Localizations

[breyerii]

This is a quick question, mainly for European users:

When you put the CD/DVD into the drive to install, how many language options did you have?

Thank you.

[veilchen]

Beyerii, I have the US version and it supports the following countries/languages:
Germany
United Kingdom
France
Spain
Portugal
Netherlands
Denmark
Sweden
Finland
Brasil

[breyerii]

Thank you veilchen!

Do you perchance know about the German or the British edition? You see, people I know have begun comparing prices from across Europe, but they want to be sure to have the game in their own language...

[veilchen]

No, I don't sorry Breyerii. We have Brits in over at the other forum, they might be able to help you. Posie is very good at record keeping, if anyone knows, she does.

Gali is from Israel, she might know what's going on in that part of the world as well.

Cyperangel (I hope I got the name right) is from Denmark, so that would be an option there.

I'll try and e-mail my folks in Germany, but since it's around 18:00 o'clock (6pm) they might not check anytime soon.

Interesting project, by the way. I'll be checking back on that one for sure.

[gali]

"Gali is from Israel, she might know what's going on in that part of the world as well." (Veil)

To buy new game, we have to wait here almost a year (until the price reduces), and I can't wait so long time, so I buy it always from USA. Usually I buy all my games at EB Games, US version, for years.

But I bought a couple of games, which I couldn't get at EB games, at any British company, and even Canadian company (just searched Yahoo).

We have here a local translations, but I like to play the originals only.

I think "Restaurant Empire" has 4 versions: US English and Spanish), GB (English and Spanish), EU (English, Spanish, German, and Italian), and Asian (Hong Kong, China).

About the price - the USA stores are the cheapest, and Great Britain stores are the most expensive. If I pay 29.95$ in USA - I pay 29.95 Pounds in GB.

I have about 300 games (CD Roms), all of them on the shelves now, because of The Sims, and it's expansions, and now TS2.

The bottom line is, that the originals are the best, i.e. US/English versions. I know from the forums I participate, that all the local versions suffer from bugs, and even the patches don't fix them. 

[breyerii]

Well Gali, I switched to English for TS2 with Uni, and haven't repented it. But not everyone will want to do that, despite the fact that we're talking about a game devoid of spoken cut scenes or dialogue. Personally I'll just walk into the nearest store and get it, when it comes out - usually a week after the USA - and there's a stand alone Uni patch.

Comparing prices is difficult, as also handling and shipping will have to be computated. In the end, though, someone will always want a localised version, however bad it is - TS1 and its expansions have been localised wonderfully, and so was TS2; to compare, Civilization III was apparently localised by an illiterate without a dictionary.

I don't know Restaurant Empire, but I believe the Asian version should also include Japanese.

[ZephyrZodiac]

I'm pretty sure the UK edition includes German, and you can get a pretty competitive price from Amazon.co.uk.

[veilchen]

I haven't gotten any answers from my Germans yet. (It is, after all Friday night ) but I know that amazon.de is a good place to shop for Europeans. They even offer good shipping and handling prices for the European markets. I can't use them from here, the shipping and handling is not too good for overseas *sigh*

[ZephyrZodiac]

I got both Sims2 and Uni from amazon.co.uk, and didn't have to pay postage on sims2, though I think I did for Uni as it was less than £25 but knowing me I would have bought something else to make it up to the minimum so I wouldn't have had to pay it anyway!

[breyerii]

Good news, Posie has the list of languages in the UK version - looking at it, one can conclude that the European version of the game is the same for the entire continent. I invited her to post it here, should anyone need it.

[HRH Posie]

Thanks breyerii   The complete list for my UK version is Cesky, Dansk, Deutsch, English, Español, Français, Suomi, Italiano, Nederlands, Norsk, Português (Brasil), Português (Europeu), Polski, Svenska.

[Ancient Sim]

I am in the UK and I got Uni at PC World.  It worked out the same as if I'd got it from Amazon and paid postage.  I think it was about £17, which would be $34 roughly.  The original was selling for under thirty quid in the majority of places.  I got mine for £20 on EBay.  The Far Eastern version you can get on there are incredibly cheap.  I got my Superstar & Makin' Magic in those versions and they cost me less than one individually would have been, but I didn't want to wait that long to get TS2.  The actual game is the UK version, it's just the manual that's Thai or whatever it is.

[ZephyrZodiac]

Well, if you were going to PC World anyway, but for me I (a) find travelling difficult and (b) it would also have cost me bus or taxi fares!  As I said, I didn't pay postage, I rarely do as I always wait until I want enough to put my order over £25.

