I totally agree that size is a big factor for Japanese gamers..
1) On trains. I spent an average of 3 hours on the train going to and from work. I read lots of books and finished lots of GB games.
2) I picked up my XBox in Japan when it was first released there. When friends came over to look at it they said, and I kid you not, 'I don't have the room for that'. At the time I was living a little outside Tokyo in a bigger than average studeo. Later I moved into Tokyo, and rented an appartment I could literatlly stretch out and touch both sides of. XBox did not come with me, Cube and GB did.
Reserving new to Japan? No. I have either lived or visited Tokyo for the last 10 years, and I have been reserving stuff the whole time. Why the lines? Marketing, sales, advertisement. It looks great in the newspaper to see a huge line of people getting your product. Some are reserved, others are left for opening. Great for biz.
I just wonder if they will replace most of the 3d objects with billboards (sprites always facing the camera) to improve speed. I don't see how the DS can handle this game in its native state. Maybe Namco is going to make a side scroller version much like all Gameboy ports used to become.
Yes they did. Turok was $80. Mario 64 was $70. MK3 Gold was $80. That Nintendo fighter Gold (the one with the gargoyal on the front) was $80 also. It was after purchasing 6 of these games I stopped, and that is my collection. Of course I am talking release time. I still remember calling the store and finding out someone broke the release date by two days, and getting mine early.
Almost all N64 games costed $80, and for some STUPID reason I bought them. Never again. I agree with an earlier poster, I will not pay over $50 for a game. I either wait for it to drop or look for a coupon/deal. The developers see the same amount regardless when they have publisher deals.
Halo was the first? People still fail to realize that the one main reason it sold well is because it is one of the few good games for XBox, so was/is a 90% guarantee buy for XBox owners. If it was indeed a masterpiece, PC sales would have also been high. It is a great game, but there are tons of games that are better. Even DOOM should have gotten a star before Halo.
I believe the creator of the FF series that went to MS, left Square back around FF 5 or 6. I do know he left before ff8. He didn't leave Square to go to MS, he just needed a job.
I almost always get new gear and consoles on release day, but $250 (EB Games) for a hand held system is too much, especially since the games also cost $40+. That is next gen console prices there, not low-res-same-as-I-have price. No worries, the price will drop to $140-$200 before end of summer most likely, especialy if Nintendo does indeed anounce a new GB 3. Maybe by price drop time there will be some actual games out for it.
The only reason he is bad mouthing Tekken is because all the other 3d fighters series have failed. VF4 almost had it, but was still too clunky (The AI training was kind of fun though). Tekken dropped the ball with 4, and their enclosed environments. One of the things that made Tekken 'Tekken', was the never ended arena where you could concentrate on those long memorized strands of combos. DOA is the superior fighter in so many regards, and SF comes a close second when it comes to pure fighting satisfaction.
For gamers, you can't generalize age to anything. Either people play games, or they don't. Which and how many systems they buy is equal to their pocket book and what games are out for it they like. The GB has just as good titles as the PC.
Wow...this is an incredible contract that Ubisoft got. The few govt. contracts and grants I have done in the past were almost always over paid and plush.
Just look at the forums. What few complaint/leaving letters there are, you will see blizzard people replying and trying to help the situation. This is opposite other games where they just delete the posts (EQ and AO to name a few). The support for this game is incredible. Major notices at login, good forums, etc. Not only that, the game runs great so support is barely needed.
Halo 2 figures would have been less if there were any other good games competing with it on the same platform. I still remember everyone squigling because they didn't have enough money to buy all the games that came out at the end of last year, and most people had to choose. I don't remember XBox people debating between Halo2, and anything else, because there wasn't an 'else'.
This reminds me of when the first Pentium chips rolled out, and that guy found the math problem that I don't think any common consumer would find, but yet people like me got a replacement (with a chip that probably had the same problems). I just wonder if the people returning it fall in the same category.
