Quebec to not sell English video games if French version exists

[Meian]

TheStar.com | Canada | New Quebec law turns Lara Croft into francophone
(this isn't the tabloid magazine btw)
Quebec Forbids English-Only Video Games in Favour of French Language | Vox ex Machina
(also here)

New Quebec law turns Lara Croft into francophone

PETER MCCABE FOR THE TORONTO STAR

Sale of English-only video games prohibited if French version exists

Apr 01, 2009 04:30 AM
Comments on this story (33)
Andrew Chung
QUEBEC BUREAU CHIEF

MONTREAL – In Lara Croft's latest action adventure, part of the wildly popular Tomb Raider video game series, the lithe heroine can demand of her evil doppelganger either, "What the hell are you?" or, "Qu'est-ce que tu es, exactement?"

And that's exactly the way Quebec wants it, from now on. French language rules on video games come into force today prohibiting the sale of new English-only video games in Quebec if a French version is available.

It's causing a lot of consternation among retailers and gamers alike, who fear the rules will lead to delays in video games arriving in the province, and may not accomplish what the law intends, which is to promote and protect the French language.

Ronnie Rondeau, co-owner of the eight Game Buzz stores around Montreal, said he even fears bankruptcy.

"I'm afraid it's going to cost me my business," Rondeau said. "If it really was going to make a difference, I'd be for it, but only a small number of people want to play in French. The rest don't care.

"And money-wise, it's going to hurt."

Rondeau said gamers are notorious for wanting new games the minute they come out. It's why he has had numerous midnight sales with lines stretching around the block.

It's why he even carries Japanese games that won't be available in English for months.

If there's a delay of even a few days, they'll find other options, such as buying online or across the border.

Raffy Boudjikanian, who writes a gaming column for the West Island Chronicle, agrees. "Why am I going to wait for five more months when the next big game is right there in Plattsburg?"

Rondeau cites the example of the popular Rockband game. The distributor didn't ship the English-only version for the Christmas rush, and a French version didn't arrive for six weeks.

Delays can happen because translation can lead to game "bugs," such as text not fitting into graphic boxes on screen, said Haig James Toutikian, a professional Montreal game designer, who has dealt with such bugs, which can cause a game to underperform.

"I know how much of a pain they can be," Toutikian said.

"They take up a lot of bug-tracking time."

Toutikian, who said he has friends who learned English playing video games, added, "I don't think it will encourage people to buy the French version."

In the past, technical aspects, such as different game console versions sold in North America versus Europe, prevented even games released in France from appearing in Quebec. The result was that Quebec had mostly English games available.

The gaming industry adopted deadlines to comply with the province's language charter and the "language police," the Office québécois de la langue française.

Danielle Parr, executive director of the Entertainment Software Association of Canada, said that because of the population size, it's possible a game publisher will decide it's too costly to release a French version for Quebec even if it has one for France, thus depriving the province of its game in either language.

But overall, she said, "they will see more games available in French. And that's good news."

How has the rest of Canada not devoured Quebec yet?

[Shalyn]

I can't stand the way that province is run by anglophobes. It goes against what most of the other provinces stand for (diversity and tolerance would be the main ones).
Just the other day I was talking about how amazing Montreal is because of the proactive nature of the people who live there. If only the rest of the province could come into the 21st century, too.

[Athas]

Because Canada - like the rest of the world - doesn't care about Canada.

[Kaylia]

I think we are competing against australia to vote for the most stupid video game laws.

[orson]

Quebec has too many older fuck wads in power who are hell bent on maintaining their status quo hiding behind protecting their "culture" and language. It's pretty retarded being protectionist in a province. The amount of money from other provinces that gets filtered to Quebec is obscene.

[tonyg]

This is FUCKIN GAY

[Correction]

What's more hilarious than the French? People who wish to emulate the French.

[Abandon]

Ah, French Canadians. Always good for a chuckle.

[Firedemon]

Quebec always does stupid shit that makes the rest of Canada shake their head at them. Most retarded law ever.

[TheShadyMan]

GB2UFreeTrade

[Pikarya]

Oh Canada.

