So as 404 Games kick into high gear with ‘In Da Hood’, many people, including Terranova, have started wondering: what, exactly, do you get banned for in a hip-hop themed world? But I want to go into a more interesting digression: What San Andreas taught me about localization.

I thought GTA: San Andreas was… well, overrated wasn’t the right word for it. I guess I just didn’t get it. See, hip-hop’s really not my thing. Never really cared for rap, the gangsta lifestyle, or any of that. I was a metalhead in high school, and I grew up thinking the Godfather and Miami Vice was cool. As such, the two previous GTA games really resonated to me. This one just slid off me like water off a duck’s back.

So in GTA:SA, I never left the land of Ebonics that you start the game in. I know that it gets better when you go to the next neighborhood. But in particular, fronting for my homies (which appeared to be a gang of 3 guys with delusions of grandeur, planning to conquer the world while smoking weed in da hood) seemed like such a lame, juvenile thing to base your goals on. I have no idea why it seems more meaningful and epic when it’s 3 guys with delusions of grandeur planning from an Italian restaurant.

So was it wrong for Rockstar to target the hip-hop culture in GTA:SA? Hell, no. Sure, I’m not the target market, but there’s an enormous market now that probably was similarly turned off on some level to the previous GTA titles. What does a kid who was born in 1990 and raised on Snoop Dogg think of Vice City?

Too many people think that ‘Localization’ just means replacing the text and, perhaps, turning blood green for the German release. However, being concerned about that resonance is important in the quest for true worldwide success. The Japanese get this a little better than we do – it’s not unusual for them to modify a main character’s eyes, skin color and add some facial hair before releasing over here.

We don’t do that, not nearly as much. Of course, arguably, we don’t have to as much either, given how much the rest of the world has taken to absorbing our television, movies, and books. Still, how many Japanese are American rap fans and want to play in the world of GTA:SA? Have they watched enough Miami Vice to really get GTA:VC? Do they think the Godfather is cool, and therefore really appreciate GTA3 the most of the three of them?

Or are they still waiting around for someone to do GTA: Yakuza?

Someone who deals with localization issues constantly told me, the Japanese can swallow our culture. And just as we can get excited about Samurai and Ninjas from time to time, they can get excited about dabbling in some fantasies from our genre. Still, they are so used to seeing castles that look like this:

And so they get really excited when they see a castle that looks like this:

Advice to 404: If your ‘hip-hop’ world ends up being crime-based a la GTA, don’t limit yourself to just hip-hop. There’s enough room in NYC for Harlem, Chinatown AND the Italian district. Having more options here will give a higher chance for a player to find an in-game role that resonates with their own desired life of crime.