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Okay, so I know it's been discussed before, but recent events have really rammed home the need for global release dates - at least for some games.
I'm sure many PS2 owners will already know what I'm talking about, but for the rest of you, I'll explain - without giving anything away to those who don't already know.
As you will all know, the plot of Metal Gear Solid 2 has been a closely guarded secret by Hideo Kojima and all the staff at Konami involved with the game, and surprisingly, very little has been leaked prior to the games release in the US.
But with the release of the game in the US, the internet has been flooded with all manner of spoiler information, not least one very major plot twist that I doubt anyone saw coming.
Why am I annoyed? Simple - the website I saw this information on had no spoiler warnings whatsoever, and just blurted out information. Consequently I will not read any other story relating to MGS2 until after I've played the game; I'm hoping that this hasn't already ruined my enjoyment.
So, why not have a global release date for this game? It's unquestionably the most anticipated game on PS2, and they went through so much to keep the plot secret, only to have it ruined for those of us in Europe by careless and stupid webmasters trying to be 'first' with the 'big news' - no consideration to those who cannot yet play the game.
I understand that the game needs conversion to the PAL system - but they know this when they start on the game, so why not develop both concurrently? And if that is too difficult, why not sit on the NTSC version until the PAL version is ready? It's been two years in the making - what will another three months hurt?
Besides, there's no need to 'upset' the US market by telling them that they must wait another three months, because they could simply have announced a global release date to begin with. Simply say "MGS2 - global release on 22 Feb 2002" (or whenever) and presto - nobody is disappointed, and you don't have to worry about major plotlines being given away in your as-yet uncatered for market.
I'm sure many, many people have been extremely disappointed by this. If a spoiler warning is present, then it's not really a problem, but otherwise you don't realise what you're reading until it's too late.
Obviously this isn't an issue with most games, but with something as immense as MGS2, it should certainly have been considered.
I'm sure many PS2 owners will already know what I'm talking about, but for the rest of you, I'll explain - without giving anything away to those who don't already know.
As you will all know, the plot of Metal Gear Solid 2 has been a closely guarded secret by Hideo Kojima and all the staff at Konami involved with the game, and surprisingly, very little has been leaked prior to the games release in the US.
But with the release of the game in the US, the internet has been flooded with all manner of spoiler information, not least one very major plot twist that I doubt anyone saw coming.
Why am I annoyed? Simple - the website I saw this information on had no spoiler warnings whatsoever, and just blurted out information. Consequently I will not read any other story relating to MGS2 until after I've played the game; I'm hoping that this hasn't already ruined my enjoyment.
So, why not have a global release date for this game? It's unquestionably the most anticipated game on PS2, and they went through so much to keep the plot secret, only to have it ruined for those of us in Europe by careless and stupid webmasters trying to be 'first' with the 'big news' - no consideration to those who cannot yet play the game.
I understand that the game needs conversion to the PAL system - but they know this when they start on the game, so why not develop both concurrently? And if that is too difficult, why not sit on the NTSC version until the PAL version is ready? It's been two years in the making - what will another three months hurt?
Besides, there's no need to 'upset' the US market by telling them that they must wait another three months, because they could simply have announced a global release date to begin with. Simply say "MGS2 - global release on 22 Feb 2002" (or whenever) and presto - nobody is disappointed, and you don't have to worry about major plotlines being given away in your as-yet uncatered for market.
I'm sure many, many people have been extremely disappointed by this. If a spoiler warning is present, then it's not really a problem, but otherwise you don't realise what you're reading until it's too late.
Obviously this isn't an issue with most games, but with something as immense as MGS2, it should certainly have been considered.
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Strafex wrote:
> The Pal version takes a bit more work to sort out and has 5 different
> languages.
I covered this earlier, though. The voice acting is likely to be English and Japanese only, with the subtitles appearing in French, German, etc. - unless Konami really push the boat out and record voices for all languages. So, as the script was already written, subtitles could have been prepared in foreign languages as the game was developed
> The Japanese have NTSC systems so
> they wanted it quickly, and it is their own games.
They said they were releasing the US version first because they sold more copies of MGS1 there. In terms of sales figures, Europe was second, and Japan third. So...
I stand by my original claim - a global release was acheivable, and Konami - as much as I love them - have negated two years of secrecy and guarded plotlines by not attempting a global launch.
> The Pal version takes a bit more work to sort out and has 5 different
> languages.
I covered this earlier, though. The voice acting is likely to be English and Japanese only, with the subtitles appearing in French, German, etc. - unless Konami really push the boat out and record voices for all languages. So, as the script was already written, subtitles could have been prepared in foreign languages as the game was developed
> The Japanese have NTSC systems so
> they wanted it quickly, and it is their own games.
They said they were releasing the US version first because they sold more copies of MGS1 there. In terms of sales figures, Europe was second, and Japan third. So...
