Pokemon game translator fired by Nintendo?
Posted September 3rd, 2008 at 7:47 AM by Rukario
According to the Pokemon game translator [url=http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2783808&pagenumber=44#post348552498]himself[/url], Nob Ogasawara, Nintendo has told him that his services are no longer needed. Ogasawara will no longer be in charge of translating the Pokemon games. Instead, Nintendo plans on doing any translation work internally.
[QUOTE=Nob Ogasawara]So, after nearly a dozen years and nineteen Pokemon games later, I am out.
I was told that my services were no longer needed because translation work will be handled internally hereafter. They assured me it's not a quality issue, but because of some bureaucratic thing.
OK, cool, whatever. As a career-long-and-not-about-to-change freelancer, I always expected this day to come, but not for this reason. But such is life.
I'll always be grateful for the incredible opportunity the franchise gave me. I mean, sheesh, as the sole translator on those games, my words went out to tens of millions of people, perhaps even more, since all the Euro translations were based on the localized-by-me English text. Tens of millions? Maybe in the hundreds of millions? That's mindboggling for an average shmoe of an immigrant kid who grew up in a Canadian suburb.
It amazes me how many people its reached and how deep it has penetrated into the sociocultural fabric of... OK, enough of that grad paper horsemuk. Still, whenever I see some little kid playing a Pokemon... gently caress, yeah, I still get a surge of pride.
I hope people enjoyed what I did. Or at least didn't find it all that insufferable. As corny as it sounds, I really did pour all my love in to those games. If it helped brighten up some kid's day, then yeah, go me.
It was one gently caress of a great ride while it lasted. Thank you for being there and sharing it with me. Though, being here, I felt like a fraud since y'all's knowledge run far, far deeper than mine. You deserve better than me.
So here's to continued and greater success of the franchise in the decades to come.
I remain a fan of Pokemon.
Nob Ogasawara[/QUOTE]
via [URL="http://www.nintendoeverything.com/?p=3230"]www.nintendoeverything.com[/URL]
What do you think? Some are saying that its just a rumor.
[QUOTE=Nob Ogasawara]So, after nearly a dozen years and nineteen Pokemon games later, I am out.
I was told that my services were no longer needed because translation work will be handled internally hereafter. They assured me it's not a quality issue, but because of some bureaucratic thing.
OK, cool, whatever. As a career-long-and-not-about-to-change freelancer, I always expected this day to come, but not for this reason. But such is life.
I'll always be grateful for the incredible opportunity the franchise gave me. I mean, sheesh, as the sole translator on those games, my words went out to tens of millions of people, perhaps even more, since all the Euro translations were based on the localized-by-me English text. Tens of millions? Maybe in the hundreds of millions? That's mindboggling for an average shmoe of an immigrant kid who grew up in a Canadian suburb.
It amazes me how many people its reached and how deep it has penetrated into the sociocultural fabric of... OK, enough of that grad paper horsemuk. Still, whenever I see some little kid playing a Pokemon... gently caress, yeah, I still get a surge of pride.
I hope people enjoyed what I did. Or at least didn't find it all that insufferable. As corny as it sounds, I really did pour all my love in to those games. If it helped brighten up some kid's day, then yeah, go me.
It was one gently caress of a great ride while it lasted. Thank you for being there and sharing it with me. Though, being here, I felt like a fraud since y'all's knowledge run far, far deeper than mine. You deserve better than me.
So here's to continued and greater success of the franchise in the decades to come.
I remain a fan of Pokemon.
Nob Ogasawara[/QUOTE]
via [URL="http://www.nintendoeverything.com/?p=3230"]www.nintendoeverything.com[/URL]
What do you think? Some are saying that its just a rumor.
Total Comments 12
Comments
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...To be honest, I find it hard to believe that only one person was responsible for the translations. o_OPosted September 3rd, 2008 at 7:52 AM by Forci Stikane 
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Yeah, he musn't be the only one.
What about that Douglas Dinsdale guy? He's a translator too.Posted September 3rd, 2008 at 8:31 AM by wakachamo
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Wait... nevermind. I just realized that Nob Ogasawara = Douglas Dinsdale.
Posted September 3rd, 2008 at 8:32 AM by wakachamo
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And to answer your question, Ichaste, yes, he was the sole translator for the games. Not sure if he was responsible for anything else OTHER than the games.
He's also said on the SomethingAwful forums that it wasn't his main source of income either way, despite making $500-$1000 every day.Posted September 3rd, 2008 at 8:44 AM by wakachamo
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It wasn't a question, I just found it hard to believe that the translation "team" consisted of only one person.
Posted September 3rd, 2008 at 8:59 AM by Forci Stikane
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I heard about that. I was kind of shocked, not only to find out that it was one person doing all the translating, but also they he got the boot. I mean there are still Pokemon games coming out, why kick someone who's been doing the games for... 10 years?Posted September 3rd, 2008 at 9:41 AM by Arcanine
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Supposedly Nintendo wants bigger control over their translations, therefore their "internal handling" as described by Nob/Douglas.
We all know the amazing work he's done ever since the start of the series (also, coincidence - Blue/Red was released September 1st 2008), yet apparently Nintendo wants to take a closer approach to the whole process of translation.
Like he said before, it's most definitely not a quality problem, and I'm sure we can all be witnesses to that.Posted September 3rd, 2008 at 10:01 AM by wakachamo
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Wow. I mean, it's translation; how much more control can they have over it than what they already had?
Posted September 3rd, 2008 at 11:08 AM by Motsuko Live
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I'm asking myself the same question, .freak. O_o I'm really surprised. Never thought they'd boot someone that reliable. Goes to show nothing is guaranteed in business.Posted September 3rd, 2008 at 11:29 AM by BeachBoy
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ahahahahha CORPORATIONS are the greatestPosted September 3rd, 2008 at 11:32 AM by Percy Thrillington
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Wow, this is bad news.
Just when Diamond & Pearl was his most competent translation too. This is a little sad. :x
Then again, the likes of Bill Trinen and the likes working on Pokémon is a little interesting, too.Posted September 3rd, 2008 at 10:27 PM by -
Dude, he was Canadian? I didn't know that. Neat.
Anyway, this makes me sad. I've always really enjoyed the translation and localization of the Pokémon games. While I'm sure he probably just did the rough translation and localization himself, that's still a huge job. I'm rather curious to know what games will be like from now on. Will it be noticeable now that the main translator is gone? Will I forget about this and not find any difference? Time will tell, I suppose.Posted September 4th, 2008 at 2:36 PM by Cherrim
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