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Beyond Good and Evil, Prince of Persia and XIII were all titles released by Ubi-soft that failed to set the world alight. The Prince made the most money out of the 3 but ultimatly they can be classed as flops.
Can Ubi-Soft be blamed? Hell no. They not only willingly commisoned such risky franchises but they actually advertised them aswell. As the sales caused concern Ubi-Soft then cut the prices of the games or offered free gifts worldwide to increase sales.
Worked for a degree with Prince of Persia. Sadly the £20 Beyond Good and Evil just didn't do it. One of the finest games I have enjoyed this year.
Isn't it about time that the big guns in the industry just lent a hand to the little guys? I'll have to give credit to Sony, they tried a little. But not enough. Yep they wanted the game exclusive to their system so they bundled Prince with the PS2 and got a Christmas exclusivity deal. Now I dunno about you but if I was Sony and had two superb titles exclusive for Christmas I'd really advertise them. Especially as Microsoft hadn't much to offer and Nintendo, for the first time, looked in the better position.
Sadly Sony did nothing bar the occasional poster ad and in the end making the game exclusive to the PS2 did more harm than good. Look what Microsoft did with Splinter Cell the year before, the games mega success can be put down to how well Microsoft marketed the game. It is now a successful franchise in itself, Ubi-soft can continuing making Splinter Cell games and thanks to the helpful hand gifted it by Microsoft will keep the company in the money for times to come.
Sony can do it, they did it with Timesplitters. The exclusive launch title got much hype from the Sony camp, because of which the Timesplitters brand is one of the biggest that emerged from this generation.
I could put Nintendo down as well but to be fair they try. Yep Crystal Chronicles and Twin Snakes came and went in March but Nintendo did produce adverts and did try. Just they can't pull it off like Sony. Although if I were Nintendo I'd make a little more out of games such as Geist.
Nintendo didn't help Ubi-Soft at all though. Maybe it was because of the early release on the PS2. Nintendo put some effort into advertising their month long exclusivity with Rayman 3 the year before. Surly a company that prides itself on original software could sympathise with Ubi-soft. They were releasing 2 fantastic titles at a combined price of £50. If Nintendo want to stop the industry going stale they should have held out a hand to the struggling games.
But the real villains? GAME and GAMESTATION. I'd bring up Gametron but they pride themselves on imported goods. GAME and GAMESTATION do stock a lot of products but this is where you buy games from. If I walked into GAME and saw Beyond Good and Evil sitting on the "new release" shelves, not just in the corner but covering a 3 shelves for all 3 formats at a price of £19.99... as a casual buyer looking for a new game I'd pick that up and have a read.
Instead it was Sonic Heroes that lined the shelves, a game that was hardly new at all.
I also have a problem with the current release of Pikmin 2.
Those who work at GAME, I have been into 5 GAME shops since friday. Please tell me why Pikmin 2 has taken up 2 places on the Gamecube fixture (which is of course at the back of the shop) and doesn't even appear on the new releases???
There were a lot of releases this Friday yes, I can understand that. But walking into the huge GAME store in Cambridge (1 of 3) and sitting a new release shelf with 8 copies of FIFA 2005 lineing the first half of two shelves for the PS2, 6 copes for the X-box and 2 for the Gamecube sitting at the bottom. And on the other half there is exactly the same but this time the game is Tony Hawks Underground 2. Granted games I'd normally be interested in. But isn't this overkill???
I walk around the back and there are more copies of FIFA, THUG 2 and a few copies of FABLE for the X-box. The GAMESTATION was a little fairer, equal copies of THUG and FIFA for each system and Fable. But they didn't have Pikmin 2 at all. I assume they may have sold out. I am a fan of this shop because there is so much Gamecube and Nintendo in general. But there wasn't even a space for Pikmin 2.
Now not being funny but Pikmin was a pretty big early release for the Gamecube. It is almost sneaking out for the Gamecube.
I have not seen one advert for the franchise... the only hype for the game i've ever witnessed was before the American release.
The good news is that Pikmin 2 has sold out of many stores, Nintendo had a low allocation and most of these have sold. Maybe that's the reason.
