Author Topic: Nintendo DS price and game prices (Read 10139 times)

joeamis · « **on:** July 21, 2004, 11:07:14 AM »

I haven't been on the forum in a while because of vacation but I didn't see anyone post this so here it is for those who may've not seen it yet. The DS is believed to launch on November 11 at a price of $179.99 in the US, and Nov 4 in Japan for $174.78. DS System Price

Also in a completely different article from another source I read that DS games will retail for $35 (and expect big titles to be $40). I forget where I read that it may have been in the August issue of EGM or IGN.com or something else, I'll look into it.

Jale · « **Reply #1 on:** July 21, 2004, 12:12:36 PM »

Again Europe is overlooked.

I think that England should be under NOA instead of NOE, it makes more sense, because then we wouldn't have to wait for games to be translated into umpteen different languages.

odifiend · « **Reply #2 on:** July 21, 2004, 01:15:56 PM »

Speaking of which, will the DS have regional lock out?

Jale · « **Reply #3 on:** July 21, 2004, 01:36:36 PM »

seems likely, as most things do these days

Mumei · « **Reply #4 on:** July 21, 2004, 02:12:17 PM »

But Nintendo has never done that with their portables... Hopefully they'll keep up that practice of no regional lock out with portables.

Ian Sane · « **Reply #5 on:** July 21, 2004, 02:31:13 PM »

"I think that England should be under NOA instead of NOE, it makes more sense, because then we wouldn't have to wait for games to be translated into umpteen different languages."

I assume you mean just for portables because there's the obvious PAL issue with home consoles.

Personally I wish NOA handled English Canada because here in BC (and virtually every area outside of Quebec) there's zero need for French on our packaging. I hate dual-language packaging. It just looks ugly as f*ck. But realistically I don't expect that to happen because all the French speaking Canadians in Eastern Canada would complain (for no good reason since they would still get their own French packaging) just like how all the non-English Europeans would complain.

Jale · « **Reply #6 on:** July 21, 2004, 02:33:20 PM »

I never have got the whole PAL thing. Isn't it just regional lock out? If it is then they should start the switch now and then When the new console comes out put the UK under the same Region as the US.

Ian Sane · « **Reply #7 on:** July 21, 2004, 02:37:56 PM »

"I never have got the whole PAL thing. Isn't it just regional lock out?"

It's different TV standards. PAL TVs use different voltages or something. I don't know the exact details but they wouldn't be able to just remove regional lockup and have consoles made for North American TVs work.

Ideally Nintendo should create a new branch that deals exclusively with the UK, Ireland, and Australia since all of those use PAL and all speak English. That way the PAL conversion is all that's needed. The UK doesn't have to wait for translations and Australia doesn't have to wait the fifty billion years it usually has to wait for games. Or at the very least have NOE distribute to Australia since even that would be faster.

mouse_clicker · « **Reply #8 on:** July 21, 2004, 02:46:08 PM »

Quote
seems likely, as most things do these days

The Gameboy never had a regional lockout, so why should the DS? Especially since it's backwards compatible with the GBA.

Pikkcuber · « **Reply #9 on:** July 21, 2004, 03:19:40 PM »

I thought i heard something that said it will not have regional lock out. But back to the price's here. DO you think Wal-Mart will still sell these games for 30 like they do for the GBA, thats the reason i only buy my portable games at wal-mart,unless a special occurs of course.

mouse_clicker · « **Reply #10 on:** July 21, 2004, 03:41:17 PM »

Eh, MSRP for just about all GBA games now is $29.99- Wal-Mart's nothing special. Occasionally you'll have some company (like Square-Enix) be a bastard and jack the price up to $34.99, but not usually.

Blackknight131 · « **Reply #11 on:** July 21, 2004, 07:19:53 PM »

Wasn't FFTactics published by Nintendo?
I also frquently see Fire Emblem for 34.95 MSRP.

Boktai was at first as well...but it has a solar sensor so I guess thats more clearly understandable.

-Blackknight131

mouse_clicker · « **Reply #12 on:** July 21, 2004, 07:25:13 PM »

Quote
Wasn't FFTactics published by Nintendo?

Yup, I guess you're right- it was Nintendo being the bastard here. The point is, though, most GBA games do retail for $29.99 now.

Blackknight131 · « **Reply #13 on:** July 21, 2004, 07:51:49 PM »

I kind of have taken it to be the "standard" for portable games prices...I have never bought a portable game for more than 30 bux.
I really pray that game prices for this market dont increase to such levels...and I've been encouraged by recent posts that point to the relative proce point deifferences in the japanese market and the american. For instance, I just learned that GBA games in Japan retail at first for the equivalent of 40-50 dollars U.S. A higher cost of living I suppose in Japan.
At any rate, Im hoping that DS game prices will scale in the same way they have for the GBA games...if 3800 yen is the price point (direct US equivalent about 35 dollars) in Japan, may we be looking at games sub-30 dollars in the US?

