[Recca]

Except for the fact that they're selling their translations instead of offering them for free. Please explain to me what makes their translations worth more than those of any other? Not to mention the fact that they don't own the rights to Star Ocean: Blue Sphere. Why should they be making money off of this and on one else? Did Dejap make money off of their translations? Does Dynamic-Designs or any other decent translation group make any money from piracy? Did the French and Spanish translators of this game make any money at all? No, I rest my case.

[Gideon Zhi]

We work hard to release our translations without even asking for donations, unlike AGTP. This is because we have a little something called "honor".

Excuse me? The only time I ever actually *asked* for donations was when had been out of work for half a year, had $10 to my name, and was about to miss rent. The button's there because people kept asking for ways to donate, and even then, I make sure people know that any money that gets donated is treated *purely* as a gesture of gratitude, not as some kind of payment. The button is basically window dressing at this point - even in good years it doesn't bring in enough cover even one month's worth of my student loan payments. I bust my ass on a daily basis at the office, moonlight as a contractor during off hours, and spend my hour-long (each direction) bus commutes and sacrifice my lunches so I can continue to romhack in what passes for my very limited free time.

But all that's beside the point. I take extreme umbrage in the insinuation that I'm trying to profit off of piracy. I've been trying to pivot AGTP into a business for over a decade now, but through all the proper legal channels. If all I wanted to do was turn a quick buck I'd be selling repro carts like the rest of the scum. But no - I've sold exactly five translations in those ten years. Two of those were commissioned from scratch (you can now preorder Metal Storm from Castlemania; LRG has already gone through their production run) and where possible (four out of five) the translators got paid or are in the process of getting paid for their work. All were to folks who legitimately hold the legal rights to publish (or republish) the games.

"Get a real job?" I have two. And anyone with "honor" wouldn't insult me by insinuating that I didn't have any.

[Recca]

I wasn't trying to insult you in any way. By "get a real job", I was talking to the internet repro cart pirates. I also didn't mean to say that asking for donations is wrong or anything, I was only trying to boast a bit about D-D not accepting any. By the way, I live alone and work two jobs as well. After rent and bill payments, I hardly have any money left over for food. I usually eat nothing more than cheap rice with tuna cans and bread. I've had the same pair of shoes for over ten years now. I'm sorry if I offended you in any way. I was talking about illegal pirates on the web, not you personally or any other translation group. I believe that there's been some misunderstanding here. I should have said that "we don't even accept donations like AGTP". Again, as a small boast, not an insult.

Although, I will say that I've heard some rumors on reddit and a few other sites a while back about AGTP selling repro carts and such. I certainly hope that these rumors aren't true... Maybe someone was just using your name?

[tc]

Frankly I can't imagine fan translation paying the bills. For the game company it's free publicity. And the inevitable pirates get another project to steal.

Any half decent translator (or programmer, graphics artist...) has a world of better career opportunities than spending years hacking away at old video games.

[Gideon Zhi]

Although, I will say that I've heard some rumors on reddit and a few other sites a while back about AGTP selling repro carts and such. I certainly hope that these rumors aren't true... Maybe someone were just using your name?

I've worked on five pieces of translated software that were officially licensed from their IP holders by a reputable publisher:

Magical Drop 1 and 2 are available on the Data East Classics Collection. MD2 was translated by TheMajinZenki, who was paid for his work.
Dark Lord is available on the GoRetro Portable AIO device. Shih Tzu on translation; am in the process of paying.
Metal Storm was commissioned and was available for purchase from Limited Run Games, is still available for preorder at Castlemania Games, and is available through several European distributors. Translation by TheMajinZenki, reverse-engineering and script edit done by myself. No part of the existing translation was used. Zenki got paid for this too.
(unannounced) was also commissioned and is still WIP. Zenki translated this as well, and will be paid directly out of my cut when it arrives. I don't know if this has been announced officially yet so I'm not going to say much more about it.

All five were commissioned by Retro-Bit Entertainment, who acquired the rights to republish the games from Data East (Magical Drop and Dark Lord) and Irem (Metal Storm.) All legal and above board. I've also done some small modifications to half a dozen or so other titles for another retro publisher/IP holder. I have a portfolio website put together for the business which I'll share when I'm ready, but I'm still in the process of desiging a logo for it. This is a good reminder that I need to file its Q4 taxes.

Beyond those, any reproductions of AGTP's stuff are done strictly without my endorsement and against my expressed wishes. I don't make any money from those, nor would I want to. I love romhacking and would love to be able to make a living off of it, but I have and will always refuse to do so if the legality of a given venture is up to question.

Don't believe everything you read.