Nintendo are lucky they have a fanbase that know when their games are released and know where to go to pick them up.
But titles like this need help to sell because they are the future of the industry. I was delighted to see how much effort went in by Codemasters, Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony and the various game shops to sell copies of Second Sight. That game was splashed everywhere upon release and thankfully a game that was predicted to do badly hit the middle of the top ten. A far higher position that rival PSi-ops ever managed to reach.
They maybe rivals, FIFA may be an appealing reason to go into GAME. But if there is to be a future in this industry it is the original gems that need advertising. And not a football sequel that can barely be called a sequel.
FIFA 2005 swamped the Gamecube, PS2 and X-box section... it swamped the new releases and special offer shelves... and the other special offer shelves featured FIFA 2004, which GAME are keen to get rid of. Tony Hawks was the closest thing to it. The sixth edition of a game now in its sixth year.
So for those that work in your gaming stores. When you set up those Christmas shelves, by all means flood it with copies of GTA: San Andreas and Halo 2. But also, try sneaking the occasional copy of Paper Mario 2 and Tales of Symphonia besides it.
Because they really do deserve the attention.
Dringo.
Can Ubi-Soft be blamed? Hell no. They not only willingly commisoned such risky franchises but they actually advertised them aswell. As the sales caused concern Ubi-Soft then cut the prices of the games or offered free gifts worldwide to increase sales.
Worked for a degree with Prince of Persia. Sadly the £20 Beyond Good and Evil just didn't do it. One of the finest games I have enjoyed this year.
Isn't it about time that the big guns in the industry just lent a hand to the little guys? I'll have to give credit to Sony, they tried a little. But not enough. Yep they wanted the game exclusive to their system so they bundled Prince with the PS2 and got a Christmas exclusivity deal. Now I dunno about you but if I was Sony and had two superb titles exclusive for Christmas I'd really advertise them. Especially as Microsoft hadn't much to offer and Nintendo, for the first time, looked in the better position.
Sadly Sony did nothing bar the occasional poster ad and in the end making the game exclusive to the PS2 did more harm than good. Look what Microsoft did with Splinter Cell the year before, the games mega success can be put down to how well Microsoft marketed the game. It is now a successful franchise in itself, Ubi-soft can continuing making Splinter Cell games and thanks to the helpful hand gifted it by Microsoft will keep the company in the money for times to come.
Sony can do it, they did it with Timesplitters. The exclusive launch title got much hype from the Sony camp, because of which the Timesplitters brand is one of the biggest that emerged from this generation.
I could put Nintendo down as well but to be fair they try. Yep Crystal Chronicles and Twin Snakes came and went in March but Nintendo did produce adverts and did try. Just they can't pull it off like Sony. Although if I were Nintendo I'd make a little more out of games such as Geist.
Nintendo didn't help Ubi-Soft at all though. Maybe it was because of the early release on the PS2. Nintendo put some effort into advertising their month long exclusivity with Rayman 3 the year before. Surly a company that prides itself on original software could sympathise with Ubi-soft. They were releasing 2 fantastic titles at a combined price of £50. If Nintendo want to stop the industry going stale they should have held out a hand to the struggling games.
But the real villains? GAME and GAMESTATION. I'd bring up Gametron but they pride themselves on imported goods. GAME and GAMESTATION do stock a lot of products but this is where you buy games from. If I walked into GAME and saw Beyond Good and Evil sitting on the "new release" shelves, not just in the corner but covering a 3 shelves for all 3 formats at a price of £19.99... as a casual buyer looking for a new game I'd pick that up and have a read.
Instead it was Sonic Heroes that lined the shelves, a game that was hardly new at all.
I also have a problem with the current release of Pikmin 2.
Those who work at GAME, I have been into 5 GAME shops since friday. Please tell me why Pikmin 2 has taken up 2 places on the Gamecube fixture (which is of course at the back of the shop) and doesn't even appear on the new releases???
There were a lot of releases this Friday yes, I can understand that. But walking into the huge GAME store in Cambridge (1 of 3) and sitting a new release shelf with 8 copies of FIFA 2005 lineing the first half of two shelves for the PS2, 6 copes for the X-box and 2 for the Gamecube sitting at the bottom. And on the other half there is exactly the same but this time the game is Tony Hawks Underground 2. Granted games I'd normally be interested in. But isn't this overkill???
