Lure of the Temptress Dutch version

hwm · Post by **hwm** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 5:38 pm

esvedebe wrote:
hwm wrote:...Although it's possible, I think it's not very likely it was actually made, but rather planned....
I found this ad (scan of the ad) in an old dutch games magazine called Softwaregids from sept/oct 1992.
It says clearly that Lure o/t Temptress is (was) available in Dutch. Maybe it is possible to contact this distributor...

I will keep looking on some second-hand trading sites.

Remarkable find! But I still have my doubts, since many unreleased games have been advertised for sale at one point. On top of that, I have never ever seen a dutch version of any of the games mentioned in the advertisement.

Also this (quote from the advertisement):

"Heeft meer als 1700 spelen..."

looks like it was written in dutch by (luxembourgian?) germans. I already fear the translations

joostp · Post by **joostp** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 6:56 pm

Nice find indeed!
Just when we had about given up hope.

Nicoenb · Post by **Nicoenb** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 11:25 am

I can confirm there is (was) a dutch version of Lure of the temptress. I had a copy of the dutch version but lost it (disk errors). I have been looking for the dutch version too, but it is really hard to find.

hwm · Post by **hwm** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 9:25 pm

Slightly off-topic, but not worth a new topic I guess:

While cleaning out a small room on my parents attic, I found a magazine I thought was gone for good. I fondly remembered it because it introduced me to Monkey Island, Loom, the then-upcoming Sierra VGA games, etc. Needless to say, I was quite pleased to find it back after 15+ years.

Anyway, among some other interesting stuff, it contained this:

http://img384.imageshack.us/my.php?image=lucasnlzv2.jpg

It seems the plot thickens

So if they actually were made, their extreme rarity can be explained by the fact that obviously no one took the time or wanted to trade their english copy for a dutch one. It's likely that the dutch versions were never sold in retail stores.

Also, it contains an article on the dutch version of Elvira II: Jaws of Cerberus.

joostp · Post by **joostp** » Sat Nov 15, 2008 10:58 am

Holy crap. I had never heard of those.

Given that in all the time I've been hanging around ScummVM I've never heard anyone mention these, they are indeed extremely rare, if they even made it to production at all (which this ad implies).

I would call Homesoft for details, but I think they are no longer trading...

joostp · Post by **joostp** » Sat Nov 15, 2008 11:14 am

I just dug up my Indy4 CD, which was distributed by Homesoft as well, and even though the box and manual are completely localised to Dutch, there is no mention of the game itself being available in Dutch, or the ability to trade it in.

The manual does mention 6 people for a "Nederlandse versie" (Dutch version), but that could just as well be for translation of the manual.

Perhaps after creating the ad they realized there wasn't enough money to be made to justify doing a full Dutch localisation of the game, and didn't follow through.

hwm · Post by **hwm** » Sun Nov 16, 2008 1:41 am

joostp wrote: Perhaps after creating the ad they realized there wasn't enough money to be made to justify doing a full Dutch localisation of the game, and didn't follow through.

I'm pretty sure that's the case, but it doesn't completely rule out a dutch version of Indy4, since the disk version pre-dates the CD version by a year or so. However, at the time of the advertisement (autumn 1991), Indy4 wasn't released yet, so there was still time act on the (quite probable) lack of interest in the dutch versions (read: cancel the translation). So I don't think Indy4 was translated.

The thing is however, that Monkey Island and Loom were available at that time, and their review in the magazine again puts some emphasize on the dutch versions. I forgot to include that the magazine in question is actually HomeSoft magazine (their catalog!), so it would be pretty bold of them to talk about translations that didn't exist. But again, certainly not impossible. In the meantime, I've found a lead that may bring up some new information.

hwm · Post by **hwm** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 5:02 pm

I contacted the person responsible for the translations:

Turns out it had nothing to do with an unwilling dutch audience, but rather with a sudden change of power at LucasArts which turned out to be fatal for the dutch translations.

In fact, Monkey Island was fully translated! But it wasn't meant to be.

Read the complete story (in dutch) here.

joostp · Post by **joostp** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 7:58 pm

Ah, very disappointing, but at least there's closure now.

Would be nice to get that Dutch MI1 & Indy 4 translated text to do an 'inofficial' version, but I'm not holding my breath.

Given the MDS ad, Nicoenb's statement, and Tony's insistence - I still believe that a Dutch Lure was actually sold...