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The German version will feature Sandra Schwittau

LaserschwertLaserschwert
edited July 2007 in Sam & Max
I know that some German speaking people are on these boards, so I guess this is good news for us: Sandra Schwittau, the German voice-actress who has already lend Max her voice in the German version of "Hit the Road" (and is besides that famous for voicing Bart on "The Simpsons"), has been hired for the German localization of Season 1, hitting German retail in August.

http://www.pcgames.de/?article_id=601782

Now, all they have to do is get Hans-Gerd Kilbinger to return as Sam, and everything will be fine. Since the European release by JoWood is planned as being Multi-language, we will get the original English version as well, something that - since the dawn of DVD - should IMO be a matter of course, although it sadly isn't. So, obviously I'll have no other choice than getting the German retail version, and pass on the S1-DVD for season-subscribers... even if the bonus-material DOES tempt me a lot...

Comments

  • JenniferJennifer Moderator
    edited May 2007
    Laserschwert wrote: »
    So, obviously I'll have no other choice than getting the German retail version, and pass on the S1-DVD for season-subscribers... even if the bonus-material DOES tempt me a lot...
    You can get both. :D

    I'm getting both the Season One DVD from Telltale as well as the Dreamcatcher retail release. :)
  • LaserschwertLaserschwert
    edited May 2007
    mickey wrote: »
    How could you pass that up?

    Well, since shipping costs about 30% of what I've paid for the entire season, it's relatively easy to pass that up. And after all, the bonus material is going to be released on the website as well (although I would of course prefer to have it at DVD-quality)...
  • KaldireKaldire
    edited May 2007
    HUH? oh you must live out of usa.. its not more than 6-8$ USD to ship to me and im buying both versions too! :P
  • genuinepartsgenuineparts
    edited May 2007
    I suspect he comes from germany... as he refers to the german Retail DVD.

    :p
  • AdamGAdamG
    edited May 2007
    With a name like Laserschwert, I'm sure he's German. :p I'm pretty surprised Telltale is hiring someone as famous as the person who voices Bart to do their German translation. There's a lot of dialogue to voice, and it probably will cost a lot more then hiring some unknown actor to do it. Companies usually don't care too much about their non-english versions... If they make them at all, anyway. :/
  • Harald BHarald B
    edited May 2007
    One of the comments below that article is pretty funny: apparantly JoWooD mistranslated "localization" in their press release. They should have used lokalisierung but instead went with lokalisation, which is about locating objects (as in the toothbrush is in the bathroom). How optimism-inspiring:D
  • LaserschwertLaserschwert
    edited May 2007
    AdamG wrote: »
    With a name like Laserschwert, I'm sure he's German. :p I'm pretty surprised Telltale is hiring someone as famous as the person who voices Bart to do their German translation. There's a lot of dialogue to voice, and it probably will cost a lot more then hiring some unknown actor to do it. Companies usually don't care too much about their non-english versions... If they make them at all, anyway. :/

    Of course I'm from Germany... many things hinted at that ;)

    By the way, it's not Telltale who hired the voice actors... it's the German publisher who's in charge of the localization. And I think it was the German fan-base begging for continuity with "Hit the Road", and obviously JoWood cared enough about their fans to hire the same voice actors. After all, it's not that surprising, given that the dubbing industry in German is probably the biggest (and the best) in the world. The return of adventure games in the last few years benefit from this a great deal, with many German voices known from dubbed Hollywood movies appeared in these games. Oliver Rohrbeck (the German voice of Ben Stiller) as Assil in "Ankh", David Nathan (Johnny Depp / Christian Bale) in "Black Mirror", Manfred Lehmann (Bruce Willis / Kurt Russel) in "The Moment of Silence", Matthias Hinze (Matt Damon) - who sadly died last month at the age of 38 - in "Ni-Bi-Ru", and really great localizations of "Grim Fandango", "The Curse of Monkey Island" and "Day of the Tentacle".