I walk around the back and there are more copies of FIFA, THUG 2 and a few copies of FABLE for the X-box. The GAMESTATION was a little fairer, equal copies of THUG and FIFA for each system and Fable. But they didn't have Pikmin 2 at all. I assume they may have sold out. I am a fan of this shop because there is so much Gamecube and Nintendo in general. But there wasn't even a space for Pikmin 2.
Now not being funny but Pikmin was a pretty big early release for the Gamecube. It is almost sneaking out for the Gamecube.
I have not seen one advert for the franchise... the only hype for the game i've ever witnessed was before the American release.
The good news is that Pikmin 2 has sold out of many stores, Nintendo had a low allocation and most of these have sold. Maybe that's the reason.
Nintendo are lucky they have a fanbase that know when their games are released and know where to go to pick them up.
But titles like this need help to sell because they are the future of the industry. I was delighted to see how much effort went in by Codemasters, Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony and the various game shops to sell copies of Second Sight. That game was splashed everywhere upon release and thankfully a game that was predicted to do badly hit the middle of the top ten. A far higher position that rival PSi-ops ever managed to reach.
They maybe rivals, FIFA may be an appealing reason to go into GAME. But if there is to be a future in this industry it is the original gems that need advertising. And not a football sequel that can barely be called a sequel.
FIFA 2005 swamped the Gamecube, PS2 and X-box section... it swamped the new releases and special offer shelves... and the other special offer shelves featured FIFA 2004, which GAME are keen to get rid of. Tony Hawks was the closest thing to it. The sixth edition of a game now in its sixth year.
So for those that work in your gaming stores. When you set up those Christmas shelves, by all means flood it with copies of GTA: San Andreas and Halo 2. But also, try sneaking the occasional copy of Paper Mario 2 and Tales of Symphonia besides it.
Because they really do deserve the attention.
Dringo.
Page:
Don't be naive, everyone knows that shelf space is bought, not given away.
Beyond Good and Evil, Prince of Persia and XIII were all titles released by Ubi-soft that failed to set the world alight. The Prince made the most money out of the 3 but ultimatly they can be classed as flops.
Can Ubi-Soft be blamed? Hell no. They not only willingly commisoned such risky franchises but they actually advertised them aswell. As the sales caused concern Ubi-Soft then cut the prices of the games or offered free gifts worldwide to increase sales.
Worked for a degree with Prince of Persia. Sadly the £20 Beyond Good and Evil just didn't do it. One of the finest games I have enjoyed this year.
Isn't it about time that the big guns in the industry just lent a hand to the little guys? I'll have to give credit to Sony, they tried a little. But not enough. Yep they wanted the game exclusive to their system so they bundled Prince with the PS2 and got a Christmas exclusivity deal. Now I dunno about you but if I was Sony and had two superb titles exclusive for Christmas I'd really advertise them. Especially as Microsoft hadn't much to offer and Nintendo, for the first time, looked in the better position.
Sadly Sony did nothing bar the occasional poster ad and in the end making the game exclusive to the PS2 did more harm than good. Look what Microsoft did with Splinter Cell the year before, the games mega success can be put down to how well Microsoft marketed the game. It is now a successful franchise in itself, Ubi-soft can continuing making Splinter Cell games and thanks to the helpful hand gifted it by Microsoft will keep the company in the money for times to come.
Sony can do it, they did it with Timesplitters. The exclusive launch title got much hype from the Sony camp, because of which the Timesplitters brand is one of the biggest that emerged from this generation.
I could put Nintendo down as well but to be fair they try. Yep Crystal Chronicles and Twin Snakes came and went in March but Nintendo did produce adverts and did try. Just they can't pull it off like Sony. Although if I were Nintendo I'd make a little more out of games such as Geist.
Nintendo didn't help Ubi-Soft at all though. Maybe it was because of the early release on the PS2. Nintendo put some effort into advertising their month long exclusivity with Rayman 3 the year before. Surly a company that prides itself on original software could sympathise with Ubi-soft. They were releasing 2 fantastic titles at a combined price of £50. If Nintendo want to stop the industry going stale they should have held out a hand to the struggling games.
