What would you like to know about the Segagaga Translation?

[Specineff]

Given that Japanese jokes sometimes work with untranslatable (sp?) puns, are they changing anything to better fit western humor?

[Original_Name]

Alright, guys -- anything else?

[Anthony817]

Omg wow I am kinda late! I had a hectic last few weeks, so I hope to spend more time on the forums.

Ok, if you haven't already started the interview and can take more questions, I have a friend that is the BIGGEST Segagaga fan ever that would love to ask away. Let me post a link to this thread at a few more places and we'll see if we can get more folks here.

[Original_Name]

Alright, sounds good. I'll ask James for permission to post-pone the interview a few days -- it'd be great to be able to garner a little bit more interest/see what questions the retro community can think up.

[Anthony817]

Thanks man, I hope we hear from them soon.

[Captain Dreamcast]

Ok, if you haven't already started the interview and can take more questions, I have a friend that is the BIGGEST Segagaga fan ever that would love to ask away.

Aww, shucks!

O brother, it sure was a good decision to wait, for I come bearing TONS of questions.

Without further ado, the main event:

1. The Patch

As stated in his blog, Howell plans to release a patch. My question is simple:

1.1 "Huh?"

Let me get this straight: It is supposed to be a patch for a CDI, right? Then there's two things which immediately strike me as odd: Does he (or rather his technical support team) know of a way to make a patch compatible with many CDIs, or is it rather gonna be a patch for one specific CDI. If it is indeed the latter (which from my personal experience is way more likely), I, Your Humble Video Defender, gladly offer my services to make the release, either as a single disc or a (legen-dary) 2-disc release, since the best optimized version of SGGG on teh interwebz was already made by me (shameless self-promotion) and I learned a thing or two to even improve it.

Which instantly leads us off to numero dos:
1.2. Why a patch?

As my ol' buddy in crime TuxTheWise once pointed out, making a patch for a game would be nearly as big as the game itself. Thus my question is, wouldn't it be a better idea to just make a CDI and publish that? Legalities aside, it'd make things way easier, especially considering SGGG's large amounts of videos. Oh, and let's not forget that some evil evil pirate like the nefariously infamous Deprogrammer (yes, the very guy from R&D B) will simply take your patch and release an english CDI.


2. The Translation itself

2.1. How will you translate the cracker guy with the ski mask from R&D B/Akihabara?

You know, this is a very personal question. In one of 'em text-only translations he was translated as the Deprogrammer. So my question is, will you call him the Depro again, or give him some mistranslated name?

2.2. Progress?

Self-explaining. So obvious it almost hurts.


3. 1337 Technology

3.1. Releasing your PVR compression/decompression tools?

As some of you might know, the PVRs inside SGGG's .MRG Merge archives are compressed. Due to... ahem... reasons, I am asking wether you think releasing the tools you/your tech wizards created will be a possibility. Of course, there's the chance only one person (e.g. me, Your Humble Video Defender) will use it. But for documentation's sake din't you think it would be good to preserve these tools for future generations.
Note: While this question is only directed to the PVR compression tools, they might as well account for other tools. Though from the top of my hat I can't imagine anything of particular interest. To me at least.

3.2. More info, please?

I am aware of the fact that posting in a blog can be a very exhausting and annoying. But could you please update your blog more than once a year? Of course there is no need to make an entry every day only to say that you're still working on it, but a message every three months or so would be nice. It doesn't have to be long, the three words "Still at it" on their own can often work wonders.


Ahhhh, that's all I can think of right now. If I come up with something new, I'll make sure to post my question here. Some of the above is a tad off-topic and more of a suggestion than a question, but I hope you can put 'em to good use anyway.

Haha, back in the hayday I also tried to translate this game (Well, at least I tried to do the technical stuff, I still don't speak japanese) but ultimately didn't manage to figure out the various PVR compressions. A pity.

[Anthony817]

Haha my man thats how you do it bro! If anybody knew the right things to ask it would be you!

Albeit I think he will be bussy for over an hour answering all your questions.

Oh, before I forget, here is a question Bob Dobbs from Dreamcast-Talk wants to ask.

My only question is, is it really undergoing translation or has this effort stop? Ibn short, should we have faith or not? I ask this in a nice way, not in a bad way that the written word may make this seem to be.

And an obvious one that Neoblast wants to ask.

The obvious question is... when will it be finished?

[Original_Name]

Very appreciated, you guys! James has green-lit a few more days to get everything settled, so if you have any more thoughts, would like to rephrase/add to a question, or whatever, you still have time. Keep it on your minds -- I don't want anyone to feel like they missed an opportunity, and have some great questions or suggestions left unspoken.

Also, Cap'n Dreamcast, I'm going to have to make a note to run my rephrasings of your questions to you, specifically, to make sure I've phrased them correctly. I understood the gist of your questions, but since I'm not well-versed in programming, I'd like to be extra certain that no elements of your questions get lost in a programming n00b's attempt to paraphrase them. That is to say, stick around, 'cause I'll be sending you a PM sometime in the next few days. Also, thank you for posting such interesting questions! To have some genuinely expert (if a bit opportunist ) questions mixed in with the more Sega-cultural/occultural questions I'll be asking will really give some dimension to the interview.

Thanks for posting up the questions, Anthony. I'll just place a link in the original post to the Dreamcast-Talk forums to make things more streamlined. Keep 'em comin', guys!

In conclusion, ANY AND ALL QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS ARE WELCOME. Sometime here in the next few days I'll try and compile the best questions as well as a few of my own and run the master list by you guys to see if any changes should be made, then I'll send it off. Hopefully it won't take too long for me to get around to it... I'm in the middle of mid-terms, but I'm doing my best.

[Anthony817]

Glad to hear that man, there sure are some great questions here and I can't wait to read his interview.

[TeamXlink]

Will the video's audio be translated as well as the sub-titles, or will only the sub-titles be translated?

Also, its great to hear that your still working on this, and Captain Dreamcast is right about the Deprogrammer, I hear he has an inside connection to him, but "Hey, thats only rumors, right?".