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XSEED localizer upset Japanese devs removed accidental KKK reference (Kotaku)

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H

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
Glix said:
It IS censorship, but come the fuck on, man.
Click to expand...

It is definitely not 'censorship', even by the very liberal definition of it used in video game circles. The devs themselves changed their minds about it, and there's supposedly no higher authority than the word of god.
 
Trojita

Trojita

Rapid Response Threadmaker
This is dumb. It's literally a change to a fucking sign in the game that the Japanese developer didn't know was an allusion to something else. Why would you complain about this? I can understand complaining about changed outfits like in #FE, but not this.
 
C

Corpekata

Banned
Who the fuck is the retailer that would protest this but still accepted the "beat the clothes off a variety of characters, some of whom are of questionable age" game in the first place?

This is like the localizer version of "Hold me back bro!"
 
A

Alucrid

Banned
our japanese masters can't be wrong, so we shouldn't change anything

but if our japanese masters then go back and change something...were they wrong?

*breaks internally*
 
H

hydrophilic attack

Member
No one in the West knows what NKK switches is. No one would have gotten the reference anyway, so keeping it would have been a bad localization choice anyway. They should have changed it to reference something more recognizable in the West
 
T

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
Corpekata said:
Who the fuck is the retailer that would protest this but still accepted the "beat the clothes off a variety of characters, some of whom are of questionable age" game in the first place?

This is like the localizer version of "Hold me back bro!"
Click to expand...
The Akiba series is weird (well okay I haven't seen this new one). For as pervy as the premise sounds in excecution it's one of the most sexless things I've ever seen
 
B

bufkus

Member
Wow. That localizer is not only a moron, but doesn't understand what censorship actually is. And it's incredibly pathetic that he went to those lengths to preserve the term KKK in the game.

I hope he gets blacklisted and never lands another localization job again.
 
T

Tohsaka

Member
The Technomancer said:
The Akiba series is weird (well okay I haven't seen this new one). For as pervy as the premise sounds in excecution it's one of the most sexless things I've ever seen
Click to expand...

Akiba's Beat doesn't even have any stripping at all, it's an action RPG kinda like Tales now. It also was a massive flop in Japan, failing to make the top 20 in its first week.
 
S

sn00zer

Member
I for one am shocked Xseed of all places would be one of the places where people decrying censorship of culturally horrible shit would work.
 
W

WarioFan63

Member
Tom always makes me feel conflicted about XSeed.

I'm really grateful that they help bring over Falcolm games and stuff like that but his attitude about this kind of stuff is always very off putting.
 
E

ElBoxyBrown

Banned
The Technomancer said:
The Akiba series is weird (well okay I haven't seen this new one). For as pervy as the premise sounds in excecution it's one of the most sexless things I've ever seen
Click to expand...

I don't know about Beat but I know Akiba's Trip was a game that was making fun of Otaku culture. Idk if this one is doing the same exact thing.
 
B

Basileus777

Member
What an utterly bizarre hill to die on.

Did he get fired over this? The whole "he will never be in an XSeed credits again" thing is strange. It's sounds like something you do when you are trying to force someone to quit.
 
C

chrominance

Member
Independent of whether Lipschultz made the right call or not (but oh my god whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy), there's also this weird chain of events that appears? to go something like this:

Lipschultz: haha good KKK joke, let's keep that in
XSEED: uh, well, this seems kind of weird, let's ask Acquire if that's intentional
Acquire: ... (two weeks later) here's a new build of the game
XSEED: oh, it looks like the KKK reference is gone, I guess everything's cool
Lipschultz: I see that Acquire has removed the KKK reference, they totally wouldn't have done that if we'd just shut our mouths about it, please take me off the credits of this game

And it's like... what? This is what you consider "fighting the good fight"? At best, you're fighting for an obscure joke on the extremely small chance that someone on your audience will know exactly what's being referenced, as opposed to "holy shit this game is racist,"? Over the apparent wishes of the parent developer who presumably knows something about why the joke is in there and whether it's worth saving? Also, man, how do you let a guy like that keep working for you? Moreover, as that guy, how do you keep working for a company that has told you you will no longer be credited on any game you work on for the company? Like... what is even going on here?
 
T

Thud

Member
Tom should have know better that not everything has the same meaning on the other side of the continent.
 
E

Eila

Member
hydrophilic attack said:
No one in the West knows what NKK switches is. No one would have gotten the reference anyway, so keeping it would have been a bad localization choice anyway. They should have changed it to reference something more recognizable in the West
Click to expand...