But the real villains? GAME and GAMESTATION. I'd bring up Gametron but they pride themselves on imported goods. GAME and GAMESTATION do stock a lot of products but this is where you buy games from. If I walked into GAME and saw Beyond Good and Evil sitting on the "new release" shelves, not just in the corner but covering a 3 shelves for all 3 formats at a price of £19.99... as a casual buyer looking for a new game I'd pick that up and have a read.
Instead it was Sonic Heroes that lined the shelves, a game that was hardly new at all.
I also have a problem with the current release of Pikmin 2.
Those who work at GAME, I have been into 5 GAME shops since friday. Please tell me why Pikmin 2 has taken up 2 places on the Gamecube fixture (which is of course at the back of the shop) and doesn't even appear on the new releases???
There were a lot of releases this Friday yes, I can understand that. But walking into the huge GAME store in Cambridge (1 of 3) and sitting a new release shelf with 8 copies of FIFA 2005 lineing the first half of two shelves for the PS2, 6 copes for the X-box and 2 for the Gamecube sitting at the bottom. And on the other half there is exactly the same but this time the game is Tony Hawks Underground 2. Granted games I'd normally be interested in. But isn't this overkill???
I walk around the back and there are more copies of FIFA, THUG 2 and a few copies of FABLE for the X-box. The GAMESTATION was a little fairer, equal copies of THUG and FIFA for each system and Fable. But they didn't have Pikmin 2 at all. I assume they may have sold out. I am a fan of this shop because there is so much Gamecube and Nintendo in general. But there wasn't even a space for Pikmin 2.
Now not being funny but Pikmin was a pretty big early release for the Gamecube. It is almost sneaking out for the Gamecube.
I have not seen one advert for the franchise... the only hype for the game i've ever witnessed was before the American release.
The good news is that Pikmin 2 has sold out of many stores, Nintendo had a low allocation and most of these have sold. Maybe that's the reason.
Nintendo are lucky they have a fanbase that know when their games are released and know where to go to pick them up.
But titles like this need help to sell because they are the future of the industry. I was delighted to see how much effort went in by Codemasters, Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony and the various game shops to sell copies of Second Sight. That game was splashed everywhere upon release and thankfully a game that was predicted to do badly hit the middle of the top ten. A far higher position that rival PSi-ops ever managed to reach.
They maybe rivals, FIFA may be an appealing reason to go into GAME. But if there is to be a future in this industry it is the original gems that need advertising. And not a football sequel that can barely be called a sequel.
FIFA 2005 swamped the Gamecube, PS2 and X-box section... it swamped the new releases and special offer shelves... and the other special offer shelves featured FIFA 2004, which GAME are keen to get rid of. Tony Hawks was the closest thing to it. The sixth edition of a game now in its sixth year.
So for those that work in your gaming stores. When you set up those Christmas shelves, by all means flood it with copies of GTA: San Andreas and Halo 2. But also, try sneaking the occasional copy of Paper Mario 2 and Tales of Symphonia besides it.
Because they really do deserve the attention.
Dringo.
Can Ubi-Soft be blamed? Hell no. They not only willingly commisoned such risky franchises but they actually advertised them aswell. As the sales caused concern Ubi-Soft then cut the prices of the games or offered free gifts worldwide to increase sales.
Worked for a degree with Prince of Persia. Sadly the £20 Beyond Good and Evil just didn't do it. One of the finest games I have enjoyed this year.
Isn't it about time that the big guns in the industry just lent a hand to the little guys? I'll have to give credit to Sony, they tried a little. But not enough. Yep they wanted the game exclusive to their system so they bundled Prince with the PS2 and got a Christmas exclusivity deal. Now I dunno about you but if I was Sony and had two superb titles exclusive for Christmas I'd really advertise them. Especially as Microsoft hadn't much to offer and Nintendo, for the first time, looked in the better position.
