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Despite the fact that a lot of our readers love videogames developed in Japan, chances are, you haven’t heard of Active Gaming Media. AGM are a localization outfit situated in Osaka in Japan’s Kansai region, and you may already have been exposed to their work in the form of Demon’s Souls.
Amongst numerous other projects, Active Gaming Media worked on the English localization for the Asian version of Demon’s Souls, published by Sony Computer Entertainment. Just how much of AGM’s localization was used — or if it was used at all — as a base for Atlus’ North American release of the game isn’t quite clear yet.
The significance, however, lies in the fact that, at some point, Sony were considering publishing Demon’s Souls globally, and AGM were contracted to provide localization services. AGM have also provided their services for additional and altered text for multiple languages for No More Heroes: Heroes’ Paradise on the PlayStation 3, and have been involved with several other Japanese games in varying aspects, for which they aren’t publicly credited.
Founded by Ibai Ameztoy, formerly a localization producer at Marvelous Entertainment, Active Gaming Media handle localization from Japanese into English, French, Italian, German and Spanish, primarily for the European market. In the near future, this scope is set to expand as the company rolls out a major new game development-focused initiative, titled “Playism,” which will kick off first in Japan.
Active Gaming Media localization manager, Justin Potts, tells us that the company’s goal is to help support the healthy growth and development of the Japanese games industry. “Being a band of mostly non-Japanese nestled in the heart of Osaka with a passion for games and an ability communicate clearly, hear and address the needs and concerns of the surrounding development community, gives us a rather strong sense of responsibility,” he said to us.
While we can’t discuss just what Playism is at the moment, we’ll discussing AGM’s past and present, as well as revealing details on the Playism initiative itself, in the days and weeks to come. In the mean time, you can check out the Playism teaser website here, and play a simple Flash game on it.
