Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Aces High General Discussion => Topic started by: nimble on November 05, 2011, 04:03:55 PM
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http://www.direct2drive.com/11658/product/Buy-Aces-High-Download
Publisher: Iceberg Interactive
Developer: High Voltage
This for real? Was browsing through some old d2d games I have and this popped up.
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Yes. Since last month AH is also available as a boxed game here in Germany.
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/514oKvXzYAL.jpg)
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Did you notice the media was Lepape's vid :aok :D
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I bought it as a souvenir.
It has an A3 size poster of the cover and seeing as it was me and kaz in the tiffies it brings back memories :cry
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I hope they sell a million copies.
Of course they'll have to do something about the language barrier on 200. :lol :noid
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1996 it were 2 dollars/hour + another 2 dollard/hour for net....
At that time many of us just let creditcard go... :joystick:
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Of course they'll have to do something about the language barrier on 200. :lol :noid
I think no one needs to worry about that...
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I hope they sell a million copies.
Of course they'll have to do something about the language barrier on 200. :lol :noid
Plenty of people here know other lanuages. I know spanish, a fair bit of italian, some German, and even a little Polish.
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Did you notice the media was Lepape's vid :aok :D
Screenshot on the box is by Kazaa (I think?)
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I think no one needs to worry about that...
How so?
Plenty of people here know other lanuages. I know spanish, a fair bit of italian, some German, and even a little Polish.
Congratulations. I only know blackanese.
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Yes. Since last month AH is also available as a boxed game here in Germany.
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/514oKvXzYAL.jpg)
I hope this gets the word out over there letting them know the game can be played online.
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I bought it as a souvenir.
It has an A3 size poster of the cover and seeing as it was me and kaz in the tiffies it brings back memories :cry
And that's me in the P-39 trailing the flaming Zeke at the top! :cheers:
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How so?
It's sitting virtually unnoticed here. No reviews, not even user reviews on amazon.de (current sales rank in pc games 21,370!) or the standard consumer websites. No blogs, no bbs discussions. It'a budget game in a market with a much smaller target group (or however that is being called) than for example in the US (not only absolutely, but also relatively).
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It's sitting virtually unnoticed here. No reviews, not even user reviews on amazon.de (current sales rank in pc games 21,370!) or the standard consumer websites. No blogs, no bbs discussions. It'a budget game in a market with a much smaller target group (or however that is being called) than for example in the US (not only absolutely, but also relatively).
That sucks. Is there a serious MMO WWII competitor over there, or is it a lack of marketing?
Or are the Euros doomed to repeat the history that they are forgetting?
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And that's me in the P-39 trailing the flaming Zeke at the top! :cheers:
:aok
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Or are the Euros doomed to repeat the history that they are forgetting?
Are you an idiot?
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Are you an idiot?
Maybe.
However, in a room with the likes of you I'm Albert freeking Einstein.
Now go bother someone else child.
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Maybe.
However, in a room with the likes of you I'm Albert freeking Einstein.
Now go bother someone else child.
freaking*
Nice one, Einstein.
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freaking*
Nice one, Einstein.
:lol
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That sucks. Is there a serious MMO WWII competitor over there, or is it a lack of marketing?
There's a lack of target audience in the first place. A WWII setting can be successful as a backdrop for a good, exciting game (emphasis on "game"). But the percentage of people looking for a WW2 flight combat simulation because they are interested in that stuff "enthusiasts" is very small to begin with. You probably have to compete much more with "ordinary" games.. WoW, farm simulators (no joking), the plethora if cute browser games, console gaming and so on. Fidelity in flight modeling or similar things won't help you, you need accessibility, stunning or even "spectacular" graphics and so on.
Personally, I did't know anyone in real life I have met in the last 6 years where I would have had a chance to interest him in Aces High. I doubt that this could be overcome with "better marketing" (whatever that would mean anyway)
(Don't forget the big cultural differences. The view on WWII is much different, there are no "heroic" TV shows, there is no such thing as a "military channel" and so on)
Or are the Euros doomed to repeat the history that they are forgetting?
:huh
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Or are the Euros doomed to repeat the history that they are forgetting?