The most shocking part of this story is that the Japanese police can actually do something. I worked in Tokyo for almost two years, and the only they they did was take my bike (true story).
The sad thing, ex-girlfriend or not, he most likely had more time and money wrapped up in his game than her. This oppinion comes from my experience with my friends over there and how odd/disfunctional their relationships seemed to my foreign eyes.
It was just yesterday my friend was talking about someone who was bidding for the regular game on eBay, and it shot up to $110. Man, for the regular game! While I love the game, all I can suggest is just wait. With MMORPGs, things only get better with time. This was a hard move for Bliz, but it was smart.
Not trying to rag on you, but I have to add and correct to some of your statements...
Huge - Waiting times? I have never experienced this on my Med and High pop servers. Maybe a few servers have this problem, but I have never seen it.
Only half of the servers were brought down for the 14 hour patch, and it was on Thursday, which is supposed to be the least load day.
Lack of server - Did Bliz actually release it for Australia? Or did you just import it? AFIK, only the US has been released to, which means other countries are not officially supported. I could be wrong about Aus, though.
Communication - Not only does the log in page have a paragraph or two if it concerns all players, but the forums also have comments from Bliz support with status and plans. There is a button on the log in screen that takes you directly there too.
Out of all the MMORPG launches I played in (UO, AO, DAoC, SWG), WoW is by far the best, and could have almost been called perfect.
However, looking at the big picture, there does seem to more problems now, than at launch, which is strange. Increased user base? Most likely the cause. I think Penny Arcade is just whining now since they are so spoiled with such a great game. Man, people are contacting ops over not being able to log into the forums they are looking so hard for things to complain about? I have been in many 50+ people raids with no network lag, and the graphics stayed pretty smooth also. Incredible times.
My server was not one of the 14 hour down servers for some reason. Not sure why only half them had that long downtime last week. Wondering if they are going to spork the others this week.
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1) On trains. I spent an average of 3 hours on the train going to and from work. I read lots of books and finished lots of GB games.
2) I picked up my XBox in Japan when it was first released there. When friends came over to look at it they said, and I kid you not, 'I don't have the room for that'. At the time I was living a little outside Tokyo in a bigger than average studeo. Later I moved into Tokyo, and rented an appartment I could literatlly stretch out and touch both sides of. XBox did not come with me, Cube and GB did.
This is why I own all systems.
Reserving new to Japan? No. I have either lived or visited Tokyo for the last 10 years, and I have been reserving stuff the whole time. Why the lines? Marketing, sales, advertisement. It looks great in the newspaper to see a huge line of people getting your product. Some are reserved, others are left for opening. Great for biz.
I just wonder if they will replace most of the 3d objects with billboards (sprites always facing the camera) to improve speed. I don't see how the DS can handle this game in its native state. Maybe Namco is going to make a side scroller version much like all Gameboy ports used to become.
Yes they did. Turok was $80. Mario 64 was $70. MK3 Gold was $80. That Nintendo fighter Gold (the one with the gargoyal on the front) was $80 also. It was after purchasing 6 of these games I stopped, and that is my collection. Of course I am talking release time. I still remember calling the store and finding out someone broke the release date by two days, and getting mine early.
I ask a similar qestion at anime conventions when I see weapon dealers.
Almost all N64 games costed $80, and for some STUPID reason I bought them. Never again. I agree with an earlier poster, I will not pay over $50 for a game. I either wait for it to drop or look for a coupon/deal. The developers see the same amount regardless when they have publisher deals.
Halo was the first? People still fail to realize that the one main reason it sold well is because it is one of the few good games for XBox, so was/is a 90% guarantee buy for XBox owners. If it was indeed a masterpiece, PC sales would have also been high. It is a great game, but there are tons of games that are better. Even DOOM should have gotten a star before Halo.
I believe the creator of the FF series that went to MS, left Square back around FF 5 or 6. I do know he left before ff8. He didn't leave Square to go to MS, he just needed a job.
