Game Goofs

[MDX]

Sometimes you just gotta wonder what developers think when they make a game. You really do.

I'm sure most of you have played Starfox Assault on the Gamecube. If not, swing by your local Walmart and play the demo.

If and when Nintendo and Atari decide to make another Starfox, they have to come up better dialogue and better voice actors. The dialogue is cheesy, and the actors sound like they're reading the lines off a card. The lines and voice for Krystal are the worst (Naturally. Judging from how much she talks, I'd say she was Atari's favorite character). Even Fox's voice and lines sound a little off. Nearly every voice in this game makes the hair on my back and neck stand on end, and I swear Falco sounds like Joey on Yu-Gi-Oh...and even HIS voice stinks.

Hate to ramble like that, but I absolutely hate it when a good game idea gets cursed with crummy voice acting. Even worse when combined with corny dialogue.

If you've noticed anything in a game (let's not count the Descent series, okay?), just feel free to share it. Just be sure that the irritant is a legitimate mistake on the part of the developers, not a result of a game being rushed out the door by publishers. We're talking things like bad voice acting, corny dialogue, inconsistent plotlines, way-below-subpar graphics, etc. Difficulty levels of a game are pretty much irrelevant, so don't bother whining about them. (I'm not in the mood for "this game is too hard" rants.)

[Krom]

You just described English voice acting in 80% of the animes you see on cartoon network, it's why I gave up and am learning Japanese.

[DCrazy]

This sums it all up.

[Aus-RED-5]

This sums it all up.

LMAO! Watch the streaming video!

[roid]

This sums it all up.

LMAO! Watch the streaming video!

which?

[Aus-RED-5]

This sums it all up.

LMAO! Watch the streaming video!

which?

At the bottom of the page.... where it says "See It In Action!" You have the option to d/l or stream for free.

[roid]

haha nice.

to uh... keep this on topic. i'm gonna say the only thing where DUBBING makes it better is IRON CHEF! the funniest dubbing ever.
if i've learned anything from anime.
dubbing sucks, they should just NOT DO IT. SUBTITLE it instead, subtitles are good, i can handle it. good excuse for ppl to learn to read.

and iron chef is on now. ASPARAGUSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!

brb.

edit: lol as usual how many ways can they translate "ooooooooooooooohhh!"

[Floyd]

This sums it all up.

thats a game for Ed:
http://archive.gamespy.com/dailyvictim/index.asp?id=181
http://archive.gamespy.com/dailyvictim/index.asp?id=259

[Ferno]

rofl.. man that video review was some funny stuff.

[Top Gun]

I'd have to disagree, roid. I've only become an anime fan recently, and I haven't seen more than ten series, but out of the ones I've seen, I've never had any problems with the dubbed voiceacting. I'd much rather listen to the dubs than read subtitles. Things like televisions shows/movies are meant to be watched and listened to, not read; the voice expression and the tone of dialogue just don't seem the same if you're reading text while listening to another language. The only series I've seen with crappy voiceacting are the idiotic kiddie ones; pretty much all of the series I've watched on Adult Swim (Cowboy Bebop, Ghost in the Shell, Trigun, Big O, Wolf's Rain, Samurai Champloo, etc.) have good to excellent voiceacting, at least in my opinion. From what I understand, by general consensus, the English dub of Cowboy Bebop is better than the original Japanese.

I will have to agree that the dubbing on Iron Chef is among the greatest things in the known universe, though. I couldn't get through a single episode of the American version; there's no point of watching if you don't here "Que-san!" every five seconds.

[Topher]

This sums it all up.

hehe, awesome

[Krom]

I agree with roid in this case, subtitles are better then most dubs. Bebeop is an exception not a rule. And I've watched Trigun both subbed and dubbed, subbed was better. I also have my doubts about Samurai Champloo on Cartoon Network, by the time the censors got through with it would the series really be worth watching?

Many of the series I've seen on CN are often one or two episodes shorter then their unedited counterparts. Even DBZ as played on cartoon network is a grand total of 276 episodes, unedited it is 292.

[Top Gun]

From what I can tell, Champloo hasn't been that heavily edited, if at all. There's plenty of blood, gore and language, which is somewhat of a shock to see in animated form for a new anime fan. Adult Swim's shows are entirely different than those in the main Cartoon Network programming; from the shows I've seen (both anime and comedy), they really don't have any violence/language/sex restrictions. I've heard of a few people who hate Adult Swim for whatever reason, but considering that it introduced me to anime (and the fact that the people that work there seem completely nuts ), I'm a huge fan.

P.S. I've seen Trigun both dubbed and with the subtitles, and I just prefer the dubbed version. Maybe it's because that's how I started watching it, so I associate the characters with those particular voices. I do know that Vash sounds as weird in English as he does in Japanese. From the few episodes I've seen of Dragonball Z, I doubt it's anything I'd watch anytime soon; the one episode consisted of two people yelling crazily at each other for fifteen minutes.