It's Akiba's Trip c'mon. The previous game had the real names of all the stores at the time and advertisements/posters for real anime and other products at the time. This one doesn't but it's still very much Akiba a.k.a. otaku paradise.
 
B

BiggNife

Member
EvilKatarn said:
Is this the guy who was banned for going apeshit over that vita loli rubbing game?
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Iirc he said that fictional characters don't have real ages so people getting weirded out by adults calling 15 year old anime girls "waifus" is silly

He has enough of a reputation that I saw multiple game journos I follow on Twitter go "oh damn it this guy AGAIN" when this article went up.
 
G

GKSilKamina

Member
I can understand standing against censorship if it seriously affects the game in some way, but over a tasteless joke? That wouldn't have made much sense in English anyway? That the developers themselves removed when they learned what "KKK" actually is?

Definitely a questionable decision...
 
C

Camjo-Z

Member
- The original joke wasn't going for shock value
- No one in America would understand the reference
- It's not that funny in either context

Wow! A three hit combo of stupidity!
 
R

rpmurphy

Member
A parody of NKK Switches could be done in a lot of ways, and the devs did end up doing that so what's the problem? What a dumb complaint that he couldn't get KKK Witches. Some personal attachment perhaps?
 
T

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
BiggNife said:
Iirc he said that fictional characters don't have real ages so people getting weirded out by adults calling 15 year old anime girls "waifus" is silly

He has enough of a reputation that I saw multiple game journos I follow on Twitter go "oh damn it this guy AGAIN" when this article went up.
Click to expand...

Oh wait, shit, Tom who used to post here? Told me many times that the Senran Kagura games had deep stories and characters that people got invested in, that guy? I didn't even make the connection
 
E

excelsiorlef

Member
Lipschultz knows that the removal of ”KKK witches" from Akiba's Beat is ”insignificant," and truly, one might wonder whether this is really the place to take such a stand. But, he says, his dramatic gesture was inspired by the well-trod Evelyn Beatrice Hall quote, ”I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."
Click to expand...

But the company doesn't want to say it idiot. You're not defending anyone but your own stupid sense of humour, you were the one saying it.
 
M

Mesoian

Member
So I'm guessing he quit over this?

This is, by far, the nerdiest example of "when keeping it real goes wrong".

excelsiorlef said:
But the company doesn't want to say it idiot. You're not defending anyone but your own stupid sense of humour, you were the one saying it.
Click to expand...

Freedom��of��speech��does��not��apply��to��a��private��work��that��you��do��not��have��creative��control��over

It's the company's decision at the end of the day. You don't get a say just because you happen to work for them.
 
G

Glix

Member
Haly said:
It is definitely not 'censorship', even by the very liberal definition of it used in video game circles. The devs themselves changed their minds about it, and there's supposedly no higher authority than the word of god.
Click to expand...

I'm not willing to die on this hill, but there is a part of me that thinks that many things are changed when a game/work is localized, and is not always within the "intent" of the original creators (see the thread from yesterday where Kefkas personality was created by the localizers), therefore on some level, this is censorship of some kind.

Regardless, that is minutia, the point stands that the man in the OP is an idiot.
 
C

Cyframe

Member
When I first requested to have my name removed from the credits, I actually didn’t know we’d never specifically asked Acquire to change this – I assumed we had. If I’d known that then, I might not have ever suggested removing my name from the credits. Then again, I still might’ve! And either way, because this is such a gray area, I don’t entirely regret my request. If nothing else, it’s bringing censorship back into public discussion, and I think that’s important, since I feel it’s a problem we – as an industry – really need to talk about. In my own backwards, awkward way, I’m hoping I’ve opened the topic wide enough that maybe some good will come of this in the future. -Tom
Click to expand...

Nope. You're embarrassing.
 
P

Painguy

Member
If the devs removed it themselves then I dont see a problem. If localizers removed it w/o telling the devs then I would see a problem. Localizer needs to learn what censorship is lol.
 
L

Linkstrikesback

Member
Marmaladefire said:
This is why you can't let the fans run the companies.

I'm pretty sure even all mention of the game ended up being banned on GAF lol
Click to expand...

I vaguely remember that, I meant morbidly curious about what he did to get banned, rather than the game. We all know how vita got it's reputation for those types of games.
 
R

RoboPlato

I'd be in the dick
The actual details of the change are baffling. I would understand his stance if the original text was talking about the actual KKK for a reason but he literally just thought a reference to the KKK would be funny. It has nothing to do with the actual intent.
 
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