Localization Summit

Sessions | Speakers | Advisors

Monday, March 23, 2009
Room 2014, West Hall

The demand for entertainment software is coming from a growing number of countries and emerging markets around the world, and has prompted game publishers to partially or fully localize products to maximize their ROI. The game industry is generating as much, if not more, revenue from their localized versions. Now more than ever, the global market demands more streamlined internationalization and localization processes. The old approach of simply translating a few phrases embedded in the game code at the end of the process can only devalue the title. Game localization is becoming an unavoidable, mission critical aspect that must be fully integrated into game development lifecycles.

This new Localization Summit at GDC is supported and organized by the IGDA Game Localization SIG, and it is aimed at helping game professionals understand how to plan for localization in order to minimize bugs and maximize ROI. Professionals from all departments and areas of expertise are welcome to participate.

Keynote:

Localization: The Pathway to Truly Global Game Development
Speaker: Jaime Gine (EA)

Highlighted Sessions:

Localization-Aware Game Development
Speakers: Heather Chandler (Media Sunshine), Vanessa Wood (Sony Computer Entertainment Europe)
Localization Tools
Speakers: Andrea Ballista (Binari Sonori s.r.l), Ben Wibberly (Babel Media), Stephanie O'Malley Deming (XLOC, Inc.), Jennifer McKearney (BioWare Corp./EA), Miguel Bernal-Merino (Roehampton University)
FABLE II Localization Case Study
Speakers: Will Braham ( Lionhead), Palma Cedele (Binari Sonori), Jason Shirley (Microsoft Game Studios, Ireland), Fabio Minazzi (Binari Sonori)
Risks and Rewards of New Territories
Speakers: Rio Hasegawa (SEGA), Tom Edwards (Englobe Inc.), Adam McEwen (Keywords International), Danica Brinton (Linden Labs), Tacey Miller (Microsoft Corp.)

To view all the Localization Summit sessions, click here.

Localization Summit Advisors:

Miguel Á. Bernal-Merino
Lecturer in Media Translation
Roehampton University London

Miguel Bernal-Merino is one of the few academics who started raising the issues of game localization and the necessity of doing research into the topic in order to improve overall quality and turnover, as well as designing the right training program for game localization. He has several publications on audiovisual translation and game localization, and he has formally introduced game localization within the translation studies programs he lectures in. Miguel coordinates both the American and the European legs of the 'Game Localization Round Table' within the Localization World conferences series.

Tom Edwards
Principal Consultant & Founder
Englobe Inc.

As the founder and principal consultant of Englobe Inc., a Seattle-based niche consultancy for geocultural content management, Tom Edwards is a gamer who became a unique hybrid of an academic geographer by training, a global program manager and educator by experience and a geocultural strategist by choice, coexisting with a passion for technology and games. Formerly as Microsoft’s Senior Geopolitical Strategist in the Geopolitical Strategy team (a position and team he created and managed), Tom was responsible for protecting the company against political and cultural content errors across all products and locales. He implemented a “geopolitical quality review” process in the Microsoft Game Studios and was personally responsible for reviewing the potential sensitivities of nearly every 1st party PC and Xbox game between 1995 and 2005 as well as many 2nd and 3rd party titles. Tom is also a regular columnist for MultiLingual Computing and he is the founder and chair of the IGDA Game Localization SIG.

To register for the Localization Summit, you will need to purchase an All Access Pass or Summits and Tutorials Pass.

Localization Summit Sponsors

Enlaso Originally founded in 1968, ENLASO provides enterprise language solutions including translation, localization, and interpreting services. Establishing quality language processes and standards throughout your entire global enterprise, ENLASO’s core multilingual solutions include: Technical Documentation Localization, Web site Localization, Software Localization, Multicultural Marketing, Multimedia Localization, Localization Testing, Consulting and Training, and Language Technology Engineering.

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