[Krom]

From the few episodes I've seen of Dragonball Z, I doubt it's anything I'd watch anytime soon; the one episode consisted of two people yelling crazily at each other for fifteen minutes.

Heh, thats actually some action, I started to dispise DBZ because half the episodes just have two people staring each other down the whole time.

[roid]

how does the dubbed version of the cowboybebop SERIES compare to the dubbed version of the cowboybebop MOVIE? coz i once watched the movie dubbed, and after an entire series of japanese voices the dubbed movie was so rediculous. not just because it was different: ED became the most annoying girl i have ever heard, and Spike's voice seemed to come straight from an american old western. it was rofl material.

things get lost in translation, this is the most important aspect to me. eg: wordplay suddenly makes no sense when it's translated.
- what's brown and sticky?
- a stick
that makes no sense if you translate it into any other language. it's similar with things translated from other languages into english. when i'm watching something foreign, i want it to be foreign damnit. i don't goto iceland to stay in my warm hotel that looks the same as any hotel in australia; i go to be emersed with the natives.

original voice actors are chosen carefully, whereas the dubbing voice actors are just "grabbed from the heap", it seems the only prerequisite is an american accent.

the american market can be so rediculous with these cultural issues. for example the australian movie "the castle" was REDUBBED for american audiences (what, can't you understand our accents?), also references to australian-centric icons were replaced with american ones. how dumbed down can you get! this ★■◆● makes me angry.
here or if you don't have a registration ID you can read it here instead.

as i watch the dubbed version of IRON CHEF i wonder how many japanese-centric icons/expressions have been replaced with american-friendly icons/expressions.

[Top Gun]

I've only seen the first few minutes of the movie, but comparing the subtitles I saw to the dubbed voices was night and day. Those subtitles sounded very archaic, whereas the voices were far more natural. I happen to like Spike's voice; it seems to fit his personality very well. He is a cowboy, after all. I haven't seen enough of the series to really appreciate Ed, but she seems to be a very...unique...character. A voice like that seems to work for her.

That dubbed Australian movie is completely idiotic, I will agree, but I don't mind some slight changes in dialogue to "Westernize" an anime episode. For example, after seeing a recent dubbed episode of GITS: SAC, I went and watched a subbed version I have. In that, the one character was referred to as having an accent from what I can only assume is a rural region of Japan; in the dubbed verison, his accent was Texan. The message, that the character was a hillbilly in a utilitarian cybernetic body (:P), was the same either way, but the latter was instantly understandable, while the former required an extensive knowledge of Japanese culture to be certain of. I don't mind changes like this at all. To me, what makes anime foreign is that there is absolutely no equivalent to it in American animation, which I feel is a real shame. The only animation targeted to adults here would be something comedic, like Family Guy or Aqua Teen Hunger Force. While these series are great, sometimes the fantasy-loving side of me wants something more. Anime filled in that role for me.

[fliptw]

Reading roids last post reminds me of the occasional nitpicker complaing about ignorance of continuity on the Doctor Who talkbacks.

continuity in a show about a time traveller who interfers everywhere he goes is a bit pointless and narrow minded.

so is the overall argument about subbed vs dubbed. It doesn't really take fully into consideration the nuances of localization.

I wouldn't be surprised that character Top-wop mentions in his post would have an general american accent when translated into french...

at the end of the day, its a form of communication: it has to make sense to the intended audience, else there's no point in exporting it.

[roid]

hmm. so perhaps fliptw, someone ranting about continuity issues regarding Dr Who would perhaps think of it as: "Dr Who is fiction heavily rooted in science, so why not make it as scientificly accurate as possible".

in the same way that i'm thinking "foreign cinema is heavily rooted in it's respective culture of origin, so it's foreigness should not be unnessesarily watered down".

i see your point. and hope you see mine: if you want local culture, watch local cinema. if you watch foreign cinema, be prepared for a challenging culture.

[fliptw]

Not everything thats foregin needs to presented as such - the majority of fiction as it is doesn't need the trappings of a specific culture to be enjoyed.

If I want to enjoy foreign culture, I'd rather go there than watch it here.

Scientific Accuarcy and Dr. Who mix like water and potassium chloride.

Remember, we are discussion media who's primary goal is to please the audience. The producers aren't paying audiences to watch their wares.

[Boo]

This sums it all up.

This is a truly unique game. Someone oughta archive it

[Kyouryuu]

I will have to agree that the dubbing on Iron Chef is among the greatest things in the known universe, though. I couldn't get through a single episode of the American version; there's no point of watching if you don't here "Que-san!" every five seconds.

It's actually better than that - it's "Fukui-san!" in the closed captions.

[JMEaT]

If you've noticed anything in a game (let's not count the Descent series, okay?), just feel free to share it.

Xenosaga II... all of it...