UK and US versions of Discworld games

vasyl · Post by **vasyl** » Tue Oct 19, 2010 7:58 am

Does anybody know if there any non-cosmetic differences between UK and US releases of either of the DW games? Comparing files for DW2 I could find only some minor differences in text - mostly formatting - but the graphics seem to be the same (even the splash screen is the same showing the UK title for both). Unfortunately, it's not as easy for DW1: UK version uses SCN files and US uses GRA. The SMP file appears to be different. Comparing text files shows some differences as well, like:
UK: "You know, being a confidence trickster is a hard job!!"
US: "It's a hard job, this, your actual confidence tricksterin'!!"
All formats are known so I could disassemble all files and find the answer myself but I was wondering if somebody has already looked into it.

KuroShiro · Post by **KuroShiro** » Tue Oct 19, 2010 8:29 am

I believe you've covered most of it, though I don't think the GRA and SCN files are directly related to the US/UK versions (I could be wrong). The SCN version of the game was something of a patched re-release, which fixes the masses of bugs in the GRA one.

Discworld 2 I think has alternate titles for different versions of the game, though I forget them off the top of my head.

bobdevis · Post by **bobdevis** » Tue Oct 19, 2010 3:19 pm

The UK/International title is "Discworld II: Missing Presumed...!?"
The North America title is "Discworld II: Mortality Bytes!"

Anyone any idea why they renamed it? Has "Missing Presumed" some negative slant or alternative meaning for Americans?

Post by **eriktorbjorn** » Tue Oct 19, 2010 3:41 pm

bobdevis wrote: Anyone any idea why they renamed it? Has "Missing Presumed" some negative slant or alternative meaning for Americans?

I haven't seen any explanation either. Perhaps they thought the "Mortality Bytes" title would appeal to a wider audience in the US? Sort of like how they changed "philosopher's stone" to "sorcerer's stone" in the first Harry Potter book.

KuroShiro · Post by **KuroShiro** » Tue Oct 19, 2010 3:46 pm

eriktorbjorn wrote:
bobdevis wrote: Anyone any idea why they renamed it? Has "Missing Presumed" some negative slant or alternative meaning for Americans?
I haven't seen any explanation either. Perhaps they thought the "Mortality Bytes" title would appeal to a wider audience in the US? Sort of like how they changed "philosopher's stone" to "sorcerer's stone" in the first Harry Potter book.

I was thinking the same thing -- British publishers seem to think we Americans are a bit thick.

And to answer the question, no, there is no perceptible reason for not using "Missing Presumed...?!". Neither title seems particularly better than the other to me.