[yolomate]

some videogames of Panasonic 3doplay  going translate?

[Jorpho]

You may have noticed that there is already a translation for Doctor Hauzer, and apparently there are efforts to translate the 3DO version of Policenauts as well.

So it doesn't seem like there's anything really stopping people from translating 3DO games except for the inescapable fact that I don't think anyone has a particularly burning desire to play 3DO games at all, let alone in something other than the language in which they were originally released.

[yolomate]

You may have noticed that there is already a translation for Doctor Hauzer, and apparently there are efforts to translate the 3DO version of Policenauts as well.

So it doesn't seem like there's anything really stopping people from translating 3DO games except for the inescapable fact that I don't think anyone has a particularly burning desire to play 3DO games at all, let alone in something other than the language in which they were originally released.

yep its sad but that only see...ok no great games but...

[goldenband]

The Virtual Cameraman games got a partial translation (by a RH member) that hasn't been released, and a few people on the 3DO Discord have been looking into various games. There are also Russian-language translations floating around of a few games like Sailor Moon and Takeru.

I don't think the biggest obstacle to translating 3DO games is the "inescapable fact" of lack of interest -- plenty of people like the 3DO, me included, and it was mildly popular in Russia, where some of the most intrepid hackers live. Rather, it's the fact that the discs are encrypted and, until relatively recently, couldn't easily be signed to work on real hardware.

For RH, distributing any kind of a patch would be a real headache, but the good news is that I think the way the encryption works allows xdelta to confine itself to the parts of the filesystem that were changed. In other words, it's not as if every byte of the signed disc is changed when one byte is changed, so you can have a 10-20 MB patch instead of a 300+ MB patch.

The tools available for 3DO have also been a limiting factor but, again, people are working on it and have made big strides. My guess is that we'll see a few translations over the next 3-5 years.

[cccmar]

It would seem that there's somewhat more interest in CD systems these days, because younger folks aren't as interested in pre-32-bit systems simply (heck, even PS2 era is ancient history to many, hahah). You can even find groups dedicated solely to handhelds like NDS/3DS. On the other hand, some architectures are much more difficult to work with (PCE-CD, Saturn, PS1/PS2...). That's another factor that needs considering, and why there aren't nearly as many Saturn translations as Mega Drive translations, for example, even though the former was the most popular Sega console in Japan.

With 3D0, it's also the fact that not too many people actually own/ed it. There are a few dozen JP exclusives, but I'm not sure how much interest there is in translating them. There are a few RPGs even, but I'm pretty sure they have ports on much more popular consoles, like PS1. It would still be cool to see some new 3DS translations at some point.

[FAST6191]

Prior to the rise of everdrive I would confidently estimate the overwhelming majority of any hacks done for any of the 8-16 bit era stuff were only played on emulators, with about as exotic as it got being when people tried to play said hacks on emulators on hacked handhelds and consoles, even today with flash carts worth speaking of being a thing for older devices then emulators are still the way.

That said 3d0 to most is "haha EA failed" so you would have to overcome that and show that something of gameplay or historical interest (first ?, notable evolution of ? mechanic, spinoff to notable franchise, maybe interesting port of a game seen elsewhere...).



"some architectures are much more difficult to work with (PCE-CD, Saturn, PS1/PS2...)"

I will give the Saturn is a pig to work with but is the PS1 that bad? Had a weird approach to 2d in general and 3d if you are blinded by modern direct3d/opengl approaches. PCE/TG16 does not look so bad either most times I go looking there either, though I have not properly looked into the CD side of things there.

[cccmar]

The problem with PCE-CD are the subtitles. Unlike pretty much anything else on the market at that point, the PCE had only one layer of background graphics, and sprites on top of that, so doing a bunch of sprites is pretty much the only option to sub these games (and likely while this was pretty much never done, in favour of VA). The rest is mostly a tedious timing exercise, made harder whenever the actual cutscene moves vertically or horizontally. I guess adding subs to PS1 games wouldn't be 'that' much easier, but I can only speculate there. The rest is generally an individual matter anyway.

As for 3D0 - I'm sure there will be more projects coming eventually, but even then I wonder how they'd be subbed for example, or whether VA would be preferred if applicable.

[Jorpho]

The problem with PCE-CD are the subtitles. Unlike pretty much anything else on the market at that point, the PCE had only one layer of background graphics, and sprites on top of that, so doing a bunch of sprites is pretty much the only option to sub these games (and likely while this was pretty much never done, in favour of VA). The rest is mostly a tedious timing exercise, made harder whenever the actual cutscene moves vertically or horizontally. I guess adding subs to PS1 games wouldn't be 'that' much easier, but I can only speculate there. The rest is generally an individual matter anyway.

Surely for FMV clips it would make more sense just to use hardsubs?