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Let’s drop the act – Nintendo are not by any stretch of the imagination the gamer friendly company. In both the past and the present they’ve been nothing but self-interested, shamefully unorganized and afraid to look to the seemingly plagued shores of Europe, the second largest video games market.
I’ll start with the incident that prompted this rant – the Zelda bonus disk. Now what an idea that was! Not only were we going to get the eagerly anticipated new Zelda title, but a mix of a revamped classic with some totally new content in the form of the second bonus title. All we had to do was pre-order and this bounty would be ours for a meagre sum. To begin with the only problem is what to play first – it seemed as if Nintendo were almost apologising for something… then I was reminded what.
Nintendo couldn’t organise a stag party in a brewery that moon-lights as a lap dancing parlour. We’ve seen it time and time again, the Zelda Bonus disk fiasco is just the latest example. In short, chaos reigned. I have two Gamecubes, one US and one UK and knowing Nintendo slow international releases I wanted to get my name down for a US copy of Zelda with the bonus disks. A simple task you may think, everyone who pre-orders gets the bonus… or not, as the case may be. Retailers simply don’t have a clue what’s happening, they don’t know how many copies of the bonus disks they’ll be getting and in turn which customers will get these. I put my name down with a (previously) highly reputable retailer in November but I know my pre-order definitely won’t be supplied with the bonus. Why? In the chaos the only people who can benefit are those out to rip people off. I got an e-mail on Saturday from the company I pre-ordered with telling me that if I was quick I could get the bonus disk for £19.99 – that’s on top of the £45.99 I paid for the game back in November. They’d decided not to give out their allocation of the freebies as the additional content they were intended as, but to make themselves a profit from the people desperate to get their hands on these titles.
So despite the fact I got my pre-order logged in a timely manner, I get no bonus disks (needless to say I’ve cancelled my order with these scum bags in disgust). “How’s this Nintendo’s fault”, you say? Well, the whole thing is borne out of the confusion. The exact same thing was complained about at the time of the Japanese launch of Zelda, but Nintendo have done nothing. They could inform retailers of how much stock they’ll get so the reputable ones can tell customers where they stand before ordering. They could have bundled the bonus disks and actual game together, rather than packaging them separate and in totally different cases to allow dodgy retailers to sell them on rather than hand them out to the disserving pre-ordering customers. What can you expect from Nintendo though? That amateur operation that gets by because they have some talented coders who develop quality titles, but do just about everything else totally wrong.
Zelda is actually are rare breed – a title that is scheduled for a reasonable quick international launch. It shows that Nintendo can do it, hell, any company can. An international conversion is not hard. We’ve believed the lies we were fed for too long and forgiven good old Nintendo, the gamer’s friend. A high quality NTSC to PAL conversion takes a matter of days. One of the very few good points about international piracy is that they’ve displayed that a competent organisation can do this conversion to a high standard inside a week. That’s criminals without the billions of pounds worth of investment in equipment and talent like Nintendo, and who have to wait until the street date to get their hands on the code. Then there is the language translations, surely taking all that text and turning it into the numerous European languages for our launch is time consuming… why? Come on, pin this down. We’re talking about translating a couple of thousand words into four or five languages, and the translations don’t even need to be that specific. We’re not translating Byron or Elliot here; as long as the message is communicated in a grammatically correct manner we’re sorted. Again, remember this can also be done while the game is still in development, there is no rule that says Nintendo have to wait until the title hits the Japanese streets before they think about international translations.
The truth is Nintendo just don’t care about these things. They really don’t act like a company limping along behind two competitors. How else can you explain the delay of Metroid? Christmas is the crucial time of the year, yet Nintendo relied solely on the existence of a Mario game to set things straight. They played around with a little advertising, but were totally swamped by their competitors’ media blitz. Look at the way Sony strained to get GTA3 out for that all important period (granted, with a few bugs). Nintendo, on the other hand, released a fully working English version of Metriod in the States in November… and nothing over here. Would the Gamecube have faired better over here with two AAA titles over the festive period, undoubtedly. You could also add Super Monkey Ball 2 and Animal Crossing to that, two more AAA titles that had a US launch long ago yet Nintendo seem reluctant to bring them to these shores.