Well, since it slipped by Lusche too I figure I'd better clarify my statement.
Here in the U.S. peoples awareness of history is on a steady decline. I made the assumption that this trend is worldwide.
And as the saying goes... those that forget their past are doomed to repeat it.
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Fidelity in flight modeling or similar things won't help you, you need accessibility, stunning or even "spectacular" graphics and so on.
(Don't forget the big cultural differences. The view on WWII is much different, there are no "heroic" TV shows, there is no such thing as a "military channel" and so on)
Well, with the best settings, our graphics are simply astounding. It looks pretty close to a real aircraft. I suspect what people want isn't higher graphics quality, but more special effects, like you get at the movies.
If trees exploded when you hit them with a shell, crashing aircraft left furrows in the ground, hit GV's actually burned, and ammunition cooked off, etc, then I guarantee this would be the most popular game on the net.
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I agree, Lusche/Snailman, it's a niche market for enthusiasts. Perhaps marketing the boxed game and on-line game through small ads in modeling and RC enthusiast magazines might work. I suspect they read every detail on every page, so small ads might be as effective as large (expensive) ones.
I'm puzzled about the concept of two British planes featured on the cover of the German version... :huh
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Did you notice the media was Lepape's vid :aok :D
That is freakin cool. :aok
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:huh
It's an Einstein thing. You wouldn't understand.
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It's an Einstein thing. You wouldn't understand.
Meh, nevermind. Puppets gonna yap and that's O.K. :aok
Nice hijack attempts, by the way.
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No, you wouldn't understand puppet. :aok
:lol
I'm puzzled about the concept of two British planes featured on the cover of the German version... :huh
So nowadays Germans are alright with their WWII army getting that kind of ... "front page" treatment?
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Question....
What is the point of buying AH on disk for $29, when you could go home and download it for free, then save that $29 for your first months subscription?
is there some big benefit to having it on disk?
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Question....
What is the point of buying AH on disk for $29, when you could go home and download it for free, then save that $29 for your first months subscription?
is there some big benefit to having it on disk?
As I recall the Boxed version is 30$ to pay for the first 2 months worth of subscription. Basically the price tag is just there to be able to sell it, the 30$ covers the 2 months of subscription, not the game itself.
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Yo yo, that cover makes it look too "niche" for public consumption bro, totaly out of wack if your looking to get new players!
PS: Bruv, stop whinging and tell kaz to stop being a squeak (damn filter: "female dog"), so he can get over whatever emo block he's got going and get back into the damn game. I used to fly with you lot back in the days with RumbleBee and I understand that time does stuff to your head that you can't undo; but its still possible to "feel like a newbie" again if you lot stop taking your relationship with AH so damned seriously and enjoy the blasted thing.
Peace out yo.
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(Don't forget the big cultural differences. The view on WWII is much different, there are no "heroic" TV shows, there is no such thing as a "military channel" and so on)
Thats something I've always been curious about. Now I don't mean to sound rude or offend anyone but how exactly is the war viewed over there. What is the German outlook(not really the word I'm looking for) of the war?
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Thats something I've always been curious about. Now I don't mean to sound rude or offend anyone but how exactly is the war viewed over there. What is the German outlook(not really the word I'm looking for) of the war?
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I think the lengthy answer this question does require would be way out of the scope of this thread and the "AH General Discussion forum" ;)
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Don't mention the war...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfl6Lu3xQW0
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:rofl
Yea my 3 years here in Mannheim have shown me even 70 years after the fact it's still a touchy subject.
but some are really interested, but others just want to bury it.
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I bought it as a souvenir.
It has an A3 size poster of the cover and seeing as it was me and kaz in the tiffies it brings back memories :cry
Srsly, that's pretty cool. I'd like an A3 sized poster of me flying with my favorite wingman of all time, Grizz, but the picture would be different. There would be plane parts in his wake out as far as you can see and I'd be colliding with a bomber.
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Plenty of people here know other lanuages. I know spanish, a fair bit of italian, some German, and even a little Polish.