[Firedemon]

Don't go giving dejected sighs at Canada....just Quebec please. The rest of Canada is probably shaking their heads as well.

[TheShadyMan]

Hi2uSillyNationalism

[Ramor]

space bar broken TSM? or just too much spam forum?

anyway, quebec is kind of like the Texas of Canada

[OzzofAsura]

Skipping all the head-shaking that this makes me do, I'll get to the point. I feel bad for the none-retarded citizens of Quebec, who like video games. The people in charge need to be beaten, severely. Preserving their language, my ass.

~ Quebec ~ We breed hatred ~ (in disguise)

[Wintermute]

What's more hilarious than the French? People who wish to emulate the French.

Except they don't, at least not in a sensible way.
When I worked for a betting company I had a French Canadian call up asking to speak French but not with a Frenchman.

I think this is almost on par with Australia wanting to outlaw games with no fixed Certificates/Ratings for online play.

[Kaylia]

Skipping all the head-shaking that this makes me do, I'll get to the point. I feel bad for the none-retarded citizens of Quebec, who like video games. The people in charge need to be beaten, severely. Preserving their language, my ass.

They will back off when they realize it's not working, I'm not even worried about this.

Not that it matter, because I always ordered game online. You usually get them 1 day before, and it save me the hassle to go buy it.

[Gunitsoldier]

Because Canada - like the rest of the world - doesn't care about Canada.

qft

[Colenzo]

seriously though, nobody cares about canada

[Annihilator]

Those who made those articles are morons. That "law" is two years old, just became active this month, and its actually an agreement between the province and the canadian leisure software association, not a law.

That agreement doesnt "forbid english-only video games", it just forces publishers that try to release a game that already has a french version somewhere, to also release that french version in quebec. It makes sense when you think about it, since thats the main language there.

Here's a link, for those who actually understand french
Jeux vidéo disponibles en français: du «Québec bashing»? - Matin - Québec

The quebec-bashing article was only made to stir hatred towards quebec, and you all fell for it.

gg bandwagon, do some research before bashing people

[Devek]

We didn't fall for anything. Quebec still sucks.

[Plow]

This is totally unconstitutional.

[Firedemon]

We didn't fall for anything. Quebec still sucks.

This.

[Yuri-G]

seriously though, nobody cares about canada

people care plenty about canada when it's time to expatriate to dodge the draft or ditch dubya!

but other than that, no, they really don't.

[Zilong]

So Quebec is like the Texas of Canada, but instead of Mexican, they have French?

[Avanarius]

I live in BC and I've honestly never seen an entirely french copy of a game for sale, besides the manual always being in french/english. I think the only time I ever saw it was when it was on the same cd and you chose the language at the start screen.

Perhaps I'm not looking hard enough, but it's not as if you have a huge wall selection like you do in english. You probably wouldn't even be close to getting the games you want to anyways if you were french, so I don't understand what people are complaining about.

I bought an english game in a quebec walmart once and they only had an all of 4 games in english to choose from.

[Ramor]

Much like Texas, the one guy from Quebec comes into the thread to make sure everyone knows that Quebec is the best thing since sliced bread, and that everyone hates it for no reason other than the fact that everyone else hates it.

[Day]

Don't go giving dejected sighs at Canada....just Quebec please. The rest of Canada is probably shaking their heads as well.

Oh yeah sure now you want to take this stance, where was your support the last 8 years??!!~!!11

[Kaylia]

Much like Texas, the one guy from Quebec comes into the thread to make sure everyone knows that Quebec is the best thing since sliced bread, and that everyone hates it for no reason other than the fact that everyone else hates it.

I don't really give a shit about this debate, because there is nothing I hate more than patriotism (and it's not limited to the one here), but why are you so surprised that people are taking the bait when other are insulting them on purpose and bring up innacurate statistics.

[Ramor]

A lot of other threads that end up with shitty news about a location, generally people from the location (or near it) come into the threads and are more or less like "yeah, this place sucks", whereas Texas and Quebec (which, at least what I've noticed, people generally tend to dislike) have always had people who come in and defend their hometowns like they're some sort of godsends where nothing bad could ever come out of.

just saying I find the correlation between how much outsiders hate something and how much the group within that something feel is funny