Being Nintendo, there is always a final slap in the face. With all these slow conversions, the Freeloader seems like a godsend to the forgotten UK Gamecube owner. Okay, he’d have to pay a little more for imported titles, but at least he’d get them. How does Nintendo react to this? Does Nintendo see that there is an obvious demand in the European market and roll up their sleeves to get stuck into the conversions? Of course not. Nintendo decides to do everything it can to stop the launch of Freeloader, despite the fact the product breaks no laws and can only allow genuine, full price titles to be played. Nintendo bullied the companies who press the small DVD disks as well as strived to continually change their international locks to bar the Freeloader. All this effort to stop their customers enjoying games they’d purchased at inflated import prices. Games that Nintendo couldn’t be bothered to give international releases to. Yeah, the gamer’s friend.
Such distain for customers isn’t new. The 16-bit era is largely remembered as Nintendo’s high point, it also marked another high point – prices. Using their dominant position Nintendo proceeded to slaughter everyone and grab every penny they could. The 3rd parties suffered, the publishers suffered, the retailers suffered, the distributors suffered, and, most of all, the consumers suffered. It took that evil corporation Sony to come in and offer low licence fees and low prices to the consumer to straighten things out. This wasn’t their only crime then, as anyone who eagerly anticipated Super Mario RPG will remember, those international launches have always been a problem (1080’s “a snowboarding game won’t sell in the Summer” must be the low point of their total stupidity, oops, almost forgot about Christmas 2002).
I was a Nintendo kid; I’ve owned every single Nintendo console, including numerous versions of the each Gameboy in it’s Original, Pocket, Colour, Advance and SP phases (oh, there’s another nice trick there – don’t provide a headphone jack with the unit, make the consumer buy one later). Forget Sonic, I remember Mario Vs Alec Kidd arguments. However, overtime Sony has shown how things should be done, how a reputable console maker should operate if he has the consumer’s interests at heart – which naturally will lead to a profit as well. With all this in mind I can only come to the conclusion that Nintendo needs to pack the hardware side of things in, well I suppose they’d have to keep the highly profitable Gameboy up an running (maintaining the position that has held back the technological advancement of the handheld console for years – innovative only when their isn’t a customer to extort it seems).
What do we actually benefit from the existence of the Gamecube? I really struggle to see. Any of Nintendo’s titles could be converted to the PS2 or Xbox and it would cut down the hardware costs as we’d only have two consoles to fork out for, rather than three. The Gamecube isn’t by any stretch of the imagination a revolutionary console, the only “innovation” even the staunchest fanboy will name is the Wavebird. A wireless controller? Come on, that’s pushing it. They’ve been around for years and the use of wi-fi rather than infra-red is a decision made because of external technological advancements.
If Nintendo developed for the PS2 or Xbox we’d get the same high quality titles, just on different platforms. Really, how much would that matter? I never thought I’d be saying this, but there really seems no point in their hardware department. Hopefully with such a big concern off their minds they could get on with pumping out the quality titles. Maybe the high competition among the 3rd parties would even encourage them to get international releases under their belt quickly.
The lack of concern in Europe over Christmas verges on suicidal. Already retailers are discounting stock to clear; Metroid and Zelda have come too late. Knowing Nintendo, they won’t bother to advertise the launch of these titles anyway, so the public won’t be aware they’re missing out on anything. Your average gamer now doesn’t know the Zelda franchise like he would have a decade ago. He doesn’t know it almost guarantees quality, and Nintendo seem reluctant to tell him. Something like the bonus disks would be such a good value-adding tool for getting attentions, but, bringing me round full circle, who says Nintendo can even manage to distribute this seemingly brilliant PR tool without causing chaos and disappointment.
