GAME LOCALIZATION FOR WINDOWS PHONE 7

Have you ever noticed how serious gamers seem to have their own unique language and culture? From old-school Zelda and MMORPG World of Warcraft to Halo and Half-Life, virtual universes are where today’s hardcore gamers spend several hours a day; many have even grown up in these alternative worlds. So what does this mean for your effort to release your game in new language markets?

There’s a host of game localization success stories out there and your game can join their ranks. By sensitizing yourself to localization elements in your personal gaming endeavors and with little bit of our help, you’ll be ready to conquer the hearts of gamers around the world.

In order to re-create your in-game experience for players in other countries, you’ll want to work with linguists, translators, voice talent and testers who have extensive experience playing games (whether for console, computer, mobile device, etc). Ideally, they’ll also be familiar with your game genre and have an appreciation for the unique setting and terminology. When this isn’t possible, look for linguists who are experienced in transcreation (or copy re-creation) and cultural peculiarities specific to both your regional markets and gamer demographics.

To make things a little bit more clear for those who don’t have much experience in this area, take a look at a small demo game developed using Microsoft XNA framework and Visual C# for Windows Phone 7.