Sam & Max season 2 german version without english language?

edited January 2010 in Sam & Max
well dunno where exactly to put this, buuuut...

i've been waiting and waiting for sam & max season 2 to finally come to stores in germany (not a big fan of digitally bought games). while i'm still kinda unsure of the release date (only know that it's around now), what i'm really concerned with now is if it has english audio. Season 1 had it, but now i read that season 2 wouldn't.
buying a game here is really a minefield, while you might get a clue if a game is censored, you'll never know if it has the original language included.

does anyone know? should i just order it from the uk? i'd really prefer to just walk into a store and buy it

Comments

  • edited December 2009
    If you don't need the German version, why don't you just buy it from the Telltale store? Those DVDs have the better cover art by miles.

    Of course, in order to find out what's really on the German DVD, you should probably wait until it's actually available. I'm sure, the details will appear on game review sites, or you could just check some forums.
  • edited December 2009
    I'm sure, the details will appear on game review sites, or you could just check some forums.
    nope they only say "it's fully translated to german!!" without no mention if it includes the original language. and well, i am checking a forum right now :D (what? go to a german forum? naaah)
    and as i said i'd prefer to walk to the store and buy it. but heck last case i'll order it online.

    edit: ah well, darn, now you made me buy the sam and max essentials on the telltale store (even though i already have season 1, bought here in germany).. how could you?
  • edited January 2010
    It seems the game will be published by Atari, so why don't you ask them??!
  • WillWill Telltale Alumni
    edited January 2010
    I'm *pretty sure* that they will have English as an option but not 100% sure. I think you can have the game entirely in English (subtitles and everything) or entirely in German (subtitles and voice).
  • edited January 2010
    Cyphox wrote: »
    It seems the game will be published by Atari, so why don't you ask them??!

    we don`t speak with atari because they have not hired the
    original german speakers from the first games for season2. :mad:
  • WillWill Telltale Alumni
    edited January 2010
    Honestly, I think the actors they got this time did a decent job. My only real complaint was that their Max was clearly trying to imitate Season 1's Max, rather than doing her own thing.
  • edited January 2010
    In Germany Max is a girl?! Oh my Go-oh wait. What does Jurgen sound like in German?
  • edited January 2010
    Lena_P wrote: »
    In Germany Max is a girl?! Oh my Go-oh wait. What does Jurgen sound like in German?

    Like a Texan?
  • WillWill Telltale Alumni
    edited January 2010
    He sounds surprisingly like Jurgen, believe it or not.
  • edited January 2010
    I'm really curious about how they handled Jurgen.

    I've been watching a playthrough of the German version of Season One on YouTube. I'm halfway through episode 3, and I have some comments.

    I hear they got the same voice actors from the German dub of Hit the Road. I can't find the names of the actors anywhere, but if that's the case, it's strange that Sam's voice actor did a different voice. In Hit the Road Sam almost sounds like Bill Farmer's Sam but not quite, and in Season One, he almost sounds like David Nowlin's Sam but not quite.

    The only thing I ever hear about the German dub is that Max's voice is done by the same person who does Bart Simpson. Having watched a few episodes of the Simpsons in German, I can't say it's that noticeable. However, it looks like she also voiced Raz in Psychonauts, and that is noticeable.

    Peepers' voice gave me a headache the first time I heard it. It went away though, so I don't mind.

    I liked Bosco's voice. I'm no expert on German or voice acting, but Bosco seemed well acted. The language Sam claims he's speaking after he starts acting stereotypically British was changed from "English" to "Snoblisch".

    Although Philo Pennyworth does have a different voice when he's acting, both voices sound like a chicken, which I think misses the joke a bit. Also, his character's name isn't Herr Featherly like Jurgen calls him in 203; it's Opa Flügelich. I think Opa means grandfather, and Flügelich has something to do with wings, but I'm not sure.