That went on rather longer than intended… coffee well cold now. Oh, cue the fanboy “they’re sooooooo innovative” responding rants. To snip some points in the bud, Jumping Jack on the PS was the first 3D platformer, Nights and Mario 64 were developed at the same time diluting the claim even further. Secondly, the analogue controller is as old as the hills, around decades before the N64.
I’ll start with the incident that prompted this rant – the Zelda bonus disk. Now what an idea that was! Not only were we going to get the eagerly anticipated new Zelda title, but a mix of a revamped classic with some totally new content in the form of the second bonus title. All we had to do was pre-order and this bounty would be ours for a meagre sum. To begin with the only problem is what to play first – it seemed as if Nintendo were almost apologising for something… then I was reminded what.
Nintendo couldn’t organise a stag party in a brewery that moon-lights as a lap dancing parlour. We’ve seen it time and time again, the Zelda Bonus disk fiasco is just the latest example. In short, chaos reigned. I have two Gamecubes, one US and one UK and knowing Nintendo slow international releases I wanted to get my name down for a US copy of Zelda with the bonus disks. A simple task you may think, everyone who pre-orders gets the bonus… or not, as the case may be. Retailers simply don’t have a clue what’s happening, they don’t know how many copies of the bonus disks they’ll be getting and in turn which customers will get these. I put my name down with a (previously) highly reputable retailer in November but I know my pre-order definitely won’t be supplied with the bonus. Why? In the chaos the only people who can benefit are those out to rip people off. I got an e-mail on Saturday from the company I pre-ordered with telling me that if I was quick I could get the bonus disk for £19.99 – that’s on top of the £45.99 I paid for the game back in November. They’d decided not to give out their allocation of the freebies as the additional content they were intended as, but to make themselves a profit from the people desperate to get their hands on these titles.
So despite the fact I got my pre-order logged in a timely manner, I get no bonus disks (needless to say I’ve cancelled my order with these scum bags in disgust). “How’s this Nintendo’s fault”, you say? Well, the whole thing is borne out of the confusion. The exact same thing was complained about at the time of the Japanese launch of Zelda, but Nintendo have done nothing. They could inform retailers of how much stock they’ll get so the reputable ones can tell customers where they stand before ordering. They could have bundled the bonus disks and actual game together, rather than packaging them separate and in totally different cases to allow dodgy retailers to sell them on rather than hand them out to the disserving pre-ordering customers. What can you expect from Nintendo though? That amateur operation that gets by because they have some talented coders who develop quality titles, but do just about everything else totally wrong.
Zelda is actually are rare breed – a title that is scheduled for a reasonable quick international launch. It shows that Nintendo can do it, hell, any company can. An international conversion is not hard. We’ve believed the lies we were fed for too long and forgiven good old Nintendo, the gamer’s friend. A high quality NTSC to PAL conversion takes a matter of days. One of the very few good points about international piracy is that they’ve displayed that a competent organisation can do this conversion to a high standard inside a week. That’s criminals without the billions of pounds worth of investment in equipment and talent like Nintendo, and who have to wait until the street date to get their hands on the code. Then there is the language translations, surely taking all that text and turning it into the numerous European languages for our launch is time consuming… why? Come on, pin this down. We’re talking about translating a couple of thousand words into four or five languages, and the translations don’t even need to be that specific. We’re not translating Byron or Elliot here; as long as the message is communicated in a grammatically correct manner we’re sorted. Again, remember this can also be done while the game is still in development, there is no rule that says Nintendo have to wait until the title hits the Japanese streets before they think about international translations.
The truth is Nintendo just don’t care about these things. They really don’t act like a company limping along behind two competitors. How else can you explain the delay of Metroid? Christmas is the crucial time of the year, yet Nintendo relied solely on the existence of a Mario game to set things straight. They played around with a little advertising, but were totally swamped by their competitors’ media blitz. Look at the way Sony strained to get GTA3 out for that all important period (granted, with a few bugs). Nintendo, on the other hand, released a fully working English version of Metriod in the States in November… and nothing over here. Would the Gamecube have faired better over here with two AAA titles over the festive period, undoubtedly. You could also add Super Monkey Ball 2 and Animal Crossing to that, two more AAA titles that had a US launch long ago yet Nintendo seem reluctant to bring them to these shores.
