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GBA

Nintendo Shuns Euro Imports Again

by Steven Rodriguez - August 3, 2003, 4:09 pm EDT
Total comments: 21 Source: GamesIndustry.biz

Nintendo doesn't want Britons to import Advance Wars 2, instead "asking" them to wait the the rest of the year for their version to come out.

When Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire were released in the States on March 17, Nintendo of Europe wasn't all that happy about the relatively high amount of imports finding their way across the Atlantic. Nintendo issued cease and desist letters to infringing retailers that offered Nintendo's GBA games as imports, and for the most part, the situation was resolved.

However, with Advance Wars 2 just recently released in North America, Nintendo is once again worried about a high amount of imports, that it claims will hurt the official launch of the game, and the sales of retailers who sell the game legitimately. The UK arm of the company is again "asking" retailers that offer imports to knock it off, or suffer the concequences.

Advance Wars 2 is set for release in Europe in the late fall, where as the US version was released on June 24.

Talkback

Grey NinjaAugust 03, 2003

Nintendo doesn't want Britons to import Advance Wars 2, instead "asking" them to wait the the rest of the year for their version to come out.

When Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire were released in the States on March 17, Nintendo of Europe wasn't all that happy about the relatively high amount of imports finding their way across the Atlantic. Nintendo issued cease and desist letters to infringing retailers that offered Nintendo's GBA games as imports, and for the most part, the situation was resolved.


However, with Advance Wars 2 just recently released in North America, Nintendo is once again worried about a high amount of imports, that it claims will hurt the official launch of the game, and the sales of retailers who sell the game legitimately. The UK arm of the company is again "asking" retailers that offer imports to knock it off, or suffer the concequences.


Advance Wars 2 is set for release in Europe in the late fall, where as the US version was released on June 24.

Bill AurionAugust 03, 2003

Nintendo doesn't want Britons to import Advance Wars 2, instead "asking" them to wait the the rest of the year for their version to come out.

When Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire were released in the States on March 17, Nintendo of Europe wasn't all that happy about the relatively high amount of imports finding their way across the Atlantic. Nintendo issued cease and desist letters to infringing retailers that offered Nintendo's GBA games as imports, and for the most part, the situation was resolved.


However, with Advance Wars 2 just recently released in North America, Nintendo is once again worried about a high amount of imports, that it claims will hurt the official launch of the game, and the sales of retailers who sell the game legitimately. The UK arm of the company is again "asking" retailers that offer imports to knock it off, or suffer the concequences.


Advance Wars 2 is set for release in Europe in the late fall, where as the US version was released on June 24.

joeamisAugust 03, 2003

Nintendo doesn't want Britons to import Advance Wars 2, instead "asking" them to wait the the rest of the year for their version to come out.

When Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire were released in the States on March 17, Nintendo of Europe wasn't all that happy about the relatively high amount of imports finding their way across the Atlantic. Nintendo issued cease and desist letters to infringing retailers that offered Nintendo's GBA games as imports, and for the most part, the situation was resolved.


However, with Advance Wars 2 just recently released in North America, Nintendo is once again worried about a high amount of imports, that it claims will hurt the official launch of the game, and the sales of retailers who sell the game legitimately. The UK arm of the company is again "asking" retailers that offer imports to knock it off, or suffer the concequences.


Advance Wars 2 is set for release in Europe in the late fall, where as the US version was released on June 24.

DjunknownAugust 03, 2003

Nintendo doesn't want Britons to import Advance Wars 2, instead "asking" them to wait the the rest of the year for their version to come out.

When Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire were released in the States on March 17, Nintendo of Europe wasn't all that happy about the relatively high amount of imports finding their way across the Atlantic. Nintendo issued cease and desist letters to infringing retailers that offered Nintendo's GBA games as imports, and for the most part, the situation was resolved.


However, with Advance Wars 2 just recently released in North America, Nintendo is once again worried about a high amount of imports, that it claims will hurt the official launch of the game, and the sales of retailers who sell the game legitimately. The UK arm of the company is again "asking" retailers that offer imports to knock it off, or suffer the concequences.


Advance Wars 2 is set for release in Europe in the late fall, where as the US version was released on June 24.

mouse_clickerAugust 03, 2003

Nintendo doesn't want Britons to import Advance Wars 2, instead "asking" them to wait the the rest of the year for their version to come out.

When Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire were released in the States on March 17, Nintendo of Europe wasn't all that happy about the relatively high amount of imports finding their way across the Atlantic. Nintendo issued cease and desist letters to infringing retailers that offered Nintendo's GBA games as imports, and for the most part, the situation was resolved.


However, with Advance Wars 2 just recently released in North America, Nintendo is once again worried about a high amount of imports, that it claims will hurt the official launch of the game, and the sales of retailers who sell the game legitimately. The UK arm of the company is again "asking" retailers that offer imports to knock it off, or suffer the concequences.


Advance Wars 2 is set for release in Europe in the late fall, where as the US version was released on June 24.

PIACAugust 03, 2003

Nintendo doesn't want Britons to import Advance Wars 2, instead "asking" them to wait the the rest of the year for their version to come out.

When Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire were released in the States on March 17, Nintendo of Europe wasn't all that happy about the relatively high amount of imports finding their way across the Atlantic. Nintendo issued cease and desist letters to infringing retailers that offered Nintendo's GBA games as imports, and for the most part, the situation was resolved.


However, with Advance Wars 2 just recently released in North America, Nintendo is once again worried about a high amount of imports, that it claims will hurt the official launch of the game, and the sales of retailers who sell the game legitimately. The UK arm of the company is again "asking" retailers that offer imports to knock it off, or suffer the concequences.


Advance Wars 2 is set for release in Europe in the late fall, where as the US version was released on June 24.

Ian SaneAugust 03, 2003

Nintendo doesn't want Britons to import Advance Wars 2, instead "asking" them to wait the the rest of the year for their version to come out.

When Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire were released in the States on March 17, Nintendo of Europe wasn't all that happy about the relatively high amount of imports finding their way across the Atlantic. Nintendo issued cease and desist letters to infringing retailers that offered Nintendo's GBA games as imports, and for the most part, the situation was resolved.


However, with Advance Wars 2 just recently released in North America, Nintendo is once again worried about a high amount of imports, that it claims will hurt the official launch of the game, and the sales of retailers who sell the game legitimately. The UK arm of the company is again "asking" retailers that offer imports to knock it off, or suffer the concequences.


Advance Wars 2 is set for release in Europe in the late fall, where as the US version was released on June 24.

PIACAugust 03, 2003

Nintendo doesn't want Britons to import Advance Wars 2, instead "asking" them to wait the the rest of the year for their version to come out.

When Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire were released in the States on March 17, Nintendo of Europe wasn't all that happy about the relatively high amount of imports finding their way across the Atlantic. Nintendo issued cease and desist letters to infringing retailers that offered Nintendo's GBA games as imports, and for the most part, the situation was resolved.


However, with Advance Wars 2 just recently released in North America, Nintendo is once again worried about a high amount of imports, that it claims will hurt the official launch of the game, and the sales of retailers who sell the game legitimately. The UK arm of the company is again "asking" retailers that offer imports to knock it off, or suffer the concequences.


Advance Wars 2 is set for release in Europe in the late fall, where as the US version was released on June 24.

PatchAugust 03, 2003

Nintendo doesn't want Britons to import Advance Wars 2, instead "asking" them to wait the the rest of the year for their version to come out.

When Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire were released in the States on March 17, Nintendo of Europe wasn't all that happy about the relatively high amount of imports finding their way across the Atlantic. Nintendo issued cease and desist letters to infringing retailers that offered Nintendo's GBA games as imports, and for the most part, the situation was resolved.


However, with Advance Wars 2 just recently released in North America, Nintendo is once again worried about a high amount of imports, that it claims will hurt the official launch of the game, and the sales of retailers who sell the game legitimately. The UK arm of the company is again "asking" retailers that offer imports to knock it off, or suffer the concequences.


Advance Wars 2 is set for release in Europe in the late fall, where as the US version was released on June 24.

SuperLink666August 04, 2003

Why do all the posts say the same thing or is my computer just messed up face-icon-small-mad.gif

Grey NinjaAugust 04, 2003

Heh... no I think it's because the PGC news script is messed up. It didn't say that stuff yesterday.

KnowsNothingAugust 04, 2003

This....can't....be....HAPPENING!!!

Sorry, playing eternal darkness too long...

I wonder what all those people actaully had to say?

Grey NinjaAugust 04, 2003

Well, I basically espressed my extreme disapproval of this action from Nintendo. Other people either agreed or thought that Nintendo was making this move to patch up holes in their first party releases.

