With E3 right around the corner, no doubt many of you are taking some time off for one of the biggest events that gaming has to offer. Need something to play in your down time between big announcements? Capcom has got you covered with a selection of good things on sale , stranger. Rise up in Street Fighter V , Narrowly dodge fitting nicely into a sandwich in Resident Evil on PS3 or PS4 , jump and shoot in Mega Man Legacy Collection , restore beauty to the countryside in Okami HD , or kick back and kick butt in Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition . These sales started earlier today (June 7 ^th ), and will be running until June 13 ^th . The full list is after the jump, so if you see something you like, head on over to PSN and grab it!

Hi everyone! Time for another look at the localization of  Monster Hunter Generations !  Today we’ll start talking about some of the monster names, but if want to read more about the title as a whole and processes that went into localizing it, please check out my first blog post here .

Let’s kick it off with one of the four new flagship monsters!

Astalos

Astalos, one of the Fated Four monsters is a Thunder Wyvern that makes its home in warm and wide-open spaces such as the Verdant Hills and Ancestral Steppe. It has the ability to charge electricity into its wings, tail and crest over time, which it uses to increase its attack range, speed and power. On top of that, it can also inflict hunters with status ailments such as Paralysis and Thunderblight. 

ライゼクス [ ra-i-ze-ku-su ], the Japanese name for the monster, is derived from the Japanese word for thunder, “rai” and the German word for insect, “insekt”. While the monster’s wings do resemble that of an insect’s, we didn’t want to focus on that in the localized name, as insects have the connotation of being small pests that can easily be swatted away. This monster is anything but that! It’s more likely to give YOU a good swatting. So, we decided to change the suffix to “los” instead, for two reasons:

1. It’s a common suffix among existing monster names, so it would fit well within the Monster Hunter universe.

2. To highlight the similar, but opposing, existence to the Rathalos. Astalos shares the same habitat as the Rathalos and Rathian, so the two species are often fighting over the same territory and prey. The overall shape of its body is also similar to that of the Rathalos and Rathian, so we liked the idea of bringing that similarity into the name as well.

As for the first half of the name, we wanted to keep the thunder/lightning reference, but wanted to change “Rai” to something else. “Railos” just didn’t sound right. We picked out different words from other languages that had the same meaning and came up with various proposals. Here are a few:

• Astralos: from “astrapi,” Greek word for lightning.

• Fulgalos: from “fulgur,” Latin word for lightning.

• Nitralos: from “tonitrus,” Latin word for thunder.

Astralos was one of our top picks, but it didn’t quite roll off the tongue. So we tried dropping the “r” and ended up liking the ring of Astalos much better. It sounded aerodynamic, which we thought was a good fit given the monster’s sleek and sharp appearance. Fortunately for us, the director of the game, Yasunori Ichinose, liked it as well!

    Reference image of Astalos during localization

Maccao and Great Maccao

Localizing the names for Maccao and Great Maccao was easy. The Japanese name, マッカオ [ ma-kka-o ], is a combination of “màt” and “kào”, Thai words for fist and knee. Interestingly enough, the inspiration for their attacks came from Muay Thai, so keeping the name as it was seemed appropriate. All we really needed to decide after that was how we wanted to romanize it.

Reference images of Maccao and Great Maccao during localization

Larinoth

リモセトス [ ri-mo-se-to-su ], as this monster is called in Japanese, is derived from the Greek word for neck, “laimós,” and the Latin word for whale, “cetus.” We worried this might be too much of a mouthful to say, so we brainstormed other possibilities based on the monster’s appearance and characteristics. Its neck being one of its most distinguishing features, we kept “laimós” in the name, but switched out the whale reference for “ocarina,” which was the model for the vocal organs on its head used to signal the herd of any threats in the area. We romanized the “osu” in the Japanese name to “oth,” and came up with Larinoth (laimós + ocarina + oth), which we felt was much easier to pronounce.

 
Reference image of Larinoth during localization

That’s all for now. Thanks so much for reading! I’ve got plenty more to share with you next time, so check back soon! 

Hey everyone! We know all of you have been very patient waiting for new information surrounding Street Fighter V.  Over the past few months, there have been a lot of questions coming our way surrounding upcoming content around the game and the current state of the development roadmap.

We’ll be the first to admit that we can improve our communication with the community, in terms of where our priorities lie around the game and status updates.  We plan to change that in the coming weeks and months and will work to quickly address topics that come up in the community as best we can.

Below, we will be addressing some of the major concerns in the community surrounding Street Fighter V. Hit the jump for the latest updates and be sure to sound off in the comments section with any questions.