Sadly Sony did nothing bar the occasional poster ad and in the end making the game exclusive to the PS2 did more harm than good. Look what Microsoft did with Splinter Cell the year before, the games mega success can be put down to how well Microsoft marketed the game. It is now a successful franchise in itself, Ubi-soft can continuing making Splinter Cell games and thanks to the helpful hand gifted it by Microsoft will keep the company in the money for times to come.
Sony can do it, they did it with Timesplitters. The exclusive launch title got much hype from the Sony camp, because of which the Timesplitters brand is one of the biggest that emerged from this generation.
I could put Nintendo down as well but to be fair they try. Yep Crystal Chronicles and Twin Snakes came and went in March but Nintendo did produce adverts and did try. Just they can't pull it off like Sony. Although if I were Nintendo I'd make a little more out of games such as Geist.
Nintendo didn't help Ubi-Soft at all though. Maybe it was because of the early release on the PS2. Nintendo put some effort into advertising their month long exclusivity with Rayman 3 the year before. Surly a company that prides itself on original software could sympathise with Ubi-soft. They were releasing 2 fantastic titles at a combined price of £50. If Nintendo want to stop the industry going stale they should have held out a hand to the struggling games.
But the real villains? GAME and GAMESTATION. I'd bring up Gametron but they pride themselves on imported goods. GAME and GAMESTATION do stock a lot of products but this is where you buy games from. If I walked into GAME and saw Beyond Good and Evil sitting on the "new release" shelves, not just in the corner but covering a 3 shelves for all 3 formats at a price of £19.99... as a casual buyer looking for a new game I'd pick that up and have a read.
Instead it was Sonic Heroes that lined the shelves, a game that was hardly new at all.
I also have a problem with the current release of Pikmin 2.
Those who work at GAME, I have been into 5 GAME shops since friday. Please tell me why Pikmin 2 has taken up 2 places on the Gamecube fixture (which is of course at the back of the shop) and doesn't even appear on the new releases???
There were a lot of releases this Friday yes, I can understand that. But walking into the huge GAME store in Cambridge (1 of 3) and sitting a new release shelf with 8 copies of FIFA 2005 lineing the first half of two shelves for the PS2, 6 copes for the X-box and 2 for the Gamecube sitting at the bottom. And on the other half there is exactly the same but this time the game is Tony Hawks Underground 2. Granted games I'd normally be interested in. But isn't this overkill???
I walk around the back and there are more copies of FIFA, THUG 2 and a few copies of FABLE for the X-box. The GAMESTATION was a little fairer, equal copies of THUG and FIFA for each system and Fable. But they didn't have Pikmin 2 at all. I assume they may have sold out. I am a fan of this shop because there is so much Gamecube and Nintendo in general. But there wasn't even a space for Pikmin 2.
Now not being funny but Pikmin was a pretty big early release for the Gamecube. It is almost sneaking out for the Gamecube.
I have not seen one advert for the franchise... the only hype for the game i've ever witnessed was before the American release.
The good news is that Pikmin 2 has sold out of many stores, Nintendo had a low allocation and most of these have sold. Maybe that's the reason.
Nintendo are lucky they have a fanbase that know when their games are released and know where to go to pick them up.
But titles like this need help to sell because they are the future of the industry. I was delighted to see how much effort went in by Codemasters, Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony and the various game shops to sell copies of Second Sight. That game was splashed everywhere upon release and thankfully a game that was predicted to do badly hit the middle of the top ten. A far higher position that rival PSi-ops ever managed to reach.
They maybe rivals, FIFA may be an appealing reason to go into GAME. But if there is to be a future in this industry it is the original gems that need advertising. And not a football sequel that can barely be called a sequel.
FIFA 2005 swamped the Gamecube, PS2 and X-box section... it swamped the new releases and special offer shelves... and the other special offer shelves featured FIFA 2004, which GAME are keen to get rid of. Tony Hawks was the closest thing to it. The sixth edition of a game now in its sixth year.
So for those that work in your gaming stores. When you set up those Christmas shelves, by all means flood it with copies of GTA: San Andreas and Halo 2. But also, try sneaking the occasional copy of Paper Mario 2 and Tales of Symphonia besides it.
Because they really do deserve the attention.
Dringo.
Page: