Ubisoft to Include Subtitles in Games for Hard-of-Hearing Gamers

[fitbabits]

Now this is something I can fully get behind. gi.biz (http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/ubisoft-to-include-subtitles-in-all-in-house-titles) is reporting that Ubisoft will be including subtitles in all in-house titles for those gamers who are hard of hearing:

Ubisoft has said that in order to make its games accessible to deaf and the hard of hearing, it plans to include subtitles in all its internally developed titles.

The first games released with subtitles will be Far Cry 2, Prince of Persia and Shaun White Snowboarding.

"This commitment entails modifications to some of our game engines, as well as the inclusion of subtitles in the conception phase of game development," stated the company.

The company has also created a game with charity Handicap International to support its AbilityTogether campaign, to help raise awareness of the realities of disability.
So they're going to modify the engines of games already in production, as well as implement the mandate at the conceptions stage of new games? AWESOME! Kudos, Ubisoft.

[jeffool]

As someone who often uses subtitles on DVDs (even though I'm not clinically diagnosed with any hearing problems,) I find this very cool.

[LongStepMantis]

I can hear just fine, but I often use subtitles on DVDs and any game that allows me to.

Maybe it's because I spent so much of my youth watching subtitled kung-fu movies, but a lot of the time I feel like they should be there even if i can already understand them.

[BlackPete]

Awesome move there, Ubisoft.

Now... Capcom? Can you hear this?

[Norse]

Awesome move there, Ubisoft.

Now... Capcom? Can you hear this?

Well, judging by Dead Rising the text would be so small you would need supersight to see it.

[fitbabits]

Awesome move there, Ubisoft.

Now... Capcom? Can you hear this?

You mean you couldn't read the tiny text in Dead Rising?

[Metal Khaos]

That's great news from Ubisoft. Now lets see if other companies follow suit. Hopefully they make it optional (like DVDs).

[mkelehan]

The only game in recent memory that I remember NOT having this option is Assassin's Creed. Irony!

[BlackPete]

Well, judging by Dead Rising the text would be so small you would need supersight to see it.

Pretty much yes, and the Resident Evil games had subtitles so tiny they were non-existent! :D

[BlackPete]

The only game in recent memory that I remember NOT having this option is Assassin's Creed. Irony!

It doesn't? OK that just about kills any desire I had for that game (it was on my to-be-played stack). Oh well... one less game to worry about!

[icronic]

Finally. I'm not sure why but I always have trouble hearing dialogue in games, or if I have it loud enough to hear everything else is way too loud. As such, subtitles have always been my friend. I've always hated playing games without them.

[Banacek]

It's about time!

[Exodus]

Good for them! :)
Valve has done this for a while and I appreciated the detail.
This really should become standard in general.

[BlackPete]

Good for them! :)
Valve has done this for a while and I appreciated the detail.
This really should become standard in general.

Halflife 2's captioning was quite fun to watch actually. It shows everything without being too spammy. Sometimes there's a sound that's way too soft for me to hear, but it shows up in the captions as, say, *PING!* and I'd spin around trying to figure out where that came from.

[Godboo]

I must be going crazy, but don't a lot of games (I daresay most?) already have subtitles in them?

[Mdot23]

Good move on this, Ubi. Others should follow suit.

[OldeWolf]

Woo! Yeah! About bloody time. :D

I hope that will push other companies into following that example. Valve was probably the best I've ever seen on a game in regards to subtitles.

At least this will counterbalance all the players demanding headphones to talk into left and right on many games coming out. Hopefully some day there will be subtitle/close caption on the run while doing group raids or EVE-online fleet battles or FPS games.

[fitbabits]

I must be going crazy, but don't a lot of games (I daresay most?) already have subtitles in them?

Hello, crazy. :)

A percentage of games do have a subtitles option, but it's by no means where it should be. Also, the translation of the subtitles (or the delivery, if you will) is at best substandard.

[score]

I must be going crazy, but don't a lot of games (I daresay most?) already have subtitles in them?

Exactly what I was thinking. Good news nonetheless.

[miah]

As someone who often uses subtitles on DVDs (even though I'm not clinically diagnosed with any hearing problems,) I find this very cool.

