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I was reading an article in N64 magazine over the weekend and it reminded me of the sometimes "second rate" service that Uk gamers often experience. THe article which was written by a gamer in New Zealand mentioned that games such as Banjo-Tooie and excitebike had been out since December however both of these titles are scheduled for march release dates. Now America and Japan are NTSC countries, however New Zealand like the UK is a PAL country. If NZ had been an NTSC country at least they could have used the rather lame excuse of:
"It takes time to convert the cartridge to Pal"
However as this excuse is not applicable in this case one has to wonder why all Pal countries (which also happen to speak the same language as us) don't get the same treatment.
I remember when 1080 degrees snowboarding came out our Australasian friends recieved this 6 months in advance. However this time an even more lame excuse was given....
Gamers would not want to buy a snowboarding game when it is not winter so it was delayed from March until November. From what the press is always reporting the UK pay much higher prices for most things and as a result I would have thought that Games producers would have wanted to keep the 60 million Brits happy who will pay a higher price for a game rather than the mere 21 million Australasians from who they will gain less profit per item. However Brits shouln't be given better treatment than the Australasians just because they are a larger market than them. If exactly the same Item gan be sold in either market then really it should be made available to both at the same time. However it is not just Nintendo that seem to be treating Europe differently to the rest of the world. Sony also seem to be guilty of this as well, when Playstation 2 was released In britain not only was it released after it was released in America the initial supply of PS2s to the UK was cut shortly before release apparently due to a shortage of European Chips I personally did not hear of this kind of thing happening in America if a company pledges to bake a release date or release quota it should really try to honour this pledge rather than buil up the hopes of the public and then let them down at the last moment. Games companies as well as console producers really need to start treating their European customers better and minimise the difference in standard of service enjoyed by American and Japenese gamers to that recieved by the European market.
"It takes time to convert the cartridge to Pal"
However as this excuse is not applicable in this case one has to wonder why all Pal countries (which also happen to speak the same language as us) don't get the same treatment.
I remember when 1080 degrees snowboarding came out our Australasian friends recieved this 6 months in advance. However this time an even more lame excuse was given....
Gamers would not want to buy a snowboarding game when it is not winter so it was delayed from March until November. From what the press is always reporting the UK pay much higher prices for most things and as a result I would have thought that Games producers would have wanted to keep the 60 million Brits happy who will pay a higher price for a game rather than the mere 21 million Australasians from who they will gain less profit per item. However Brits shouln't be given better treatment than the Australasians just because they are a larger market than them. If exactly the same Item gan be sold in either market then really it should be made available to both at the same time. However it is not just Nintendo that seem to be treating Europe differently to the rest of the world. Sony also seem to be guilty of this as well, when Playstation 2 was released In britain not only was it released after it was released in America the initial supply of PS2s to the UK was cut shortly before release apparently due to a shortage of European Chips I personally did not hear of this kind of thing happening in America if a company pledges to bake a release date or release quota it should really try to honour this pledge rather than buil up the hopes of the public and then let them down at the last moment. Games companies as well as console producers really need to start treating their European customers better and minimise the difference in standard of service enjoyed by American and Japenese gamers to that recieved by the European market.
Welcome, to the real world
SonicRav
SonicRav
Some games that have been released in America and Japan don't even make it to the UK cos they do so badly in other countries!
Most of them I saw were American Football games in the US when I went their on holiday ages ago.
There were loads of different ones their and only one or two had been released in the UK!
America is often used to test popularity of games!
However I would like the UK to be treated fairly! As I am almost an Expert on Nintendo matters I'm going to concentrate mainly on them!
Nintendo release games (Pal & NTSC) in other countries months before UK! A lot of games reach the European continent before us! I don't mind Nintendo testing games in other countries first but when they bring out games that they know will be a sure hit (like Pokémon, Banjo Tooie, Majora's Mask, etc) 6 months later here than the rest of the world then it feels as if we are being unfairly treated!
I'm sure most of you'll agree that this is the case with most games and console companies!
We are getting the Gameboy Advance later than the United States (US Release June 11th 2001) even though the handheld console is going to be exactly the same here! Same power settings, same games (apart from a few games maybe) same graphics, etc but it's gonna be delayed because we are not so Great Britain!
However this could be due to the number of units Nintendo have in stock! They may only be able to produve enough to meet certain demands! (Unlike Sony with the PS2 who couldn't even produce a decent amount of PS2's to keep UK happy)
So Nintendo release the consoles in America and Japan first, then they spread to their next biggest market, then their next, and so on til they reach Britain where the games have filtered to half as many and the prices are much higher (due to Labours New Britain taxes).
The UK don't even have a Nintendo club whereas most European and worldwide countries do! But this is due to THE who aren't gonna be a part of Nintendo soon!
In my opinion we are treated very unfairly which is no wonder that the console market in this country isn't as high as it is in others! However videogames were last years biggest selling items just beating Mobile Phones!
Most of them I saw were American Football games in the US when I went their on holiday ages ago.
There were loads of different ones their and only one or two had been released in the UK!
America is often used to test popularity of games!
However I would like the UK to be treated fairly! As I am almost an Expert on Nintendo matters I'm going to concentrate mainly on them!
Nintendo release games (Pal & NTSC) in other countries months before UK! A lot of games reach the European continent before us! I don't mind Nintendo testing games in other countries first but when they bring out games that they know will be a sure hit (like Pokémon, Banjo Tooie, Majora's Mask, etc) 6 months later here than the rest of the world then it feels as if we are being unfairly treated!
I'm sure most of you'll agree that this is the case with most games and console companies!
