As with any art form, videogames have their share of notable people and subjects that fall through the cracks of time. Trends fade, voices go quiet, and games that were seemingly complete disappear entirely. 61 FPS’ Where Is? feature asks where the lost have gone.
Anime-styled Japanese games, particularly RPGs, are a dime a dozen on store shelves these days. Though they’ve been a staple of gaming in the United States since the mid-‘80s, there was a time when only a select few of them made the Pacific jump and even fewer of them made it over without being heavily censored and altered to suit more western tastes. Working Designs was one of the few companies out there devoted to faithfully localizing quirky Japanese titles and was a fan-favorite throughout the 1990s. Working Designs’ trademarks were their hilarious translations of game scripts, quality English voice acting (still a rarity today), and lavishly detailed packages full of bonus materials like hardcover instruction manuals. Company president Victor Ireland had a reputation as an outspoken, passionate firebrand in the industry up until Working Designs closed its doors in 2005 due to financial troubles and licensor indifference. Ireland founded a new company in early 2006, called Gaijinworks, with much the same goals as Working Designs. But, save for a handful of interviews at the time and a registered Gaijinworks website, no one has heard from Victor Ireland in close to two and a half years. Where are you, Vic?