Ditto, I always watch movies with subtitles on, and if a game has the subtitles option I also always enable it.

Thanks UBISoft, now if more companies would do this as a standard it'd be great.

[Wedge]

Count me in the "doesn't most games with a story have this already?"-camp, but this seems to be more aimed at the "hard of hearing" than the "can't hear what they say because of all the fucking explosions". Which means there may be subtitles in even sports games. Anywho, good news, long overdue.

I just hope this means there will be also ordinary subtitles and not just hard of hearing subtitles. Those are annoying. A nuke goes off and the subtitle reads *somewhat large explosion noise*. I just want to be able to read what people say while there is noise in the background. IIRC both Vegas games and both GRAW games had this problem. A small video would play in the corner of the screen with garbled speech while you were in a fire fight.

[Furtive]

Hello, crazy. :)

A percentage of games do have a subtitles option, but it's by no means where it should be. Also, the translation of the subtitles (or the delivery, if you will) is at best substandard.

Also there is a difference between standard subtitles and subtitles for the hard of hearing. The standard subtitles usually only include dialog. A lot of games do have this but if Ubisoft is really serious about this that means including subtitles for the hard of hearing. This would include subtitling environment sounds in addition to just dialog.

Bravo Ubisoft.

[TheFlyingOrc]

This doesn't affect me, as I cannot read.

[Norse]

This doesn't affect me, as I cannot read.

hm, that could explain your posts here ;)

[BlackPete]

I must be going crazy, but don't a lot of games (I daresay most?) already have subtitles in them?

You'd think so, but you'd be amazed at how many games don't have subtitles (Resident Evil 4), or only play subtitles during gameplay but not during cutscenes (too many games to list).

Then let's not forget about games where the subtitles are so badly out of sync (or just plain WRONG) it's aggravating to even have them on.

Finally, there are games that only play subtitles during cutscenes but not during gameplay.

In short... it's a mess.

[BigJonno]

One of my major gripes with Assassin's Creed was the lack of subtitles. I usually play games with other family members in the room and I need to be considerate of their eardrums. The dialogue in AC was incredibly quiet compared to the rest of the sound and no amount of fiddling with the sound options could get things to a reasonable level. I had to keep turning it up to hear and then turn it down again.

[beefyjr]

Yeah, Assassin's Creed was the last game I distinctly remember not having subtitles, and they definitely got called out on it. It would be nice for them to go the full nine and close-caption all of their games for hard of hearing players. I'm not sure how that would work with some of the sound effects, but they're smart people, so I'm sure they could figure it out.

Turning the subtitles on is actually the first thing I do when I start up a game for the first time. A lot of times the sound mix in games is so terrible that I can't hear what's going on from across the room.

[Kagger]

As someone who often uses subtitles on DVDs (even though I'm not clinically diagnosed with any hearing problems,) I find this very cool.

2nd. Sometimes it can be a distraction in games (HL2 for example), but for all cut scenes I want them subtitled.

[AlwaysOn222]

I really like this idea and i do hope more will follow. I don't have any hearing problems, but i live in Sweden and have english as 2nd language so for me this will help alot since I don't understand everything they say all the time and it is much easier to follow it with text rather than only hearing. Excellent choice ubisoft. Thank you!

[menage]

Great motivation. I always switch on the subs just because i find voice to be quite a an uneven product in games.

Theré was a readers letter in edge from someone who was physically disabled asking for fully customizable controls, maybe a nice follow up.

[Kelegacy]

Yeah, well EA is scheduled to include brail in their upcoming games. So there.


Seriously though, I love subtitles. Not so much for movies in my own language, but games yes. Too often I miss something because I can't understand the characters.

[Kelegacy]

Yeah, well EA is scheduled to include brail in their upcoming games. So there.


Seriously though, I love subtitles. Not so much for movies in my own language, but games yes. Too often I miss something because I can't understand the characters.

Brail = fail. My own joke backfired. Should be braille. D'oh.

[menage]

Quite a bad joke at that. My brother was a gamer but is nearing blindness, so that may have something to do with it.

