Aussie n New Zealand to Nintendo stop your shit

Aussie-Nintendo.com reader, Aaron Davies of New Zealand, has done what we'll admit that we've been intending to do for quite some time. He's taken the time to put pen to paper for the analysis of Nintendo's absurd approach to releasing games in South Pacific regions like Australia long after their other English-speaking counterparts.

In an email to A-N, Davies said, "I have recently penned a formal report relating to the common delays of Nintendo's Wii software releases, specifically in the regions of Australia and New Zealand. After listening to your most recent Podcast, I can tell you too are concerned about this issue.

Consumers around our regions are getting bullied and manipulated into unfair and borderline illegal region locking that prevents Wii owners from importing the much earlier released US versions of software."

We couldn't agree more, Aaron. By the time Super Paper Mario arrives in Australia on September 20, we will have waited 7 months and 12 days, and by the time Metroid Prime 3: Corruption lands on November 8, we will have waited 2 months and 13 days. And for both games, we will be paying almost $40 more.

http://www.aussie-nintendo.com/?v=news&p=16776

[Iamrecognized]

Because only Nintendo ever does anything like this to the non-USA/Japan regions.

[mhadf]

Because Nintendo doesn't give a damn..... If they get too far ahead this gen then it'll be even worse for downunder and the UK.
I can see SMG being released in 2008.


He forgot Trauma Centre too

[Rainbow]

What's the general delay between North-America releases and N-Z/Oz releases for Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony games? And compared with the European releases?

Don't bitch, this is a genuine question to find out if it's just Nintendo, and if it's most titles or just a few of them.

[Iamrecognized]

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wii_games
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360_games
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ps3_games

Wii

Though the release dates for Australia were just added and because of that is very incomplete, they seem to have almost identical releases with Europe (usually a day or two ahead, or about a week behind), and fall behind the NA/Japan releases by anywhere from a week to almost half a year. On average it seems to be about 2 months though.

For the record, Galaxy releases four days behind the NA release in Europe and Australia, and is only set for 2007 in Japan.

Third parties seem to have a higher number of simultaneous releases across all regions.

Xbox 360

This is very hard to tell as it simply lists only one release date. I doubt they all come out on the same day everywhere, primarily because it does that with third parties too, and they often do, as shown in the Wii Games article, releases in regions a few days apart.

PS3
This has a nice list, the only problem is that is does not show Australian releases, and neither do the few articles I clicked. So er.... I have no idea. However, it seems that the third party releases coincide with Nintendo third party releases, and the first/second party games release in Japan, and then NA 0-2 months later, and then in EU 2 months after NA.

So, in conclusion, don't bitch because apparently Nintendo is the only one that even releases games in Australia.


...


Okay, so it would appear that AU gets screwed about the same as Europe. But on average it is not that bad, and with the BIG games like Halo 3 and SMG, you get them less than a week after the NA/Japan markets. Unfortunately, you live in a region that just does not get that much attention because there simply are not enough gamers. At least there is a valid reason (not many gamers) for releases to be a bit delayed in AU, unlike in Europe. If there is a upside to this, it is that you at least get to hear from the rest of us what is good and what is shit so you end up with better games...

[Dax]

They haven't gotten Super Paper Mario yet? What a shame.

[Into-The-Fog]

thats absurd, and totally unfair, why release a console somewhere when you are just gonna screw them over like that? they should just give them the american/eu nintendo wiis in the first place

[Shpeshal Ed]

360 games are almost ALWAYS within a month. SOME games (the ones developed in the UK mostly) come BEFORE the US.

PS3 games aren't great, but they're not as bad as the Wii.

Then you guys wonder why I rip on the Wii so hard. But really, I should rip on Nintendo as a company. They've never given 2 shits about Australia. Or PAL in general really.

I still think Australia should get the NTSC versions of games. We're an English speaking country, we don't need the translations that the PAL versions come with.

i think Rainbowneed to say sorry

[Iamrecognized]

Originally Posted by Shpeshal Ed

360 games are almost ALWAYS within a month. SOME games (the ones developed in the UK mostly) come BEFORE the US.

PS3 games aren't great, but they're not as bad as the Wii.

Then you guys wonder why I rip on the Wii so hard. But really, I should rip on Nintendo as a company. They've never given 2 shits about Australia. Or PAL in general really.

I still think Australia should get the NTSC versions of games. We're an English speaking country, we don't need the translations that the PAL versions come with.

But it really is not that bad. I cannot understand why Paper Mario would be so late. But you get Galaxy a whole 4 days late... You got Zelda on release day. Brawl only has a release date for the US. It is listed as 08 for EU and AU, but that could be like early January in which case it would be a month.

It seems here that they are trying to push out the big ones as close together as possible in all regions. I mean does it matter all that much to get Mercury Meltdown a month and a half after the US? I can understand why you would be mad at Paper Mario though. And I am not saying that I think it is a good thing that you get delays. I think everyone should get them at the same time. But I think part of it might be that there are different Nintendo sub-companies in each region, different rating systems, different laws that deal with products, etc... I think that influences it more than anything. It is not that Nintendo does not care. If that were the case they wouldn't bother to release it to you at all.