Another element of games that is often adapted for releases in different regions is the box art, as we illustrated with the marked differences for ICO (2001) between Japanese / European and NA versions. Game fan communities are usually well aware of different packaging and titles used in different regional releases as evident on numerous fan sites.56 Japanese releases of foreign-origin games may often employ anime and manga style drawings. For example, the original box art for the EA boxing game Facebreaker (2008) was replaced with characteristic Japanese anime style drawings for release in Japan. While the original US design, also using a cartoon-like style, focuses on action by a character, the Japanese version with a noir style anime conveys ominous characterization of game characters. Another example of box art localized for Japan which brings noticeable differences to light can be found in the cover for the shooter game Crackdown (2007). In the localized Japanese version, retitled as Riot Act (2008), all game characters are re-drawn in a Japanese manga-anime style. Furthermore, the main protagonist, a black character, is shown with much paler skin, creating an inaccurate representation that conflicts with the depiction in the actual game.This sort of incongruity gives the impression that the approach to globalization and localization was not entirely streamlined. Even though localization of a game's software may have been undertaken in a well co-ordinated manner, the product's wider collateral such as paratext assets, if showing a major inconsistency, could lead to poor publicity and reception. While the exact reasons for changes made to game box art are not always revealed, the difference in art design used for Japan versus the NA regions points to certain cultural preferences even if they are largely based on the perception of a given game's marketingdepartments:
- For the NA market the focus tends to be on actions by game characters while for the Japanese market their characterization is more likely to be the main focus.
- Overt anime/manga style in original Japanese artwork may be replaced bymore realistic drawing style for the NA market.
- An emphasis on cuteness in original Japanese design may be replaced bysome other features stressed for the NA market.
- An abstract image tends to be preferred for the Japanese market whereas theNA market is likely to choose a more concrete image with a specific game character.
Box art for European releases of Japanese games seems to be determined by the localization arrangement and usually follows either the NA or the Japanese design although there are exceptions. Some games such as 零[zero] (2001) have three different designs released for the PS2, reflecting different titles under which the game is marketed for Japan, the NA, and separately for the European and Australian regions. An example of a different kind of change made especially for the Australian region is the Xbox 360 version of FarCry 3 (2012) in which the art work had to be printed in mirror image in order to avoid the original image being obscured by the relatively large age classification label placed on the left-hand lower corner of the box.58 As we discuss later in this chapter, such a change is associated with Australia's strict ratings system applied to video games. This is yet further proof that game localization is affected by a broad spectrum of cultural conditioning, manifesting as market-specific issues.
In the context of the many levels of cultural operation applied to game localization, the role of translation is one of cultural mediation, matching the gameplay experience between the original and its localized versions appropriate to the cultural background of the player. To achieve such a goal, the localization team will be required to have a broad understanding of the source culture and be able to detect any covert cultural references in the original, assess them and translate them appropriately for the target audience (Dietz 2006). This includes the recognition of any potentially sensitive cultural issues that may have escaped the developer's attention which could lead to serious consequences such as a product recall in the worst case scenario. As Richard Honeywood, a former localization director at Square Enix (2007), insists, “You don't just need good translators – you need cultural experts". The broad evidence we have presented above of games as cultural products with their cultural implications further supports our claim that game localization underscores the translator'’s role as an active agent making sense of a diverse range of cultural elements unique to the game's source culture and to the game world and transferring them to a new cultural context.
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