    Quite a few of the names were changed, but I like Leonard's German name the best: Leonard Schnitzelflüsterer. I believe it means more or less the same thing as in the English, but words containing "schnitzel" are inherently funny. Also, he addresses Sam as Kommissar [Inspector] Rex instead of McGruff, which I liked because I actually know who that is. I know who McGruff is too now, but only because of Sam & Max.

    That's all I have to say. Sorry, I just think this localisation stuff is fascinating.
  • edited January 2010
    So he sounds like an American guy pretending to be German? Actually, that sounds like he's even funnier in German than he was in English, and I loved him in English.
  • edited January 2010
    Lena_P wrote: »
    In Germany Max is a girl?! Oh my Go-oh wait. What does Jurgen sound like in German?

    Yes... in the german Version of Season One Max is spoken
    by the Same GIRL that also has spoken him in HIT THE ROAD
    (also she is the german Voice of Bart Simpson) and i think i can
    speak for all the german Fans that she`s the perfekt Voice for that Job...

    however, possible that they take good new ones...
    but it`s not the original one !!!

    It`s the Same thing that Guybrush Threepwood MUST have the Voice
    of Norman Matt in his german Adventures!!! (i will hope he will speak
    him also for the german Version of ToMI)

    :guybrush:
  • edited January 2010
    Shwoo wrote: »
    That's all I have to say. Sorry, I just think this localisation stuff is fascinating.

    So do I. Do you have links to various versions, with videos, so we could listen to the voices in different languages? I only saw the intro of Season One in French (the guy who did the voices of Sam and Max in Hit the Road took the roles back) but that's absolutely all. No voices of any other characters and no other languages (except for the bonus one from one of the DVDs).
  • edited January 2010
    Someone on YouTube has been uploading German language playthroughs of a number of games, including Season One and Hit the Road. Here's their playlist page. The Season One playthrough also includes German subtitles, while the Hit the Road playthrough does not.

    Here's Whizzer singing the Soda Poppers theme song in French. Apparently the Soda Poppers kept their names in French; they didn't in German.

    Gameplay footage of several Season One episodes. Includes subtitles.

    Polish gameplay trailer for Abe Lincoln Must Die!, and a bit of Bright Side of the Moon, I think.

    A few more Polish videos can be found in the related videos box. If I keep linking to all of them, I'll be here all day.

    I think a clip from the Polish dub can also be seen as a special feature on the Season Two DVD, but I'm not sure if it's actually Polish, or on the Season Two DVD. I do know that it's from the scene at the end of The Mole, The Mob, and The Meatball where Harry tries to hypnotise Sam and Max.

    Part of a playthrough of the Spanish localisation. I'm mostly only linking dubs in this post, and the Spanish localisation retained the English voices and just subtitled them, but this one is notable for including the text adventure at the end of Reality 2.0, fully translated into Spanish, starting at 3:57. I think it's a Let's Play, so it does have someone talking over it.

    Playlist page for an Italian language playthrough of Hit the Road.

    That's all I can find on YouTube at the moment. The only dubs I'm aware of are German, French and Polish, so that's all I looked for.
  • edited January 2010
    Atacar con Chorrada... I'm still laughing about that one...

    Coleguilla? Why I didn't know that when I was doing the Fan Scanlation of the Big Sleep?

    If you want to know, yes, I'm Natural Spanish, but I'm from Latin America, and the Dubs for Spain and here are diferent. Spain's dubs are infamous here because they use a ton of Slang (At least for us) and read all those words they use and we don't is, at least, hilarious. I'm searching for the official translation for "You crack me up, little pal".
    Lena_P wrote: »
    In Germany Max is a girl?! Oh my Go-oh wait. What does Jurgen sound like in German?

    If I get you correctly, don't worry: The actors ussually don't match. They try to put the most close sounding actor for that not the same actor. What I mean is probably Max's Actress is not the same as Jurgen's. I'm saying probably because I have no idea =P. By the way, womans ussually perform high pitched voices and kids, so, I was actually somewhat surprised to know all Max's actors in English were men. Really.

