Capcom, a Japanese developer that produces games for Sony, Nintendo and Sega, employs similar guidelines. In these cases, gamers have to settle for buying the import games at specialty shops like Multimedia 1.0, which gets its supply through Japanese connections. A foreign game that is selected for United States release has to go through an elaborate process called localization. A game is evaluated to see what changes need to be made for American audiences. Some of the changes, which are implemented by the developers and dictated by publishers like Sony, are little more than cosmetic.
Some players say the games are translated in a slapdash manner.
Role-playing games, which are especially dialogue heavy, often require as much translation as a foreign film, if not more. Also, to get the programs to work on American console systems, players often need to modify their systems with black- market hardware. And some gamers feel that companies make too many assumptions about the tastes of American gamers. In addition to the status of having games that few others have, import fans like the variety that Japanese games offer. The site offers information on all of the products, including Japanese imports, that they sell.