Is Hot Shots Golf 5 coming to NA this year?

[TVC15]

It's been a bit since the Japanese release, and for a somewhat starved system, a quick loc job can't be that difficult.  I know Hot Shots Golf Open Tee 2 is no go this year, what with it coming out in December in Japan.

If 5 does make it out this year, it stands a good chance of rating highly among my favorites of this year.  I am still binging on Open Tee like 3 weeks after starting it.

[MrAngryFace]

Good fuck question. God damnit.

[TVC15]

Gamestop's site has it listed for October, but I am doubtful because that is the only place I even see a release date other than TBA.  I *REALLY* want it bad!  These games can't be difficult to localize!

[Mr. Gundam]

I have no idea why, but it sounds like it's coming early 2008.

Seriously, Sony, what are you thinking?!? Did the idiots who thought that putting stuff up on the Playstation Store wasn't a good idea get transferred to the Hot Shots Golf 5 team?

[TVC15]

Well, to be honest, most, if not all of the HSG games released in NA have had questionable localization times.  For the first few games, they replaced the characters with ones they thought Americans would like better, and according to Wiki, it looks there was like 6 months between Open Tee's Japanese and US releases.

These games have so little text.  There's no reason the releases shouldn't be damn near simultaneous.

[BlueTsunami]

I keep saying it but when a dialogue heavy game like the Metal Gear series can get a Japan and US release within the same month it ends up boggling my mind how games like HSG and SE RPGs take a good 5-8 months just to get localised. It really is bullshit.

[Mana Knight]

I keep saying it but when a dialogue heavy game like the Metal Gear series can get a Japan and US release within the same month it ends up boggling my mind how games like HSG and SE RPGs take a good 5-8 months just to get localised. It really is bullshit.

Some games, there's a translation in progress while the game is in development, so it can come sooner.  It's both a good and bad thing.  The good thing about making a game dual language has to do with being able to release simultaneously.  The bad thing is that throughout development, the story is edited over and over again, and when it is, it has to be edited in English and Japanese, which can hold development back a little (and cost more money).  The reason some games take forever to bring over is that the developers are initially concerned with releasing it in one territory, then a publisher picks it up (or the U.S. portion of that publisher) and the translation starts from the very beginning (causing it to take a while).

As for the Hot Shots Golf/Hot Shots Tennis series, the game was designed 100% for the Japanese market in mind first (characters are suited for Japan and the network is setup for Japan).  Since the game is done, SCEA/SCEE will be bringing the game to their respective territories.  First off, the network has to be setup for those territories (which probably wasn't even started by the time they game came out in Japan).  They will probably change all the characters over (to more English suited characters, not very Japanese like characters).  They'll probably make some additions (like add Ratchet, Jak, etc.).  It took us a year to get Hot Shots Tennis, Hot Shots Golf Fore (well, the game also added online play), and a while to get HSG3, so this isn't surprising.

Also, another hold up could be (although no guarantee) the translation is being handled by SCEE (they handled Ape Escape 3, Hot Shots Tennis, etc.) and they have tons of languages they gotta support (so it takes them longer).  Once they finish the game, SCEA will probably pick it up for stateside release.

The big thing is, SCEI, SCEE, and SCEA operate completely seperate from one another.  One develops a game for its particular territory.  The others decide whether they want the game or not, then they have to translate it themselves for their own territory.

The game will be out in the 1st half of 2008.