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[Einbroch]

Why would you not release the games that are already in freaking English in the US? I can understand not wanting to translate games. That costs a decent amount of money and time.

But when the game is ready and rearing to go and you say no to the largest audience? That's just stupid.

 

[KevinCow]

Does anyone have a good idea on how much disc production costs? I mean if the game is already localized, like some of the games releasing in Europe but not America, how much would it cost to print discs, stick them in cases, and ship them throughout North America? And how many of those games would they need to sell to make that cost back?

Because, like, you have companies who just throw shit on a disc, toss it on the shelves, and expect to make some money off of it because they only spent like ten bucks on development. So I imagine production and distribution can't be that expensive.

 

[AceBandage]

Does anyone have a good idea on how much disc production costs? I mean if the game is already localized, like some of the games releasing in Europe but not America, how much would it cost to print discs, stick them in cases, and ship them throughout North America? And how many of those games would they need to sell to make that cost back?

Because, like, you have companies who just throw shit on a disc, toss it on the shelves, and expect to make some money off of it because they only spent like ten bucks on development. So I imagine production and distribution can't be that expensive.

It literally costs pennies to press a disc.
Now, shipping it is a bit more, but even without marketing, they could easily make back that investment, since they aren't fronting the cost to translate it.

 

[Hours Left]

It literally costs pennies to press a disc.
Now, shipping it is a bit more, but even without marketing, they could easily make back that investment, since they aren't fronting the cost to translate it.

Plus, if anyone has the capital to do so, it's Nintendo.

And they've already done most of the work! It's mind boggling.

 

[jamesinclair]

Because, like, you have companies who just throw shit on a disc, toss it on the shelves, and expect to make some money off of it because they only spent like ten bucks on development. So I imagine production and distribution can't be that expensive.

Seriously, if the babiez and disney ripoff titles can make back their money....


Also, it's 2011. If distribution is such a hassle, sell it through Nintendo.com, Amazon.com and gamestop.com (and anyone else who wants to have it).

How much does it cost to create a product page? Less than a cent?

 

[Phoenix_Apollo]

Honestly, the only possibly costly thing I can see being a problem, maybe, is if they went and put like 100+ people on the debugging/QA staff for each game and made them test for like...six months.

 

[seady]

Nintendo's business decision always feel wrong and flimsy.

Yes they are successful with the Wii, but it feels more like a special case than something they can consistently do. There are so many wrong things one could pick at them.

 

[Phoenix_Apollo]

The only thing I think NoA ever made a right decision on these past few years is localizing and marketing the hell out of Layton. It sucks that it's not a first party franchise, but they've at least proven they know how to market a game that would actually appeal to all kinds of gamers.

 

[Hours Left]

The only thing I think NoA ever made a right decision on these past few years is localizing and marketing the hell out of Layton. It sucks that it's not a first party franchise, but they've at least proven they know how to market a game that would actually appeal to all kinds of gamers.

I'm really worried that they're gonna gut the London Life mode out of Layton 4. They took out the much smaller London Vacation mode out of Layton 2.

:/

 

[slaughterking]

The only thing I think NoA ever made a right decision on these past few years is localizing and marketing the hell out of Layton. It sucks that it's not a first party franchise, but they've at least proven they know how to market a game that would actually appeal to all kinds of gamers.

Even though it was actually NoE that proved the viability of the franchise in west, which then induced a second marketing push by NoA.

 

[Hylian7]

Funny thing is my sister is going to Europe for about a month starting in a week. I did not know about that "hackless" way to play other region games. I may have to ask her to be on the lookout for a few Wii games there.

Games I'm considering based on the list in the OP are NPC! Pikmin 2 (How are the controls on this? The GCN version is damn near impossible to find) and Another Code R (I liked the first one).

 

[creid]

I'm really worried that they're gonna gut the London Life mode out of Layton 4. They took out the much smaller London Vacation mode out of Layton 2.

:/

Never heard about this before, but I just looked it up and it sounds like it was a short chapter that reused puzzles from the first game? If so, I'm not sure that's a good indicator of what they'll do with LL.

 

[mclem]

I can always import a PS3 or PSP game (and do several times a year) but often miss out Wii and 360 titles because I'm not willing to shell out for a Japan or Europe only piece of hardware.

A lot of 360 titles are region free. It's worth doing a little bit of research into the titles that interest you.

 

[Mockingbird]

They worked on Project Hammer, which was too hardcore for NoA. They then had to start Wii Crush, which used the Hammer gameplay but was a casual crap title which led to the massive departure of NST employees/veterans. It was canned in late 2008 and the bones of that team had to work on DSi apps (Mario clocks). They also worked on an Escape Room game which was also canned.
The studio is pretty much dead due to NCL's stupid guidance.

From this

to this...

Do you see why they left? And uhh, yes I did, I posted the first Wii Crush image...

They released aura-aura climber last year for the DSiware and it's awesome!

 

[Synless]

I can't believe EU is getting The Last Story and Xenoblade. I have bought all the games related by those developers/series and this is how I get treated. This will be the first time I have ever had to import from EU.

