Dota2 localization (somewhat predictably) meets further problems in China

Original: http://dota2.sgamer.com/news/201301/148749.html

After supposed issues with the voice work for Chinese Dota2 thus far, we have another, perhaps more predictable problem potentially on our hands…

After we entered 2013, rumors and leaks from various sources have all pointed towards a March debut of Perfect World Dota2 servers in China. And, two waves of beta codes sent out from Perfect World also hint at this.

However, now the longstanding practice of ‘harmonization’ of Western games for the Chinese market has now come to rest its shadow upon Dota2 in China — it has been revealed that, due to the game’s content being deemed overly violent and bloody, it has stalled in the Chinese censor approval process, and thus it remains uncertain whether this will delay the debut of Dota2 Chinese servers.

above: Steam chat suggesting that Skeleton King will be one to be ‘harmonized’, as his current model has no flesh, and thus violates the government’s ban of depicting skeletons in media

And in reality, there have been quite a few big-name Western games that met varying degrees of censorship after coming to China, such as the famous World of Warcraft changing its skeletons to much ‘meatier’ models, so here are our guesses for Dota2’s changes before it can go live in China:

1. Skeletons ‘harmonized’ — Skeleton King, Clinkz, etc
2. Names ‘harmonized’ — various hero names
3. Blood color changed — change the color of blood splashes, for example Phantom Assassin’s effect
4. Icons altered — seems like there are many places for this in Dota2

So if this news is true, then it looks like Dota2’s eventual debut in China may be a bumpy ride. And what will Dota2 look like after it undergoes these changes, will players still identify with it? We can only wait and see.

Dotaland note: Heroes such as Undying are unlikely to get through unscathed either, as zombies are also taboo territory. Online reactions from fans to all this have been overwhelmingly negative, with widespread criticism of this practice, which is by now standard in China, yet widely hated. Comments of “our taxes go to waste on such bullshit”, “harmonize my ass”, etc.

New team, Rising Stars, brings together old faces

Original: http://dota2.sgamer.com/news/201301/148753.html

Entering 2013, the Dota2 scene within China has been busy with developments, as ZSMJ and LanM have both spearheaded the creation of new teams, bringing old veterans such as Chisbug, xiaoluo, and Kabu along. Now, another new team appears on the Chinese scene as RisingStars-Gaming esports club has announced their formation of a Dota2 team.

RisingStars-Gaming completed construction recently, and their management includes former LoH/NA manager, current RisingStars CEO Cc, team lead Tan Ran. Their tag will be Rstars.Dota2, and the roster is AIR, SUPER (not DK.Super), XDD, PrettyHaw, and Injuly. These five players hail from former ACE Alliance clubs DT^Club and Noah’s Ark, which had disbanded earlier last year.

Worth mentioning is, renowned female esports competitor, well-known commentator, Miss, has also joined the club as media coordinator. Apart from that, RisingStars have also formed a Warcraft 3 squad, with the famed Th000 currently, and additionally in the future they will also form an LoL squad.

We wish Rstars.Dota2 success in achieving good results in 2013, and contribute to the development of the Dota2 pro scene in China!

 

 

Dotaland weekly recap: Jan 9 — 15, 2013

Bit of a quieter week, and we expect the next few weeks to be similar too, as things begin to wind down for the annual Lunar New Year in China (and across large parts of Asia). Players and teams will be going home to spend time with family, with tournaments such as G-League to return after the holiday. Highlights of this week were a piece of fluff about BurNIng’s reactions to trying LoL out, and more news of the aforementioned G-League Finals. In addition, 2009’s face was in the papers as esports became a debate topic in the mainstream; all this and more on this past week’s Dotaland.

Jan 9

Interview with Perfect World CEO Robert Hong Xiao

Fans interested in the business side of the Valve and Perfect World partnership for Dota2 in China may find interesting things in this interview with the CEO of Perfect World.

Jan 11

Dota2 Chinese voice work in localization effort found to be lacking…

A lead member of the Dota2 Chinese localization team, HippoVic, took to public venues to express his distaste for the voice work thus far. Strong language ahead!

