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Why are we, in the UK, persecuted by the gaming industry? Every console is launched first in Japan, then America then the UK. I can understand why consoles launch in Japan as it is a massive industry there and Sony and Nintendo are for all intensive purposes Japanese companies. The consoles are made by the Japanese so they get it first, fair enough.
Why then does it go to the US, what is so special about them which we don't have. Is our lust for games so lacklustre that it is hardly worth considering the UK market?
The UK and US versions of consoles are normally virtually the same except the launch games have to be adapted to Pal format for our TVs. So why us last then. Does it really take that long to change this as most launch games do this pretty poorly anyway, which makes you think what they were actually doing for the 6 months between the launches.
Maybe the big games companies think we like waiting over a year for Jap games to reach us in the UK. Maybe we are just seen as drooling dogs who get more frenzied by the US launch as we watch the fat Americans playing on their shiny new consoles.
I wonder what were to happen if the next big console launch after GameCube and X-box was to be a simultaneous world-wide launch. Sure it would take a lot of planning but then everyone would be happy, a media frenzy could be whipped up and hopefully by then every main gaming country would have access to high speed internet connections.
Another way that we are abused by the gaming industry due to our country is prices. The Sony PS2 hard-drive was released in Japan the other week for a price of 19,000 yen. Sounds quite high until you realise that it translates to £110.
So will we get it for around that price, umm, no not exactly, you see being in the UK we are bound by sone ancient gaming contract to pay an extra £90, nearly double the price the Japanese pay. So we can presume that ours we be better then? Nope.
When every console is launched in America for a certain amount of Dollars it is released later in the UK for the same number in pounds sterling. Yet when I went to the exchange bureau to change $299 into pounds I was a bit suprised when I recieved far less than £299. It must be a different exchange rate as far as the games industry is concerned then?
Is there actually any just reason why we are snubbed, maltreated and rejected by the gaming industry?
Maybe we are not good enough to recieve the same treatment as the US and Japan. But could somebody please explain why it is that we are an inferior people walking about in our inferior country?
Why then does it go to the US, what is so special about them which we don't have. Is our lust for games so lacklustre that it is hardly worth considering the UK market?
The UK and US versions of consoles are normally virtually the same except the launch games have to be adapted to Pal format for our TVs. So why us last then. Does it really take that long to change this as most launch games do this pretty poorly anyway, which makes you think what they were actually doing for the 6 months between the launches.
Maybe the big games companies think we like waiting over a year for Jap games to reach us in the UK. Maybe we are just seen as drooling dogs who get more frenzied by the US launch as we watch the fat Americans playing on their shiny new consoles.
I wonder what were to happen if the next big console launch after GameCube and X-box was to be a simultaneous world-wide launch. Sure it would take a lot of planning but then everyone would be happy, a media frenzy could be whipped up and hopefully by then every main gaming country would have access to high speed internet connections.
Another way that we are abused by the gaming industry due to our country is prices. The Sony PS2 hard-drive was released in Japan the other week for a price of 19,000 yen. Sounds quite high until you realise that it translates to £110.
So will we get it for around that price, umm, no not exactly, you see being in the UK we are bound by sone ancient gaming contract to pay an extra £90, nearly double the price the Japanese pay. So we can presume that ours we be better then? Nope.
When every console is launched in America for a certain amount of Dollars it is released later in the UK for the same number in pounds sterling. Yet when I went to the exchange bureau to change $299 into pounds I was a bit suprised when I recieved far less than £299. It must be a different exchange rate as far as the games industry is concerned then?
Is there actually any just reason why we are snubbed, maltreated and rejected by the gaming industry?
Maybe we are not good enough to recieve the same treatment as the US and Japan. But could somebody please explain why it is that we are an inferior people walking about in our inferior country?
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Why are we, in the UK, persecuted by the gaming industry? Every console is launched first in Japan, then America then the UK. I can understand why consoles launch in Japan as it is a massive industry there and Sony and Nintendo are for all intensive purposes Japanese companies. The consoles are made by the Japanese so they get it first, fair enough.
Why then does it go to the US, what is so special about them which we don't have. Is our lust for games so lacklustre that it is hardly worth considering the UK market?
The UK and US versions of consoles are normally virtually the same except the launch games have to be adapted to Pal format for our TVs. So why us last then. Does it really take that long to change this as most launch games do this pretty poorly anyway, which makes you think what they were actually doing for the 6 months between the launches.
