Yes, what's wrong with us.. it's already summer, you know..

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Quote: We did do hardware checks though, just in case we'll ever be allowed to re-release the English version of the game for real hardware Re-release for real hardware?!?! I would buy it immediately

Me too

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Of course! What happens to MSX2 if you "try" to activate R800, nothing?

I think I did check the ROM to see if it's a tR, so it should skip the CALL OMGITSFAST routine.

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Well, in fact now it is a turboR game.

No, it doesn't need a tR to work, all it needs it 128kB of mapped RAM. (Instead of 64kB for the original...)

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If it were not tested I guess it will have problems with sound, I'm afraid (because of waits). But, of course, only in real machine (turboR). So if in the future it is launched as a "game working with real MSX" Sonic will have to code again.

Actually, the game was tested on hardware (a turboR GT) and it works fine. I would probably have to recode the loader though, since it's rather slow loading more than 64kB of uncompressed text data. BitBusting that would probably be a nice thing to do. I'm also pretty sure that if we ever were to remotely have a shot of getting permission for a hardware release I'd have to code the mother of all copy-protections... I doubt MicroCabin would give us permission to distribute it as-is, even though we all have 37 different cracks of the original Xak already!

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What? No flame wars yet?? Common people!!!

Yes, we're living in the land of the common people...

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I doubt MicroCabin would give us permission to distribute it as-is, even though we all have 37 different cracks of the original Xak already!

There are 37 cracks?
...wow.

I can imagine translating a game like Xak being a lot of work... it's an RPG after all.
Now I know RPG's are usually popular (not just amongst MSX'ers but ever since Final Fantasy VII on the PlayStation they've been mainstream interest) but how much more time does a game like Xak or Hydlide take to translate compared to a game like Undeadline, or, Aleste (especially the latter doesn't have all that many texts, except for the manual)?

Anything that is translated is interestingWe all love translated games from japanese to english.I wish ganbare goemon was translated though....

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...how much more time does a game like Xak or Hydlide take to translate compared to a game like Undeadline, or, Aleste (especially the latter doesn't have all that many texts, except for the manual)?

The translation of the texts is not the most time consuming element. As you might know, all WOOMB games have been translated by me so far and most of the time I don't need much dictionary-digging or anything. I just read the texts, interpret them and write down the English translation. Not that I read Japanese as fast as e.g. English, but still. The manuals take a lot more time, though.

Apart from the translation work itself, there's the technical aspects. Small games might need huge technical adaptations in order to make a proper English localization (e.g. Aleste 2 was not so easy). Manuals are produced as 'clones of the original' - they're exactly the same as their Japanese counterparts, with the only difference being that they're translated to English. Those things also cost time... And let's not forget that most of the time, the translated texts are proofread and corrected by a third party (as translated Japanese text sometimes feels a little 'unnatural').

These factors make that also games with little text might cost quite some time to translate (i.e. make English versions). We don't want to distribute sloppy localizations through WOOMB. These requirements do have their influence on the time it costs. And apart from that, nobody is able to live on WOOMB income or anything, so we have to do everything using the time we have left and sometimes, there's not very much time .

When I visited Bussum several years ago Rikusu showed me how was going the translation of the Aleste 2 manual. I could notice it was a real time-consuming task and the good results "show" this.

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I think I did check the ROM to see if it's a tR, so it should skip the CALL OMGITSFAST routine.

Great then.

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Actually, the game was tested on hardware (a turboR GT) and it works fine.

So I assume here that you modified the sound driver to do the required "waits" when accessing the FM? Else the sound in R800 is corrupted (bad sound) in the real machine (not in emulators). I've tested it in the japanese XAK in my ST, loading it in R800. (Hey, lately I talk about MSX games that I own the originals! The same happens with XAK ).

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I would probably have to recode the loader though, since it's rather slow loading more than 64kB of uncompressed text data. BitBusting that would probably be a nice thing to do. I'm also pretty sure that if we ever were to remotely have a shot of getting permission for a hardware release I'd have to code the mother of all copy-protections... I doubt MicroCabin would give us permission to distribute it as-is, even though we all have 37 different cracks of the original Xak already!

Well, maybe compression makes it faster on loading, but I pressume that loading the game from DSK is good enough. Is it really slower than japanese version? And yes, getting it for real MSX's would be really great. But making a unbreakable copy protection is rather impossible and people want to play their games from DSK better than from floppies.

But as they have the rights and made(make?) so cool games, we have to respect them.

Well, besides all that already has been mentioned, there might also be another reason why there aren't that many (new) releases, but... I am only guessing here, so... ;-)
I can imagine that it indeed takes a lot of work to make the translations. If after that, the actual sales lack a bit, it's not hard to imagine that motivation will decrease to make more releases. I have no idea about the actual sales, but I can't imagine the salesnumbers are that high...

I would be interested in seeing a little pol here: Hom much money have the people here spend on buying games through Woomb?

I've had an account + membership for 3 months when Woomb first started (actually, after one cancels the membership, you just keep the account and the games you already bought - you just have to sign up again if you want to enjoy the benefits such as reduced price and extras for new games).

The games I bought were Zanac, Zanac-EX, Aleste, Aleste 2 and Laydock (yes, you can see a pattern here )
With the account costs, that totals at about 50 euros.

LOL, yes... I can see a certain pattern there.
Except for Laydock, all of those are favourites for me as well btw

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LOL, yes... I can see a certain pattern there. Except for Laydock, all of those are favourites for me as well btw

You should give 'Super Laydock Mission Striker' a try. It looks quite simple at the beginning, but as long as you progress, you realise it's really a jewel.

BTW, can we ask Woomb for new translations here??

I'd love to see a 'Valis 2' translation (only the demo disks need to be translated).

Well, the best way to ask for a translation is through their own e-mail address I guess. It's probably on their site.
But my guess is that they will read your request here as well

Maybe Woomb could make a section on their website where you can put requests and/or vote on titles That would make their offer match better to the demand.