[Ancient Sim]

Well I wasn't going to PC World anyway, but it's only down the road and the bus fare isn't much.  The annoying thing is, I have enough Amazon.com vouchers to buy the expansion (and some) but can't use them because they're not transferable to the UK site.  I was going to order Uni from Amazon, but as they weren't despatching it until the day it was on sale, I wasn't prepared to wait.  The most annoying thing is that they all had Uni in the shops here on the Monday, but we couldn't buy it until the Friday.  I thought maybe Maxis would have learnt their lesson and realised it doesn't take that long to ship, but it seems they haven't as they're making us wait just as long for Nightlife.  The only good thing is that the main bugs will probably have been sorted-out by the time we get it, as they were with Uni.

[ZephyrZodiac]

Were they?  I hadn't noticed!  In that case, god help the US purchasers!!!!

[J. M. Pescado]

Dunno why you're in a rush to buy it, unless you want to guineapig the hacks, or limp along without them in pain and suffering and hope your game doesn't explode from some unfixed oldbug.

[RainbowTigress]

Dunno why you're in a rush to buy it, unless you want to guineapig the hacks, or limp along without them in pain and suffering and hope your game doesn't explode from some unfixed oldbug.

This is what I was thinking.  I couldn't wait to get Uni because I saw all the fun everyone was having, people were posting pics and talking about stuff.  I will try to sit this one out though, and wait until the patches come out.  Who will be our guinea pig, hmmm?  Someone has to find all the bugs.    I've just now gotten my game pretty stable and I do not fancy the idea of taking out my hacks now.

[Thanatos]

I live in India and the version imported Here only had language options of English and Spanish.

[ZephyrZodiac]

That seems a bit limiting!  I know the majority of people in India have some English or Spanish, but it's still far better to have your game in your own language, I would have thought!  Although I got my degree in French and used to be fairly fluent, I'd hate to have to play the sims (1 or 2) in French now as I've forgotten so much!  It'd be like being condemned to watch French TV channels without subtitles!

[Ancient Sim]

Were they?  I hadn't noticed!  In that case, god help the US purchasers!!!!

Well, I meant the more serious ones like students dying as soon as they went to Uni, which as I recall was caused by custom careers.  Not that I'd have left mine in anyway, I always do a clean install the first time, but it was helpful that this was discovered and 'cured' before we ever got the game.  I am still umming & arrhing about what to do with mine, whether to go for a totally fresh neighbourhood or not.  I just know that if I did I would miss my favourite Sims and wonder what they were doing.  The fact that I would wonder what they were doing bothers me.  A lot.   

[ZephyrZodiac]

Well, without their controller, what could they do? 

[yetyak]

Thanks for that admission, Ancient Sim!!  I feel the same way.  I was going to do clean install with Uni, but took a chance and tried without that.  It did work, now I'm faced with the same decision again.  I don't do well with that..

[Bane~Child]

I will try to sit this one out though, and wait until the patches come out.  Who will be our guinea pig, hmmm?

That is what I am thinking, too Rainbow.  When Uni was first advertised, we could not wait to get it.  I mainly wanted to see the new objects and interactions.  I jumped right in and played 8 teens all the way through on my second batch and without any hacks or mods.  My son played a little Uni, with only one Student from the Bin, but never finished.  My younger daughter never even loaded her copy of Uni, though her friends in the dorm played the base game constantly on her laptop.  I guess because they were in college, they weren't interested in playing the EP, only the base game.  Neither kids has touched the Sims at all in nearly 6-months and my daughter had me uninstall TS2 from her laptop when she returned to college this week.

I have found so many beautiful objects for download that I really don't miss the extra's from Uni.  The bad outweighed the good in my book.

[cyperangel]

Hey there...

As far as prices go in Denmark, I usually buy from England... The price in Denmark is simply too steep, and even with shipping and everything, I can usually get it cheaper mailed in from the UK. I might have the option of my local language, but I dont use it. I hate the danish translations of wants, aspirations, etcetera. They suck, blow and stink.

[Ancient Sim]

Uni was fine to start with, but it became boring quite quickly.  In many ways it reminds me of House Party, which was by far the most boring expansion ever made.  Once you'd had one party, what else was there to do?  It's the same with Uni.  Nightlife sounds good, but I'll reserve judgement until I actually try it out.  University sounded good, too.