Re: Dialogue-rich Computer Games in Second Languages?
Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2016 3:54 pm
There are new sales on gog right now, so I've decided to try a few new games (should I find bits of free time, but I will). And I've got a few adventures on my gog shelf, waiting to be properly played. If only my processor wasn't more suitable for a museum exposition than using. (Compared to that, it means nothing that my laptop is adorned by some duct time at the hinges and the ancient battery, not worth to replace anymore, is basically sabotaging the whole "portability" issue). I am in mood for some adventures, so I'll let you know.
Unless I remember very incorectly though, I can add one game already:
an old and great point'n'click adventure Simon the Sorcerer has a very good German dubbing. But the subtitles don't work, despite the official info on the gog website. But subtitles without dubbing are available as well in French, Italian and Spanish
Simon the Sorcerer 2, based on the gog info as I haven't bought it et, should have both dubbing and subtitles in German available, and in French as well.
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There are tons of games like Criminal Case in the apple appstore, judging from the screenshot. But it is sometimes hard to get them in your target language, even when the version exists, I get tons of stuff in Czech, which I don't want, despite having switched the ipad language lots of time ago, and getting a mix of apps in several languages seems to be very hard. The games are great for vocab, in my opinion, but they are unfortunately using the most annoying kind of business model-you wait a lot of time (gradually more and more) and pay to avoid that. I prefer the traditional demo and paid full version model.
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To the database: it is a great idea and I am sorry I cannot help with the technical side. As far as what all should be there, I think we should keep it as simple as possible. But to the proposed format: sometimes you don't get both sound and text in the language. It should be visible somewhere.
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Btw do you know other selling platforms like GOG or Steam to get games in various languages from? Even those still on cdroms are not that easy to come by sometimes.
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Thanks Teango for taking such a care about our subcommunity of language lovers-players!
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Not sure whether I already mentioned this game I loved as a kid: Dračí historie. THere is an English version as well but the Czech one is really good and might please some learners. It is a point'n'click adventure. You are a small dragon, on a quest to save your dad from an evil magic wand.
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And Dreamfall (sequel to the awesome game The Longest Journey) has audio and text in English, German, and Norwegian (was already suggested on the Norwegian list). I haven't played it yet, just the original adventure.
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And again for Czech learners: there is an old series of comedy adventure games Polda (slang for policeman). I haven't played it yet, but some people I know loved it. The first and oldest game can be downloaded for free here (without piracy) http://bonusweb.idnes.cz/Download.aspx? ... 104_623227 and it was liked as well for dubbing by well known czech actors and comedians. Subtitles are available, I think. This first game in the series was published in 1998, Polda 7 should appear in 2017.
Unless I remember very incorectly though, I can add one game already:
an old and great point'n'click adventure Simon the Sorcerer has a very good German dubbing. But the subtitles don't work, despite the official info on the gog website. But subtitles without dubbing are available as well in French, Italian and Spanish
Simon the Sorcerer 2, based on the gog info as I haven't bought it et, should have both dubbing and subtitles in German available, and in French as well.
...................
There are tons of games like Criminal Case in the apple appstore, judging from the screenshot. But it is sometimes hard to get them in your target language, even when the version exists, I get tons of stuff in Czech, which I don't want, despite having switched the ipad language lots of time ago, and getting a mix of apps in several languages seems to be very hard. The games are great for vocab, in my opinion, but they are unfortunately using the most annoying kind of business model-you wait a lot of time (gradually more and more) and pay to avoid that. I prefer the traditional demo and paid full version model.
.......................
To the database: it is a great idea and I am sorry I cannot help with the technical side. As far as what all should be there, I think we should keep it as simple as possible. But to the proposed format: sometimes you don't get both sound and text in the language. It should be visible somewhere.
....................
Btw do you know other selling platforms like GOG or Steam to get games in various languages from? Even those still on cdroms are not that easy to come by sometimes.
.........................
Thanks Teango for taking such a care about our subcommunity of language lovers-players!
..............................
Not sure whether I already mentioned this game I loved as a kid: Dračí historie. THere is an English version as well but the Czech one is really good and might please some learners. It is a point'n'click adventure. You are a small dragon, on a quest to save your dad from an evil magic wand.
.................................
And Dreamfall (sequel to the awesome game The Longest Journey) has audio and text in English, German, and Norwegian (was already suggested on the Norwegian list). I haven't played it yet, just the original adventure.
.................
And again for Czech learners: there is an old series of comedy adventure games Polda (slang for policeman). I haven't played it yet, but some people I know loved it. The first and oldest game can be downloaded for free here (without piracy) http://bonusweb.idnes.cz/Download.aspx? ... 104_623227 and it was liked as well for dubbing by well known czech actors and comedians. Subtitles are available, I think. This first game in the series was published in 1998, Polda 7 should appear in 2017.