    And since I'm a huge dub-fan, I simply have to get the German version of Season 1.
  • KordKord
    edited May 2007
    Hi!
    So you think that the German dubbing is the best in the world?
    If that is so, then I really pity the rest of the world. I am always so upset with the way everything is dubbed here. Some days ago I saw "Spiderman 3" and nearly had to retch when I listened to the guy dubbing James Cromwell (the chief of police). So badly done.
    Anyway it's always the same 10 to 15 people who dub everything on German TV /Cinema.

    The only German computer game dubbing you mentioned that I know about is the one from DOTT, and it is sooooo weak compared with the English one.

    But, of course everything has to be looked at relatively, maybe other games were dubbed even worse, I wouldn't know.

    OK, just wanted to let off steam. Can you tell that I am upset about this for a long time already and say so to everyone close enough to listen?
    (By the way, did I mention that the worst dubbing voice of all is the annoying guy who dubs Tom Hanks, always have to scream when I hear him!!!!)

    Well, peace and understanding to all!

    Kord
  • LaserschwertLaserschwert
    edited May 2007
    :D.
  • Agent CalaveraAgent Calavera
    edited May 2007
    Yeah, right, but you have to admit, that the german dubbing of hit the road was awesome (besides from this guy in the museum by the giant ball of wool, wo clearly was a young guy doing as if he'd be old, and being reeeeally bad at it).. I kinda was very upset by many computer-game-voices also (like syberia, which was beatiful in english)

    But Laserschwert's right, all the games he mentioned had really brilliant voices.. However I'm sure, the German voices in the Sam and Max-Seasons will be great (Sanda Schwittau is indeed amazing, i like her voice much more than the english max-voice)
  • marsanmarsan
    edited May 2007
    if it is dubed, it's no longer the original product(game, movie or whatever). Also, there is the problem with "lost in translation". It's impossible to translate everything perfect, because there are no direct translations there just are words that seem to have a similar meaning. I much rather want to play the original product, with subs. That's much better, since subs doesn't ruin the original product by changing it, it just adds information you only have to look at if you have no clue what is going on.
  • LaserschwertLaserschwert
    edited May 2007
    marsan wrote: »
    if it is dubed, it's no longer the original product(game, movie or whatever). Also, there is the problem with "lost in translation". It's impossible to translate everything perfect, because there are no direct translations there just are words that seem to have a similar meaning. I much rather want to play the original product, with subs. That's much better, since subs doesn't ruin the original product by changing it, it just adds information you only have to look at if you have no clue what is going on.

    I've never intended to REPLACE an original with a dub... that's why I'm so happy that the release will be multi-language. Dubbing is an artform of itself, and if it's well done, and conformed to the respective country (in terms of puns and gags on culture), it can work a lot better in certain cases. But as I said, I'd like to have the original as well (after all I got the whole season as soon as Episode 1 hit the web).

    So, I assume you speak German? If not, you should be glad that "Ankh" (a German game) got an English dub ;)
  • marsanmarsan
    edited May 2007
    Laserschwert wrote: »
    So, I assume you speak German? If not, you should be glad that "Ankh" (a German game) got an English dub ;)

    I am glad for all the german products which are released with english voices :) I have been hunting for Jack Orlando for years, and I have enjoyed many german games. I just get a little frustrated when people try to argue that a dubbed version is better than the original version. I understand your take on it, though, and that makes sense. But german games with english subs would be nice too :) I find playing a game or watching a movie in another language, with subs, the best way to learn the language. But I can understand not everybody would agree with this.
  • LuigiHannLuigiHann
    edited May 2007
    In one of the Terminator 2 DVDs, they have a special feature in which it plays the line "Stay here... I'll be back" in a dozen different languages, from the different dubs of the film. It'd be pretty funny to see something like that done with Sam & Max clips. I wonder how "You crack me up, little buddy" sounds in each version :P
  • Hero1Hero1
    edited May 2007
    can someone upload a clip of the german sam and max.. i'd love to hear this
  • LaserschwertLaserschwert
    edited May 2007
    Hero1 wrote: »
    can someone upload a clip of the german sam and max.. i'd love to hear this

    I've uploaded a few minutes of gameplay HERE.
  • axelkotheaxelkothe
    edited May 2007
    Laserschwert wrote: »
    I've uploaded a few minutes of gameplay HERE.