Being Nintendo, there is always a final slap in the face. With all these slow conversions, the Freeloader seems like a godsend to the forgotten UK Gamecube owner. Okay, he’d have to pay a little more for imported titles, but at least he’d get them. How does Nintendo react to this? Does Nintendo see that there is an obvious demand in the European market and roll up their sleeves to get stuck into the conversions? Of course not. Nintendo decides to do everything it can to stop the launch of Freeloader, despite the fact the product breaks no laws and can only allow genuine, full price titles to be played. Nintendo bullied the companies who press the small DVD disks as well as strived to continually change their international locks to bar the Freeloader. All this effort to stop their customers enjoying games they’d purchased at inflated import prices. Games that Nintendo couldn’t be bothered to give international releases to. Yeah, the gamer’s friend.
Such distain for customers isn’t new. The 16-bit era is largely remembered as Nintendo’s high point, it also marked another high point – prices. Using their dominant position Nintendo proceeded to slaughter everyone and grab every penny they could. The 3rd parties suffered, the publishers suffered, the retailers suffered, the distributors suffered, and, most of all, the consumers suffered. It took that evil corporation Sony to come in and offer low licence fees and low prices to the consumer to straighten things out. This wasn’t their only crime then, as anyone who eagerly anticipated Super Mario RPG will remember, those international launches have always been a problem (1080’s “a snowboarding game won’t sell in the Summer” must be the low point of their total stupidity, oops, almost forgot about Christmas 2002).
I was a Nintendo kid; I’ve owned every single Nintendo console, including numerous versions of the each Gameboy in it’s Original, Pocket, Colour, Advance and SP phases (oh, there’s another nice trick there – don’t provide a headphone jack with the unit, make the consumer buy one later). Forget Sonic, I remember Mario Vs Alec Kidd arguments. However, overtime Sony has shown how things should be done, how a reputable console maker should operate if he has the consumer’s interests at heart – which naturally will lead to a profit as well. With all this in mind I can only come to the conclusion that Nintendo needs to pack the hardware side of things in, well I suppose they’d have to keep the highly profitable Gameboy up an running (maintaining the position that has held back the technological advancement of the handheld console for years – innovative only when their isn’t a customer to extort it seems).
What do we actually benefit from the existence of the Gamecube? I really struggle to see. Any of Nintendo’s titles could be converted to the PS2 or Xbox and it would cut down the hardware costs as we’d only have two consoles to fork out for, rather than three. The Gamecube isn’t by any stretch of the imagination a revolutionary console, the only “innovation” even the staunchest fanboy will name is the Wavebird. A wireless controller? Come on, that’s pushing it. They’ve been around for years and the use of wi-fi rather than infra-red is a decision made because of external technological advancements.
If Nintendo developed for the PS2 or Xbox we’d get the same high quality titles, just on different platforms. Really, how much would that matter? I never thought I’d be saying this, but there really seems no point in their hardware department. Hopefully with such a big concern off their minds they could get on with pumping out the quality titles. Maybe the high competition among the 3rd parties would even encourage them to get international releases under their belt quickly.
The lack of concern in Europe over Christmas verges on suicidal. Already retailers are discounting stock to clear; Metroid and Zelda have come too late. Knowing Nintendo, they won’t bother to advertise the launch of these titles anyway, so the public won’t be aware they’re missing out on anything. Your average gamer now doesn’t know the Zelda franchise like he would have a decade ago. He doesn’t know it almost guarantees quality, and Nintendo seem reluctant to tell him. Something like the bonus disks would be such a good value-adding tool for getting attentions, but, bringing me round full circle, who says Nintendo can even manage to distribute this seemingly brilliant PR tool without causing chaos and disappointment.