You're good at talking out of your rear too... :bolt:
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I think the lengthy answer this question does require would be way out of the scope of this thread and the "AH General Discussion forum" ;)
Slighly more on topic, I had Silent Hunter III, and somehow along the line I had heard or read that games with the "swastika" on graphics were not saleable in Germany. Is that true, and would it require a different boxed version be sold there as opposed to what would be available as the regular online AH?
I got to thinking about this again recently when I (finally) got into a Brewster and noticed it has one. I'm sure others have it too, but it made me again question the truth to it.
Regards
Bob
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Trying to sell a game that is in English in countries that dont speak it as their first language is nuts.
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I think the lengthy answer this question does require would be way out of the scope of this thread and the "AH General Discussion forum" ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OFXL0jIMR4&feature=player_detailpage#t=150s :D
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Trying to sell a game that is in English in countries that dont speak it as their first language is nuts.
Not necessarily over here. There is still quite a number of games being sold running in English only, either because they are only available in that language or because not few players actually prefer the original one (just like with dubbed vs original language movies).
It's also depending on the target audience, players of non mainstream games are used to English games only.
To port a game to another language is a costly matter. A company has to consider costs vs benefit - does the German version increases the potential customer base enough to compensate the increased expenses? With mainstream games, or those targeted at very casual gamers you absolutely have to, but with a sim like AH and a rather limited marketing budget of a small company dedicated to a single product I guess it just doesn't work.
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Slighly more on topic, I had Silent Hunter III, and somehow along the line I had heard or read that games with the "swastika" on graphics were not saleable in Germany. Is that true, and would it require a different boxed version be sold there as opposed to what would be available as the regular online AH?
I got to thinking about this again recently when I (finally) got into a Brewster and noticed it has one. I'm sure others have it too, but it made me again question the truth to it.
Regards
Bob
There are no symbols in AH which are illegal in Germany. That's why HTC won't accept any German swastikas on submitted skins. The Finnish blue swastika is an entirely different thing, with different design, meaning, heritage. It is not a symbol of national socialism and thus not outlawed here.
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Trying to sell a game that is in English in countries that dont speak it as their first language is nuts.
Most games sold here are in English. Some may have installation instructions in Finnish, though. You know: "Insert the disk into the optical reader..."
Heck, even Finnish games are mostly in English! I don't think Max Payne had any Finnish voice acting, and Angry Birds' menus are in English. I'm not sure about the Russian game, IL-2, if it has other than English menus. I think the Forgotten Battles version had some Finnish voice acting. The same can be told about some ww2 FPS's, but nevertheless that only serves for atmosphere, not helping in the gaming itself. Just like the "Base Under Attack" warning in AH.
So, are we nuts for buying these games, or are the game vendors out of their wits?
[Edit] Lusche, you're typing much faster than I...
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Not necessarily over here. There is still quite a number of games being sold running in English only, either because they are only available in that language or because not few players actually prefer the original one (just like with dubbed vs original language movies).
It's also depending on the target audience, players of non mainstream games are used to English games only.
To port a game to another language is a costly matter. A company has to consider costs vs benefit - does the German version increases the potential customer base enough to compensate the increased expenses? With mainstream games, or those targeted at very casual gamers you absolutely have to, but with a sim like AH and a rather limited marketing budget of a small company dedicated to a single product I guess it just doesn't work.
Is it really that hard to port it, of course for htc to do it on their own would prove to costly. Fact is they do not have to provide support in any language apart from english they just have to give the users the ability to translate the games menu options to their language, something like a simple text file with every menu option and error message etc in english, someone who was say french would be able to translate this and post a version for others to download on the forum like soundpacks are.
They dont have to support it, the players of this game would do it for them for nothing. Seen some poor numbers guy in the TA the other night trying to talk to morfiend he was brazilian, he was typing in broken english but couldn't figure out how to get to a1 or switch countries. Blade a Japanese player has already single handed translated the AHWiki to Japanese. HTC doesn't have to tell anyone to do this, just make it possible so they can.
I do think this is a niche market but every country will have people who want to play this game and love this game, if HTC wants more players they have to provide the option for the users to talk and read the game in their own language.
