Poor Canada.

Oh geez this is stupid! Oh well, I'm OUT of here in a few months...

This is what it's been in Europe for years, except for it's not compulsory here. I hate the system as even English-speaking countries have to wait because of a few... Well, maybe I should say what I'd like to think of them.

And that law doesn't sound very good in Canada either. Not sure about this, but don't pretty much all in there know enough English to play games?

This is more like the kind of article I'd expect from the National Post.

It's not that all games have to have a French option, the law stipulates that:

IF the game is available in French somewhere in the World (meaning France), than that version must also be available in retail.
IF there is no French version available anywhere, the English version can be sold if there is a French or Billingual packaging (which was already in effect for the past 10 years I believe).

The only thing added by this law is that if the company makes a French version for France, they have to import that version to Québec. English-only games are not affected by this change in the law.

This is seems less along the lines of mature Quebec asking for games to be translated to French and more along the lines of baby Quebec throwing a tantrum that games are made in English/Japanese mostly and not French.

It is just as well that it is French that is the issue.

If it was, say, Welsh there might be a real problem.

That article is wrong. Games that don't have a French version available anywhere else can and will get released in Québec. The law is just to ensure that French (or multilingual) versions of games will be available in Québec if they are made.

The same goes for movies and computer softwares, yet you don't hear anyone cry over those.

I don't understand while some parts of canada are french speaking when its a english speaking nation.  Laws like these are silly because it will affect business in the long run.

Why would a company make a game which they know will sell 500k or less spend money to make it french when maybe only a few hundered french speaking people will buy it.

Because, a lot of Canada was a French colony, before the English got there.

OT: Sucks for them... but they can just drive over to another part of Canada and get their games there, can't they? It's either that, or wait for their games to be delayed.

I was told by a former newspaper colleague that for years the Montreal Gazette (the English-language paper in the city) used to keep a tally of the number of jobs lost in the city/province because of the language laws.

This does not sound that bad -- as technically Canada is a bilingual country. But what happens if a game is released in NA and then in the EU. Does an English-only game get pulled once a French version is available?

Also, if a game is released in the EU first, will publishers actually make the French version of a mid-level title available in the PQ, or just say the heck with it and forgo local sales?

These are relevant questions.

Mike from Morgantown

Mike from Morgantown