    By the way: Is it British Dub by any chance?
  • edited January 2010
    If you're asking if there's a British dub, no there isn't. They're too close together, and American exports most of its culture to Britain anyway. Dubbing something already in English into a different variety of English would be seen as ridiculously insular.

    I was a little surprised about Max's voice actors too. But he is an adult...
  • edited January 2010
    Shwoo wrote: »
    If you're asking if there's a British dub, no there isn't. They're too close together, and American exports most of its culture to Britain anyway. Dubbing something already in English into a different variety of English would be seen as ridiculously insular.

    I was asking because, well, I know for a fact some Cartoons are dubbed English to English, and even rarer cases, like LazyTown, where the Puppets are Dubbed and the actors are not. I was never sure if that were just Cartoons and Pre-schooler stuff or if that also includes some videogames or series.
    Shwoo wrote: »
    I was a little surprised about Max's voice actors too. But he is an adult...

    It's just a rule about high pitching voices I can't forget. And, really, the age and the gender doesn't really matter when you have the close sounding voice in dubbing. Once I heard a man voicing a little girl and I didn't notice it.
  • edited January 2010
    Oh. As far as I can tell, that's only done for shows aimed at preschoolers and under. English to English dubs really are rare; the only other exception I can think of is the first American release of Mad Max, an Australian movie that was dubbed over with American actors for some ridiculous reason.
  • edited January 2010
    Thanks! It's neat hearing the dubbed versions.

    Here are two of the French one: the intro to hit the road (it's in two parts, the link is to part one): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVf7_rEbtRc
    (The guy's filming his laptop. It's not great quality. But you can hear the voices).

    And the beginning of Culture Shock, with subtitles: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfL-omG9d98

    EDIT: Max's French voice actor is male too (the same guy is the voice of both Sam and Max in French).
  • edited January 2010
    Oh, cool. I found the French intro but didn't link to it because you said you'd already seen it, but I hadn't seen the Hit the Road intro before.

    Also, I just found this. It's the French dub of the end of Culture Shock, starting from talking to Bosco.

    Here's another clip from Culture Shock, and a clip from Abe Lincoln Must Die!, both in French. Neither are great quality, though.
  • edited January 2010
    Neat! Got to hear the voices of Bosco, Sybil, the Poppers and Brady Culture in French.

    (Yes, I had seen the beginning of episode one, but I thought some other people might be interested).

    The Abe Lincoln one... Hugh Bliss in French makes it worth it even though as you said the quality isn't ideal. I wonder why his name wasn't translated (just, you know, pronounced in French).

    EDIT: Don't wanna double-post, but I found a better quality of hit the road in French: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x85ea8_sam-max-intro-vf_videogames

    Dailymotion has lots of Sam&Max videos in French, but most of them are tests with people talking over them, of little interest for appreciating the dubbing.
  • edited January 2010
    Atari doen`t make the Lokalization anymore...
    now Namco is on the run, we`ll se what happened :rolleyes:
  • edited January 2010
    Shwoo wrote: »
    I hear they got the same voice actors from the German dub of Hit the Road. I can't find the names of the actors anywhere, but if that's the case, it's strange that Sam's voice actor did a different voice. In Hit the Road Sam almost sounds like Bill Farmer's Sam but not quite, and in Season One, he almost sounds like David Nowlin's Sam but not quite.

    They in fact did keep the "Hit the Road" actors for Season One. The German cast list for Season One is:

    Role.... German Speaker:
    Sam...... Hans-Gerd Kilbinger
    Max...... Sandra Schwittau
    Brady Culture..... Claus Brockmeyer
    Moderator....... Claus-Peter Damitz
    Brilli (Specs)........ Johannes Raspe
    Strulli (Whizzer).... Benedikt Weber
    Bosco...... Kai Taschner
    Jimmy Zweizahn (Jimmy Two-Teeth).... Gerhard Acktun
    Glubschi (Peepers)..... Mike Carl
    Sybil Pandemic..... Olivia Powell

    Here you can compare the German intro of "Hit the Road" (on Youtube) with a piece from German Season One (on Youtube).

