Vic Ireland Isn't Dead!

[Gorvi]

I know some people had divided feelings on the way they localized games, but I for one was a huge fan of Working Designs, quirks and all. Sure, it took them forever to release a game, but when they finally did you could tell it was a labor of love. When they went under it really was a sad day in gaming.

When WD did die, however, company president Vic Ireland formed a new company called GaijinWorks. Then he apparently disappeared from the face of the Earth. Thankfully, that's not the case, as 1UP (http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3172140) is reporting that Ireland has emerged from whatever cave he's been hiding in and let it be known that not only is GaijinWorks still in existence, but they'll have a game out before Summer that should be announced very soon. There's no hint as to what the game would be or what platform it's on, but I know I'll buy it. :)

[Purple Santa]

I loved WD's stuff. I knew WD had gone way of the dead developer but didn't know about the new company. Great to read there might be something before summer...

[Deadend]

Wasn't WD the publisher that got very liberal with their translations and changes?

[Gorvi]

Wasn't WD the publisher that got very liberal with their translations and changes?
Translations yes, but the changes that they made to games in their localizations were pretty much always for the better.

[pheriannath]

I forget which game it was, but didn't WD actually flip the motives of the hero and the villain in one of their localizations?

Don't get me wrong, I loves me some Popful Mail.

[Mike Kelehan]

Wasn't WD the publisher that got very liberal with their translations and changes?

Yes, but always with the go-ahead of the original developers.

I was a big fan of WD. They went out of their way to make gameplay improvements, adding button shortcuts, cutting load times, and other such things. They kept the drama in their games perfectly intact while rewriting the humorous parts, which really has to be done. When you literally translate Japanese humor, it just comes off as either incomprehensible or annoying.

You know what else is interesting? That he announced this in a thread about the localization of Layton 2.

[pheriannath]

I was more of a fan of all the tacky bullshit that came packed in with their releases. I think I killed more than one hobo by bludgeoning them with the Lunar 2 medallion.

[Xydarc]

That's why I loved WD's releases, all the cool extra shit you'd get. I also had no problems with their translations. They were miles above what other companies' "translations" at the time (i.e. SCEA's FF VII Engrish script).

It's good to see he's back and that WD lives on in GaijinWorks.

[biosc1]

You know what else is interesting? That he announced this in a thread about the localization of Layton 2.

That is interesting!

[Jboy001]

I was a huge fan of their Saturn releases, Albert Odyssey and Dragon Force, and I hope they bring some more rare RPGs to our shores.

[Gorvi]

I was a huge fan of their Saturn releases, Albert Odyssey and Dragon Force, and I hope they bring some more rare RPGs to our shores.
I always wanted to play Dragon Force, the screens for the game always looked so damn cool. I really need to grab a Saturn one of these days.

[Mike Kelehan]

I always wanted to play Dragon Force, the screens for the game always looked so damn cool. I really need to grab a Saturn one of these days.

Sega remade it for the PS2, but nobody was interested in bringing it over here.

[Banacek]

In celebration I should pull the old Sega CD out of the closet, play some classics.

[Gorvi]

Sega remade it for the PS2, but nobody was interested in bringing it over here.
Well, that doesn't help me much! :p

Well, unless that's Vic's "announcement", but I'm not holding my breath.

[Mike Kelehan]

Well, that doesn't help me much! :p

Well, unless that's Vic's "announcement", but I'm not holding my breath.

He said, back in the late WD days, that he was interested in making games for the 360 and DS. He was a PSP guy at first, but gradually accepted the DS. I think it's honestly too late to start a PS2 project... but if Dragon Force came out on the PS2, I'd buy it again.

[Gorvi]

He said, back in the late WD days, that he was interested in making games for the 360 and DS. He was a PSP guy at first, but gradually accepted the DS. I think it's honestly too late to start a PS2 project... but if Dragon Force came out on the PS2, I'd buy it again.
If I remember right he had a big falling out with Sony. They didn't want to approve a lot of the games he wanted to bring over because, at the time, they didn't want 2D on the PS2 for some retarded reason.

[Virtual Machine]

If I remember right he had a big falling out with Sony. They didn't want to approve a lot of the games he wanted to bring over because, at the time, they didn't want 2D on the PS2 for some retarded reason.
Actually, my understanding was that he wanted to release Growlanser Generations as two seperate, fully priced games, while Sony felt that they should be released in a single package at full price. Ireland lost out, and the game didn't pull in enough cash to save the floundering Working Designs, whose niche titles had cost them a fortune in packaging/porting over the last 10 years or so and never sold enough copies to break even.

Personally, if i ever got a game studio off the ground, every game i released would be in some kind of a lavish special edition with a shit-ton of boogle thrown in. I LOVE that stuff. I would supplement that by not releasing a standard edition - screw you ya cheap hippies.

[Gorvi]

Actually, my understanding was that he wanted to release Growlanser Generations as two seperate, fully priced games, while Sony felt that they should be released in a single package at full price. Ireland lost out, and the game didn't pull in enough cash to save the floundering Working Designs, whose niche titles had cost them a fortune in packaging/porting over the last 10 years or so and never sold enough copies to break even.

Personally, if i ever got a game studio off the ground, every game i released would be in some kind of a lavish special edition with a shit-ton of boogle thrown in. I LOVE that stuff. I would supplement that by not releasing a standard edition - screw you ya cheap hippies.
Ahh, that might be closer to what happened. I can remember a big mess on the WD forums back before GG came out. I think there was an issue with a Goemon localization they were working on too.

[Mike Kelehan]

If I remember right he had a big falling out with Sony. They didn't want to approve a lot of the games he wanted to bring over because, at the time, they didn't want 2D on the PS2 for some retarded reason.

Actually, my understanding was that he wanted to release Growlanser Generations as two seperate, fully priced games, while Sony felt that they should be released in a single package at full price. Ireland lost out, and the game didn't pull in enough cash to save the floundering Working Designs, whose niche titles had cost them a fortune in packaging/porting over the last 10 years or so and never sold enough copies to break even.


You guys are actually both right. Sony didn't approve lots of the stuff they wanted (Goemon, for instance) and hacked up Growlanser. Sony rejected plenty of other games as well from other publishers, like Metal Slug 3, Echo Night Beyond, and classic-style adventures like Broken Sword 3 and Syberia.

[Virtual Machine]

You guys are actually both right. Sony didn't approve lots of the stuff they wanted (Goemon, for instance) and hacked up Growlanser. Sony rejected plenty of other games as well from other publishers, like Metal Slug 3, Echo Night Beyond, and classic-style adventures like Broken Sword 3 and Syberia.

Good to know.

Also, i love using the word Boogle. So much better than 'swag'