Thursday, 29 July 2010

Japanese indie (doujin) game English localisation companies

I decided to start a list because I think the little guys need a shout out. ^_^

I have:

http://rockinandroid.com/

* GUNDEMONIUM Collection
* Flying Red Barrel ~ Diary of a Little Aviator ~
* QLIONE (Qualia)
* SUGURI Perfect Edition

http://www.carpefulgur.com/

* Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale

(There's only a demo out so far, but I like it. I don't like some of the language they have used in localisation, but the game seems good fun nevertheless. I'll probably buy it when it's out if they do digital download sales)

http://www.dhm-interactive.com/en/home/

* Chantelise
* Gunners Heart

This is a French company, and I haven't bought from them, but they seem to publish in English as well as French.

EDIT: 6th Sept 2010
I placed an order with them via the website. At first, nothing arrived, so I wrote to the company to complain. A few minutes later, the director of the company had sent me an apology by email and put the order in the post the next day. He had received the payment but had not got the order, somehow! So, I guess I have to call that... good customer service but poor website!

http://www.mangagamer.com/allages/

* Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni
* other stuff. ;)

(though, I think they have massively overpriced Higurashi...)

http://www.nicalis.com

* Cave Story
* La Mulana

I'm kind of reluctant to put the last one in because those games used to be freeware with fan-translation patches, and they are just releasing the games on wiiware which I don't trust. But, I thought I might as well include them.

--

Some Japanese game creators like to release their games in English/Japanese on Xbox indie games, too. They are usually pretty cheap and often have pretty interesting game mechanics.

(Note: Recettear, Chantelise and Gunners Heart were originally made by the same group - EasyGameStation. They seem quite varied!)

Cardcaptor Sakura manga to be rereleased

I just noticed this evening that Dark Horse are going to release the Cardcaptor Sakura manga this Autumn, in omnibus editions.

Dark Horse website

I really enjoyed the anime version of Cardcaptor Sakura but I haven't read the manga (well, not much of it).

Seeing that I went and bought their omnibus edition of Clover mainly because I thought it was printed and bound so nicely, I've decided to put in a preorder! ^_^

Pizza Express - create a pizza competition

http://www.pizzaexpress.com/create-your-pizza/

There's a £5000 prize, so if you're so inclined, might be worth having a go. :)