Mass Effect: Multiple Languages

Recently The Sun has released an interesting article on the mechanics of translating Bioware’s upcoming Mass Effect into multiple languages. The game will be available in English, French, Spanish, German and Italian. For a while many wondered how that would effect the realistic mouth movements during speech and if it would end up looking like a bad dub job in a Godzilla movie. Thankfully, though, this will not be the case.

Fortunately, the game’s custom-built underlying software actually “listens” to each voice actor’s recorded dialogue and shapes the on-screen character’s mouth movements to sync up with what’s being said, no matter what language they’re speaking.

If the menacing, lizard-like Wrex tells Commander Shepard, “Ferme ta gueule ou je tire!” in the French edition of the game, he’ll look like a native speaker instead of a character in a poorly dubbed foreign film. About talking lizards.

“The cool thing about watching Mass Effect in a different language is these characters are actually performing (the dialogue)” said Hudson.

To read the full article, head here: All In How You Say It

And to discuss this in the thread, head here.