Japan may not be the all-conquering video-game powerhouse it once was, but there are still plenty of gamers in the West who want to get their hands on the latest "Mario," "Final Fantasy" or "Street Fighter" title. And it goes without saying that they want to play them in their own language — not in Japanese.

This is where localization comes in.

At its core, localization is the process of converting a game from one language to another. Spoken dialogue, subtitles, menus, interfaces, manuals, marketing materials — all of these and more must be translated from, say, Japanese to English, to French, to German. And that's just the tip of the iceberg: Cultural references are worked around, voice talent is cast, games are tested for bugs, and so much more.