LogFAQs > #881802049

Huh. That's... surprising. Especially since the AAI2 project never even heard the rumblings of anything from Capcom; this would almost seem to suggest DGS is getting an official localization? *Shrug*

Re: my stuff: My translation for the entire first episode is still online, as are the Word documents for the later chapters. Videos can be found on my channel, Word documents are in the courtrecords.net forums.

To the point: These videos do not fall under fair use. At all. I have done all the AA videos I have done under the full and complete knowledge that Capcom could elect to do this at any time, with or without warning. The law is clear: only the original copyright holder may grant license to translate. Additionally, while there are certainly issues with copyright law (70 + life is dumb), this is not one of them. You do not get to compete with the original copyright holders. This includes competing with the copyright holder's ability to choose, in the future, to translate the game. It doesn't much matter how much work you've done. It doesn't much matter if the official translation is garbage. You don't have a foot to stand on, neither legally nor ethically. And please realize I am saying this from the position of having completed translations that have never seen the light of day because of (garbage) official releases being announced not long after the completion of the first draft.

A natural counterargument is "But Let's Play videos are allowed!" To which I say: Yes, they are allowed. "Tolerated" might be a better word. Whether or not they are legal is an entirely separate argument, and one I am not equipped to answer; while the addition of commentary does make it more of a derived work akin to a review or other such things that are legal under fair use, it is much harder to make that argument with regards to visual novels and other linear, story-based games, ones where a person who watches your video is distinctly unlikely to actually purchase your game. As far as I know, none of this has been tested in court. And regardless, the translations they and I have done do not add any commentary, so it is hard to imagine them being considered fair use, even if Let's Plays of the same game were.
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Nonsense. "Testing" is for when you're still guessing--and now, I have no need to guess. -- Agatha, Girl Genius