Aksys hopes to make visual novels big with Jake Hunter
by JC Fletcher 
{ Dec 7th 2007 at 9:45AM }
Aksys, who has already earned a place at the top of our Christmas list for localizing Super Dodgeball Brawlers, is also taking on the heroic task of localizing, for the first time, a Detective Saburo Jinguuji game. Aksys's Gail Salamanca spoke to Siliconera about the decision.Unsurprisingly, when Jinguuji steps into his American persona, the world around him will be more Westernized, as well. Similarly to how Capcom has approached the Phoenix Wright series despite the whole Fey family being clearly Japanese and part of the game clearly taking place in Japan, Salamanca said that Jake Hunter: Detective Chronicles will take place in America: "Yes, we took the Anywhere, USA approach when it came time to localize the game."
If Jake Hunter does well, which it may in a post-Wright America, Aksys is hoping to bring over more visual novel games. "We're hoping Jake Hunter is the first in a long list of digital novel style games." Although, to be honest, we think their decision to localize this is based less on genuine interest in the game and more on taking whatever they could get from Arc System Works.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
nil @ Dec 7th 2007 10:17AM
Aksys has risen to become one of my favorite publishers. Hoshigami Remix, Guilty Gear XX Accent Core for Wii, Super Dodgeball and now this. I hope they keep churning out the titles.
Ben @ Dec 7th 2007 10:52AM
I'm a bit worried about the whole "Anywhere, USA" decision since most game backgrounds sweat Japan a lot more than Phoenix Wright's ... Excellent initiative to localize it though.
Snail @ Dec 7th 2007 12:58PM
It will turn out to be fine...this games' story took place mainly in metro areas of Japan and actually fits western culture more than Phoenix Wright's.
Pizza Pasta @ Dec 7th 2007 12:21PM
I better be able to "smoke tobacco" in this game.