Some people might think thats a pipe dream, but my wallet isnt afraid to dream.

-Blackknight131

KDR_11k · « **Reply #14 on:** July 21, 2004, 09:57:51 PM »

It's not even a higher cost of living, in Poland you pay the same for a game as in England. AFAIK they set the prices before the US dollar crashed and back thenthe prices were identcal. They just didn't increase them after the dollar crashed.

I think the no-lockout in the GBA has the reason that you use it when you travel and when you travel you leave your own region, you couldn't buy any games if that lockout existed.

joeamis · « **Reply #15 on:** July 22, 2004, 09:57:21 PM »

I wasn't gonna post this but, Nintendo is usually the only company selling gba games for $35 in the US. Mario & Luigi, Mario Vs Donkey Kong, Mario Advance 4, etc... I was upset when I paid $38 for FF Tactics Adv after tax.

Mumei · « **Reply #16 on:** July 22, 2004, 10:49:36 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Ian Sane
"I never have got the whole PAL thing. Isn't it just regional lock out?"

It's different TV standards. PAL TVs use different voltages or something. I don't know the exact details but they wouldn't be able to just remove regional lockup and have consoles made for North American TVs work.

Actually, all eletrical outlets in Europe have a higher voltage than the ones in the United States. The reason? When electricity was first "invented", so to speak, they weren't very good at it and couldn't get higher voltages. So the outlets in the United States were a lower voltage. But by the time they made their way over to Europe, they had become significantly better and could get higher voltages. Thus, outlets over there had a higher voltage than the ones here. The only reason that the United States didn't switch over to the higher voltage outlets is because there were already so many people using the lower voltage outlets.

What this means is that if you plugged your NSTC Gamecube into an outlet in Europe, it would be getting so much more voltage than it needs that it would probably short out. That is why you need an adaptor when you travel to Europe for your electronics.

.... I can't believe I just wasted my time doing that >.>

joeamis · « **Reply #17 on:** July 23, 2004, 12:54:09 AM »

no waste, that was fun to read. hardy har har I had forgotten Americans had elecricity for some time before everyone else, hardy har har hahahahaha. (currently toxicated and pulling an all nighter) Short Circuit 2! Jonny 5!

The real question though is does PAL just stand as a TV designation or is it for everything, I think it's just for TV format... whats America again NTSC? I can't remember no more... gittttin old

Jale · « **Reply #18 on:** July 23, 2004, 02:28:06 AM »

Also probably why we have the earth prong on our plugs.

However, surely thats just a hardware concern. They must still have things on the disks so that they can only be played on the regional consoles.

KDR_11k · « **Reply #19 on:** July 23, 2004, 02:49:40 AM »

PAL and NTSC are different resolutions and refresh rates. Though almost every TV sold in Europe can accept both inputs, apparently in the US there are still many NTSC-only TVs. Pal is a slightly higher resoluton at a lower refresh rate (though 100 Hz TVs take care of that, anyway). The regional lockout is probably enforced separately nonetheless. I think it's for price fixing or something. A PAL and NTSC game are different, but I don't think a japanese and a NA game have to differ much. Maybe character support, but they could have put that in without problems and just make one batch for both. For some reason Nintendo hates imports.

Draygaia · « **Reply #20 on:** July 23, 2004, 12:05:31 PM »

Thats still cheap to me if it is true. Cheaper than any home console launch price and games cheaper than $50.

kirby_killer_dedede · « **Reply #21 on:** July 23, 2004, 01:11:57 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Jale
I never have got the whole PAL thing. Isn't it just regional lock out? If it is then they should start the switch now and then When the new console comes out put the UK under the same Region as the US.

To expand on what Ian said, Nintendo doesn't really have a choice...all the TV's are PAL in Europe. The reason games go straight from Japan to America, is that they both support NTCS (as opposed to PAL), so all that's needed is language. European games usually head to America before Japan for a similar reason.

Jale · « **Reply #22 on:** July 23, 2004, 01:34:29 PM »

Yes but if it is easy to just change the language then surely it is easy just to change the regional lockout that makes games NTCS compatable or PAL compatable. Its a CD for crying out loud. I can understand consoles taking longer but not games!

joeamis · « **Reply #23 on:** July 23, 2004, 04:12:32 PM »

what does Australia have NTSC or PAL?

KDR_11k · « **Reply #24 on:** July 23, 2004, 10:25:06 PM »

Australia uses PAL and is included in the Europe region, at least when it comes to market research or the GC's lockout.

Making the games both NTSC and PAL compatible would screw them up. Either they'd have a black border or the HUDs and stuff would look ugly since it's not meant for that resolution (and I'd trust bad third parties to not test their games under PAL)

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Author Topic: Nintendo DS price and game prices (Read 10139 times)