I stand by my original claim - a global release was acheivable, and Konami - as much as I love them - have negated two years of secrecy and guarded plotlines by not attempting a global launch.
They did the NSTC version first because the only difference between the two versions between countries is the Text and Voices. The rest stays the same.
The Pal version takes a bit more work to sort out and has 5 different languages.
We had second priority because:
The Japanese have NTSC systems so they wanted it quickly, and it is their own games.
Also, the US is the biggest market and needed ammunition against heavy new consoles.
We weren't important enough to have the NTSC versions delayed in order to suit us.
I know it's not fair, and us Nintys are suffering similar problems with the GC release date.
The Pal version takes a bit more work to sort out and has 5 different languages.
We had second priority because:
The Japanese have NTSC systems so they wanted it quickly, and it is their own games.
Also, the US is the biggest market and needed ammunition against heavy new consoles.
We weren't important enough to have the NTSC versions delayed in order to suit us.
I know it's not fair, and us Nintys are suffering similar problems with the GC release date.
Jonman wrote:
> But it's a nice idea. Shame it's impractical.
It's not impractical at all!
Everyone seems to be missing the point that, if you announce a global release date, you simply set it enough in advance to allow you to have finished all formats of the game, and have enough discs ready to ship for the initial demand.
Thousands of discs, if not millions, can be produced every day. You develop both PAL and NTSC formats concurrently (as you're going to have to do it anyway) and add on say 2 months to get the discs manufactured.
They managed to do both the US and Japan very close together, so it's certainly acheivable.
> But it's a nice idea. Shame it's impractical.
It's not impractical at all!
Everyone seems to be missing the point that, if you announce a global release date, you simply set it enough in advance to allow you to have finished all formats of the game, and have enough discs ready to ship for the initial demand.
Thousands of discs, if not millions, can be produced every day. You develop both PAL and NTSC formats concurrently (as you're going to have to do it anyway) and add on say 2 months to get the discs manufactured.
They managed to do both the US and Japan very close together, so it's certainly acheivable.
I think you underestimate the immense impact on sales that Christmas has. Doesn't matter if the game will get up and make you breakfast in the morning, iron your shirt, drive you to work, and be waiting for you come home in a slinky negligee with dinner on the table, it'll still sell a shed load more during the run up to Chrimble.
I'm not sure if this is a relevant point either, as I don't know about the manufactuing details of games, but in order to have a global release, you need to have enough stock to support it, which may be more of a logistical nightmare, 'sprecially if the games are all pressed up in one or two major sites.
Someone else quite rightly pointed out that with the escalating costs of development, promotion and marketing, you need to start recovering costs from one region to fund the launch in another region, otherwise your cash flow buggerred to buggery.
But it's a nice idea. Shame it's impractical.
I'm not sure if this is a relevant point either, as I don't know about the manufactuing details of games, but in order to have a global release, you need to have enough stock to support it, which may be more of a logistical nightmare, 'sprecially if the games are all pressed up in one or two major sites.
Someone else quite rightly pointed out that with the escalating costs of development, promotion and marketing, you need to start recovering costs from one region to fund the launch in another region, otherwise your cash flow buggerred to buggery.
But it's a nice idea. Shame it's impractical.
Strafex wrote:
> 1) Sony probably wanted out in time to compete with the Gamecube and Xbox.
Maybe, maybe not. Either way, it still doesn't explain why a PAL version couldn't have been developed alongside the NTSC version and released at the same time.
> 2) Both companies wanted to cash in on Christmas.
As I said earlier, I don't think the Xmas will really make much of an impact on this particular title. It is guaranteed to sell in pretty much the same numbers whatever time of year it's released - it's that much in demand.
> 1) Sony probably wanted out in time to compete with the Gamecube and Xbox.
Maybe, maybe not. Either way, it still doesn't explain why a PAL version couldn't have been developed alongside the NTSC version and released at the same time.
> 2) Both companies wanted to cash in on Christmas.
As I said earlier, I don't think the Xmas will really make much of an impact on this particular title. It is guaranteed to sell in pretty much the same numbers whatever time of year it's released - it's that much in demand.
WòókieeMøn§†€® wrote:
>If they'd
> simply said "global release on..." then no-one would have been any the
> wiser - no one would have known if the two versions were being developed
> concurrently, or if the US were waiting another 3 months for the PAL code to be
> completed, so no one would have any genuine complaints.
Did they do a similar thing for ZOE? I seem to remember the UK version being released the day after the Japanese version. Not sure about the US copies though. It is, as you say, a shame they couldn`t have done this for MGS2 as well.
>If they'd
> simply said "global release on..." then no-one would have been any the
> wiser - no one would have known if the two versions were being developed
> concurrently, or if the US were waiting another 3 months for the PAL code to be
> completed, so no one would have any genuine complaints.
Did they do a similar thing for ZOE? I seem to remember the UK version being released the day after the Japanese version. Not sure about the US copies though. It is, as you say, a shame they couldn`t have done this for MGS2 as well.
