Author Topic: Is Nintendo Doomed in UK? IS UK too hardcore and "edgy?" (Read 7806 times)

Kairon · « **on:** July 11, 2006, 12:11:32 PM »

I recently finished perusing Cubed3.com's rundown of the latest UK sales charts and can't help but be struck by the not so happy news out of the UK. This feeling of "can't do anything" right has actually been building in me with regards to Europe for quite some time now, and on further things than the usual corporate mismanagement: the inherent hip and cool Sony-loyalty that UK consumers seems to me to support.

Just like America is a different market than Japan, does the UK and the rest of Europe have their own sensibilities and desires that makes Nintendo an underdog there? Do they have a more demanding taste for the edgy, the hip, and the bleeding edge metropolitan? Is Nintendo's non-gamer strategy likely to be sneered at in Europe, the place where Microsoft recently stated is ground zero for the next-gen wars?

Help me please! I'm just an ignorant American! What are you crazy socialist euro-pop hip multilingual soccer-loving people up to???

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

JonLeung · « **Reply #1 on:** July 11, 2006, 03:20:14 PM »

Read this. Okay, it's not a general consensus but that's at least saying that people from the UK can at least like it.

I'm from Canada. I just remember hearing that a greater percentage of gamers in Canada than in the US are likely to have Nintendo consoles but aside from that comment from a while ago (I believe that was late in the N64 era) I would guess that we're not much different from the Americans now. Probably less Xboxes, though. I remember a post I made on the GameFAQs board before the Xbox came out asking if people would buy an Xbox JUST BECAUSE it was American (as opposed to Japanese consoles). A surprising number of responses seemed to support that they would, regardless of the games. Which I thought was sad, IMO. Nothing against Americans, I'm just leery of logic like that - "it's better just because it's American." Then again GameFAQs likely isn't representative of the real population - at least I really hope so.

I also heard that the gazillions of Koreans playing StarCraft are because Korea and Japan have some kind of beef, a grudge, or something from a while back. Like maybe a war or something. So Koreans love their computer games, and not the games consoles which are mostly Japanese. Sheesh.

I don't know what kind of logic the Europeans have, except for the fact that European (and Australian) versions of Nintendo games come out way too late or not at all, whereas (I'm guessing) it's not so bad with Sony in this regard. Isn't the PS3 launching in the US, Canada, Europe, and Australia all on the same day?

Of course, the Wii is quite different from past Nintendo consoles (or any console, really) and worth waiting for, but if I was a European, I wouldn't want to wait a year later than the US (and Canada) for a Wii or particular Wii games.

Artimus · « **Reply #2 on:** July 11, 2006, 04:00:51 PM »

Uhhh, NSMB is the #1 full priced game in the UK?

oohhboy · « **Reply #3 on:** July 11, 2006, 05:42:40 PM »

Here in New Zealand games arrive here late and overpriced and not at all. It happens with anime, games, movies. I resorted to importing a long time ago for my games. It has only improved lately with the DS.

Mario · « **Reply #4 on:** July 11, 2006, 08:52:06 PM »

UK is actually DS town now, it's outselling the PSP and New SMB / Brain Training have taken OFF! USA is the Nintendo doomed market.

EDIT: Oh yeah and the UK is still Nintendos worst European market, so that says a lot for the other countries.

thejeek · « **Reply #5 on:** July 11, 2006, 10:44:54 PM »

Hardcore!? Edgy??

They'd like to think they are but consumers here in the UK are sheep. Adults will buy whatever the corrupt media tell them to buy and kids will buy whatever their mates tell them to buy. Everyone is terrified of being seen to show a shred of individuallity and of being laughed at. Currently it appears that herds of idiots are buying HD televisions, unaware that the only HD content is a handful of shows on Sky (Murdoch's satellite station). They're all buying the 360 and the PSP and they'll lap up the PS3 when it gets here, convinced that it's a super computer that will suck them into a new dimension of gaming bliss because the Mail On Sunday will tell them so on launch day...

Ceric · « **Reply #6 on:** July 12, 2006, 05:34:12 AM »

So in other words if we somehow make it seem at launch to the masses over there that the Wii is better then the cure for cancer they will buy it right up? Sweet. We'll send Reggie to help. It's not like he's doing anything over here, right now.

thejeek · « **Reply #7 on:** July 12, 2006, 07:33:55 AM »

That could actually work. You'd need to buy some column inches in the Sun, the Mirror, the Express and the Daily Mail extolling his ass kicking and name taking talents and mentioning how everyone in every last desolate Essex housing estate has taken a break from their own ritual ass kicking (we call it arse kicking, of course) to admire Reggie's technique. You'd then have to secure a deal with Burberry or Tommy Hilfinger or some other bunch of low rent fashion bozos to produce a line of Reggie signature ass-kicking footwear and then arrange to have some skeletal footballer's wife seen naked except for a pair either on a beach or perhaps hanging from a helicopter over Chingford with a picture of Reggie tattooed on her private parts...

Kairon · « **Reply #8 on:** July 12, 2006, 07:37:56 AM »

Sounds more like you're selling Reggie than the Wii...

