pirate translation

Cubed3's Adam Riley: First of all, can you tell us how long this project has been in development and how large the team working on it is?

Hironobu Takeshita-san, Producer of Zack & Wiki: We began researching the concept around autumn time in 2005, just about 2 years ago. During the largest phase, our team was about 50 strong. But now that we're into the final stage of development there just under 30 people.

AR: What made you choose a traditional adventure style that people normally associate with the PC?

HT: The reason we went with this style might have something to do with the fact that our director is a huge fan of PC style adventure games. The extreme simplicity of this style of game makes it very approachable to just about anyone. Also, the Wii Remote is extremely well suited to the traditional adventure game system.

AR: What was your inspiration for the lead characters? And where did the general idea of the game's theme come from?

HT: The game's "pirate" theme had already been decided beforehand. We really wanted players to enjoy going on all types of adventures. And adventurers are upbeat, high-spirited, and sometimes a little naughty. With that in mind, we thought that a young boy would fit perfectly in a pirate setting. A characteristic of Zack's design is his head. His bandana, hairstyle and captain's hat were all designed to give the feel of a young boy who dreams of being the big captain of a pirate ship.

AR: The Press has been overwhelmingly supportive of Zack & Wiki with the likes of IGN campaigning for readers to buy it. Does this put any added pressure on the team in the final stages of development?

HT: The support of the press from early on has been a great encouragement to us and the team is working very hard to meet their high expectations.

AR: How come the name changed from Project Treasure Island Z to Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure?

HT: The original working title "Project Treasure Island Z" was more or less a direct translation over from the Japanese title "Takarajima Z", as no one outside of Japan would be expected to know what Takarajima meant. However, we thought "Treasure Island" conjures up too many images from the famous work of the same name. We wanted to make a break from that and give this new game a new and fresh image, so we decided to make the names of the main characters the title. The "Treasure" in the sub-title is a vestige of the working title "Project Treasure Island Z".

AR: Do you have estimated sales projections for the game? And if these figures cannot be released yet, despite adventure games traditionally being strongest in Europe, do you have any thoughts about which region the game will appeal most to?

HT: We do have some rough estimates. Unfortunately, those numbers aren't public. As you've pointed out, in Europe adventure games are extremely popular, and we have high expectations for that market. In North America, action and first person shooters are the dominant genres, but with the support of the media, we are very optimistic about the North American market as well.

AR: Have you found it hard to work on Wii? There has been much praise for the artistic style of Zack & Wiki � was this different approach anything to do with the Wii's inferior power when compared to PS3 and Xbox 360?

HT: Thank you for the compliment. In this game, we are aiming for a consistently good level of graphics. Recently, as hardware performance has improved, game graphics have become more detailed. Consequently, often this invites situations where there is so much information on the screen that the player doesn't know where to look. Or, characters that look beautiful when static can look muddled when in motion. So, this time we set out with a clear purpose to design simple characters and backgrounds, emphasising silhouettes to give a warm, uncomplicated, 3D feel. Clear, fun characters that when they move feel good to the eyes. Basically, pure graphics for gaming.

AR: It has been mentioned a second player can get involved in the game, but could you elaborate on this function, please?

HT: This game is, in principle, a single player game. But, it may help to call on friend or family members when you get stuck on a puzzle. I think it would be great to have everyone gathered around their Wii all excited. Watching your friends try stages that you've already cleared can be just as amusing. More than a function, I'd like to think of it as just another way to enjoy the game.

AR: It has been said that the game will last around 40 hours. With adventure games generally being around 1/4 of that length, are you concerned that people may grow tired of the experience after such a long playtime?

HT: Well, it should take somewhere between 16 and 20 to play through the main game. To completely do everything possible in the game, like collecting all items and extras will take a while longer.

AR: Has any thought gone into including WiiConnect24 features for new updates to the game or releasing new puzzles via the Wi-Fi Connection to extend the game's longevity? (If not, please explain why)

HT: We won't be using that function this time around. This type of network function can be very useful for expanding the main storyline, however it also presents the paradox of limiting how much of the game can be played initially. We were more concerned with allowing the users to fully enjoy the game straight out of the box than with expandability.

AR: Zack & Wiki seems ideal for becoming a big name franchise for Capcom. But do you have plans to turn Zack & Wiki into a full-time series with future instalments coming out on Wii?

