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"The Untold History of Japanese Video Game Developers", HG101 bookstarter (£50k goal)
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Dragoon En Regalia
Member
Suddenly, no Capcom coverage. I'm guessing they don't want any more dirt on them if they can avoid it.
creid
Member
No, just no official Capcom coverage. I'm sure some former employees will be involved (and probably plenty of dirt.)
gingerbeardman
Member
Mitchell Corp were heavily related to Capcom in the 90s so there'll definitely be coverage there. They're my guest editor choice.
GhaleonQ
Member
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects...fee677de56b81d6e049&ref=backer_project_update
Uh, what? Can nonbackers read that? Apparently, he ran into psychopathic translators.
Uh, what? Can nonbackers read that? Apparently, he ran into psychopathic translators.
MikeHattsu
Member
Yeah. Everybody can read it. Disturbing stuff.
southerncross
Member
Yeah, it's visible to everyone.
Kind of weird to see John being this bitter about Agness after they were so friendly for a few months (in HG101 interview he never misses any opportunity to compliment her). I wonder what her side of the story will look like, this is quite scathing.
chrominance
Member
The allegations against the two sisters sound batshit insane. I have no idea if events actually turned out as he said (though I have no reason to doubt him, it's just, holy shit it sounds unreal), but I'm glad he managed to make it out of Japan with all the material he needed. I hope that whatever happens next doesn't affect the book adversely.
Dragoon En Regalia
Member
What a nuisance. This isn't the only shit he's had to deal with, too.
GhaleonQ
Member
I don't have a single clue about how one could publish a physical but not a digital book. I pledged for a physical one, though.
Marty Chinn
Member
Ya, it makes no sense. Especially when anyone can self publish on Amazon.
tim_pkmn89
Member
Some bizzare licensing restriction.
bishopcruz
Member
I've been happy with the updates, 2 DVDs worth of stuff should be cool, and I can't wait to see the final Yoneda cover. Only sad thing is man it seems like this project is killing him.
LorDjidane
Member
And I'm pretty disappointed with the refund (I backed the digital edition). 
gingerbeardman
Member
I hope it's not the cover that's stopping the digital version.
I'd be happy with John's own original drawing/painting as the cover if that was the case.
I'd be happy with John's own original drawing/painting as the cover if that was the case.
Another update - Project Update #37: Telenet, Falcom, Game Arts, and Quintet tears
I really feel for John. This has to be the nightmare of anyone doing a project like this. I can only hope things work out in the end.
John Szczepaniak said:I've been transcribing an interview with someone who worked at Telenet, Falcom, Game Arts and Quintet. And I have been close to tears with frustration at how appalling the interpretation was. Some people on the internet accused me of being unprofessional for calling out Hanaku Kaku 賀来 華子 (AKA: Hanako Abe 安倍 華子
The person speaking is Haruko Ota / 太田 晴子 - apparently she's an interpreter. I've Googled her name in English and Japanese, and her email address, and there's nothing I can find on her.
I was charged £530 / $800 a day for such shoddy work, plus Hanako's booking fee. I feel it's important to share with my financial backers how much of a disgrace their services were. This is the madness I had to suffer. This is NOT high level interpretation.
The provided video excerpt is pure garbage. I can understand the generalised idea, but there's no way I can accurately transcribe what's being said. In some cases Haruko Ota contradicts what's being said, skips out sections, or leaves out essential information which was provided in Japanese.
I asked about the relationship between Game Arts and Vanguard, the latter of which was outsourced to design the dungeons in Lunar 2. My interviewee gave a detailed explanation, mentioning each company name regularly, so as to define the roles of each company. My interpreter meanwhile use the word "they" during the spoken English, meaning I have no idea who was responsible for what.
This is not difficult interpretation. It is basic first year student stuff. I can clearly hear him saying: "Game Arts wa.... Vanguard wa..." Which as a quick English translation would be "As for Game Arts they did... Regarding Vanguard they handled..." and so on.
