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- Project G.U. -
Perhaps it was a sign of things to come when we learned .hack//frägment wouldn't be released outside of Japan. .hack//G.U. was announced in the same time frame, so would a fifth game using the original series graphics and gameplay really be desired, even with its online components? Who can say. Turning that game down may have been NamcoBandai's first decision regarding the series future in the west.
1UP: Will all the same voice actors be reprising their roles in Vol. 2? The American version of the .hack//Roots anime has different voice actors than .hack//G.U., such as Haseo being voiced by Andrew Francis instead of Yuri Lowenthal -- is there a reason for the change in voice actors from the game to the anime in the American version?
Brian Glazebrook, localization manager: Ideally, we would have liked to use the same actors. However, since the production of the game started earlier than Roots, we set out to cast Yuri Lowenthal and Co., who are all located in Los Angeles. However, once the anime was brought to the U.S. to be localized, the production was being done by Ocean Media (who has done many titles for BEI, such as the Gundam series). Unfortunately, Ocean Media is located in Canada, so it was difficult to cast the same people for the roles. We have worked together to keep the voices as similar as possible.
Source: http://www.1up.com/previews/hackgu-vol-2
At E3 2006 NamcoBandai announced their intentions to release the G.U. series in North America. Unlike before, there was no accompanying announcement by Bandai Entertainment. It would be two months of waiting and wondering until they announced that .hack//Roots had been licensed. The series began airing 2 1/2 weeks after G.U. Vol.1 came out and was condemned to crappy timeslot. With Roots tied even closer to the new game series than SIGN was to the originals, where was the synergy? Simple. There was none.
1UP: The .hack fan base really liked the dual-language Japanese/English voiceover option in the original series. However, this option was not included in Vol. 1//Rebirth. Is there a specific reason why the Japanese-language track was not included? Will it be included in Vol. 2 or Vol. 3?
HM: The answer is clear. There is simply too much data to fit into one disc. We know that the Japanese voiceover was very well received in the last version, so we tried hard to put it in... But it was impossible, because of the fact that it contains CG movies, animation movies, and moreover all characters have voices. It was simply too much. Most of the recent games include voice data. This volume of the trilogy is simply bursting at the seams already with data! So, putting both English and Japanese voiceovers was just too hard. However, the English voiceover was done quite well. After all, we are not planning to include the Japanese voiceover into Vol.2 and Vol.3.
Source: Source: http://www.1up.com/previews/hackgu-vol-2
Anyone who's seen the iso sizes (I am and do *not* support piracy in any way) would say that is a load of crap. Redemption was the largest of the three at 4.04 gb. For that matter, they had enough disc space on Reminisce to include the first episode of .hack//Roots! Even Redemption had an episode of Roots included! Single layer dvd capacity is 4.7 gb. Fair enough? Not by a long shot! Dual layer dvds hold up to 8.7 gb. Why then did they not go that route? Not having JP audio for the G.U. games would cause problems for fans of the series later on. Heck, with Roots have a different cast of voice actors it was causing us problems at that time!
A Bandai Entertainment representative once posted on the animeondvd forums that the Limited Edition of Roots Vol.1 would come with a demo for G.U. Vol.2. Instead, it came with a demo for G.U. Vol.1.
"jknguyen:
Yea it's gonna come w/ Vol. 1 :cry:. Initial plans were for V.II but marketing over at NamcoBandai thought it was best to put those in the box. And since they made the demos we really didn't have much of a choice...
As to later volumes, the packins are still being decided so hopefully we can get in more demos."
Demos for G.U. Vol.2 & 3 never appeared. The remaining Roots releases were kind of messed up in their own right. While SIGN and LotT had informative inserts/mini-posters, Roots had no inserts. Their "special features" amounted to trailers of the series itself and clean op/eds. Vol.6 had a lineart gallery which was appreciated but seemed like to little, to late.
April 8th '07
Speaking of being held back, Roots Vol.1 was delayed once again. Its latest date is the 17th of this month now instead of last week. Roots Vol.2 has been set for June 5th. No limited edition version mentioned... that really sucks. Bandai sure is fudging up this second generation. -_-
Source: Me!
Even back then I was starting to feel the blues for this series treatment. July 2007 saw the JP release of .hack//G.U. Returner. This was a special series finale OVA in the vein of Unison and it was never released in the west, depsite there being a 7 month timeframe from its release to the final volume of Roots in North America. People then hoped it would come as a bonus with the G.U. Trilogy movie. That didn't happen either. Would it have used the tv series or the game series voice cast? We'll never know.
This was the first major piece of .hack media to go unreleased in North America. But... did you know the G.U. games weren't released in Europe at all? That decision more than likely impacted what would, or rather, what would not come next.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
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