Ibuki Release

The first thing we want to address is the release of our next DLC character, Ibuki. We had originally aimed to release her in the last week of May, but in order to provide the best experience possible for our players, we decided to postpone her. We are doing our best to release the content in the last week of June.

To reiterate, we are currently aiming for the last week of June to release both Ibuki and the Cinematic Story Mode.

We apologize to our players all over the globe for not communicating this change to our release schedule sooner.

While we planned to talk about the timing of her release this week, it’s clear that we should have been more upfront with everyone on the shift in timing.

Moving forward, the development team will continue to put quality of the product above all else. This may result in additional delays in content deployment. That said, we will be much more transparent when plans change so all of our fans know what to expect.

Please continue to support the development team in any way you can. They are working very hard to bring you the best Street Fighter yet and positive feedback and support helps more than you can imagine.

Reports of Input Delay

We have heard reports of input delay and have shared it with the development team. They are currently looking into the reports and we will let you know as soon as we find out more.

Rage Quitting Issue

We know some of you are still not having the best experience online due to players who rage quit but we are happy to report that the latest solution has brought the amount of players who disconnect during matches down by roughly 60%.

While this is an improvement, it’s clear we still have a lot of work to do on this issue and you can expect us to roll out additional measures in the future to help address this problem.

That’s about it for today so thank you all for your feedback and for letting us know your thoughts on what you want to see in Street Fighter V. Once again, we will continue to provide more consistent updates on the direction of Street Fighter V and will share information with our fans as soon as it’s available.

We’ll have a ton of new, exciting information for you in the coming days and weeks so keep checking back here or follow us @StreetFighter for the latest news.

The Resident Evil series hosts some of the most unforgettable and beloved video game characters ever. The cast of tough-as-nails survivors is matched by equally nasty villains, including the persistent Nemesis and vengeful William Birkin. Standing above all those classic RE antagonists is the calm, collected, and conniving Albert Wesker. To show our love for this cop-turned-public enemy, we created a video chronicling Wesker’s evolution throughout the series.

With the upcoming PS4 and Xbox One release of Resident Evil 5 , now is the perfect time to reflect on this game’s main villain. This video serves as a top-level rundown of Wesker’s virus-enhanced storyline throughout the core RE games. We also take time to comment on changes to Wesker’s signature black outfit over the years (fun fact: the sunglasses are almost always involved).

* Spoiler Warning : This video doesn’t hold back about important story details from multiple Resident Evil games*

For more on the 20th Anniversary of Resident Evil, check out our recent developer interview  which covers everything from the classic PlayStation originals, RE 5, and briefly touches on the RE 2 remake.If you can’t get enough Wesker in your life, check out the Upgrade Pack for Umbrella Corps which lets your mercenary wear a special Wesker mask.

We’ve told you about our time as extras on the set of Dead Rising: Endgame and how we ran a zombie boot camp for Naomi Kyle . Now after all the filming is done, we’re happy to be able to showcase the trailer for the film.  

Dead Rising: Endgame will be streaming on Crackle starting June 20th.  

Have you ever wondered what goes into making a game like Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice? No need to cross-examine that statement, because we’ve got a special opportunity for fans today: we want to answer some of your questions for the development team about the upcoming game!

Curious about how Rayfa’s design came to be? Want to know more about the Kingdom of Khura’in? What was the process for designing character animations? Now’s your chance to ask those burning questions and get some answers from behind-the-scenes. We’ll have more details on how and when these questions will be answered soon, so for now, don’t HOLD IT – get those questions in!

Today marks the fifth and final entry in our RE 20th Anniversary video series, which features interviews with Capcom developers reflecting on their years spent making these beloved horror games. The series ends strong, too. This video highlights Yasuhiro Anpo, programmer on early RE games and director of Resident Evil 5, and Yoshiaki Hirabayashi, developer on the Resident Evil remake and producer of the Resident Evil HD remaster. Together, the duo discusses their memories working on RE 5 and even touches on the highly anticipated Resident Evil 2 remake.

In order to research RE 5’s online co-op, the team spent ample time playing other online and co-op games during development. Anpo-san and Hirabayashi-san‘s RE 5 discussion is especially relevant given the title’s upcoming release on PS4 and Xbox One this month . The duo also remembers the challenge of disassembling the 2002 RE remake in order to create the remastered HD version released in 2015.

Finally, Anpo-san and Hirabayashi-san wrap up by reminiscing about the innovative changes made to the Resident Evil HD remaster, and encourage fans to get excited for what they have planned for the Resident Evil 2 remake.