Maybe the big games companies think we like waiting over a year for Jap games to reach us in the UK. Maybe we are just seen as drooling dogs who get more frenzied by the US launch as we watch the fat Americans playing on their shiny new consoles.
I wonder what were to happen if the next big console launch after GameCube and X-box was to be a simultaneous world-wide launch. Sure it would take a lot of planning but then everyone would be happy, a media frenzy could be whipped up and hopefully by then every main gaming country would have access to high speed internet connections.
Another way that we are abused by the gaming industry due to our country is prices. The Sony PS2 hard-drive was released in Japan the other week for a price of 19,000 yen. Sounds quite high until you realise that it translates to £110.
So will we get it for around that price, umm, no not exactly, you see being in the UK we are bound by sone ancient gaming contract to pay an extra £90, nearly double the price the Japanese pay. So we can presume that ours we be better then? Nope.
When every console is launched in America for a certain amount of Dollars it is released later in the UK for the same number in pounds sterling. Yet when I went to the exchange bureau to change $299 into pounds I was a bit suprised when I recieved far less than £299. It must be a different exchange rate as far as the games industry is concerned then?
Is there actually any just reason why we are snubbed, maltreated and rejected by the gaming industry?
Maybe we are not good enough to recieve the same treatment as the US and Japan. But could somebody please explain why it is that we are an inferior people walking about in our inferior country?
Why then does it go to the US, what is so special about them which we don't have. Is our lust for games so lacklustre that it is hardly worth considering the UK market?
The UK and US versions of consoles are normally virtually the same except the launch games have to be adapted to Pal format for our TVs. So why us last then. Does it really take that long to change this as most launch games do this pretty poorly anyway, which makes you think what they were actually doing for the 6 months between the launches.
Maybe the big games companies think we like waiting over a year for Jap games to reach us in the UK. Maybe we are just seen as drooling dogs who get more frenzied by the US launch as we watch the fat Americans playing on their shiny new consoles.
I wonder what were to happen if the next big console launch after GameCube and X-box was to be a simultaneous world-wide launch. Sure it would take a lot of planning but then everyone would be happy, a media frenzy could be whipped up and hopefully by then every main gaming country would have access to high speed internet connections.
Another way that we are abused by the gaming industry due to our country is prices. The Sony PS2 hard-drive was released in Japan the other week for a price of 19,000 yen. Sounds quite high until you realise that it translates to £110.
So will we get it for around that price, umm, no not exactly, you see being in the UK we are bound by sone ancient gaming contract to pay an extra £90, nearly double the price the Japanese pay. So we can presume that ours we be better then? Nope.
When every console is launched in America for a certain amount of Dollars it is released later in the UK for the same number in pounds sterling. Yet when I went to the exchange bureau to change $299 into pounds I was a bit suprised when I recieved far less than £299. It must be a different exchange rate as far as the games industry is concerned then?
Is there actually any just reason why we are snubbed, maltreated and rejected by the gaming industry?
Maybe we are not good enough to recieve the same treatment as the US and Japan. But could somebody please explain why it is that we are an inferior people walking about in our inferior country?
The US - big country, lots of potential buyers, big money!
The UK - small country, few potential buyers, ickle bit of money!
Yes, we are neglected, but they just see us for the population and the amount of revenue we have. As for the price of consoles, that's just an unfortunate thing that they've stuck on us, using the excuse that we don't buy a lot of consoles and therefore it's more expensive over here, but the rest of Europe gets them a lot cheaper too.
Go to France or Spain to buy a new console, the instructions are usually multilingual anyway.
The UK - small country, few potential buyers, ickle bit of money!
Yes, we are neglected, but they just see us for the population and the amount of revenue we have. As for the price of consoles, that's just an unfortunate thing that they've stuck on us, using the excuse that we don't buy a lot of consoles and therefore it's more expensive over here, but the rest of Europe gets them a lot cheaper too.
Go to France or Spain to buy a new console, the instructions are usually multilingual anyway.
Ah, a confusing topic heading. At first I was going to come in with all guns blazing in fury over the insult, but it turns out that you are complaining about the discrimination against us by the gaming industry.
