Since there isn't a video game cover art forum, this place seems ok. I'm surprised no one ever mentioned this. Here's the email I just sent to Nintendo:


I'm sorry, but I live in the US. I do not want some stupid French or Spanish text on my game covers. It's bad enough it's on the cardboard box, but did it really need to be on the game case cover sleeve as well? It's the ONLY one of my GameCube covers that is not entirely in English. Why was this done? I thought the bilingual covers usually stayed in Canada where they belonged. I know you're probably gonna give me some crap about how everyone must enjoy the game, no matter what language they speak. It wouldn't be so bad if it was a reversable cover or something like that, or if the game had a langauge option. This really, really bothers me. Is there any way I can get an ENGLISH ONLY manual and slipcover for the DVD case? Even a scan I can print out would be OK. Especially if it's the only game I know of that is like that. (OK, maybe Ribbit King, but you guys didn't do that one and it's FAR less noticable: a very small section of the back cover that I can cover with some white paper or something.)

Also, back to Donkey Konga, you go thru all of the trouble to have a SECOND manual in there! Why couldn't the first manual be ENGLISH ONLY, and the second one be French and Spanish, so I could throw it away? I'd rather have a Japanese manual, at least it's where the game was created, though still as an extra, not contaminating the English.

I can't possibly be alone on this. People on sites like DVDtalk (who live in Canada no less) complain about bilingual DVD covers. Please do not do this in the future. Leave the bilingual covers in Canada and Mexico where they belong, or give us a choice.

Thank you,
Tom



Anyone agree with me here?

Before anyone complains, feel free to call English text or me or Americans or America stupid. Doesn't bother me one single bit. (In reference to above where I called the stupid French and Spanish text stupid.)

try here for the cover

http://www.cdcovers.cc/gamecube_d.php

Personally, I couldn't give a shit less what game/dvd/cd covers look like.

All I see on my shelf are their spines and I'm not a "collector" so I have not reason to care.

Thanks. I am a collector and I love things to match. Which is why all of my Japanese GC games will be converted to the larger US style covers.

If you are "picky" about things I would of thought you'd learn to deal with things like this. It might be something dumb they do...but it's unlikely they will stop.

I'm a fanatic collector and at times they really screw up the packaging. Am I happy they made crazy cases for Total Recall and Basic Instinct? Nope....but I dealt with the packages and moved on.

Ditto and (except I don't have Total Recall or Basic Instinct).

Here's a cover for you:

Seriosuly man, you know there are people dieing this second of starvation and you are worried about a box cover? Sheesh... But seriously, let it go...

I agree, who gives a crap.

When you're done with Donkey Konga, you should try this game...

Who reads the manual anyway?

I'm curious how exactly the English is going to be "contaminated." I have several movies with foreign languages on the cover, and they have yet to infect my other movies. I'll have to check to make sure though.

Plus, I'm pretty sure you're joking. You're joking, right? Because if you're not joking...

Never mind. I leave you with a quote from Billy Madison:

"Mr. Madison, what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul. "

Not drawing any comparisons here, just quoting a movie I enjoy.

So, good day, bonjour, and hola!

Mario, your letter was way too unprofessional to be taken seriously (i.e. "I know you're probably gonna give me some crap..."). I'd honestly be surprised if Nintendo even gives you the time of the day - and I wouldn't blame them if they didn't. In the future, if you're going to write a complaint to a company, make sure it doesn't sound like a 13 year old wrote it. I'm not trying to bag on you, I'm just telling you how I see it.

BTW, I agree that bilingual covers kinda suck, but is it really that big a deal?

Especially when the game is about drumming on a set of bongos.

I think it's pathetic that we need bilingual covers! Learn the LANGUAGE!

My parents came into the country as foreigners....but they ASSIMILATED!

My 2 cents.

Do you have a picture? At Amazon the cover is not bilingual.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...#more-pictures

Where did you buy it from anyway?

I understand what you are talking about, but in a case like this the choice to include multiple languages was likely a distribuition one. ie so they could do one production run and sell it in multiple countries. So your point doesn't really apply here.