Jan 12

2009 in the papers as esports is challenged by outsiders

In this Shenzhen Evening Post editorial, 2009 is the center of a narrative involving a ‘battle’ between esports and traditional sports on school campuses across China.

Jan 14

BurNIng plays some LoL…

The DK weibo account shares a funny anecdote as B-God tries out that other game…

Jan 15

G-League Finals March 9, will feature celebrity and VIP appearances

Confirmed thus far with big-name rockstar Zhang Zhenyue, the G-League Finals will take place in Shanghai on March 9.

 

G-League Finals March 9, will feature celebrity appearances, VIPs

Original: http://dota2.replays.net/news/page/20130115/1771569.html

Today, the G-League hosts, Gamefy, announced on their Weibo account some details regarding the upcoming Grand Finals in Shanghai. It will take place on March 9, 2013, with the location being the previously revealed Mercedes-Benz Center!

Additionally, they have revealed that these Grand Finals will be held in a different way than typically expected of these events, and will feature mainstream celebrities: they have confirmed that popular Taiwanese rockstar, Zhang Zhenyue (张震岳) will be present. On top of that, there are many more as-yet unannounced VIPs to make appearances at the event. Perhaps we’ll even get to see the “real or fake” Jam Hsiao act again too.

 

 

2009 in the papers, as Shenzhen Evening Post responds to criticism of esports in Chinese schools

Original: http://dota.sgamer.com/201301/news-detail-161003.html

Dotaland note: 2009 and esports are mentioned in the mainstream again, as debate flares up once more on the importance of esports and its influence on students.

The incident: The Chinese Ministry of Education recently held a discussion about strengthening physical and sporting environments at universities around the country, inviting leadership from 16 different large universities to participate.

Zhejiang University’s principal, Yang Wei said: “Nowadays there are fewer and fewer people who achieve one hour of daily exercise. Gaming, and online activities instead take up the vast majority of this time. Even though our school has not produced Olympics champions like Sun Yang, we still do have a hero in the form of an esports world champion that is arguably more influential to more of our students than anyone else (this hero being none other than 2009, who graduated from Zhejiang University).”

This kicked off a myriad of discussions, and the Shenzhen Evening Post published an editorial looking at the issue, entitled “Esports is not the enemy of physical sport”.

Esports is not the enemy of physical sport

Shenzhen Evening Post reporter Fang Zhou — Zhejiang University’s principal, with one declaration of “Sun Yang is less influential than esports champions”, once again revealed the weaknesses of our campus sports programs across the country. Many schools have cancelled track programs, and there have even been incidents involving casualties recently.

This time, “the vicious esports industry” has been singled out by many people as the primary source of the demise of sporting and physical excellence on campuses, and its logic goes as such: If we were to smash all the students’ computers, they would naturally then go outside onto sports fields instead.

2009, as the example at hand here, even seemingly sank into the role of ‘villain’ for many people here, as he represented everything that was ‘wrong’. However, consider this: the reason why 2009 is more beloved at Zhejiang University is not because of this, but more because he is like everyone else — he tested into the university like everyone else, we could have met him in the cafeterias, while people like Sun Yang we can only see on TV. Things like being able to claim a national sports star for one’s university are things that typically only administrators care about.

In college, playing computer games is indeed more popular than traditional sports. When I was in college, whenever anyone wanted to hook up and play some Counterstrike, there was always massive interest, while our football (soccer) tournaments meant going into individual dorms to drag people out of bed to play. But you cannot simply take this to mean, a love of Counterstrike is linked to no love for football. Another root cause to be considered here is the fact that tough and lengthy schooling and preparations before college have squeezed the sporting genes and interest out of many kids, so by the time they’ve made it to college, they’re all wearing glasses and physically weak, and so can only find fulfillment in online worlds, playing hero.

English film “The Black Mirror” displayed some of the drawbacks of virtual worlds, and speaking of the drawbacks, they certainly aren’t only limited to affecting campus sports. So students spending so much time gaming cannot possibly be said to have a cause-and-effect relationship with the lack of sports on campuses, it can only be said to be a manifestation of the lack of sports. If you don’t believe me, try this experiment: turn off the internet in the dorms, and see how many people actually go out onto the sports fields instead.

