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"Are we inferior as a nation of games players?"

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Wed 22/08/01 at 19:13
Regular
Posts: 787
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?
Wed 22/08/01 at 19:34
Moderator
"possibly impossible"
Posts: 24,985
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.
Wed 22/08/01 at 19:13
Regular
"Bring back Mullets"
Posts: 503
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?

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