Ubisoft has announced (in text format on gamesindustry.biz, appropriately enough) that it plans to begin supporting subtitles to its internally developed games, beginning with
Far Cry 2,
Prince of Persia, and
Shaun White Snowboarding. The addition is being made in order to make the company's games more accessible to the deaf and hard of hearing. According to Ubisoft, this will require modifications to game engines already in use and also "inclusion of subtitles in the conception phase of game development."
Frankly, we can't live without subtitles (some people have to sleep at night, after all) and we're surprised that Ubisoft iis only now catching on to their necessity for many gamers. Still, it's a good move and we're sure many gamers will be happier as a result.
[Via Joystiq]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
9-10-2008 @ 6:29PM
Ball3rAvery33 said...
OOOOHHHHH AHHHHHH
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9-10-2008 @ 6:33PM
Kamal said...
You know what would be really cool?
Add Pause, Rewind features to non-interactive cut-scenes.
I like sub-titles too.
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9-10-2008 @ 6:33PM
Levon said...
personally, i hate subtitles, they ruin the scenery
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9-10-2008 @ 6:43PM
Momer said...
Because of my dad, I know turn on subtitles whenever I can. It's a thing he always does in movies and it's become a habit, so this is nice to hear. Let's hope they implement them well. Some games have HORRIBLE subtitles (read: GUN).
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9-10-2008 @ 6:43PM
Desolation said...
Being deaf, it makes me very happy to see they are finally doing this.
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9-10-2008 @ 7:07PM
Ample Salty said...
I like subtitles. If someone in the game has an accent that's hard to understand (looking at you GTAIV) or it's late at night and I have the sound down, then it's a useful thing to have.
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9-10-2008 @ 7:23PM
Fire Fawkes said...
I ALWAYS have the subtitles on when available. Games such as the aforementioned GTA IV and friends have characters that speak gibberish (Little Jacob, looking at you rasta) or a game has certain characters speak so softly you can't hear them. It's just easier with subtitles.
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9-10-2008 @ 8:07PM
AoE said...
Agreed, plus I can usually read the subs quite a bit faster than the dialogue is delivered. It makes rpgs like Oblivion much more enjoyable when you can just skip through all the spoken dialogue.
9-10-2008 @ 7:32PM
DJcube said...
I always use subtitles in games. I just find it much easier to quickly scan a subtitle as opposed to listening to a voice while I'm playing.
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9-10-2008 @ 8:32PM
AnthonyGalindoX said...
I thought this post was about the games getting a subtitle like Modern Warfare or something, not subtitles for the hearing impaired.
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9-10-2008 @ 9:42PM
Tony said...
Finally. I'm not deaf, but I can't say how often I've played a game where some character is hard to understand or the music is way too loud or something else.
I don't understand why this isn't standard by now.
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9-10-2008 @ 9:45PM
blank964 said...
There are times where I can't understand what character's on Assassin's Creed are saying so this is a welcome addition.
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9-10-2008 @ 10:00PM
antilucid said...
Being hard of hearing, I gave up on that game within 5 minutes without subtitles. A waste of 60 bucks when it was brand new.
9-11-2008 @ 12:28AM
rainking187 said...
I like. I'm not hard of hearing yet, but people love to yell shit at me while I'm playing so this will be nice.
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9-11-2008 @ 2:04AM
RedSonRising said...
nice addition, but if devs need to remember everyone doesnt have an HDTV.. usually i wouldnt worry about that but i moved my xbox around a while back and now i can sympathize with the HD-less xboxers out there..
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9-11-2008 @ 2:08AM
WarmachineXsX said...
It's About Time, When I Bought Sands Of Time I Always Played At Night So I Could Never Hear The Prince. I Had No Idea What Was Going On
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9-11-2008 @ 2:23AM
bVork said...
Hopefully they go as far as Valve does, and include directional captioning of important sound effects.
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9-11-2008 @ 3:29AM
Anticrawl said...
Agreed, this is my favorite feature of Half-life 2 and episode 1 & 2.
9-11-2008 @ 6:22AM
Boff said...
I always put the subtitles on. I can hear ok but there are always some parts that sound like muffled gibberish and it really annoys me when I miss something. I find it a lot easier to follow the plot and remember the story using subtitles too.
Oh god I sound old don't I.
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9-11-2008 @ 7:26AM
Silverlotus said...
This is great! We use subtitles around here for games and TV, mostly because of the baby. That way, when he is crying, "talking" (very loudly), or asleep, we still know what's happening.
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