DRJAugust 04, 2003

I personnaly dont import games, because I dont want to have to mess around with another language text. But if Nintendo released a game in say England and expected me to wait a year to get it in the US, they would be out of the flippin' minds. Why would I wait. Lets say people in the UK were playing Metroid Prime 2 right now, and I still had to wait 8 months, forget that.

Nintendo makes money nomatter where people buy the games from. I can see that it might hurt the sales if many people already have imports, but if people are willing to pay the import cost, plus shipping, then that should tell Nintendo to stop dragging their feet and release the games faster.

Nintendo is getting all high and mighty and telling their own fans that they cant buy games from them because they live in the wrong area.

Complete B.S.

Illustrious ChenAugust 04, 2003

First off, this site is really buggy now? Super! Second, Yeah, it's bad for Nintendo of Europe's business, but it's also bad for the European economy (?) If Nintendo wants to stop all of the importing they should spend a little effort to release the games sooner there, simple as that. If I lived over there, and spoke english, I would import all the time. I would import for Japan more often but I don't know Japanese.

mouse_clickerAugust 04, 2003

Nintendo doesn't want Britons to import Advance Wars 2, instead "asking" them to wait the the rest of the year for their version to come out.

When Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire were released in the States on March 17, Nintendo of Eur- AAAAAHHHHH!!! THEY'RE CONTROLLING MY MIND!!!!!!!!! face-icon-small-shocked.gif

Squiggles the ChaoAugust 04, 2003

Nintendo of Europe is resposible for all countries in western Europe, not just the United Kingdom. They have the responsibility of translating the game into four diffrent languages (French, German, Spanish and Dutch, I think), and usually try to fit all five languages into one game pack. For a game that is programmed to only output English, this can take some major programming, and the translation time is considerable as well.

That having been said, Europe is the biggest market for video games, as it spans multiple countries. You would think that the smart thing to do would be to have Nintendo of America be responsible for the UK, and just have Nintendo of Europe cover the rest of the western world.

Nintendo could also try releasing games in all languages simultaniously, if they're that worried about importing (Sonic Adventure 2 anyone?). If they came up with the scripts early, they could work on translations while the game is being programmed, and the only diffrence between reigons would be the default language and the reigion lockout code.

BemathkataAugust 04, 2003

I can't believe the arrogance of Nintendo here. They're taking that long to make/import a game, and they're unhappy about people buying their games legitimately from another country??

Living in Australia, I've missed out on a few great games (esp on the Gamecube) that I've wanted to own, but have missed out on the chance because Nintendo isn't releasing it here AT ALL, leaving my only choice to import, and now this??

Drunk FlyAugust 04, 2003

Never mind the UK. They've got it easy. What about us Australians? We sometimes get games up to a month later than the already-late UK release. You can't use the language excuse here as there's only one official language, and we have our own division of Nintendo (Nintendo of Australia funnily enough). So why do we have to wait so long for games? It's been getting better of late, and we're getting F-Zero GX in September, little over a month after the US release but we had to wait 6 months for games like Metroid, Eternal Darkness and Resident Evil.

PIACAugust 05, 2003

because we are special thats why face-icon-small-tongue.gif

we do get gameboy games the same time as the US, but the official reason for the delay is to translate it from NTSC to PAL, but surely it cant take that long :\

joeamisAugust 05, 2003

Quote

Originally posted by: Squiggles the Chao
Nintendo of Europe is resposible for all countries in western Europe, not just the United Kingdom. They have the responsibility of translating the game into four diffrent languages (French, German, Spanish and Dutch, I think), and usually try to fit all five languages into one game pack. For a game that is programmed to only output English, this can take some major programming, and the translation time is considerable as well.


I think he's found the reason for the considerable delay... time to stop bashing Nintendo...
Quote


That having been said, Europe is the biggest market for video games, as it spans multiple countries. You would think that the smart thing to do would be to have Nintendo of America be responsible for the UK, and just have Nintendo of Europe cover the rest of the western world.

That would be bad if NOA released to the UK earlier than NOE could release the same games with all the translations, then every other European country would import when the UK got the game much earlier and the UK would then have shortages for the UK users creating even more havoc.

Quote

Nintendo could also try releasing games in all languages simultaniously, if they're that worried about importing (Sonic Adventure 2 anyone?). If they came up with the scripts early, they could work on translations while the game is being programmed, and the only diffrence between reigons would be the default language and the reigion lockout code.


This would make the development for games so much longer, then everyone would receive the game much later. Living in the U.S. this would piss me off. Unless they had many more people working on the games, and that ain't gonna happen. Woohoo, U.S. is safe.

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