 

[Effect]

It's crazy that Xenoblade/Monado: Beginning of the World is now ranked the following on Amazon.com.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002IM1MYG/?tag=neogaf0e-20

#1 in Video Games > Wii > Action
#5 in Video Games > Wii > All Games

Maybe this will get Nintendo of America's attention. Or at least Amazon's which will in turn cause them to contact Nintendo directly to know when it's coming so they can sell it after getting these pre-orders.

Put mine in as well.

 

[Synless]

I did my part, I wish a Last Story preorder was there too.

 

[Jethro]

Sad that Excitebots was never listet on Amazon here in Europe...

 

[ivysaur12]

I wonder if they ever will respond. But this is probably the most effective course of action we could take. Well done.

 

[AceBandage]

I wonder if they ever will respond. But this is probably the most effective course of action we could take. Well done.

If it was just FB spamming and Amazon, they might not respond.
However, I think that, if the physical letter campaign is strong, they will be forced to issue some kind of statement.

 

[Mockingbird]

If it was just FB spamming and Amazon, they might not respond.
However, I think that, if the physical letter campaign is strong, they will be forced to issue some kind of statement.

What about badgering them at Comic-Con?

The next public event in the U.S. Nintendo will be at will be at the San Diego Comic-con on July 21-24. Those of us lucky enough to attend should bombard the reps about Xenoblade/The Last Story/Pandora's Tower, etc. Enough to the point that they will put a sign up saying: "We have nothing to announce in regards to Xenoblade, The Last Story, and Pandora's Tower at this time."

 

[Effect]

What about badgering them at Comic-Con?

The next public event in the U.S. Nintendo will be at will be at the San Diego Comic-con on July 21-24. Those of us lucky enough to attend should bombard the reps about Xenoblade/The Last Story/Pandora's Tower, etc. Enough to the point that they will put a sign up saying: "We have nothing to announce in regards to Xenoblade, The Last Story, and Pandora's Tower at this time."

Wish I lived in that part of the US. I'd sure like to go. It needs to be a constant stream of questions though. Even if they don't answer the first time during a Q&A if there is one the next person should ask the question again. Then again and again until they answer or call a end to the session. Every time someone meets a Rep the same questions should be asked.

 

[mjemirzian]

Regarding FE3DS: It feels like Nintendo is eager to regain the sales momentum they had with the Wii and DS and they're pouring all of their translation resources into their two new systems. By the time the translation team has time for FE3DS, the DS will probably be considered too old or outdated for them to bother with. I also wouldn't put it past them to deliberately cut off the DS first party game supply to "encourage" 3DS upgrades.

Remember that for Nintendo to want to translate a game, it not only has to turn a profit, but turn more of a profit during that release timeframe than they would make translating some other game. In this case, I'm pretty sure NOA's translation teams are completely booked working on more profitable 3DS and Wii U titles.

The odds are stacked against any of those niche DS titles making it to NA at this point.

 

[Phoenix_Apollo]

I'm really worried that they're gonna gut the London Life mode out of Layton 4. They took out the much smaller London Vacation mode out of Layton 2.

:/

But London Life is a full-on RPG made by one of Nintendo's studios (Brownie Brown I think), isn't it? If they cut that out, then I seriously question whether or not NoA actually cares about their own company's Japanese development.

 

[the thoroughbred]

They make with artistic passion and their sale is cold and unsympathetic.

 

[TheNatural]

Looking at the official petition thread on here, got me thinking about the Earthbound games for Game Boy Advance - did they ever release them outside Japan? I would be interested in seeing back through the last couple generations what they haven't released. It makes no sense with digital distribution in today's age to NOT be able to localize games. The Earthbound games on GBA could easily be translated and put on Nintendo's 3DS eShop and make them a nice chunk of change. I don't get it.

 

[Brazil]

Looking at the official petition thread on here, got me thinking about the Earthbound games for Game Boy Advance - did they ever release them outside Japan? I would be interested in seeing back through the last couple generations what they haven't released. It makes no sense with digital distribution in today's age to NOT be able to localize games. The Earthbound games on GBA could easily be translated and put on Nintendo's 3DS eShop and make them a nice chunk of change. I don't get it.

No, but there are excelent fan translations available.

And the constant pop culture references are why Nintendo won't localize the Mother games. They don't have the balls.

 

[jgkspsx]

Is FE3DS confirmed for Europe? I will need to import it for my wife if so.

This might be a good thread to ask a slightly off-topic question: Does anybody have experience with sendit.com? I just ordered Another Code R and Last Window from them.

Edit: Holy crap, another Chibi Robo? Is this another Chibi Robo Farmville or a real sequel to the first game? It looks more like the latter. Goddammit Nintendo.

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

This stuff has long puzzled me. When their home consoles have had late-life droughts they might not be able to do anything to bring back third party support, but you'd think that would be an obvious cue to take full advantage of the first party stuff worldwide.