NO!! THE LAZEY IMMEGRANTS WHO PLAY DONKEY KONGA WON'T JOIN OUR CULTURE AND MUST BE KICKED OUT OF THE COUNTRY. MY 2 SENSE.

Oh please. As you said yourself, no one goes "Ooo! bilingual cover!" People want it in their own language.

This thread is lame. Guess what I do with my games? I throw the cases out and keep the games in a cd folder. How do you like that, huh? Huh, Mr. I am going to bloody die because of the Cover, huh. Yeah real people are dying in countries and in poverty and you are bitching about the cover. I think maybe you should learn French and Spainish and Japanese if you want to continue living in this country, buddy.

I consider myself a collector, but who cares if they included another language as part of the game manual/cover. That is the one way the released it, and it doesn't really effect the "consistency" of my collection.l I did find it odd though, why this one game would have a bilingual cover.

Nintendo is a Japanese company, isn't it? Be thankful they even make games in English. Chinese is spoken by 3 times as many people as English is and in fact more people speak Spanish than people who speak English (by a small but signifigant margin) - these types of arrogant and ignorant statements seem to mostly originate from Americans. Sadly, most English speaking americans only speak one language - this isn't the case in many other countries. It's a shame my country is so intolerant of other cultures.

How come other DVDtalk dorks (yeah, including myself) get to complain about bilingual covers in Canada, where it's the norm, but I can't complain about ONE bilingual cover in the US?

When I have seen bilingual GameCube covers before, they said on the back, "For sale, rental and use only in Canada", because they know us whiny Americans will complain. Usually the US versions of the same game say "For sale, rental and use only in USA, Canada, Mexico and Latin America" kind of a double standard, but hey, if it keeps bilingual covers out of the US, fine by me. Which brings us to the game in question, Donkey Konga's back cover says "For sale, rental and use only in Canada and U.S.A." Notice how it says U.S.A. instead of USA (like the first example I used Star Wars Rebel Strike), and how USA is last in the list of countries when it should be first? Almost as if we are getting the game intended only for Canada, but at the last minute, they were like, "Hey well we printed up too many of these Canadian covers, Bob." "Huh, oh well just go ahead and use em for the US covers too, they won't mind." Proabably why I've seen Paper Mario with "Best Seller" on it the day it was released. I really don't know the significance of the dots between the letters in "USA", but.. anyway...

And, I know Nintendo is Japanese. I would have prefered Japanese writing instead of French or Spanish. If the game was about Japanese-ness or whatever, like the NES Ninja Gaiden games that had the Japanese text over the part where it said Gaiden. Something like that is fine. Yeah the letter may have sounded a bit childish, but I'm no writer by any stretch of the imagination.

It wouldn't be as bad if every game is like this, but they aren't. I got the game at Best Buy. I was joking about the contaminated thing of course, and some other things I mentioned, but I really would like an English-only cover.

Here's a quote from dv-depot.com:

"Please Note: The box has trilingual packaging (English, French and Spanish"

SEE! Even they are warning us!

OK, well, the outer cardboard box that contains the game case and the bongos is probably trilingual (it's in the basement, don't feel like checking right now), which is OK (well not really), but why did they have to make in the inner case that way as well? The actual game sleeve is only bilingual (french and english) as well as the manual inside of the game case. There is a second manual thrown in the cardboard box that is entirely in Spanish. C'mon, i can't possibly be the only one who bought this game! Anyone actually OWN an English-only cover?

Can's find the USB cable for my scanner right now, so I can't get a picture of it, but here's one I doctored up in mspaint:



Also, everything in English on the back has French directly below it.

Hmm, I seem to hear that Billy Madison quote a lot.. Hmm, wonder why? Guess lots of people love that movie....

The crumbling of America....

Other people leave their county to come start a good life in America...yet they expect the Americans to learn THEIR language!?!?! C'mon!

You should try this shoe on....

I think maybe you should learn ENGLISH if you want to continue living in this country, buddy.

FYI my beef isn't the cover, its society! I don't care about the cover; it just proves that this country is taking a wrong turn. These new immigrants come to this country for all its freedoms and JOBS yet they don't want to identify themselves as AMERICANS! That's the difference between the immigrants now and then. Catering to them is absurd, learn the language.