    I now realize that I've never played the german version of Sam & Max (I imported my copy)... and I think it's awful compared to the original. :eek:
  • LuigiHannLuigiHann
    edited May 2007
    I don't speak German, but that German Sam sounds dead on like the English Sam in HTR. Max isn't as close, but he's still fine.
  • LaserschwertLaserschwert
    edited May 2007
    For Max Sandra basically uses her Bart voice... it's exactly how she sounds on "The Simpsons".

    It's sad that back then mostly the main voices were cast with really good and well known voice actors, whereas the minor roles are sometimes really bad (like the cat on the street or the gangster at Bosco's). But I guess with CoMI it all changed, since there every single character was voiced perfectly, as it continued with Grim.
  • doom saberdoom saber
    edited May 2007
    PErsonally, I do not like dubbed games in general. Mainly because the dialogue gets completely changed and altered by the translator. This happens a lot in anime with a lot of japanese culture in it. For instance, if the setting takes place in some japanese holiday and the main character makes a reference about some asian actor, food, music, or whatever; it will be changed to some hollywood celeberty, american food and music.

    What irks me the most is how they insert extra lines in dubs that hurt the atmosphere of the show and film. Usually, these extra lines are commical. Happens on a lot of dubbed animes shown on kidswb. I also seen it happen on a non english dubbed version of the old Transformers movie. It ust ruined the dramatic scenes where Optimus Prime goes balastic and starts shooting everything
  • marsanmarsan
    edited May 2007
    The worst thing is untranslatable jokes. Usually they will make up some new "jokes" which usually are not half as funny as the original ones, or use some old joke which everybody has heard a billion times before. I have seen this quit regular when it comes to wordplays(puns) and when the joke refers to internal structures in the country it was made. At least with subs, you can learn the language, and still you hear what the original joke was. But if it is dubbed, you have no way of knowing when they make up new jokes or change the way a person says something to make it work in the language the product was translated to.
  • LuigiHannLuigiHann
    edited May 2007
    I knew anime would come up eventually. It's inevitable. The "dub vs sub" argument. :p

    I say it's the responsibility of the localization team to make both versions available. In this day and age of DVD's, it's not unreasonable to expect a dual-language release, with one version having an unaltered audio track and subtitles intending to be as true to the source as possible, and a dubbed version in the local language, attempting to best convey the "feel" of the original to a new audience. I think both are important, because subtitles can't always convey the intended experience, and a dub can't always carry the original meaning. Including both allows the player to make that choice, and to enjoy both versions.

    Anybody have any other localizations of Hit the Road? I'm curious how they sound in every language. I still think somebody should make a montage of the same line in every language. :D
  • Harald BHarald B
    edited May 2007
    There's a file floating around the peer-to-peer networks that contains a five-way talkie version of Hit the Road as well as a scanned Surfin' the Highway. Not that any of us would ever use a p2p program, of course... ;)
  • AdamGAdamG
    edited May 2007
    Oh nooooo, we would never do that. ;)
  • LaserschwertLaserschwert
    edited July 2007
    I dare to bring this up again. Now, with the "Simpsons"-movie finally in theatres, there's a lot of promo going on about it, including interviews with the German voice cast. And this of course includes Bart's German voice Sandra Schwittau, who has voiced our beloved Lagomorph in the German version of "Hit the Road" and will do so in Season 1 of "Freelance police" as well.

    HERE you can watch a special about the "Simpsons"-dub.

    Sandra can first be seen at 2:15 and throughout the clip.

    By the way, Norbert Gastell (seen first at 1:07), who's Homer's voice, also lends his voice to Phoney Bone in the German version of the two Telltale-"Bones".
  • MordenMorden
    edited July 2007
    Don't get me started on German publishers. Why oh why did it have to be a German company who would release Simon the Sorcerer 4. Not only it's already out in Germany [all in german of course, complete with voice acting], but they are really taking their time with the english version.

    I know this is a bit off the subject, but I just had to squeeze this in, since there's a german person reading this ;) Don't get me wrong. It's great that we have a new Simon game. I'm sure it's extremely well written, neatly organised and perfectly coded :)
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