I almost always get new gear and consoles on release day, but $250 (EB Games) for a hand held system is too much, especially since the games also cost $40+. That is next gen console prices there, not low-res-same-as-I-have price. No worries, the price will drop to $140-$200 before end of summer most likely, especialy if Nintendo does indeed anounce a new GB 3. Maybe by price drop time there will be some actual games out for it.
The only reason he is bad mouthing Tekken is because all the other 3d fighters series have failed. VF4 almost had it, but was still too clunky (The AI training was kind of fun though). Tekken dropped the ball with 4, and their enclosed environments. One of the things that made Tekken 'Tekken', was the never ended arena where you could concentrate on those long memorized strands of combos. DOA is the superior fighter in so many regards, and SF comes a close second when it comes to pure fighting satisfaction.
For gamers, you can't generalize age to anything. Either people play games, or they don't. Which and how many systems they buy is equal to their pocket book and what games are out for it they like. The GB has just as good titles as the PC.
It was also announced that Romero joined MS...yet nothing changed.
Wow...this is an incredible contract that Ubisoft got. The few govt. contracts and grants I have done in the past were almost always over paid and plush.
I always told people XBox had firewire support
Just look at the forums. What few complaint/leaving letters there are, you will see blizzard people replying and trying to help the situation. This is opposite other games where they just delete the posts (EQ and AO to name a few). The support for this game is incredible. Major notices at login, good forums, etc. Not only that, the game runs great so support is barely needed.
Halo 2 figures would have been less if there were any other good games competing with it on the same platform. I still remember everyone squigling because they didn't have enough money to buy all the games that came out at the end of last year, and most people had to choose. I don't remember XBox people debating between Halo2, and anything else, because there wasn't an 'else'.
1) They hate Steam.
2) They bought the game, thus giving money to Valve.
Publishers look at the bottom line.
This reminds me of when the first Pentium chips rolled out, and that guy found the math problem that I don't think any common consumer would find, but yet people like me got a replacement (with a chip that probably had the same problems). I just wonder if the people returning it fall in the same category.
Yea, I remember seeing stuff on Cthulu in a GameDevMag back in..what...'98? Is this Cthulu game a sequal or something?
I say just let them take their time, and do what they want. However, just don't tell us about it until you are almost done.
The sad thing, ex-girlfriend or not, he most likely had more time and money wrapped up in his game than her. This oppinion comes from my experience with my friends over there and how odd/disfunctional their relationships seemed to my foreign eyes.
It was just yesterday my friend was talking about someone who was bidding for the regular game on eBay, and it shot up to $110. Man, for the regular game! While I love the game, all I can suggest is just wait. With MMORPGs, things only get better with time. This was a hard move for Bliz, but it was smart.
Huge - Waiting times? I have never experienced this on my Med and High pop servers. Maybe a few servers have this problem, but I have never seen it.
Only half of the servers were brought down for the 14 hour patch, and it was on Thursday, which is supposed to be the least load day.
Lack of server - Did Bliz actually release it for Australia? Or did you just import it? AFIK, only the US has been released to, which means other countries are not officially supported. I could be wrong about Aus, though.
Communication - Not only does the log in page have a paragraph or two if it concerns all players, but the forums also have comments from Bliz support with status and plans. There is a button on the log in screen that takes you directly there too.
However, looking at the big picture, there does seem to more problems now, than at launch, which is strange. Increased user base? Most likely the cause. I think Penny Arcade is just whining now since they are so spoiled with such a great game. Man, people are contacting ops over not being able to log into the forums they are looking so hard for things to complain about? I have been in many 50+ people raids with no network lag, and the graphics stayed pretty smooth also. Incredible times.
My server was not one of the 14 hour down servers for some reason. Not sure why only half them had that long downtime last week. Wondering if they are going to spork the others this week.