply cant say their lines willy-nilly. If they acted with no regard to how the opening and closing of the mouth is being moved, then you'll get things like words coming out of closed mouths, or no words coming out of open mouths. Also it depends on the anime too, some anime have very expressive mouth movements and facial features, and an actor has to speak to match that. Then again, there are many anime series that have simplistic mouth movements, that does make it easier because it aleaviates that pressure to speak in sync.

@Delphenus
I agree with you as well. Emotion is the key to delivering believable lines. But it becomes very difficult to inject emotion into your acting if you have to try to match your dialog to the lip movement. This is why actors dubbing anime sometimes sound dry and emotonless. They could be the greatest actor in the world, but they are handicapped by having to match the onscreen lip movement of their characters.

As anybody that knows me knows that I prefer subs over dubs, it may be strange for me to say this: I'm glad that FFXIII is going to be in english. Would I like to hear the japanese language? Sure. But nobody has considered this: Lip-synching.

Why do even the best of dubs still sound awkward? For the simple reason that the voice actor has to speak their dialog in a manner that closely matches the lip movement of the onscreen character. This can create awkward pauses in the dialog, and in many cases, the closest translation would be extremely awkward, so instead the dialog may even be a whole different line from the original. (case in point: Naruto's habit of saying "dattebayo" is turned into.... ugh.... "believe it" in the US. "dattebayo" has no real translation, so instead of having Naruto's lips flap with no words coming out, they decided to insert a catch phrase, simultaniously pissing off fans in the process of making Naruto say SOMETHING that he didnt say in the original)

Now to my original point: Square Enix is avoiding the potential awkward-ness sounding dialog by fixing the problem at the source -- The lip movement. All the real-time cutscenes in the game have undergone a re-synching of the lips to match the english dialog. This makes for a much more natural sounding conversation between the characters onscreen. Now, I doubt they did the same treatment for the pre-rendered scenes, but I'm sure it will be ok. As with FF12, I have faith in Square's ability to cast good, if not great, voice actors for their characters (I loved Fran's voice in 12, even with the slight lisp they gave her!). And from what little I've heard from the US dialog in 13, for once I'm not afraid to be forced to hear a dub!

Believe it!

yeah, the US one only has english. I dont know how many people realized this, but they re-lip-synched the real time cutscenes to match the english language. Ever since Kingdom Hearts, SE has been really good about lip synching, but unfortunatly even KH only matches the japanese language versions. FFXIII is the first time i'm noticing that they took the time to re-animate the mouth movements to match!
Thats real dedication on SE's part, and they should be commended for it! (note: one reason why many english dubs suck on japanese games/anime is that the actors try to match the lip-movements that are already set in stone, so most of the time it sounds awkward. If lips are synched to the voice, not the other way around, it sounds more natural)