Strictly speaking, esports is also categorized in the realm of sporting in general, and it’s a relatively smaller item in this realm. Just as 2009 said before, don’t approach esports with biases and just assume. Esports can also exercise participants’ decision making, analytic thinking, mentality, and teamwork. 2009 and esports in general are not the monsters that some people think they are. Some school principals only know to blame the internet and gaming; conversely, they should think more seriously about how they can improve things on their own, and reflect on the actual reasons their schools lack sporting.

 

 

Dota2 localization hits a snag? HippoVic has some ‘choice’ words for Chinese voice work thus far…

Welp, ‘choice’ words indeed. In some profanity-laced posts online, HippoVic, a key member of the localization team for Dota2, long-time member of the DotA translation team before that, lashed out on his Weibo accounts earlier, after apparently spending quite a bit of time checking on the progress of Chinese voice work for the game…

Edit: HippoVic has now revealed a few examples, as seen on SGamer, and they are indeed pretty bad translations. Overly literal translations, translations that miss the point, etc. So it is with this background that he is lashing out so violently…

Roughly, from bottom to top, the posts read:

  • “Must not flame… must resist…”
  • “Lacking culture and education is one thing, but resorting to Chinese idioms, such a damn embarrassment. I beg you all to not be so fucking stupid, okay, if you must be a dumbass then fine, but keep it to yourself, don’t make me fix your dumb shit. What have I done to deserve this?”
  • “Rework then, dumb shits! This is what you get for tormenting my ears!”

He has since deleted all but one post from his Tencent Weibo, but his Sina Weibo still has them up, along with another one that says “Thank goodness there’s still me to control quality, or else you bunch of stupid fucks would’ve fucked it all up”.

Previously, we reported that Dota2 would get full localization voice work in China… judging by this arguably extreme reaction, it would seem that the first batch of localization voice work hasn’t passed the test and will need to be reworked.

It is not clear if he is unsatisfied with the quality of the voice work itself, the actual lines and translations, or both. Opinions are mixed on the issue amongst Chinese netizens, with some people glad that he has high standards and is ostensibly trying to avoid the corny voice work that plagues many Chinese games, while others are questioning whether he has a right to so publicly call out others involved in the process.

 

 

Interview with Perfect World CEO Hong Xiao

Original: http://esports.sgamer.com/news/201301/142452.html

Dotaland note: Lots of business talk, and only some short mentions of Dota2, but this interview with the CEO of Perfect World should still be of some interest to fans closely watching the Dota2 partnership as it unfolds in China.

Q: As the CEO of Perfect World, can you give us your evaluation of this past year for the company?

A: To be honest, I’ve been very satisfied with Perfect World’s performance this past year.  Even though there weren’t many major releases for us, we still did quite well in maintaining the vitality and viablity of existing products, as well as smoothly continued operations in developing new releases. So the entire year can be summed up as “steady”. And it is precisely this kind of steadiness that truly exemplifies a company that is on the right path.

Q: In 2013, what kinds of plans and strategic goals does Perfect World have? What specific product releases will there be?

A: In 2013, we will continue to polish our existing products, as well as our global development strategy (Perfect World has offices in the US, and are the publishers of games such as Torchlight and Blacklight), and from there achieve breakthroughs in many other areas. This will be on display for example, in [many of our MMO offerings], as well as games by our Western studios such as Neverwinter Online.

And in terms of overall product lines, Perfect Will will also be making moves outside of the traditional client-based gaming market. For example, browser games and mobile games will see development, and [three recently announced games] will be debuting in 2013 as well. It can be said that our portfolio will become even more balanced in terms of offerings. Additionally, our global strategy will see further improvements. In 2012, we opened our offices in Malaysia, as well as made big pushes in regions such as South America. Our PWIE platform also saw a successful breakthrough in 2012, so we can predict that 2013 will only bring more developments on the front of international growth. Of course, in all of this we cannot go without mentioning Dota2. In 2013, this game will have a face-to-face with Chinese gamers, and become another growth-point for Perfect World.