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

Ceric · « **Reply #9 on:** July 12, 2006, 07:47:28 AM »

Free Reggie with Every Wii!!!!

thejeek · « **Reply #10 on:** July 12, 2006, 07:50:55 AM »

Ahh. This is only the first stage. Once Reggie is imprinted on the national conciousness as an important arbiter of taste, then he'll be in a position to sweep into the country in a private jet, or perhaps astride some sort of mythical sea creature, which will writhe its way across the Atlantic, through the channel, up the Thames and up the A118 into Romford where Reggie can dismount, done his finest ass kicking boots and start explaining to the denzians of this sceptered isle just what a cool product the Wii is. At this point there will be an unstoppable stampede into the nearby Brewery shopping center and the mob will burn down any electrical goods outlet that fails to satisfy their crazed Wii lust!

Kairon · « **Reply #11 on:** July 12, 2006, 08:33:00 AM »

Wii envy

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

Ceric · « **Reply #12 on:** July 12, 2006, 09:06:51 AM »

Great, Now that we have secured the European market. The Japanese Market seems to be in the bag. That leaves Australia, the Americas, and the rest of Asia.

thejeek · « **Reply #13 on:** July 12, 2006, 09:15:57 AM »

Quote
Wii envy

Quote
Great, Now that we have secured the European market. The Japanese Market seems to be in the bag. That leaves Australia, the Americas, and the rest of Asia.

I defer to those with local knowledge in those particular areas but I'd imagine nowhere in the world can withstand the Reggie + Giant Sea Monster combination for long!

IceCold · « **Reply #14 on:** July 13, 2006, 10:34:38 PM »

Well, Nintendogs did exceptionally well in Europe, especially Spain and France..

KDR_11k · « **Reply #15 on:** July 14, 2006, 05:18:34 AM »

The UK loves Sonic. So much for "edgy".

JonLeung · « **Reply #16 on:** July 14, 2006, 05:23:54 AM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Ceric
Great, Now that we have secured the European market. The Japanese Market seems to be in the bag. That leaves Australia, the Americas, and the rest of Asia.

What about Canada and New Zealand, huh? Or do you clump them in with the Americas and Australia?

Okay, okay, Canada's practically like the States. But with maple syrup.

couchmonkey · « **Reply #17 on:** July 14, 2006, 05:24:04 AM »

Sonic was totally "edgy" when he came out. That's why I didn't like him very much, he was a blatant attempt to be cool. Heck, Sega tried to give the series a re-edging with Shadow last year. Ugh.

Ceric · « **Reply #18 on:** July 14, 2006, 06:15:52 AM »

Americas. Not USA. That means North, Central, and South America. That would be all of us. Notice I didn't seperate Asia either. The only reason I seperated Australia is because I don't know what that lower area is called, I think maybe Eurasia? Of course if you want to get technical then you have to split asia into Russia, Vietnam, India, China, and the Koreas. Then Americas into Canada, Brazil, New Zealand, USA, Mexico, Etc. All different types of markets. Just was going for a general.

Mario · « **Reply #19 on:** July 20, 2006, 07:52:07 PM »

Australasia. Nintendo does look to be taking over here finally, but everytime I say that they flop back down to earth the next month, so we'll see.

EDIT: Oceania! That's it. I knew Australasia didn't look quite right.

Stimutacs Addict · « **Reply #20 on:** July 20, 2006, 08:54:13 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: thejeek
Adults will buy whatever the corrupt media tell them to buy and kids will buy whatever their mates tell them to buy. Everyone is terrified of being seen to show a shred of individuallity and of being laughed at. [. . . .] They're all buying the 360 and the PSP and they'll lap up the PS3 when it gets here, convinced that it's a super computer that will suck them into a new dimension of gaming bliss because the Mail On Sunday will tell them so on launch day...

maybe the UK and US aren't so different after all

Athrun Zala · « **Reply #21 on:** July 21, 2006, 07:41:32 AM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Ceric
The only reason I seperated Australia is because I don't know what that lower area is called, I think maybe Eurasia?

that area is called Oceania

Eurasia = Europe + Asia

Ceric · « **Reply #22 on:** July 21, 2006, 07:57:02 AM »

Thx.

JonLeung · « **Reply #23 on:** July 21, 2006, 09:10:12 AM »

If the Wii was just another game console I could see different regions possibly having skews to particular ones.

But since the Wii is quite different because of the controller, I would imagine that if the Wii becomes a hit in one place because of its difference, it is quite possible for it to be a hit in other areas for the same reason.

Smash_Brother · « **Reply #24 on:** July 21, 2006, 11:15:12 AM »

I still think the $600 price tag of the PS3 will change a lot of minds. Kids will ask for one for Christmas and parents will actually rebel at the notion, even telling them something along the lines of "Santa can't get those."

Seriously, unless the UK has a booming economy, a lot of people will seek an alternative (ie cheaper) means of entertainment.

Technology lust is one thing (something I've experienced on numerous occasions), but there's always a price point which will override it. In the case of a game system with no killer app, $600 causes it to fall under the "fanboy early adopter only" category.

I've actually had a Sony fanboy defend the PSP, only to find out that he can't actually AFFORD one and was trying to defend it without having played it much beforehand.

I'm guessing that the PS3 will see even more of this problem.

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Author Topic: Is Nintendo Doomed in UK? IS UK too hardcore and "edgy?" (Read 7806 times)