I think you must've mis interpreted my wording.
You think that Konami should've released it Globally in one go to stop the story being spoiled for those waiting.
This would mean that the finished US version would have to wait until the European Pal version was ready, which no one in the US would mind if they didn't know that they were waiting for Europe.
But Konami needed it out in the US quickly for 2 reasons:
1) Sony probably wanted out in time to compete with the Gamecube and Xbox.
2) Both companies wanted to cash in on Christmas.
Either way, it's not entirely surprising...
You think that Konami should've released it Globally in one go to stop the story being spoiled for those waiting.
This would mean that the finished US version would have to wait until the European Pal version was ready, which no one in the US would mind if they didn't know that they were waiting for Europe.
But Konami needed it out in the US quickly for 2 reasons:
1) Sony probably wanted out in time to compete with the Gamecube and Xbox.
2) Both companies wanted to cash in on Christmas.
Either way, it's not entirely surprising...
ssxpro wrote:
> The spoilers are the fault of the websites, not Konami.
I agree totally. But I also think that Konami must obviously have known what would happen, and thus planned a global release from the start.
If they'd simply said "global release on..." then no-one would have been any the wiser - no one would have known if the two versions were being developed concurrently, or if the US were waiting another 3 months for the PAL code to be completed, so no one would have any genuine complaints.
> The spoilers are the fault of the websites, not Konami.
I agree totally. But I also think that Konami must obviously have known what would happen, and thus planned a global release from the start.
If they'd simply said "global release on..." then no-one would have been any the wiser - no one would have known if the two versions were being developed concurrently, or if the US were waiting another 3 months for the PAL code to be completed, so no one would have any genuine complaints.
Strafex wrote:
> Wookiee wants the US version to wait until the UK version is ready so that the story isn't
> ruined.
I don't want it to wait - it's already too late for that. I'm just saying that Konami could easily have gone for a global release date on this particular game, due its very nature - i.e. 'best game ever'.
I personally don't think that MGS2 would have suffered by missing the Xmas period in the US marketplace, as it is just such a huge game - it will sell in its millions whatever time of the year it's released.
Besides, if they believe that the Xmas period will significantly enhance sales, they could have developed a PAL version concurrently and released in all three territories before Xmas.
> I advise Wookiee to find some import shop where he can
> get his PS2 chipped.
I would never consider that, no matter what!
Generally I have no problem with games being released elsewhere first; if a game needs improving/optimising for the UK market, then so be it. Even GT3's staggered release was not an issue as far as I'm concerned. We'll get it when we get it, and that's fine by me.
It's just that, as I said, so much secrecy was placed around the MGS2 storyline, because Kojima didn't want it spoiled for the players, that it seems ridiculous to then defeat it all by having a staggered release and allowing it to be spoiled for the millions across Europe - which, based on the MGS1 sales as mentioned earlier, is Konami's second largest market for MGS2.
> Wookiee wants the US version to wait until the UK version is ready so that the story isn't
> ruined.
I don't want it to wait - it's already too late for that. I'm just saying that Konami could easily have gone for a global release date on this particular game, due its very nature - i.e. 'best game ever'.
I personally don't think that MGS2 would have suffered by missing the Xmas period in the US marketplace, as it is just such a huge game - it will sell in its millions whatever time of the year it's released.
Besides, if they believe that the Xmas period will significantly enhance sales, they could have developed a PAL version concurrently and released in all three territories before Xmas.
> I advise Wookiee to find some import shop where he can
> get his PS2 chipped.
I would never consider that, no matter what!
Generally I have no problem with games being released elsewhere first; if a game needs improving/optimising for the UK market, then so be it. Even GT3's staggered release was not an issue as far as I'm concerned. We'll get it when we get it, and that's fine by me.
It's just that, as I said, so much secrecy was placed around the MGS2 storyline, because Kojima didn't want it spoiled for the players, that it seems ridiculous to then defeat it all by having a staggered release and allowing it to be spoiled for the millions across Europe - which, based on the MGS1 sales as mentioned earlier, is Konami's second largest market for MGS2.
Global release dates would be nice, but I don`t think its a realistic possibility for a while yet.
As for the comments about Konami not liking Europe, that is completely untrue, as they are often quite caring towards us. Comparing Konami to Nintendo in terms of dislike for Europe is ridiculous.
The spoilers are the fault of the websites, not Konami. If its traced back a while, then I guess you could say Konami is responsible, but that is like saying Mrs Bin Laden Senior is responsible for the New York crashes, because she gave birth to Osama.
As for the comments about Konami not liking Europe, that is completely untrue, as they are often quite caring towards us. Comparing Konami to Nintendo in terms of dislike for Europe is ridiculous.
The spoilers are the fault of the websites, not Konami. If its traced back a while, then I guess you could say Konami is responsible, but that is like saying Mrs Bin Laden Senior is responsible for the New York crashes, because she gave birth to Osama.
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