[Froggy]

I like subtitles because they let me look at somethig else when the graphics are sub-par. Let's hope they're not like Mass Effect, where the subs are right in the middle of the action half the time.

[menage]

I like subtitles because they let me look at somethig else when the graphics are sub-par. Let's hope they're not like Mass Effect, where the subs are right in the middle of the action half the time.

well, pulling them to the edge of the screen would make them hard to follow for the hard of hearing in the middle of the action wouldn't it:p

[Froggy]

Brail = fail. My own joke backfired. Should be braille. D'oh.

Kelegacy: The double-post samurai.

[Demo_Boy]

Its good to see steps like this being taken, and I appreciate their inclusion.

A part of me wonders what the government subsidy amount was to roll this feature in...

[Lt Enigma V2]

I am not hard-of-hearing, but I do like subtitles in games.

[Kamalot]

Halflife 2's captioning was quite fun to watch actually. It shows everything without being too spammy. Sometimes there's a sound that's way too soft for me to hear, but it shows up in the captions as, say, *PING!* and I'd spin around trying to figure out where that came from.

I'd love to see a mod of Half life 2 that places comic-book style bubbles in the environment over the sounds. Ping Wham Boom Ker-plunk!

[Morpheus]

Kudos to Ubisoft!

That is a really great move. The first thing I do in new games is turning up the speech volume (or if it's already at max, lowering the others a little bit) and putting subtitles on if available.

Games i've been really annoyed at, for the lack of subtitles are Halo 3 and Bioshock. In Halo 3, there is no subtitles during gameplay (can't remember if there are in cutscenes) and with all the action it is really hard to catch what is being said.
There are subtitles in Bioshock though, but they are so slow, that the speech is way ahead of them. So annoying.

[OldeWolf]

I'm a deaf gamer so there has been a lot upon a lot of games I couldn't be able to play because there's no subtitles as part of the game playing. :(

Very glad they're doing this!

What is their newest upcoming games that is coming out soon or in future?

[rvieira]

Thanks God! As a foreigner gamer in a country with no official distribution from almost all games (kudos to MS/Bungie for Halo 3 in 100% Brazilian Portuguese), subtitle is the most important feature for heavy plot oriented games.

[fitbabits]

I'm a deaf gamer so there has been a lot upon a lot of games I couldn't be able to play because there's no subtitles as part of the game playing. :(

Very glad they're doing this!

What is their newest upcoming games that is coming out soon or in future?

The first games released with subtitles will be Far Cry 2 (Oct 21, 2008), Prince of Persia (Nov 18, 2008) and Shaun White Snowboarding (Nov 16, 2008).

[Deadend]

They could take it a step further to add comic book sound effects for visual cues... sort of like the game XIII had. Even put them on the edges of the screen so you know there is sound behind you.

Games should be made to be deaf friendly as really... it is the easiest sensory impediment to allow for in a game.

[rinichanraar]

This is pretty freakin' cool. That way, if I'm playing kind of late at night and don't want to wake anyone up, I can keep it on the quiet side without missing too much. Also, no more scrambling to turn up the volume during cutscenes!

[BlackPete]

I'm really glad to see there's a positive reaction to this. It was pretty infuriating when I pointed out the lack of subtitles in the past, only to get, "Well can't you just turn up your speakers...?"

[Homes]

I've always wanted this just for others and it helps when I'm listening to podcasts also!

[BlackPete]

I've always wanted this just for others and it helps when I'm listening to podcasts also!

Yeah! When's EvAv radio going to have subtitles? ;)

[TheKeck]

Am I crazy? I feel like just about every game I play has optional subtitles. :confused:

[Variable Gear]

Am I crazy? I feel like just about every game I play has optional subtitles. :confused:
You're not crazy. Ubisoft is just really full of itself.

[Banacek]

You're not crazy. Ubisoft is just really full of itself.

Huh? I think a lot of deaf gamers would disagree with you.

[Variable Gear]

Huh? I think a lot of deaf gamers would disagree with you.
It's great that more games will have subtitles, but that doesn't mean that I am going to ignore the many games that already do have subtitles.