Instead it's like they care less about making use of the stuff they have easy rights to. If Monolithsoft were still mostly Bandai Namco, they'd probably be more interested in publishing their games to foster relations, as with Baten Kaitos Origins. They make a point of getting the first western release of Itadaki Street, but don't bother with a first party Sakaguchi game.

 

[Zihark]

Is FE3DS confirmed for Europe? I will need to import it for my wife if so.

This might be a good thread to ask a slightly off-topic question: Does anybody have experience with sendit.com? I just ordered Another Code R and Last Window from them.

Edit: Holy crap, another Chibi Robo? Is this another Chibi Robo Farmville or a real sequel to the first game? It looks more like the latter. Goddammit Nintendo.

sadly fe3 isn't confirmed for europe, but who knows noe seems to like to bring over rpgs. whats chibi robo farmville- pp? and yeah its like a sequel to the first, impressions were very good. fe and the second ds chibi robo are the two ds games i most want to see localize from nintendo.

 

[jgkspsx]

whats chibi robo farmville- pp?

Yeah. Despite a few good parts, I felt like the Chibi I knew was forced into slave labor. It wasn't a bad game, but should not have had the CR name on it.

 

[Snaku]

NOA single handedly unsold me a WiiU. The way they've treated loyal Nintendo gamers this gen has been absolutely shameful, and totally pissed away any nostalgic love I had for the company. The 3DS will be the last Nintendo console I will buy.

 

[vireland]

If NoE manages to bring Captain Rainbow over, i will forgive them for all those years of crappy ported PAL Games.

Seriously, Captain Rainbow is not that great. I really wanted to like it, but it's just...meh.

Disaster Day of Crisis, though...THAT game should be seen worldwide. It's non-stop, over-the-top fun. One of my favorite games this gen.

 

[Dr. Kitty Muffins]

How can you not release a game in all three territories this gen? It is hard enough to break even on development costs.

 

[AceBandage]

How can you not release a game in all three territories this gen? It is hard enough to break even on development costs.

Namco based their entire business model around not releasing games in multiple territories.

 

[polg]

Considering that Zelda 3D is not coming out in NZ until this Thursday (no street date broken) this is now my moral support group

 

[klee123]

I've got a 4Gb SD card, is it possible for me to use that instead?

 

[mr_chun]

Gawd, some of these omissions are absolutely cringe-worthy.

Kinda want to import Starfy IV. Fire Emblem, too, if I could read Japanese.

Thanks for the guide. I may end up importing The Last Story if it doesn't make its way over here.

 

[klee123]

NOA single handedly unsold me a WiiU. The way they've treated loyal Nintendo gamers this gen has been absolutely shameful, and totally pissed away any nostalgic love I had for the company. The 3DS will be the last Nintendo console I will buy.

Wii will be the last console I'll buy at this rate due to Nintendo being dicks for not only not releasing their games worldwide, but also implementing region locking.

The logic is so backwards that it's not even funny.

 

[tinders]

Disaster Day of Crisis, though...THAT game should be seen worldwide. It's non-stop, over-the-top fun. One of my favorite games this gen.

The lack of love for Disaster is criminal. Such a fun game.

Hardly surprising though, from what I witnessed here in Australia, it's distribution was absolutely minimal, and it's marketing was non-existent.

Still though, awesome fun. Definitely worthy or a replay in the near future.

 

[jump_button]

good to see NOE going it part, but i know how it is when they dont i feel your pain

 

[mjemirzian]

Is FE3DS confirmed for Europe?

Nope.

 

[creid]

Gawd, some of these omissions are absolutely cringe-worthy.

Kinda want to import Starfy IV. Fire Emblem, too, if I could read Japanese.

Thanks for the guide. I may end up importing The Last Story if it doesn't make its way over here.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Starfy 4 was "the bad Starfy."

 

[Sir_Crocodile]

Anyone played Zangeki no Reginleiv? Any good? From screenies it's the only extant japan-only wii game I'd like to come to europe(assuming the PT hints are true).

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

How to Softmod your US Wii for the first time to play EU Games from the disc.

My system's body is ready. What are the best sites for EU->NA game importing, though?

 

[Sir_Crocodile]

My system's body is ready. What are the best sites for EU->NA game importing, though?

I'd have thought amazon uk would work.

I do it the other way round without any problems at least, although marketplace doesn't work(US->UK).

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

I'd have thought amazon uk would work.

I do it the other way round without any problems at least, although marketplace doesn't work(US->UK).

Testing now, it tells me it can't. Looking at the specifics, it says games can be shipped to

UK (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales), Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Republic of Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland

 

[ilMikhail]

I really want to play Last Window , love Hotel Dusk

Importing may be the best option, sadly

 

[Xater]

I am not quite sure why it is only English Nintendo fans that suffer. Should have been western Nintendo fans.

 

[Sir_Crocodile]

Testing now, it tells me it can't. Looking at the specifics, it says games can be shipped to

Yuk. Doesn't look like Play.com does either.

Game.co.uk(biggest gaming retail chain in the UK) apparently do, but they'll probably be fairly expensive, as their prices are rarely as good as amazon's or play's.