Yes, well, it's probably got something to do with our strong currency and the like. We do have the most valuable one in the world if I recall, and it does seem to affect the prices of many things, it can also be bad for businesses since they seem to make less money from exports. Now I'm not an accountant (a flurry of gasps arises from the crowd) and I don't know all the details on this (The gasps are joined by dropped jaws being collected) but it certainly is a factor in the car industry and so forth, and so it probably affects the gaming industry as well. I'm beginning to wonder if joining the Euro would be such a bad thing after all... not that I ever thought it would be, but I digress. The important thing is that it is quite likely that there are good reasons for these price fluctuations. Now you're probably thinking that our currency having a high value would surely make things cost less, well that remains one of the enigmas that will plague man until he kills himself trying to figure it out. The enlightened ones of the business circle could explain it better and I'm sure we have a resident financial expert here.
Anyway, it's probably all about milking for every penny you can get. Various gaming cultures (as it were) have different limits for things, so perhaps the American's are very fussy about such things as price and so their needs are catered for. Perhaps it is because of some sort of international relations thing, but I doubt that.
Remember of course that many games are made in America, as will the X-Box itself be I should think so there's a good reason for them to be released in America early due to less shipping needs. In addition, it's not strictly true that changes are never made to games between releases, we often get games with less bugs than they had when first released in America and there are occasionally laws that interfere with content or other reasons for changes to be made.
It's funny though, it does seem to be a lot worse in the console industry than on PCs. There are differences for PCs, mainly in their costs but games seem to be less of a problem as far as price is concerned. Anyway, until something causes a change it's going to stay unfair against us, so all we can do is protest until someone listens and perhaps we will get justice.
Yes, well, it's probably got something to do with our strong currency and the like. We do have the most valuable one in the world if I recall, and it does seem to affect the prices of many things, it can also be bad for businesses since they seem to make less money from exports. Now I'm not an accountant (a flurry of gasps arises from the crowd) and I don't know all the details on this (The gasps are joined by dropped jaws being collected) but it certainly is a factor in the car industry and so forth, and so it probably affects the gaming industry as well. I'm beginning to wonder if joining the Euro would be such a bad thing after all... not that I ever thought it would be, but I digress. The important thing is that it is quite likely that there are good reasons for these price fluctuations. Now you're probably thinking that our currency having a high value would surely make things cost less, well that remains one of the enigmas that will plague man until he kills himself trying to figure it out. The enlightened ones of the business circle could explain it better and I'm sure we have a resident financial expert here.
Anyway, it's probably all about milking for every penny you can get. Various gaming cultures (as it were) have different limits for things, so perhaps the American's are very fussy about such things as price and so their needs are catered for. Perhaps it is because of some sort of international relations thing, but I doubt that.
Remember of course that many games are made in America, as will the X-Box itself be I should think so there's a good reason for them to be released in America early due to less shipping needs. In addition, it's not strictly true that changes are never made to games between releases, we often get games with less bugs than they had when first released in America and there are occasionally laws that interfere with content or other reasons for changes to be made.
It's funny though, it does seem to be a lot worse in the console industry than on PCs. There are differences for PCs, mainly in their costs but games seem to be less of a problem as far as price is concerned. Anyway, until something causes a change it's going to stay unfair against us, so all we can do is protest until someone listens and perhaps we will get justice.
Europe is the WORST place in the world for games, Our prices are the highest ANYWHERE, we get very poor pal conversions, many games and versions don't reach here and to top that off release dates are Sooooooooo much later.
We get conversions of the US games but producers see europe as loads of countries or languages rather and it's pathetic!! gimme the imports NOW!!!!!!!
oh and DVD's suck here too!!!!
We get conversions of the US games but producers see europe as loads of countries or languages rather and it's pathetic!! gimme the imports NOW!!!!!!!
oh and DVD's suck here too!!!!
I'm many of many talented UK Tactical ops players and i wouldn't say other countries are better.
Speed doesn't make too much a difference to skill.
Speed doesn't make too much a difference to skill.
Okay, hands up if you only read the title...
I was saying something similar in the "piracy" topic on chat... (in fact, I was talking about the industry being at fault, but anyway...)
Seeing as Europe is now the biggest market for games, why are we treated so badly? Games are released late, at high prices, and at slower speeds. So much could be done to stop this.
Firstly, begin developing games with full language support, and TV-format from the start. This ensures that games are released universally. Not only this, but games will be cheaper to produce- a price which can be passed on to the gamer. More interestingly, it will probably help lower piracy, as people don't have to wait up to 6 months for inferior quality games.