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Most games sold here are in English. Some may have installation instructions in Finnish, though. You know: "Insert the disk into the optical reader..."
Heck, even Finnish games are mostly in English! I don't think Max Payne had any Finnish voice acting, and Angry Birds' menus are in English. I'm not sure about the Russian game, IL-2, if it has other than English menus. I think the Forgotten Battles version had some Finnish voice acting. The same can be told about some ww2 FPS's, but nevertheless that only serves for atmosphere, not helping in the gaming itself. Just like the "Base Under Attack" warning in AH.
So, are we nuts for buying these games, or are the game vendors out of their wits?
[Edit] Lusche, you're typing much faster than I...
IL2 is supported in Russian and various other languages iirc, definitely Russian. To answer your question if you are nuts, not really you understand English its not really a problem, would you play Aces High if it was only available in say Japanese, I would bet you wouldn't learn a new language just to play this game.
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.... Of course they'll have to do something about the language barrier on 200. ….
I don't think it will matter a bit to any new non English speaking (and writing) players. In ROF (http://riseofflight.com/en/Community/Leaderboard) we have such a multinational player base the text buffer is constantly filled with a mixture of English, German, French, Italian, Russian, Greek, Etc. I can't read anything bar the English, it doesn't matter, I just ignore the rest.
The big question is how you as the Aces High community react and adapt to this!
Will you just accept it and welcome these new paying customers? or will the little generals be demanding everyone speak English!
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if HTC wants more players they have to provide the option for the users to talk and read the game in their own language.
Why should they do it? Even the big houses don't, so why should HTC bother?
Besides, this being a multiplayer game, what would you think would be the result, if everyone on Range radio channel talked their own language? Or typed on Country or 200 in whatever language they want to? The profanity filter for one would be in trouble, because of homonyms and homographs with the English language. See Rude Food Names (http://rudefoodnames.com/Welcome.html) for examples.
Also, a lot of invaluable information would be lost, if everyone gave hints and tips only on squad forums in their native tongue. Vai mitäpä olet itse mieltä tästä asiasta?
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would you play Aces High if it was only available in say Japanese, I would bet you wouldn't learn a new language just to play this game.
Japanese has never been a problem in gaming :D. I'm not saying I could read or speak it, but their games have always been intuitive enough. As long as you can find the "Start" button, everything will be fine. Think about their major successes starting from PacMan and Mario...
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I don't think it will matter a bit to any new non English speaking (and writing) players. In ROF (http://riseofflight.com/en/Community/Leaderboard) we have such a multinational player base the text buffer is constantly filled with a mixture of English, German, French, Italian, Russian, Greek, Etc. I can't read anything bar the English, it doesn't matter, I just ignore the rest.
The big question is how you as the Aces High community react and adapt to this!
Will you just accept it and welcome these new paying customers? or will the little generals be demanding everyone speak English!
Sid it actually amazes me how few British and USA flags are on that :)
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IL2 is supported in Russian and various other languages iirc, definitely Russian. To answer your question if you are nuts, not really you understand English its not really a problem, would you play Aces High if it was only available in say Japanese, I would bet you wouldn't learn a new language just to play this game.
In many countries, it's standard to watch US movies and TV shows in English, play computer games published in English and so on, particularly smaller ones like Finland or the Netherlands. I certainly won't start to ague that being available in the local language would hurt - I would actually like to see things like a German language sub-forum, a start page with German instructions an so on.
But some markets are so much used to the English language that publishing a game in English is not "nuts" but makes a lot of sense. Why increase your expenses by (insert arbitrary number) if you can hope to increase the revenues enough to balance it?
In case of a pure online game like AH things are even a bit more difficult, as it's just not the game content on the CD you have to translate, but you have to create a German language online environment, with all the follow up cost of maintaining it continously.
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Vai mitäpä olet itse mieltä tästä asiasta?
I once flew the Husky scenario with you Finns... scary experience :uhoh
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The big question is how you as the Aces High community react and adapt to this!
Will you just accept it and welcome these new paying customers? or will the little generals be demanding everyone speak English!
This is the point that I was getting at. :aok
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Why should they do it? Even the big houses don't, so why should HTC bother?