[beefyjr]

Kudos to Ubisoft!

That is a really great move. The first thing I do in new games is turning up the speech volume (or if it's already at max, lowering the others a little bit) and putting subtitles on if available.

Games i've been really annoyed at, for the lack of subtitles are Halo 3 and Bioshock. In Halo 3, there is no subtitles during gameplay (can't remember if there are in cutscenes) and with all the action it is really hard to catch what is being said.
There are subtitles in Bioshock though, but they are so slow, that the speech is way ahead of them. So annoying.

I forgot about how shitty those Bioshock subtitles were. God, that was annoying.

[BlackPete]

It's great that more games will have subtitles, but that doesn't mean that I am going to ignore the many games that already do have subtitles.

If you cared enough, you can easily do an experiment: Turn off your speakers and try to rely on subtitles in your games.

You will REALLY notice when it's missing, then.

[BlackPete]

Games i've been really annoyed at, for the lack of subtitles are Halo 3 and Bioshock. In Halo 3, there is no subtitles during gameplay (can't remember if there are in cutscenes) and with all the action it is really hard to catch what is being said.
There are subtitles in Bioshock though, but they are so slow, that the speech is way ahead of them. So annoying.

Right, the lack of subtitles during gameplay in Halo 3 really colored my perception of that game, and not in a good way.

[Banacek]

It's great that more games will have subtitles, but that doesn't mean that I am going to ignore the many games that already do have subtitles.

I think you're missing the point. Think of how many games use sound alone to convey something, then imagine not being able to hear it. Any game with a plot should have subtitles, period. I mean, the script is written down for the voice actors anyway, so it's very easy to include.

Games are getting better and better, but there are still triple A titles being released with no subtitles.

[Variable Gear]

I think you're missing the point. Think of how many games use sound alone to convey something, then imagine not being able to hear it. Any game with a plot should have subtitles, period. I mean, the script is written down for the voice actors anyway, so it's very easy to include.

Games are getting better and better, but there are still triple A titles being released with no subtitles.
Good point, I'm kind of missing the big picture, which is that Ubisoft's games will be easier to play for a wider audience with the addition of subtitles. That is only a good thing. Hopefully more publishers catch on to the fact that this is a important feature to include.

[Banacek]

Good point, I'm kind of missing the big picture, which is that Ubisoft's games will be easier to play for a wider audience with the addition of subtitles. That is only a good thing. Hopefully more publishers catch on to the fact that this is a important feature to include.

Exactly. This doesn't effect most gamers, but it's still important none the less.

[valis]

Thank goodness. I'm hard of hearing and this makes a big difference in understanding the dialog. Game scripts are hard enough to understand anyway, even worse if you can't make out what they say.
-Campbell

[TARDMATE]

I wonder if this is going to be simply just subtitles for spoken dialog or will there also be subtitles for sounds as well?

Not necessarily for actions you can see right in front of you, but particularly for off-screen sounds such as "Footsteps from the rear..." or "Explosion up ahead..." or "Demon Howl from above..." and etc.

[timmyd]

I've discovered with a baby subtitles are essential.

[fitbabits]

I've discovered with a baby subtitles are essential.

Don't worry, your baby will soon develop the ability to speak in a language you understand. It's called development.

[Froggy]

This is pretty freakin' cool. That way, if I'm playing kind of late at night and don't want to wake anyone up, I can keep it on the quiet side without missing too much. Also, no more scrambling to turn up the volume during cutscenes!

And enjoy the delecate whir of the 360's motor. Shudder. I guess that'll be fixed soon enough with the update, though.

[TKO]

This will be good. I like subtitles in everything. Halo 2 was an annoying one for all the dialogue I couldn't understand. I always liked the way Rockstar subtitled their games so well. (That was definitely a dialogue-rich environment.)

It can be hard to hear some speech in a game when the game world hasn't been stopped for the conversation, and there are other random sound FX going on.

[rinichanraar]

And enjoy the delecate whir of the 360's motor. Shudder.

Hahaha, as long as it's not so loud that it wakes up the neighbors who live on the other side of the wall that the TV's against, I can handle the 360 noise. Even if it is kind of blah.