02/12/07 - Episode 16: Lost in Translation

There's no more controversial figure in console role-playing game fandom than Ted Woolsey. During the '90s he worked at Squaresoft and was responsible for the English translations of games like Final Fantasy III and Chrono Trigger. His work is either loved or totally reviled by fans on the Internet, with FF III's translation taking the brunt of that criticism. Nintendo and Square Enix re-released the game last week on Game Boy Advance under its original Japanese title, Final Fantasy VI, with a brand-new English script. In the last half of the show, Chris and Greg talk with Ted (who now works at Real Networks) about the translation process for the Super NES Final Fantasy III and some of the challenges he faced as he tried to get an English translation of this epic RPG to fit on a cartridge.But of course, we begin the episode talking about what we've been playing in the past week, including Root Beer Tapper (360), Lunar Knights (DS) and Final Fantasy VI Advance (GBA). We also discuss Microsoft's newly announced Rewards program for the Xbox 360 and Doug Lowenstein's keynote at DICE. Then of course we answer some questions and go over some of the feedback we received from last week's show. Don't forget to visit our newly opened forums at www.playeronepodcast.com/forum.Keep leaving us comments (via e-mail, comments on our web site, forum, iTunes page, Digg us, Skype us at playeronepodcast) or leave us a voice mail by calling 713-893-8069, long distance charges apply. Thanks for listening, tell your friends, and we'll be back next week!This week's links:Root Beer TapperPicross DSCloning ClydeSamurai Warriors 2: EmpiresLunar KnightsVirtual ConsoleSuper Castlevania IVSuper Mario Bros.Super Mario 64Final Fantasy VI AdvanceXbox.com: Xbox RewardsKotaku: ESA Prez Goes All Out On Final DICE SpeechVideo Game VotersWikipedia: Ted WoolseyWikipedia: Final Fantasy VIReal Arcade digg_url = 'http://www.digg.com/podcasts/Player_One_Podcast'; digg_bgcolor = '#FFCC99'; digg_skin = 'compact';