Howdy, partners! After a content-rich October, here we go for another roundup post with our favorite November reads:

NINTENDO TREEHOUSE

Localizing "Jump Up Super Star!"



Localizing poetry and songs is no simple task. The localization process of the brilliant English version of Jump Up Super Star! (which, in the author's opinion, is better than the original Japanese version) was revealed in this post from Nintendo Treehouse.

Did you catch all the references to Mario's universe in what was October's earworm?

KILGRAY LABS

LocLand



This one's for game studios looking into solutions for managing localization internally, or translators willing to learn how to use one of the most popular CAT tools at the moment, memoQ.

Kilgray Labs put a nicely illustrated guide together, including game localization best practices and instructions for successful localization through their tool.

WAYPOINT

How a major JRPG wound up getting totally re-written months after release

If you're a big fan of JRPGs, Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana's localization must have been a huge let-down. Patrick Klepek goes into the details of the latest major game localization fail and interviewed NIS America senior associate producer Alan Costa on the matter.

MCV

NIS America and Nihon Falcom on how to save the JRPG



Ironically, NIS America and Nihon Falcom recently gave an interview to MCV where they shared their analysis of the state of the JRPG market, as well as their localization strategy.



While one can argue about the quality of its execution in Ys VIII, it's still interesting to learn from such key players in the industry that French localization is pretty much a must for their titles.

US GAMER

How Vagrant Story Changed Game Localization



Back in 2000, localization didn’t matter so much as it does today (at least for game studios) and many Japanese games were still plagued with Engrish translation.

Then came Vagrant Story. US Gamer interviewed localization editor Richard Amtower and famous translator Alexander O. Smith on their work, and it’s just priceless.

STAFF PICK - SERGEI KLIMOV

2 Years of Gremlins. Inc demographics

Charlie Oscar's Sergei Klimov shares 2 years of sales data from their game, Gremlins Inc, and delivers an extensive analysis of each language and region's results, all backed up with numbers and charts.



The post also examines what language people actually use in-game, and gives some insight on markets such as France, Russia, Poland and Ukraine.

A wealth of information if you're planning on localizing your PC game!

And that's it for this month! Feeling smarter already? ;)



Make sure you check our blog for more game localization best practices, market insights and interviews.