Canadian Gears 2 Fans Get A Crash Course In French

[Andy Chalk]

Canadian Gears 2 Fans Get A Crash Course In French

Merde! It appears that the hardcover art book included with the Canadian release of the Gears of War 2 Limited Edition [http://gearsofwar.xbox.com/] only comes in French.

Gears of War 2 forums [http://www.joystiq.com/2008/11/07/zut-alors-canadian-gears-2-le-ships-with-art-book-in-french-onl/], and while it's not yet known whether the hardcover art book is French only right across the country, at least one poster noted that games purchased from stores at least as far west as Calgary - a city twice as far from Montreal as it from Los Angeles - don't have the hardcover book in English.

What English-speaking gamers are getting instead is a softcover art book, attached to the outside of the box. While the content is apparently the same, the prevailing opinion seems to be that gamers paid for a hardcover art book with a reasonable expectation that it would come in their own language. Goalies and poutine notwithstanding, less than one quarter of all Canadians list French as their first language, and despite almost 150 years of living together language rights continues to be a touchy point for many people on both sides of the linguistic divide.

This kind of "dual manual" release is actually quite common in Canada, where most services and product packaging are legally mandated to be bilingual, but it's the first time I can recall seeing one of our two official languages get preferential treatment in a Limited Edition. Epic [http://www.epicgames.com] has not yet commented on whether it has any plans to address the concerns of unhappy Canadian gamers.



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[DamienHell]

I'm Canadian and I don't speak a word of French, alot of provinces are English first and have very few French people in them. Besides, its well known (up here) that English speaking Canadians and French speaking Canadians hate each other.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

So why won't you let Quebec succeed? A tiny tiny country would be amusing.

 

[the_tramp]

I love the edited picture. However there is an epic fail because there is no baguette.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

That dude actually looks pretty cool with the berrete. I thought it was the original picture at first.

 

[Milkman Dan]

There are Francophones outside of Québec, such as myself. But I have no issues communicating in English, in fact I prefer to write in English. And ironically enough, it's "secede," not "succeed."

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

So why won't you let Quebec succeed? A tiny tiny country would be amusing.

Deep down in my heart of hearts I feel it's because we really don't want to see Quebec leave, in all honesty, our country would be lessened by it. Also... Most Quebecois I know don't want to leave, not any of the younger ones anyway.

 

[Baby Tea]

The only reason I don't want Quebec to leave is this: Maple Syrup.

They are the world's largest producer of the stuff (Last time I checked), and I needs it for my pancakes and French Toast.

So you may stay...for now. But know this: The syrup is MINE!

 

[ElephantGuts]

Let Quebec secede, then declare war on and subsequently crush them, then force them to stop being French and be like the rest of the damn country.

Then Quebec is still part of Canada, it's not French anymore, and your military gets a quick little exercise, and hopefully shut up some of the people who make fun of Canada's military. And you get to kick some (practically) French people's asses.

 

[Anton P. Nym]

The only reason I don't want Quebec to leave is this: Maple Syrup.

They are the world's largest producer of the stuff (Last time I checked), and I needs it for my pancakes and French Toast.

So you may stay...for now. But know this: The syrup is MINE!

I'd miss the smoked meat, too. Pricy to get here, but man it's good stuff. (One more reason for me to head to Worldcon; it's in Montreal this year, and I hope to endulge at Schwartz's at least once.)

Back to the news item, though, I'm starting to not feel so anxious about not picking up Gears 2 on launch day now.

-- Steve

 

[fix-the-spade]

considering that french is the first language of only 15% or so of Canada's population, that's a pretty major bugger up.
Is Microsoft's Canadian headquarters in Montreal then?

 

[Dectilon]

See it as an opportunity to learn some french words like "DEATH" "BADASS" and "MURDER BY CHAINSAW!"

 

[cleverlymadeup]

I love the edited picture. However there is an epic fail because there is no baguette.

actually if he was quebecois he'd need a ciggarette, a pepsi and a may west ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_West )

[Most Quebecois I know don't want to leave, not any of the younger ones anyway.

yeah especially since their precious power dams are on indian land and well look what happened when they wanted to build a golf course

funnier still the ones who want to leave the most aren't even in the part of the province that would leave

 

[Andy Chalk]

It's not correct to say that English Canadians "hate" French Canadians. What really exists is a weariness with the endless posturing about culture and language rights, demands for special recognition and rights above and beyond those of other provinces, rampant political favouritism and other aspects of a weak federal system that have exacerbated the divide between Quebec and the ROC. ("ROC," for those who don't live here, is a commonly-accepted short form for "rest of Canada.") The trouble is that even though we continue to insist that "my Canada includes Quebec," it really doesn't. Even now, Quebec functions very much like an independent nation, and the current government seems determined to hand over increasing levels of autonomy with each passing year. The grassroots frustration with the political process comes largely from the fact that "we" keep making Herculean efforts to keep Quebec happy and part of Confederation, while at the same time doing more and more, in a practical sense, to keep them separate.

To the topic at hand... not sure how this happened. The only sensible explanation I can see is that this was a Quebec-specific shipment that somehow found its way to the ROC. Otherwise, it's mind-boggling. Even the most cursory knowledge of Canada would tell you that it's a predominantly english-speaking nation. French has to be supported, and I have no problem with that, but it needs to either be region-specific (ie., French in Quebec, English everywhere else) or both sides of the coin have to be given equal treatment. The Oblivion collector's edition, for instance, came with full, identical versions of both the English and French documentation, and nobody had any problem with that. (Although a lot of paper was wasted on French manuals that went straight into the shitcan.)

 

[Echolocating]

The only reason I don't want Quebec to leave is this: Maple Syrup.

They are the world's largest producer of the stuff (Last time I checked), and I needs it for my pancakes and French Toast.

So you may stay...for now. But know this: The syrup is MINE!

They are also the only producer of Georges St.Pierre. ;-)

 

[Dectilon]

(Although a lot of paper was wasted on French manuals that went straight into the shitcan.)

Then again, most of everything have manuals in 12-14 languages.

 

[Andy Chalk]

But the Oblivion manual included a completely separate, full-size, square bound french manual, rather than just a french section in the manual. Most game releases are like that (separate french manual attached to the outside of the package) but in the case of collector's editions, you have to expect better.

 

[ElArabDeMagnifico]

Je vais prendre ça!

Ne pas l'esprit si je ne fais!

Sucré!

Grub gratter!

Sacré bleu!

Use google language tools if you want a translation.