HT: Personally, I am very optimistic. But, in the end, it's the user that determines the fate of a game. By all means, give us your support, so that one day Zack & Wiki may become as successful as other Capcom franchises!

AR: And given the touch-screen capabilities of the DS being extremely suited to this genre, what are your thoughts on the idea of a portable Zack & Wiki in the future?

HT: The idea of a portable version of Zack and Wiki seems like an interesting one. The touch screen could have a lot of puzzle-solving potential. If there is a demand, I'd definitely like to give it a try.

AR: Finally, what games (other than your own) have been taking your interest lately?

HT: That would be the Wii version of Mario Kart that was recently announced at E3. I'm especially interested in how the network play will work.
It's been only a week since I blogged (here) about a proposal from author Peter Wayner that Google should reward original content creators by diminishing the search ranking of unauthorized copies.

According to news reports, Google News has already gone one step further, agreeing with four wire services (The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, The Canadian Press, and The Press Association in the United Kingdom) to start hosting their stories directly on Google News-- thus diminishing a source of links to independent newspaper versions of their wire stories.

This wasn't what Wayner or I had in mind; I figured Google should just stop sending traffic over to sites reprinting content without permission. These newspapers certainly had permission; they were paying for this content. But at least this shows that Google has the technology to distinguish between original and reprinted content.

There has been no formal announcement on Google's own Press Center, but the story was widely reported over the weekend after Google's Josh Cohen mentioned the deal on his blog (here).

Ironically, when I started collecting links on Monday evening, coverage of the story on Google News led off with a Financial Times wire story that was reprinted by MSN Money. The original version of the story was hidden behind a pay wall on the Financial Times site.

The fallout continues over the SFWA/Scribd flap I covered over the weekend (in "SFWA vs. the Pirates of the Internet" on Saturday and "SFWA vs. the Pirates of the Internet, Part II" on Sunday).

SFWA (the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America) announced on its Web site on Monday that its board voted to disband its ePiracy Committee (chaired by Andrew Burt). The board intends to find out what the SFWA membership wants SFWA to do about copyright education and enforcement, and then create a new committee to implement these wishes.

My friend, SF author and former SFWA President Jerry Pournelle weighed in on this decision (here, on Jerrypournelle.com), describing it as "caving" in to the pirates who have been using Web sites such as Scribd.com with very little control. Pournelle's pithy translation of the SFWA announcement:

Authors, you are on your own; SFWA will no longer act for you in defense of your electronic rights.I think maybe Pournelle was being too tough on SFWA. He knows the people involved, and I don't, but I still hope they were being sincere in announcing those plans...and will actually carry them out.

See, I'm concerned that if piracy of the written word is allowed to get out of control today, there will be no opportunity for the electronic book market to develop properly. Only a small fraction of books currently in print are also sold in electronic form, mostly because there's still no good way for most people to read electronic books. Yes, some people have the Sony PRS-500 Reader or other purpose-built devices. Some people read books on laptops or smart phones. But these are not mainstream solutions. Sony's Reader is too expensive (and too fragile, as I learned recently); laptops are awkward; smart phones are too small.

This will change soon. I think that within three years, we'll see a passable $49 e-book reader. Within five years, that price point will support a pretty nice product. And that's when publishers should be ready to offer essentially all of their titles in electronic form.

But there's no way they're going to do that if they know all this content will end up on pirate Web sites within a few days or hours. That's why it's important for SFWA--and other authors' organizations, and publishers' associations, and even agents for the more successful individual writers--to stay on the case, keeping these sites from developing active pirate communities.

So while the SFWA announcement disappoints me (I wish they'd said something more along the lines of, "We're sorry we screwed up on a handful of legally posted documents, but we're also proud we've taken thousands of pirated works offline. We're not going to give up until the pirates do"), I'm heartened to see that Scribd is starting to do its moral duty.

Scribd has taken down all of the uploads by one particular scofflaw user I mentioned here on Sunday without waiting for individual DMCA notices. This action is in stark contrast to the claim by Scribd Director of Community Development Jason Bentley in a comment to my Sunday blog that "to proactivly [sic] remove material without a legal request puts Scribd outside the protection of the DMCA." That claim never made sense; the DMCA doesn't force sites to tolerate piracy, and Scribd's terms have always prohibited posting pirated content. Finally, this prohibition is starting to be enforced.

Scribd still has work to do. A search for "science fiction" on the site still returns some pirated works. Two of the documents I mentioned here on Sunday are gone, but two more are still available. Many of the unauthorized copies of Tolkien works are still there, too.

