So I went to Japan again and returned just yesterday. I had a great time, but I wouldn' t waste your time with it, so instead I' m just going to tell you about this man I met on the plane home.

Note: These aren' t some amazing stories, just airplane smalltalk.

His name was Michaäl and works for Nintendo in both the European base in Frankfurt as well as Japan in the Tokyo offices. The guy works as a translator and translated Twilight Princess to both English and French. He told me that the sometimes critisized opening of Twilight Princess wasn' t the original opening of the game, and that the original opening was changed for the one we know, not until the month before it' s release! And also that it was by the demand of none other than Shigeru Miyamoto himself. I' m trying to remember what he told me the begging was going to be like, but I was really tired at the moment of our discussion, so I can' t really remember.

He also told me that even the staff of Nintendo didn' t know what the fuck Shigeru was going to do with the Revolution, until about 3 minutes before the announcement to the public . And that there where only 11 people in total at all of Nintendo that did. Also he had been sitting next to one of them while working, but apparently at Nintedno, there is a don' t ask, don' t tell policy going on, and people at different departments don' t ask what the others are doing, all in fear of leaks.

He also mentioned some of the difficulties of localising a language from Japanese to any of the western tongues, and that many Japanese don' t understand that different countries need these strange characters, like Ü or Ä. Also that the Japanese often want the translators to make the sentences look as short as they do with the Japanese characters.
I also asked him if he knew why they seldomly include optional language tracks in games, but he didn' t know, but he also thought it was a shame as often the American dubs sucks.

Of course I asked him what he was working on right now, but the little bugger wouldn' t tell me



Edit: Oh! And he also shared an interesting " rumour" ' bout t the new 360, that the rumour ' bout it including an HD-DVD player (which most claim to be fake) most likely is true.

Interesting. Nice to see that the industry is as far in the dark as we are.

Where are you from Dionysius?

The next time you go to japan make sure u ta ke me with u!!!

ORIGINAL: Vx Chemical

Where are you from Dionysius?

I believe he is a fellow swede

The next time you go to japan make sure u ta ke me with u!!!

Hehe, I woulld, but next time I' m going I' ll most likely be going as an English teacher, so there won' t be much partying.

I believe he is a fellow swede

Små grodorna, små grodorna är lustiga att se!



Edit: Oh, and the dude from the plane told me that the last months of the Zelda production, they worked in a small office, with nothing in it, ' cept computers (with nothing ' cept Word and Reader), chairs and a table, and that they worked from 9 am to 11 pm...

He also told me that even the staff of Nintendo didn' t know what the fuck Shigeru was going to do with the Revolution, until about 3 minutes before the announcement to the public .

???

What are we talking about?

Sorry chap, I sometimes rush my sentences.

What I was saying is that the man I met on the plane, whom works for Nintendo, told me that literally nobody at the Nintendo company new what Shigeru was going to do with Nintendo Wii (a.k.a. Revolution). That is to say, the controller and everything. Just two handful of people + Shigeru knew what was going on and what turn Nintendo would take in this started generation.

I got the guys E-Mail and Business card, he wanted to hear from me (not as special as it sounds), which I kind of think is fun as I' m trying to become a game designer, so it' s nice meeting people in the businnes... Even if he is a mere translator.

Yeah, i kinda guessed what you meant, ...but if i knew about the controller ahead of the conference and there was mass speculation anyway about a tilt controller, ...why wouldn' t Nintendo employees?!

Y' know, IGN had a ' Design a controller for Revolution' competition, and the actual design was included in the list of entries. IGN knew about it, i knew about it, loads of people knew about it. The guy saying that Nintendo staff didn' t know is odd because it' s not like it was even brand new, ...it was originally planned as a Gamecube accessory.

Unless he was talking about something else like the name ' Wii' which was announced during the same pre-E3 keynote?

Might perhaps be true, as he didn' t specify what he didn' t know, just that none of them knew anything of what was going on or happening with Nintendos new console. They might' ve also guessed but from what he said, I think none was told what was actually going on. He said that there is really tight watch on the personal at Nintendo and that IF and I repeat IF there is a leak or rumour started, then it is rarely an actual accident or misstake, rather it is by the will of Nintendo that a rumours and specualtions start (not that we didn' t know that already).

Dionysius said"
I' m trying to become a game designer, so it' s nice meeting people in the businnes... Even if he is a mere translator."

Mere...sometimes being mere is i lot more than being mere. Everyone wants to become a game designer, programmer or beta tester, back in my days these things were considered mere, except programmer. Now things chance.

IGN knew about it, i knew about it, loads of people knew about it

How did you find out about it?

And Infact I remember Hideo Jojima said that he seen the controller before the unveiling, I say a good few people knew of it.

Still Interesting though.

A lot of press had seen it too and i found out about it through a guy i know who works for Future Publishing and for ONM. The issue was delayed so they could report on the event and they had the information in advance.