GI: Could you outline how the localization process works? Are you involved during all stages of development, or do you come in more towards the end for translation and tweaking the cultural references?
Trinen: Our involvement in the process really varies quite a bit, depending on which team we're working with. When it comes to Twilight Princess, we have a fantastic relationship with Eiji Aonuma and his team, and we workd very closely with them. Nate and I helped put together all of the trailers we've released so far, and we've been in close communication with them on a number of differen levels since before the game was first unveiled at E3 two years ago.
GI: Could you describe any examples of when this process went differently than normal?
Trinen: To be honest I don't know that we have anything that could really qualify as normal anymore. With Twilight Princess, the depth of the story and its connection to past games means that not only does it have twice as much text as Wind Waker, but it includes a fair number of legacy terms that originate in past games, so consistency is a big focus there. We've also been given the oppurtunity to provide a lot of input on everything from play control to difficulty to character design, so over time our role has grown from simply localizing the Zelda games to almost being a branch of the development team itself.
GI: What are some names, situations, jokes, pop culture references that are commonly changed between North American and other territory's releases?
Trinen: There isn't anything that as a rule gets changed when coming to North America. We look at everything within the context of the game and the target audience. The ESRB has, in a sense, made those decisions easier, because we're able to look at content within the context of what we expect the game's raing to be. With Twilight Princess, we expect the game to get a T rating because of the more realistic graphics, so because of that you may see scenes and situations in that game that wouldn't have fit in a game like the Wind Waker.