national trends or the preferences of major fan communities. When games are more story-driven than action-driven, culturalising them can be challenging because of all the premises the designers are taking for granted in the development of the plot. Asian gamers seem to prefer more childlike characters, while Western countries might emphasize adult features. An example of the changes that are likely to happen during localization is Fatal Frame (known in Japan as Zero and known in Europe as Project Zero) (Tecmo 2001). In the original Japanese version the protagonist, Miku, was a frightened seventeen-year-old girl looking for her brother Mafuyu who disappeared after entering a haunted mansion. In the US and European versions Miku is nineteen, has Western features, and is not wearing the original Japanese school uniform. Unfortunately, developers did not think necessary to change her brother's appearance, so when players do find Mafuyu at the end of the game they do not seem to be blood-related. While most games only need small changes to be localized for another region, there are also games that had to be thematically overhauled for a new region. For example, efforts to localize the Nintendo DS rhythm game Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan for the western world led to a completely new and thematically different game, Elite Beat Agents, which reuses Ouendans gameplay but is re-themed to feature special agents helping people around the world instead of oendan cheering people in Japan, due to Ouendans innate reliance on Japanese culture making a plain localization of that game unviable. A similar thing happens with the depiction of blood, and real historical events; many things have to be readjusted to fit the country's tolerance and taste in order not to hurt sensibilities. This is probably one of the reasons why so many games take place in imaginary worlds. This customization effort draws on the knowledge of geopolitical strategists, like Kate Edwards from Englobe. During the 2006 Game Developers Conference in California she explained the importance of being culturally aware when internationalizing games in a presentation called "Fun vs. Offensive: Balancing the 'Cultural Edge' of Content for Global Games" (Edwards 2006). Both developers and publishers want to please their clients. Gamers are not particularly interested in where the game comes from, or who created it any more than someone buying a new car or DVD player. A product for mass consumption only keeps the branding features of the