That went on rather longer than intended… coffee well cold now. Oh, cue the fanboy “they’re sooooooo innovative” responding rants. To snip some points in the bud, Jumping Jack on the PS was the first 3D platformer, Nights and Mario 64 were developed at the same time diluting the claim even further. Secondly, the analogue controller is as old as the hills, around decades before the N64.
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Oh, and just in case those PS2/Xbox fanboy things are aimed at me - if anything, I'm a Nintendo fanboy, I'm just not blind to their major shortcomings. I grew up arguing in the playground about how Mario was obviously better and have helped in the Nintendo section of a number of websites run by friends with more get-up-and-go than me to get these things organised. I still have an N64 connected to a TV (shared with a Dreamcast for NFL2K2 and NBA 2k2) as I love 1080 too much to disconnect.
Like I mention in the original post, I've owned every Ninty console (including a working Virtua Boy) and actually have two Gamecubes. I also own an Xbox and PS2 because owning all three is the only way to get access to all the best games.
Like I mention in the original post, I've owned every Ninty console (including a working Virtua Boy) and actually have two Gamecubes. I also own an Xbox and PS2 because owning all three is the only way to get access to all the best games.
Whitestripes wrote:
> I can't be bothered to argue with someone who can't see the points
> that are being made.
Now that is funny, I was thinking exactly the same thing myself.
Glad I read that inbetween mouthfulls of coffee as the screen would have been soaking.
> I can't be bothered to argue with someone who can't see the points
> that are being made.
Now that is funny, I was thinking exactly the same thing myself.
Glad I read that inbetween mouthfulls of coffee as the screen would have been soaking.
Nintendo are business screw-ups - FACT!
They STILL make the best games around though, so none of their fans give a toss.
They STILL make the best games around though, so none of their fans give a toss.
I've had it in for Nintendo ever since they made me pay £60 (!) for Donkey Kong Country on the SNES. And that was about 6-7 years ago too.
Wasn't Turok about £70 when that came out?
And what the hell is a Staffie doing on at this time?
Get to bed, you've got work tomorrow; lazy slacker...
And what the hell is a Staffie doing on at this time?
Get to bed, you've got work tomorrow; lazy slacker...
Nintendo didn't make or publish Turok you idiot. And every other launch game managed to be £40-45.
Virtuoso wrote:
> Wasn't Turok about £70 when that came out?
>
> And what the hell is a Staffie doing on at this time?
>
> Get to bed, you've got work tomorrow; lazy slacker...
thats MR SLACKER to you :P
> Wasn't Turok about £70 when that came out?
>
> And what the hell is a Staffie doing on at this time?
>
> Get to bed, you've got work tomorrow; lazy slacker...
thats MR SLACKER to you :P
Right, I've just read everything that's been said in this topic and, while I agree with Dr Gonzo on a few of his points (namely that Nintendo do treat their European customers badly) they are also aware that they don't need to advertise to sell their games - the games do the talking. They have no real need to shamelessly advertise everywhere because word of mouth and insider knowledge ensures they always have a helathy reputation.
Business-wise, Nintendo may not seem it, but they're quite ruthless in their finances. And no wonder - while Sony and Microsoft might be able to afford to making losses, hand over fist, in order to secure a large share of the market, Nintendo can't do that. They don't have the unlimited financial clout of Microsoft or the hype of Sony to back them up.
But they do have one thing that counts - the best games in the world. And they know that. Which is why they'll still treat us badly compared to our Jap/US counterparts and we'll still love them. Not literally, of course, that would be hideous.
Business-wise, Nintendo may not seem it, but they're quite ruthless in their finances. And no wonder - while Sony and Microsoft might be able to afford to making losses, hand over fist, in order to secure a large share of the market, Nintendo can't do that. They don't have the unlimited financial clout of Microsoft or the hype of Sony to back them up.
But they do have one thing that counts - the best games in the world. And they know that. Which is why they'll still treat us badly compared to our Jap/US counterparts and we'll still love them. Not literally, of course, that would be hideous.
Everyone likes to be treated fairly.