But it took Scribd's less honorable users months to build the site's large collection of pirated documents; I understand that it will likely take Scribd a while to tear it down. Scribd will have to be careful not to remove legal documents. If we've learned anything from this situation, it's that users generally believe it's better to tolerate some piracy in order to protect legal self-expression, and I really can't argue with that.

The In Print page will briefly note any book by a local author or of local interest, provided it is readily available, is produced by an established publisher, and does not promote a commercial enterprise. Books mentioned here may or may not be reviewed subsequently.

To be included, send a copy of the book and, if necessary, a short note explaining the local connection, to Doug Riggs, Books Editor, Providence Sunday Journal, 75 Fountain St. Providence, RI 02902.


Howard P. Chudacoff, George L. Littlefield professor of American history at Brown University, has written Children at Play: An American History (NYU Press, 269 pages, $27.95). Chudacoff is also the author of How Old Are You? Age Consciousness in American Culture and The Age of the Bachelor: Creating an American Subculture.


Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi of North Attleboro, along with Michael Holley, has written Never Give Up: My Stroke, My Recovery & My Return to the NFL (Wiley, 268 pages, $24.95). The book, which features color photographs, includes a foreword by Tom Brady. Bruschi is an official spokesman for the American Stroke Association.

The true story of Charles Gibbs ― an alias for James Jeffers (1798-1831) of Newport, the child of a Revolutionary War privateer captain ― is told in Dead Men Tell No Tales (The University of South Carolina Press, 232 pages, $29.95) by Joseph Gibbs, formerly a reporter and editor at several Massachusetts newspapers. Separating truth from legend, the biography chronicles murders, mutiny and mayhem committed by a real pirate of the Caribbean.


Maureen A. Taylor of Westwood, Mass., a former archivist and picture editor for the Rhode Island Historical Society, offers 250 period photographs in Picturing Rhode Island: Images of Everyday Life, 1850-2006 (Commonwealth Editions, 192 pages, $29.95). The black and white photographs reveal the state's glory days ― bustling commercial centers, architectural gems, life on the water and pastoral farmland.

Recent Rhode Island School of Design graduate Alison Paul has written and illustrated her first book, The Crow (A Not So Scary Story) (Houghton Mifflin, 40 pages, $16). The picture book pays homage to Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven.

Christina Snyder-O'Reilly of Warwick wrote an original short story that has been published in the newly released Chicken Soup for the Soul Celebrating Brothers and Sisters, Funnies and Favorites About Growing Up and Being Grown Up (paperback, Health Communications, Inc., 268 pages, $14.95). Christina's story is about her toddler brother and how his curiosity of the neighborhood pond gets him into trouble.

Branch Line Press has released the latest addition to its New England Rail Heritage Series: A Field Guide to Southern New England Railroad Depots and Freight Houses (paperback, 351 pages, $19.95), by John H. Roy Jr. of Stonington, Conn. Roy has spent the last 15 years exploring and researching every railroad station in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island; this handbook provides a guide to all 467.

In November Cheng & Tsui Co.'s Readings in Korean Culture Series will publish Generation Gap and Other Essays by Providence author Hye-Sook Wang (paperback, 370 pages, $29.95). She is an associate professor of East Asian studies at Brown University and the co-author of Integrated Korean: High Advanced as well as editor of The Korean Language in America.


Also to be released in November is Fixing Men: Sex, Birth Control, and AIDS in Mexico by Matthew Gutmann (University of California Press, 265 pages, $55 hardcover, $21.95 paper), associate professor of anthropology at Brown University. Gutmann is also the author of The Meanings of Macho: Being a Man in Mexico City and The Romance of Democracy: Compliant Defiance in Contemporary Mexico.

Zachary Lazar, a graduate of Brown University who teaches at Hofstra University, has written his second novel, Sway (Little, Brown and Company, 224 pages, $23.99). Scheduled to be published in January, it takes readers into the last years of the 1960s when Mick Jagger, Charles Manson and Kenneth Anger came to be everyday names.

Salve Regina University Press/University Press of New England will also publish in January La Gazette Fran?oise, Revolutionary America's French Newspaper, edited by Eugena Poulin and translated and annotated by Claire Quintal (168 pages, $45). It's said to be the first complete English translation of the French newspaper printed by the French troops of Rochambeau's army during their eleven-month stay in Newport.

― Compiled by MIKKI CATANZARO