Q: Perfect World acquired rights to Dota2 in 2012. What are your hopes and expectations for Dota2? When specifically will this game be available to Chinese gamers?

A: 2013, this game will be available to gamers. We have great hopes for this game. Perfect World is making all efforts to ensure that this game will be successful in China. On the business side, we will analyze key points in the Chinese market and very soon push out an integrated strategy.

Q: In terms of foreign success, which Perfect World products have been best? Is there any bias towards a certain region?

A: Other than Antarctica, our products have coverage over pretty much everywhere else, including the US, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia. Even South America and Europe have Perfect World products. As for specific products, for example, the game ‘Perfect World’ was the first game by our company, as well as the first Chinese 3D game; ‘Wulin waizhuan’ was a first in being a TV-show tie-in, our third game was a tie-in to anovel, and there’s also the Three Kingdoms game ‘Red Cliffs’. All in all, we’ve had over ten games make it overseas. At the same time, the company has an unwritten rule, that is that our hope is that every single one of our games can operate globally.

So, as for plans and positioning, we adjust based on reactions in foreign markets. Apart from that, we look at Perfect World’s tenure in a location — the longer we’ve been there, the more experience we have in making judgments, and this itself also relies greatly on Perfect World’s success in that specific region.

Dotaland weekly recap: Jan 2 — Jan 8, 2013

We have no less than 5 interviews from G-League this week. In addition, we have two spectacularly insightful pieces recapping 2012, direct from insiders in the Chinese Dota scene. And in other news, iG’s reserve team event continues, and Tencent crowns iG.Dota the Best Esports Team of 2012. All this and more, below!

Jan 3

iG promo series in the process of selecting an iG reserve team

A nation-wide tour of universities sponsored by Lenovo, iG is holding an amateur tournament where the winners, hand-picked by iG players, will have a chance to compete for the ultimate glory of wearing the iG tag in future Dota competitions.

Jan 4

iG wins Tencent’s Esports Team of the Year

Tencent, no without recent controversies against Dota2, held an end of year esports vote. The best team award went to iG, while YYF took second in best esports player.

G-League semi-finals interview with LGD.DD/Sc and LGD.Nicholas

Read some of the thoughts of LGD.cn after their narrow victory over VG to advance into the G-League semi-finals.

G-League semi-finals interview with TongFu.Sansheng

TongFu’s Sansheng shares some thoughts after defeating ForLove to qualify for G-League semi-finals.

Jan 5

G-League interview with LGD.God.int

LGD.int’s God talks a bit after their win over TongFu in the G-League, and also pokes fun at Brax.

Jan 6

iG CEO Efeng recaps 2012

The CEO of iG, former manager of PanDa, and general Chinese esports insider shares his thoughts and reflections on the past year in Chinese esports. Very insightful read!

Jan 7

Top 10 Stories in 2012 Chinese Dota

A look back at the Chinese Dota scene of 2012. Quite well-written and covers a lot too.

Jan 7

G-League interview with iG.Faith — full of confidence against LGD.cn

Faith speaks about their prospects of making it to the G-League finals, and a bit more.

Jan 8

iG.ChuaN will not allow LGD.int to win G-League

The ChuaN has spoken. He also answers some questions on iG’s teamfights and stuff.

Perfect World internal document suggests March beta for Chinese servers?

It’s a leak! Or is it?

 

 

 

Perfect World internal document suggests March for Chinese server beta?

Original: http://dota2.sgamer.com/news/201301/148669.html

A document that Sgamer has confirmed indeed came from Perfect World internal announcement announces a company-wide pre-beta tournament for employees, with the tournament itself ending on March 21, 2013. Sgamer theorizes that this is a tournament to both help employees become familiar with Dota2, and to run some early tests of the servers themselves, with the Chinese server beta to go live shortly after this date.

The document also recommends employees to form teams based on existing work units as opposed to recruiting freely, so as to avoid poaching good Dota players from each other and causing internal strife.