Besides, this being a multiplayer game, what would you think would be the result, if everyone on Range radio channel talked their own language? Or typed on Country or 200 in whatever language they want to? The profanity filter for one would be in trouble, because of homonyms and homographs with the English language. See Rude Food Names (http://rudefoodnames.com/Welcome.html) for examples.
Also, a lot of invaluable information would be lost, if everyone gave hints and tips only on squad forums in their native tongue. Vai mitäpä olet itse mieltä tästä asiasta?
I couldnt give a toss if people want to talk in a different langauge on range :lol on 200...actually that would be great I couldnt understand their whining :rofl I just want to put my bullets into their non English speaking plane and put them on the ground at the end of the day, the extra money they pump in will help me get all the yummy updates and additions to the game faster, so its purely selfish on my part :D
Why should they do it, because they have a smaller market and need every customer they can get.
Japanese has never been a problem in gaming :D. I'm not saying I could read or speak it, but their games have always been intuitive enough. As long as you can find the "Start" button, everything will be fine. Think about their major successes starting from PacMan and Mario...
OK well I can tell you right now that I wouldnt even attempt to go past the menu screen, let alone play it, I think being quite good in English and Finnish is making you quite short sighted on this subject. :salute
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Sid it actually amazes me how few British and USA flags are on that :)
There are in fact a lot of British and North American (http://riseofflight.com/en/community/leaderboard/Leagues/northamerica) players in ROF, it's just we are such a small percentage of the total ROF community (http://riseofflight.com/en/Community/Leaderboard).
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In many countries, it's standard to watch US movies and TV shows in English, play computer games published in English and so on, particularly smaller ones like Finland or the Netherlands. I certainly won't start to ague that being available in the local language would hurt - I would actually like to see things like a German language sub-forum, a start page with German instructions an so on.
But some markets are so much used to the English language that publishing a game in English is not "nuts" but makes a lot of sense. Why increase your expenses by (insert arbitrary number) if you can hope to increase the revenues enough to balance it?
In case of a pure online game like AH things are even a bit more difficult, as it's just not the game content on the CD you have to translate, but you have to create a German language online environment, with all the follow up cost of maintaining it continuously.
Did you read what I suggested Lusche, how would that be expensive. A simple text file that the game uses to change the options that is a user can edit and a new user to the game can download to convert the game instantly to their own language. This game has a very high learning curve as it is. Expecting a new player to then look at a bunch of jibberish and stick at it isn't gonna happen.
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There are in fact a lot of British and USA (http://riseofflight.com/en/community/leaderboard/Leagues/northamerica) players in ROF, it's just we are such a small percentage of the total ROF community (http://riseofflight.com/en/Community/Leaderboard).
I just noticed that the leaderboard is top 1000 :bhead :)
Yeah some tart in the WW1 arena wanted me to go join RoF looking at the graphics my crappy laptop wouldnt handle it, its obviously lucky enough for this 242Sqn_Wolf dude otherwise I would easily rape him obviously :ahand :rofl :rock :banana:
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Did you read what I suggested Lusche, how would that be expensive. A simple text file that the game uses to change the options that is a user can edit and a new user to the game can download to convert the game instantly to their own language
This is more like having a quick start guide in German, which to my best knowledge it already has.The actual game world would still be English too. Selling such a game as a "German version" would have trouble following for the publisher - It still would have to be sold as an "English game", which would qualify as being "nuts" according to your initial statement ;)
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Cool, haha. Didn't know it was for sale. . .
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This is more like having a quick start guide in German, which to my best knowledge it already has.The actual game world would still be English too. Selling such a game as a "German version" would have trouble following for the publisher - It still would have to be sold as an "English game", which would qualify as being "nuts" according to your initial statement ;)
Just to clarify....I do think its nuts even selling it in a box version when its so easy to access over the internet :) The game world will always stay English so long as people who only speak English play the game. That wont give the game more subscribers, I want Russian n00bs to shoot down, like I said HTC do not have to officially support any language other than English, the players will do the rest themselves.