The beauty of Japanese is that you name the topic of the sentence and then put "wa", and then the listener knows that everything which follows is related to what preceded wa. Except instead of the names, I'm being told they, they, they.
Also whole sections are skipped over. When explaining how three renowned creators were hired for art, writing and music, there's a pause and then the cryptic sentence in English - "those were their instructions." What instructions? None are ever mentioned.
The worst part is that on several occasions her interpreted answers do not match the question asked, meaning she failed to interpret my question correctly. This means even retranslating the answer won't fix things.
A fluent Japanese speaker has listened to the interview and re-assured me I am not imagining this, and said Haruko was terrible.
When I complained to Hanako, she demanded copies of the audio, then had the audacity to claim it was perfectly fine.
This is the fallout of my working with Hanako Kaku, who brought her hopelessly unskilled friends on board. Now I'm sitting here with hours and hours of absolute garbage, all of which is going to need reinterpretation at my expensive.
It's not even a money issue any more. I would not have Haruko Ota interpret for me free of charge - because what I'm left with now is literally worthless audio trash. I only put up with Haruko for one day, but there's about 6 hours of this gibberish to wade through.
I do not know when the book will be finished. I'm now trying to aim for publication in May.
I do not want to waste my interviewee's time or your money by putting out garbage, so I'm going to have to painstakingly stitch these interviews back together with help from others. There's nothing I can do about the fact that often my questions were misinterpreted into Japanese, resulting in answers which are entirely unrelated to what was asked, but whatever Japanese answers I did receive, I have those on file and if I have to move mountains, I will get this material translated into intelligible English.
This is an absolute travesty, a disgrace, and I am disgusted. These are the Fortune 500 interpreters Hanako and her sister were talking about? These are the people who interpret for the United Nations? Really? And I had to pay £530 / $800 a day to suffer their incompetence.
Thankfully one of my Guest Editors is fluent in Japanese and promised to help me go over material for free. Plus I've hired a professional who I know I can trust to look at some pieces. I might even conduct follow-up interviews via email.
I do not want extra funds. I was deceived by my coordinator and her sister. But I promise everyone that I will fix this. I got myself into this mess, and I will claw my way out again.
I really feel for John. This has to be the nightmare of anyone doing a project like this. I can only hope things work out in the end.
Dragoon En Regalia
Member
This rustles my jimmies. It's one thing for John to fuck something up, but a whole 'nother for him to be deceived this badly. If he gets this out the way he knows we deserve, then he has my axe.
holy fucking shit. you just have to wonder how people like these sisters even existed in the universe prior to the story, everything they did seemed wrong. And if they were coordinating it to be this messed up behind the scenes or if they were just doing a shitty job because he crossed some invisible cultural line that apparently supersedes business deals.
I feel terrible. When shit goes wrong like that overseas, you feel really powerless.
Even if it's a flawless book with a couple weird interviews as a result of this, it sounds like it'll still be head and shoulders above most game history books. Buying it when i can and I would've quickly plopped down on the KS if I knew about it!
We need a sticky on this site that says "Did something weird and illogical happen to a digital product? Licensing law."
I feel terrible. When shit goes wrong like that overseas, you feel really powerless.
Even if it's a flawless book with a couple weird interviews as a result of this, it sounds like it'll still be head and shoulders above most game history books. Buying it when i can and I would've quickly plopped down on the KS if I knew about it!
We need a sticky on this site that says "Did something weird and illogical happen to a digital product? Licensing law."
Dragoon En Regalia
Member
Worst thing is, these horror stories are and will be as exciting and revealing as the contents of the actual book. Right now, this must be the sound of ultimate suffering...
Black Door
Banned
And this is part of why I don't back Kickstarters anymore. Hope he can still get the book done regardless
i would support the kickstarter for a serialized graphic novel of "Translation: You're Screwed: The John Szczepaniak Story." Can even use that title for free.
mattiewheels
And then the LORD David Bowie saith to his Son, Jonny Depp: 'Go, and spread my image amongst the cosmos. For every living thing is in anguish and only the LIGHT shall give them reprieve.'