We are getting the Gameboy Advance later than the United States (US Release June 11th 2001) even though the handheld console is going to be exactly the same here! Same power settings, same games (apart from a few games maybe) same graphics, etc but it's gonna be delayed because we are not so Great Britain!
However this could be due to the number of units Nintendo have in stock! They may only be able to produve enough to meet certain demands! (Unlike Sony with the PS2 who couldn't even produce a decent amount of PS2's to keep UK happy)
So Nintendo release the consoles in America and Japan first, then they spread to their next biggest market, then their next, and so on til they reach Britain where the games have filtered to half as many and the prices are much higher (due to Labours New Britain taxes).
The UK don't even have a Nintendo club whereas most European and worldwide countries do! But this is due to THE who aren't gonna be a part of Nintendo soon!
In my opinion we are treated very unfairly which is no wonder that the console market in this country isn't as high as it is in others! However videogames were last years biggest selling items just beating Mobile Phones!
Ah, I don't really mind, I mean the games still reach us on the same scale more or less, just because we're a little behind doesn't mean a thing, I don't necessarily care if they get a game first it just surprises me how say a UK developer Rare release games to Nintendo to distribute in the U.S and then take soooooo long to get them back over here, surely Rare must have a playable copy of Conker's Bad Fur Day, but they must only have a UK Pal system right, probably not thinking about it but I still don't see why use Brits get it tough!
Part of the emphasis of what I said is that if this was the case then how come it is operating in reverse in the quoted example. We don't want the situation to be better in either market just the same. The companies seem to be working illogically and following no real pattern.
Actually, this is normal for australia and new zealand. For example, NZ hasn't got the internet for their DCs (or they got it bout 5 months after us or something). Also the games take longer to come out.
The reason is simple- companies don't see it as a big market. Furthermore, because Aussie is PAL it is controller by Sony Europe, Sega Europe etc... and that means that European countries have one huge densly covered land mass to supply, and huge sparsly populated one.. which do u concentrate on?
SonicRav
The reason is simple- companies don't see it as a big market. Furthermore, because Aussie is PAL it is controller by Sony Europe, Sega Europe etc... and that means that European countries have one huge densly covered land mass to supply, and huge sparsly populated one.. which do u concentrate on?
SonicRav
Especially games that are made in the good old UK...
yeah if they don't want to stick to them they stick the piece of paper with the date on in the oven and turn it on full heat they leave it in the oven until it is incinerated. Some times in a moment of culinary inspiration they melt some CHEESE on it. Voila cheese on release date.
I've never heard of a compeny that bakes its release dates.
I was reading an article in N64 magazine over the weekend and it reminded me of the sometimes "second rate" service that Uk gamers often experience. THe article which was written by a gamer in New Zealand mentioned that games such as Banjo-Tooie and excitebike had been out since December however both of these titles are scheduled for march release dates. Now America and Japan are NTSC countries, however New Zealand like the UK is a PAL country. If NZ had been an NTSC country at least they could have used the rather lame excuse of:
"It takes time to convert the cartridge to Pal"
However as this excuse is not applicable in this case one has to wonder why all Pal countries (which also happen to speak the same language as us) don't get the same treatment.
I remember when 1080 degrees snowboarding came out our Australasian friends recieved this 6 months in advance. However this time an even more lame excuse was given....
Gamers would not want to buy a snowboarding game when it is not winter so it was delayed from March until November. From what the press is always reporting the UK pay much higher prices for most things and as a result I would have thought that Games producers would have wanted to keep the 60 million Brits happy who will pay a higher price for a game rather than the mere 21 million Australasians from who they will gain less profit per item. However Brits shouln't be given better treatment than the Australasians just because they are a larger market than them. If exactly the same Item gan be sold in either market then really it should be made available to both at the same time. However it is not just Nintendo that seem to be treating Europe differently to the rest of the world. Sony also seem to be guilty of this as well, when Playstation 2 was released In britain not only was it released after it was released in America the initial supply of PS2s to the UK was cut shortly before release apparently due to a shortage of European Chips I personally did not hear of this kind of thing happening in America if a company pledges to bake a release date or release quota it should really try to honour this pledge rather than buil up the hopes of the public and then let them down at the last moment. Games companies as well as console producers really need to start treating their European customers better and minimise the difference in standard of service enjoyed by American and Japenese gamers to that recieved by the European market.
"It takes time to convert the cartridge to Pal"
However as this excuse is not applicable in this case one has to wonder why all Pal countries (which also happen to speak the same language as us) don't get the same treatment.
I remember when 1080 degrees snowboarding came out our Australasian friends recieved this 6 months in advance. However this time an even more lame excuse was given....
Gamers would not want to buy a snowboarding game when it is not winter so it was delayed from March until November. From what the press is always reporting the UK pay much higher prices for most things and as a result I would have thought that Games producers would have wanted to keep the 60 million Brits happy who will pay a higher price for a game rather than the mere 21 million Australasians from who they will gain less profit per item. However Brits shouln't be given better treatment than the Australasians just because they are a larger market than them. If exactly the same Item gan be sold in either market then really it should be made available to both at the same time. However it is not just Nintendo that seem to be treating Europe differently to the rest of the world. Sony also seem to be guilty of this as well, when Playstation 2 was released In britain not only was it released after it was released in America the initial supply of PS2s to the UK was cut shortly before release apparently due to a shortage of European Chips I personally did not hear of this kind of thing happening in America if a company pledges to bake a release date or release quota it should really try to honour this pledge rather than buil up the hopes of the public and then let them down at the last moment. Games companies as well as console producers really need to start treating their European customers better and minimise the difference in standard of service enjoyed by American and Japenese gamers to that recieved by the European market.