What month do you think AC3DS will be released in?

[saratoga]

Yes, agreed. Why do they always have to keep us in the dark?! If they released in May... then that's 6 MONTHS to translate the game! >;(

You are assuming that the start the translation process when the game is released in Japan. That is never the case. They are most likely 100% or close to 100% finished with the English translation, now. The reason for not releasing it is pretty obvious...they don't want to take attention away from some of their major games: Paper Mario, etc and more than that--they don't want to take away attention from the Wii U and its release. This is good strategy on Nintendo's part, in order to ensure more sales for everything all around.

That being said, people just need to be patient

 

[Haihappen]

That being said, people just need to be patient

But we did our waiting! Twelve years of it! In Azkaban!!!

 

[Skye]

I kind of doubt that they'll tell us the release date until a few days before the actual release. I'm probably wrong, but maybe they want to surprise us? If they announce it a few days before the release, then we'll all be like, OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD!!!!!!! and order it straightaway. But I don't think thats how Nintendo like to do things xD

There's only one reason I'm against this idea, and that's because some people might not have the money ready. Sure, people are saving up or something might happen and they need to spend that money, but it would be unfair to those who really want it and can't get it based on this reason. I myself have the money and have 'pre-ordered' it on Amazon, so it doesn't apply to me, but it does others. Other than that, I kind of like that idea. Nintendo doesn't like to use the element of surprise a lot, so I don't see it happening, but it'd be a change of pace :3

 

[Juicebox]

I'm thinking the release date will be announced at least a couple of months in advance. Announcing too late could actually hurt sales because as Sylph stated, if people don't have the money for the game, people won't buy it. I think that if it is released in May, the release date will officially be given in March.

 

[Officer Berri]

I just realized that no matter what the release date is going to be, it's going to probably come along after this December. Meaning I'm never going to get to read about it in Nintendo Power like I did with Population Growing.

Just gave myself so many sads, man.

 

[blumiere]

I'm torn between realistic standards for Nintendo (they drag things out as far as they can) and a realistic time distance for international releases. June fits the former criteria, but the latter makes March more likely. Even Kingdom Hearts 3D, which was also very text-heavy, was released in NA only 5 months after Japan. I wish we could just have a release date to start the long countdown, but until then I'll keep my fingers crossed for sometime-before-March. /foreveroptimistic

 

[PapaNer]

The game is already translated. They are holding it because NA/EU have BIG expectations as far as WiiU sales, which will start with this november/december. They don't want to take any fire away from either release, as they are both huge, so when the WiiU sales stop being so nuts (and Luigi's Mansion, I assume) AC3DS will get a real release date.

I just wanted to say we aren't waiting for the game to finish, we are waiting for the most profitable launch date.

 

[Trakker]

I just realized that no matter what the release date is going to be, it's going to probably come along after this December. Meaning I'm never going to get to read about it in Nintendo Power like I did with Population Growing.

Just gave myself so many sads, man.

Not just probably it's already been announced first half of next year

 

[Jennifer]

The game is already translated. They are holding it because NA/EU have BIG expectations as far as WiiU sales, which will start with this november/december. They don't want to take any fire away from either release, as they are both huge, so when the WiiU sales stop being so nuts (and Luigi's Mansion, I assume) AC3DS will get a real release date.

I just wanted to say we aren't waiting for the game to finish, we are waiting for the most profitable launch date.

Which just kind of stinks :/ Honestly, a 3DS game is not going to criticize sales for the WiiU...in fact, most people I know want both.

Not to mention my whole family would pick up the new Animal Crossing

 

[Officer Berri]

Not just probably it's already been announced first half of next year

Oh, I know that. I was just saying that since we know it wont have a release date until next year, I'll never see a preview of it in Nintendo Power since the magazine is ending its run this December. When I first heard about this game I'd hoped I'd get to read all about it like I did for the GameCube title.

 

[MattVariety]

You are assuming that the start the translation process when the game is released in Japan. That is never the case. They are most likely 100% or close to 100% finished with the English translation, now. The reason for not releasing it is pretty obvious...they don't want to take attention away from some of their major games: Paper Mario, etc and more than that--they don't want to take away attention from the Wii U and its release. This is good strategy on Nintendo's part, in order to ensure more sales for everything all around.

That being said, people just need to be patient

You really think so? While that does sound a bit optimistic, I guess it does make sense to a degree. Plus, you're an experienced translator, so you know how long it would take to translate something like Animal Crossing. Taking logic into the matter and considering how quickly you translate the game, I'd say the whole translation process throughout the whole Nintendo staff would take about a month or less. I never thought of it that way!

But, yeah, it's not a matter of how long it's going to take them to make the game, it's a matter of when they're going to release it. With all these major releases coming out, it's definitely not going to be a March/May release, nevertheless a Christmas release.

 

[JKDOS]

Just try to estimate based off this

Animal Crossing GN NA: September 15, 2002
Animal Crossing WW NA: December 5 2005
Animal Crossing CF NA: November 16 2008

He some stuff to keep in mind

• We got City Folk 4 Days before Japan.
• We got Wild World 12 days after Japan

How long does it take professionals to translate all Kanji to English? With technology today, it could be a couple weeks.

Let's all hope for a Spring 2013 release date...

 

[JKDOS]

Just try to estimate based off this

Animal Crossing GN NA: September 15, 2002
Animal Crossing WW NA: December 5 2005
Animal Crossing CF NA: November 16 2008

He some stuff to keep in mind

• We got City Folk 4 Days before Japan.
• We got Wild World 12 days after Japan

 

[Kaia]

I read May 1st, 2013 somewhere.. But I also heard it will be released sometime in the first half of 2013. Guessing based on the Japanese release date, I think the game will be released in February or March in the USA. If not... x( Ima cry.

 

[Leon]

I would like it to be released here in Oz around January next year hahah. But I doubt it would be released, and it would probably be released in March/April some time.

 

[Blueyoshi]

Why does it sometimes take so long for a game to be released outside of Japan? Its like they start ''thinking'' about translating it to English and other languages a couple of weeks after the Japanese releases :S....

Anyway, I think Luigi's mansion will be released in March, so I believe Animal Crossing will be released 2 months later; in May.

 

[Kaia]

I'm guessing February or March. It's just an estimate. I'm guessing it'll be released in Europe a week after so. I don't really know how that works

 

[Carole]

My guess is that it won't get to North America until May-June, or even later since they have already run out of physical copies and have not yet met the demand for them in Japan.

 

[JCnator]

It's important to take note that localizing a title isn't only involving "translating" a lot of texts. Even if they are already, the staff has to understand the context beforehand, so they adjust the texts accordingly to make the game even more understandable for native English (or any other 3DS supported language) speakers and add/remove certain holidays. It's also difficult to predict when the localization actually started...

It might be interesting to read this page to have some insights on what the localization process actually works.

With that into account, and considering on how far the localization from NOA, I guess that April 2013 is the most realistic release windows I could think of. Maybe even March 2013 if we're lucky enough. I guess we will see that release date on Nintendo Direct this month or in next February.

 

[LaughingDingo]

The translation is likely done.. and the game isn't all Kanji. It uses hiragana and katakana as well. I'd suspect programming in new events and then testing them and such would take more work hours than the translating.