I bet he feels helpless about this stuff, but his updates come across as way too emotional. I mean, the point of divulging that info is to restore the faith of the backers, so just let the facts speak for themselves and try not to get so personal about it. The facts alone should hang these people, he seems to try to take it a step further.
Black Door
Banned
It's especially weird considering he and Agness were apparently good enough buddies that he did a really flowery interview with her years ago. There has to be something more to this than "This girl and her sister brought their buddies into the project and they got lazy and fucked everything up"
Marty Chinn
Member
I know everyone is feeling for him, and I backed this, but prior to the Kickstarter ending. I got messaged by someone I trust to not get too hyped about this because of the guy doing it. I never got time to get the full story, but it's starting to line up about the warning I got before and how things are turning out.
Fried Food
Banned
You realize this post is suspicous considering everything thats happened/happening, right?
This this person you trust know John?
Why would John lie or mention about all this? He could've simply posted that there were some issues and the book is delayed but he decided to be detailed about what's going on.
Does it stem from the grudge between him and the 8-4 people?
Marty Chinn
Member
What do you mean suspicious? Yes, the person I trust knows him.
sörine;97469009 said:
What grudge? I really don't know him or his history but was excited about the project and backed it and even started telling friends about it. All I know is, I got warned about it and now that there seem to be problems creeping up left and right, it feels like the warning had merit.
Dragoon En Regalia
Member
Whatever the case, the results will either wreck or vindicate his position on these recent developments. I'm tempering my expectations with news of these translation issues and digital refund, but I'm still hopeful.
Ban Puncher
Member
I feel for the guy but I'm kind of at the point where I don't want to hear any more drama bullshit until after I have the book in my hands.
creid
Member
IIRC, apparently the 8-4 people reached out to help out on the project with interpretation, but John turned them down because he thought he was getting the U.N. ambassador-level interpretation he talks about here.
edit: from update #12:
GhaleonQ
Member
Appreciated! I understand that, obviously (having had to consider buying games before deadlines), but I had forgotten the reason why that would be relevant.
mattiewheels
And then the LORD David Bowie saith to his Son, Jonny Depp: 'Go, and spread my image amongst the cosmos. For every living thing is in anguish and only the LIGHT shall give them reprieve.'
Why would 8-4 have a problem with him after being turned down?
I've wondered about this as well, but I did find it odd to never hear anything about the book (even without behind the scene these details) being on Kickstarter or anything on their 8-4 podcast. It's like they just swept it under the rug or something. I mean if they really had a sincere interest in helping the project, why didn't they at least still mention it on the podcast even when their help was not needed by John? In my opinion this would have been a professional thing to do for a fellow Japanese game expert, but maybe that's precisely the naiveness that allows people to walk all over me in real life.
We'll probably never know the full story behind it, but as far as I can tell from personal correspondence with John (I contacted him about the book and we got into talks about the world of UK game journalism, where he knows quite a few people), he seems like a honest, hard working guy that's not afraid to admit his own quirks. I do hope the project will work out in the end, for his sake and ours, but I don't doubt he is doing everything he can to make that happen.
creid
Member
We can really only speculate at this point. If I was in 8-4's position and made an offer to interpret for (what I assume was) a lower rate (which would mean the Kickstarter would need to ask for less money) and was turned down, I might be suspicious of the people behind the Kickstarter too.
Dragoon En Regalia
Member
So the documentary's good so far, that's pretty sweet. Glad to hear something big's done, though the book's the biggest problem thanks to these fiascos.
cj_iwakura
Member
Some great Lunar stuff will be there, too.
bishopcruz
Member
I just hope the translation stuff didn't affect the Telenet interviews, or Kiya formerly from Falcom. Still very psyched for the book.
quantumnerd
Member
I know I'm late to the party on this, but the cancelation of the digital edition really worries me-- shouldn't this kind of stuff be worked out beforehand? Hopefully I'll still be able to get the book for a sane price, and one of the DVDs too.
Marty Chinn
Member
Now the cover artist bailed. Meh...