While this video marks the end of the Resident Evil development team’s insightful video series, we’re far from done celebrating the series’ 20-year legacy. Stay tuned for more nostalgic reflections on the franchise’s rich history in the near future.

In the meantime, be sure to watch the previously released RE 20th Anniversary developer videos:

RE 20th Anniversary Video – RE Revelations Devs Look To The Past And Future

RE 20th Anniversary Video – Producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi Reflects On 20 Years Of Horror

RE 20th Anniversary Video – Koji Oda Talks Resident Evil

RE 20th Anniversary Video – Masachika Kawata Talks Co-op & Handheld Development

Chris Redfield and Sheva Alomar’s dramatic chapter in the Resident Evil series is making its way to a new generation of consoles. Today we’re happy to announce the release dates for upcoming physical and digital versions of RE5, along with Xbox One pre-order details and info about features like The Mercenaries United and No Mercy Mode.

Resident Evil 5 is one of the most dramatic, high-tension entries in the series, as Chris and Sheva battle through the African settlement of Kijuju, which has been infected by the mysterious Uroboros virus. The duo uses a diverse arsenal of upgradeable weapons to fight the gigantic Executioner Majini, powerful Lickers, and even evil franchise villain Albert Wesker. The suave antagonist is back with his most grandiose scheme yet, aided by enigmatic masked ally.

Two players can team up to play through the intense and extensive campaign together, which includes boating through gator-infested swamps and exploring ancient ruins beneath Kijuju. Co-op in this game builds off of the satisfying, deliberate, and revolutionary gunplay introduced in Resident Evil 4. Friends can team up for both local split-screen and online co-op play. Remember, friendships can either be strengthened or shattered depending on how quick you are to heal your buddy with that first-aid spray.

In addition to the climactic story campaign, fans will also get every piece of add-on content previously released. This includes additional story add-ons “Lost in Nightmares” and “Desperate Escape,” along with No Mercy Mode, which was previously available only on PC, and the all-encompassing The Mercenaries United. No Mercy Mode takes advantage of the extra power of current-gen consoles to throw even larger hordes of enemies at players. The Mercenaries United consolidates every piece of Mercenaries content that was originally released for RE5.

Fans can get their hands on Resident Evil 5 when it releases digitally for PS4 and Xbox One on June 28. A retail disc version will release shortly afterwards in North America on July 12. If you’re planning to pick up RE5 on Xbox One, you can also preorder now !

For more screenshots, check out our Facebook page !

What’s up World Warriors!

Hello everyone! My name is Marco Bombasi, one of the Localization Directors in Capcom Japan’s Global R&D department. I’m here to give you a peek into the development and localization of the latest title in the Monster Hunter series, Monster Hunter Generations! This is a very special title, packed with tons of new content and gameplay features. There’s a lot I have planned to share with you, so I’ll be posting a few times over the course of the next few months leading up to the game’s release on July 15 !

Before we get down to the nitty-gritty, this is my first post on Capcom Unity, so allow me to tell you a little bit about myself. I started at Capcom in 2011, and have worked on titles such as Asura’s Wrath and Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen. My first foray into the Monster Hunter series was with Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, where I worked as a content direction and translation lead. After MH4U wrapped up, I was given the opportunity to take on the challenge of Localization Director for MHGen , so here I am! The localization for MH4U set the bar pretty high, so I had my work cut out for me with this title. But, now that the game is almost finished, I’m really happy with how the localization quality came out! I hope you feel the same once you get your hands on it this summer.

Now then! Let’s get into the good stuff, shall we? Monster Hunter Generations was a beast (or monster, if you prefer) of a game to localize, so I’d like to give you a look into the development process, some of the issues we faced, and how we went about localizing certain terms. Fortunately, a lot of the standards we established in Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate carried over to MHGen , so we had a solid foundation to start with. Andrew Alfonso, the Localization Director for MH4U , goes into detail about these in his blogs from last year, so I highly recommend reading them if you haven’t done so already! No, really, go ahead. I’ll wait.

…

…All finished? Interesting stuff, right?  

With each new installment in the series comes new challenges for localization.