Next up, offer us deals like those in America and Japan. In both these places you get a multitude of limitted edition consoles (I want a black DC!!!), special preview discs with games, clubs, discounts and online communities. Many of these are not present in Europe. Even those that are available are limitted- Club Nintendo is (to the best of my knowledge) available in Germany, but not here.
There are attempts of solve this problem- PSO came with a Sonic 2 demo disc, and ZOE came with a MGS2 demo, but these are rarities.
Finally, gamers can take a stand. Have you ever considered importing... and this need not be expensive. How abouts getting games from Australia. For example, Aussies got a special GOLD version of zelda OTT (gold= cart colour). The price of the game delivered to your door? £40 from some companies... making it cheaper than getting a "normal" copy of the game from England. (For those not following, Aussies use PAL- the same TV system to us, so the games are identical... but for some reason cheaper- hmmmm...)
If you want to be more adventurous, import from America or Japan- either by chipping your console to play all region games (thus allowing you to buy UK games for online features aswell as imports). The benefits of this are great. You get games sooner, they run faster, and if you buy them from America or Japan yourself, they are cheaper. The downfall is that if you don't go to these places (or have relatives there... thank the Lord for my cousins!), then it will be more expensive.
Anyway, that's my take on the issue- you responses?
Seeing as Europe is now the biggest market for games, why are we treated so badly? Games are released late, at high prices, and at slower speeds. So much could be done to stop this.
Firstly, begin developing games with full language support, and TV-format from the start. This ensures that games are released universally. Not only this, but games will be cheaper to produce- a price which can be passed on to the gamer. More interestingly, it will probably help lower piracy, as people don't have to wait up to 6 months for inferior quality games.
Next up, offer us deals like those in America and Japan. In both these places you get a multitude of limitted edition consoles (I want a black DC!!!), special preview discs with games, clubs, discounts and online communities. Many of these are not present in Europe. Even those that are available are limitted- Club Nintendo is (to the best of my knowledge) available in Germany, but not here.
There are attempts of solve this problem- PSO came with a Sonic 2 demo disc, and ZOE came with a MGS2 demo, but these are rarities.
Finally, gamers can take a stand. Have you ever considered importing... and this need not be expensive. How abouts getting games from Australia. For example, Aussies got a special GOLD version of zelda OTT (gold= cart colour). The price of the game delivered to your door? £40 from some companies... making it cheaper than getting a "normal" copy of the game from England. (For those not following, Aussies use PAL- the same TV system to us, so the games are identical... but for some reason cheaper- hmmmm...)
If you want to be more adventurous, import from America or Japan- either by chipping your console to play all region games (thus allowing you to buy UK games for online features aswell as imports). The benefits of this are great. You get games sooner, they run faster, and if you buy them from America or Japan yourself, they are cheaper. The downfall is that if you don't go to these places (or have relatives there... thank the Lord for my cousins!), then it will be more expensive.
Anyway, that's my take on the issue- you responses?
Oh.... and I'd just like to say that the stuff companies tell us about goods being expensive in this country is rubbish! They set the prices high... take a look:
Land Rover makes a car in Coventry down my road. In a car sales place here is costs £25000, say (I don't know the exact prices... but the proportionate prices are about right).
Anyway, Land Rover ship a car all the way to Norway... costing money, adding to the cost of the car. It's wrong-side drive for the UK, btw. Yet the car is cheaper to buy over there, convert to our side drive, get taxed etc, and fill with petrol...
This perfectly proves my point. We are ripped off (in everything), because we are used to it.
Land Rover makes a car in Coventry down my road. In a car sales place here is costs £25000, say (I don't know the exact prices... but the proportionate prices are about right).
Anyway, Land Rover ship a car all the way to Norway... costing money, adding to the cost of the car. It's wrong-side drive for the UK, btw. Yet the car is cheaper to buy over there, convert to our side drive, get taxed etc, and fill with petrol...
This perfectly proves my point. We are ripped off (in everything), because we are used to it.
Prisoner's dilema.
If all companies sell at ludicrous prices over here, all will benefit. If one 'betrays' the others, they will benefit even more, but the others will all lose out.
Nothing we can do about it...
If all companies sell at ludicrous prices over here, all will benefit. If one 'betrays' the others, they will benefit even more, but the others will all lose out.
Nothing we can do about it...
Technically it's more us than Europe in general that is discriminated against. Germany has very cheap PC costs, and I think they get decent prices for games too. That's not to say that the rest of Europe isn't discriminated against at all, just perhaps that there are variations in individual countries.
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