I am a great admirer of Nintendo, but they don't return the favour. They have never rewarded me for my unrelenting support (which deminished with the N64).
I was literally astonished by Sony when they launched the platinum range. I couldn't believe that I was being offered games for < £20. That's the cheapest I've seen them since I last bought a tape for my Atari 800XL.
Nintendo ARE doomed in the home console market. Why?? They still haven't taken console gaming mainstream - even with the GC - and now they've missed the last boat. People just aren't buying them in the droves they are the PS2. Sheep or not, more consoles = more quality games and longer future. And by mainstream, I'm talking about your average Joe in the street deciding to pop into a game shop for a GC - it doesn't happen.
Someone mentioned 'Only those that know about nintendo buy them'. Well I disagree. I think those that know about nintendo, and aren't blinded, wouldn't buy a GC. The only reason for buying one, as far as I can tell is a few good games. There are twice as many on the PS2.
Nintendo should stick to games and the handheld market - but they should pray that Sony don't jump into the handheld market, because £30 + quid for a GBA game and no platinum range seems like a monopoly taking advantage of it's customers again.
I'm sure Ninty would sell bucket loads of old black and white and color gameboy classics if they were sold for £5 each or less.
On another note, Dr Gonzo, I've got myself a Virtual Boy too!
Do you have any of the rarer games?
I've got: Mario Tennis, Teleroboxer, Warioland, Baseball, VTetris, Red Alarm, Panic Bomber, Golf, Vertical Force.
I think it's a fantastic console. Essentially a 3D SNES. Completely underrated.
I am a great admirer of Nintendo, but they don't return the favour. They have never rewarded me for my unrelenting support (which deminished with the N64).
I was literally astonished by Sony when they launched the platinum range. I couldn't believe that I was being offered games for < £20. That's the cheapest I've seen them since I last bought a tape for my Atari 800XL.
Nintendo ARE doomed in the home console market. Why?? They still haven't taken console gaming mainstream - even with the GC - and now they've missed the last boat. People just aren't buying them in the droves they are the PS2. Sheep or not, more consoles = more quality games and longer future. And by mainstream, I'm talking about your average Joe in the street deciding to pop into a game shop for a GC - it doesn't happen.
Someone mentioned 'Only those that know about nintendo buy them'. Well I disagree. I think those that know about nintendo, and aren't blinded, wouldn't buy a GC. The only reason for buying one, as far as I can tell is a few good games. There are twice as many on the PS2.
Nintendo should stick to games and the handheld market - but they should pray that Sony don't jump into the handheld market, because £30 + quid for a GBA game and no platinum range seems like a monopoly taking advantage of it's customers again.
I'm sure Ninty would sell bucket loads of old black and white and color gameboy classics if they were sold for £5 each or less.
On another note, Dr Gonzo, I've got myself a Virtual Boy too!
Do you have any of the rarer games?
I've got: Mario Tennis, Teleroboxer, Warioland, Baseball, VTetris, Red Alarm, Panic Bomber, Golf, Vertical Force.
I think it's a fantastic console. Essentially a 3D SNES. Completely underrated.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, just as Gonzo has.
And perhaps some frothing kids can calm down and read.
He's not slamming Nintendo games or the Gamecube.
He is talking about their total lack of support for the European customer base. They have done ever since the SNES.
They did it with the N64 and they're doing it again with the Cube.
A few titles, months after Northern America and Japan.
Dixons are getting shot of their stock, PC World are doing the same.
And, as before, mark this post and pop it.
Gamecube will be no longer viable/available here in the UK.
I'll put money on it.
And perhaps some frothing kids can calm down and read.
He's not slamming Nintendo games or the Gamecube.
He is talking about their total lack of support for the European customer base. They have done ever since the SNES.
They did it with the N64 and they're doing it again with the Cube.
A few titles, months after Northern America and Japan.
Dixons are getting shot of their stock, PC World are doing the same.
And, as before, mark this post and pop it.
Gamecube will be no longer viable/available here in the UK.
I'll put money on it.
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