    Sandra Schwittau is in fact mostly famous for speaking Bart Simpson in the German "Simpsons" dub. Kai Taschner (Bosco) is quite known, and is also the speaker for the German version of "You Don't Know Jack" (2-4). Gerhard Acktun used to dub Smithers of "The Simpsons" in the first three seasons.

    Also an interesting fact: in the German Sam & Max Season One, they actually translated many of the textures into German, for instance, the street signs. In Hit the Road, all of this was kept English (in those days, localization companies usually didn't touch the game graphics, they even didn't bother to translate games titles, except maybe for "Full Throttle").
  • edited January 2010
    Shwoo wrote: »
    If you're asking if there's a British dub, no there isn't. They're too close together, and American exports most of its culture to Britain anyway. Dubbing something already in English into a different variety of English would be seen as ridiculously insular.

    I do agree with this, but only for Sam and Max, simply because they grew up in and live in America, so having them speak with thick London accents would be... wierd.

    Sometimes redubbing isn't bad though. After a while you tend to get sick of almost every character in every game being American UNLESS they are a villain. Games like Final Fantasy XII with their more diverse accents are like a breath of fresh air.

    Now to check out some of these different language versions!
  • edited January 2010
    What I strongly dislike about the foreign-language versions of Sam & Max is that they use different fonts than the English original. For instance, the main subtitle font from the localized versions (German, French, etc.) is just plain "MS Comic Sans" instead of "Ccchatterbox".

    Given that MS Comic Sans is one of the most hated fonts around, this looks like a bad joke. ;)
  • WillWill Telltale Alumni
    edited January 2010
    That's because Chatterbox lacks a lot of the necessary accents and diacritics needed for the foreign languages. Editing fonts is unfortunately complicated and expensive, so we had to go with a "major" font to get all of the necessary characters.
  • edited January 2010
    Well, in fact, the Telltale fonts format is a bitmap one, so it is not much of a problem to add accents for special characters to it - as it's basically drawing on a bitmap, it's not like editing the original Truetype font. ;)
    And it does also not explain why the nice Square Meal font (which does in fact contain all the necessary accents) was replaced with some other, totally dissimilar font (HVD Comic Serif, to be precise - which is used for chapter names in German, French etc. versions). I can understand why Comic Sans was used in the Russian localization (that was released by Russobit), but it is not a large problem creating accents for an inherently Western font. As a font designer myself, I happen to know that. ;)

    PS: the English version of Season 2 does contain one special character for Chatterbox - the Ñ letter for the Mariachi song. :)
  • DjNDBDjNDB Moderator
    edited January 2010
    Looks like there's also Chatterbox international, which should at least cover some European languages.
  • edited January 2010
    TheHutt wrote: »
    Here you can compare the German intro of "Hit the Road" (on Youtube) with a piece from German Season One (on Youtube).

    I can... hear the feminine tone in Max's voice.


    It... it ruined me.
  • edited January 2010
    DjNDB wrote: »
    Looks like there's also Chatterbox international, which should at least cover some European languages.

    It covers French, which I believe has the highest amount of special characters of all Latin languages (the only one French doesn't have that another Latin language has is the N with a tilde, which is there too), so I should think it would cover all Latin languages, and it has some "norse" letters too (the crossed O, the A with a round on top). It also has the "Eszed" (not sure how it's spelled) for German, although it doesn't have Cyrillic letters that I can see (for Russian).

    All in all, it should be able to cover Latin and Germanic languages I'd say.

    When I'm trying to use fonts that are more "International" I usually use the Komika ones. They have a variety of fonts with lots of special characters (including for instance the Euro symbol that the font you linked to doesn't have), although I'm not sure how many languages they cover since I've only used them for English and French.

    I did notice some of the texture changes when I watched the French videos. I'd have to check, but it seemed to me some signs were translated and some were not.
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