Power-Off
an alternative look at gaming

[Cancelled]

If they had the chance, Nintendo would destroy Europe in one fowl swoop. They'd demolish it and replace it with a second Japan or America (or is that Britain?). They'd rather throw Shiguru Miyamoto from the top floor of their HQ than give us Europeans what we want.

European Nintendo gamers are paranoid. If Nintendo announce a new game, we're sure that it'll be another 3 years before it sees British shores. If a game gets delayed then it's because Nintendo are stupid and don't care about their European cousins. If a game comes out in Europe first it's an effort, but doesn't make up for past games. God forbid a game gets cancelled on this side of the Atlantic, even if it's a 3rd party one, as it's yet another reason why Nintendo of Europe is failing. No, I'm not going to try and be controversial by saying that it's all wrong and that Nintendo are giving us more than any other territory, as that would be wrong. We do get fewer games and fewer advantages than our American counterparts, and the same goes for our Japanese friends, more so in fact. Animal Crossing is probably the easiest example and one which highlights the problem the most. Crossing is a game that I had dreamed about since I started playing games- one with limitless possibilities, one which you could not end and one which, had it been released when I was about 8, would've consumed my childhood as I hunted for apples, designed patterns and chatted to the locals on the game. Originally a game for the ill-fated 64DD, it got ported to GC and released in Japan with a few extras. Then it was translated to America, with all in game holidays such as Independence Day and thanksgiving changed to suit Americas own special days. But what about Europe? Despite people doing their best to start up rumours about its appearance, it seems that nothing will appear from the magical game in Europe (although rumours about Australia still bubble on), which has given the paranoid European gaming community yet more material to bitch over.

You see, most gamers who like to abuse Nintendo's policies seem to see everything in black and white. They don't realise the amount of work that'd have to be put in to make Animal Crossing suitable for European release. First of all is the localisation that needs to be done, especially changing language to suit the needs of the European community. Crossing itself is a game with HUGE amounts of text, most of which you'll never see, some of which you'll see repeated numerous times - it's pretty random what people in game say. That huge amount of text has to be changed into a minimum of 3 other languages, as well as changing the British one to actually sound British. Then Nintendo would have to put in local holidays to suit each country, which would add yet more effort to Nintendo's port of the game. Then it would be needed to be changed to suit the European 50Hz style of television. After that would come the releasing and promotion of it. For what exactly? A relatively small amount of sales in comparison to the amount of effort put into the game, and the risk that the game could sell next to no copies (especially with the N64 graphics it has)

The truth is that Europe isn't as big of a market as other territories. We shift fewer units of games, and make much less profit for people than American and Japan, and to prove that I can easily use Gamecube sales. In Britain, during the hottest week of the year, the Gamecube sold under 1,000 units. 1,000. America usually shifts 100,000 a months (which is about 25,000 a week). If you were a business man deciding where to market your product, where would you put it? Of course, I'm discounting the rest of Europes contribution to sales, but I doubt the amount of units sold will be worth more extra effort and time used to convert games into the extra languages.

People could argue that the whole reason Europe isn't doing well for Nintendo is that they don't port games quick enough and we're always behind on the release schedule, and I myself would put some of Nintendo's 'failure' down to that, but I do doubt that the extra 2 or 3 months that a game spends in transition between NTSC and PAL can account for Nintendo's fall from grace. I myself would put that on marketing, but, again, that's for another article.

Think about it logically - Europe isn't all that we make it out to be, and Nintendo are watching their backs when they don't release a game over here. Think about that the next time you bitch about Nintendo on a message board.