First Order of Business

We started planning the localization for Monster Hunter Generations back in December 2014, as development on MH4U was winding down. We began having meetings with the development team to get an idea of the overall scope of the game, how much text there would be, what kind of time frame we had to work with, etc., so we could start mapping out our schedule. In the midst of all that, our first official request came from the producer. Our mission: localize the game’s title! We were given the following conditions for coming up with the international title:

1) Needs to match the game content

2) Must be clear that it is not a numbered entry in the series

3) Needs to be understandable in North American and European regions without translation

As I’m sure you know by now, the official Japanese title for the game is Monster Hunter X. I don’t know about you, but when I first saw this, I read it as “Monster Hunter 10.” I knew that couldn’t be right, so my second guess was the letter “X” (as in Mega Man X). Of course, I learned soon after that it was pronounced “cross,” to symbolize the crossing of both the returning and new elements in the Monster Hunter series. But given the conditions above, we couldn’t leave the title as is. We threw ideas back and forth and consulted with our friends at Capcom USA and Capcom Europe to see what would work best for both regions. Suggestions such as “Monster Hunter Tribute” and “Monster Hunter Unity” came up, but in the end we felt that Monster Hunter Generations summed up the game nicely, as it encompasses content from various games in Monster Hunter history.

A Decade in the Making

As I mentioned earlier, Monster Hunter Generations is packed with new content. Additionally, many monsters, NPCs and locations from previous titles will be appearing in the game, including some from Monster Hunter games that were never localized before! For the first time ever, you’ll get to visit Yukumo Village, where you can relax at the Yukumo Footbath before venturing out to take on the elder dragon, Amatsu (アマツマガツム[ a-ma-tsu-ma-ga-tsu-chi ] from Monster Hunter Portable 3 ^rd). Of course, you could also pay a visit to the footbath after, if that’s your thing. Personally, I’m more of a footbath-before-hunt kinda guy.

I love me a good footbath. But what did all this mix of content mean for localization? Well, it meant we had a looooot of legacy text to polish. We were dealing with text from previous games that each had different character limits and localization standards at the time they were developed, so the quality level of reusable text was all over the place. We spent a total of about three weeks sifting through it all, updating it to our current standards and unifying naming conventions for consistency. The majority of these changes were made to weapon/armor names and their descriptions. In some instances a quick touch-up did the trick, but in others the text needed to be rewritten completely. We do have our own in-house localization tools to help us check quality and iron out inconsistencies, but it’s still quite a time-consuming process to get everything up to the same level of quality, especially given the amount of text in the game (there’s a lot more than you might think!).

A lot of the UI was redesigned for MHGen , which meant any text that we touched up and used from MH4U wouldn’t fit as is. We wanted to avoid sacrificing quality by rewriting the text just so it could fit within a text box, so we negotiated with the dev team to see if it was possible to either increase the UI size or decrease the font size to make the legacy text fit.

Unfortunately, enlarging the UI limits was out of the question. There was just no extra space on the screen. Increasing the UI size in one area would mean shrinking it in another, and that would just cause all kinds of problems. We tried decreasing the font size next, but shrinking it to a point where all the text fit made the text too small to read. The hard truth sunk in—we needed to shorten some of the text. We played around with different font sizes, and luckily found a balance where the text was readable, and only about 5% of the legacy text exceeded the character limit. As a result, we were able to fit the majority of any reusable text from MH4U within the new limits without sacrificing quality.   

The text turned out slightly smaller than in MH4U.

There you have it! Your first behind-the-scenes look at the localization of Monster Hunter Generations! Next Friday, I’ll talk about how we came up with names for some of the new monsters you encounter in MHGen.

If you’re an 80s or 90s kid, you may remember an animated series about the fighting robot (sing it with me now: Mega Man !) that ran for two seasons during the mid-90s. It was a fresh, and unique, if not sometimes silly, take on Mega Man, and one that a lot of people (including myself) remember fondly. The new animated Mega Man series will follow Aki Light – a normal, upbeat, and above all optimistic young school-aged robot living in Silicon City. He soon learns that deep within his programming are secret protocols that allow him to transform – giving him nanocore armor, a Mega Buster, and the iconic helmet to turn him into a superhero – Mega Man!

Promising exciting new technologies and new robots, the series will follow the adventures and trials of Aki Light – a.k.a. Mega Man – as he faces off against threats to Silicon City, while trying to keep his superhero identity a secret and maintain a normal robot schoolkid life.

It’ll be a great way for newcomers and younger fans to meet Mega Man for the first time, and a treat for fans who grew up with the games, featuring  the return of beloved characters like everyone’s favorite robot canine, Rush! Be sure to keep an eye out for the Blue Bomber’s animated adventures in 2017 – the same year as Mega Man ’s 30 ^th anniversary!

The current console generation and PlayStation 4 as we know is in full swing, but let’s not forget about one of the consoles that helped it get to where it is! PSN has just kicked off with a new Best of PS3 category, offering permanent price cuts to some of the best games on PS3!  Included in this new section are many Capcom favorites from last generation, so check out the list after the jump and grab some great titles for a low price now if you missed them the first time around!