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Aces High has such a good coms text system, they could probably just add a "language" text channel. Just click on the drop down menu, instead of selecting ALL, Squad, Country, etc, select Cantonese, Portuguese, Rumanian or what ever.
This would at least limit it to those that want to read the "Cantonese text".
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i have found that if you really want to play this game, you are in for a long learning curve. Most people do not want a game that requires the skill level that is required (over time) to be successful in AH. There's no instant fix or help from the "software" that a majority of people need to avoid the frustration of "IT TAKES TIME" to be good in AH
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Just to clarify....I do think its nuts even selling it in a box version when its so easy to access over the internet :) The game world will always stay English so long as people who only speak English play the game. That wont give the game more subscribers, I want Russian n00bs to shoot down, like I said HTC do not have to officially support any language other than English, the players will do the rest themselves.
If I have understood right, HTC has ads on American TV and in some US magazines, too. Not so here in Europe. Thus finding AH just by chance among a gazillion downloadable games is highly unlikely. Like searching a needle from a haystack without knowing what a needle is.
There's a bunch of long time ww2 flying sim aficionados here in Finland, and the word spreads from mouth to mouth. And as Snailman said, Personally, I did't know anyone in real life I have met in the last 6 years where I would have had a chance to interest him in Aces High.
Every gamer goes shopping every once in awhile, be it for food or entertainment. It's easy to grab a decently priced game into the cart. And since every cd of this marketing campaign is paid by the customer, it's very cost effective for HTC.
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Why should they do it? Even the big houses don't, so why should HTC bother?
Besides, this being a multiplayer game, what would you think would be the result, if everyone on Range radio channel talked their own language? Or typed on Country or 200 in whatever language they want to? The profanity filter for one would be in trouble, because of homonyms and homographs with the English language. See Rude Food Names (http://rudefoodnames.com/Welcome.html) for examples.
Also, a lot of invaluable information would be lost, if everyone gave hints and tips only on squad forums in their native tongue. Vai mitäpä olet itse mieltä tästä asiasta?
I don't know what I would think about it. At least there would be more people.
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I'm trying to point out, that the language is not the main issue. The biggest problem is to spread knowledge of this game. In the USA they can advertise between subject related programs, aiming to an already segmented market. Since here in Europe military channels and hero pilot TV series are a nonexisting breed, the marketing has to be done by a means that exists. If people buy their games in boxes, then it'd be useless to sell games in other packages.
Spell check done, but is this English? Hope you understand.
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Plenty of people here know other lanuages. I know spanish, a fair bit of italian, some German, and even a little Polish.
I'm from Texas but speak english in game. I still use some redneck in game.
I will say that back a couple of years ago in AVA there were some germans folks flying and speaking german..... I was on their side to even teams. I had no idea what they were saying but it sure added depth to the game. I really liked the chatter between them... I just followed along.
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Yes. Since last month AH is also available as a boxed game here in Germany.
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/514oKvXzYAL.jpg)
They're your neighbors and fellow countrymen, noticed anything different yet around your prime time(s)?
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They're your neighbors and fellow countrymen, noticed anything different yet around your prime time(s)?
Haven't flown an MA sortie for over two months now, just logged in a few times recently but didn't notice anything in the roster.
Numberwise, I didn't spot any increase in number of players logged in at my prime time either.
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Well, since it slipped by Lusche too I figure I'd better clarify my statement.
Here in the U.S. peoples awareness of history is on a steady decline. I made the assumption that this trend is worldwide.
And as the saying goes... those that forget their past are doomed to repeat it.
I do not think that this is as big an issue in Europe. Here, in the States, we were far removed from what was going on while, if you look hard enough, one can still see places in Europe that still bear the scars of the war.
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Set up subforums that are moderated by our members that speak french, german etc to field questions about AH and if they dont know the answer they can put the question to the trainer corp search the help forum or post the question in the forums and then translates the answers he gets. On the home page in different languages have a section that says "for help use this link" and give the link to that languages subforum.
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if you look hard enough, one can still see places in Europe that still bear the scars of the war.
I just read in today's paper, that old men in Lapland still offer German tourists a matchbox, asking if they'd like to relive the history.