Xenoblade is officially coming to US, please PREORDER NOW

[equalsign]

I love the Gamestop hate. They are probably taking a small financial risk by handling the distribution duties for a game that Nintendo was not willing to take a chance on by themselves and the general response is: Fuck Gamestop.

Damned if you do; Damned if you don't.

Agreed.

[brunoafh]

I love the Gamestop hate. They are probably taking a small financial risk by handling the distribution duties for a game that Nintendo was not willing to take a chance on by themselves and the general response is: Fuck Gamestop.

Damned if you do; Damned if you don't.

Being that Nintendo is handling distribution themselves too, I don't think you have it quite right. To me it looks like GameStop bought rights to be the only retailer allowed to stock it. Which is fucked up and greedy. I could be wrong though.

[Flake]

I love the Gamestop hate. They are probably taking a small financial risk by handling the distribution duties for a game that Nintendo was not willing to take a chance on by themselves and the general response is: Fuck Gamestop.

Damned if you do; Damned if you don't.

Being that Nintendo is handling distribution themselves too, I don't think you have it quite right. To me it looks like GameStop bought rights to be the only retailer allowed to stock it. Which is fucked up and greedy. I could be wrong though.

Gamestop did purchase the sole distribution rights but you're seeing that as though they are preventing others from stocking a highly sought after game when, in reality, they bought the rights to stock a game that other retailers did not care to bring to market themselves.

I know "Company tries to make money; News at 11" is the general feeling about any corporation these days but sometimes that is an unfair sentiment. By Gamestop mitigating Nintendo's financial risk, you are getting a game localized that Nintendo was adamant about not bringing across the pond.

[brunoafh]

Gamestop did purchase the sole distribution rights but you're seeing that as though they are preventing others from stocking a highly sought after game when, in reality, they bought the rights to stock a game that other retailers did not care to bring to market themselves.

That's the nicely packaged version of the business agreement Nintendo and GameStop came to, but the fact is none of us really have any idea what went on. Sure, it's possible GameStop said "Hey, you know what? We're going to contact Nintendo and ask them if they'll bring over Xenoblade, if we take the burden of the financial risk", but I somehow doubt it.

Who is going to pay for advertising? Package and disc production? Box and art design?

I think that the more likely scenario is that GameStop caught wind that NoA decided to bring the game over after all (again, it's been listed on NoA's schedule almost since the game's announcement), and proposed this agreement.

I know I'm just playing DA, but I find it impossible that the higher-ups of GameStop care so much about the hardcore RPG gaming community that they came up with this idea solely to do gamers justice, or to answer the cries of Operation Rainfall. Regardless though, my feathers aren't ruffled at all, since I can just order straight from the publisher (the idea of ordering straight from devs/publishers has always made me giddy inside.)

[Flake]

Oh no, the higher ups at Gamestop don't give a shit about your demographic. Or any demographic, really. You are right on the money, there.

But this is one of those rare instances where what Gamestop sees as a profitable move lines up with what a niche group of hardcore enthusiasts want.

I am not saying there is anything noble about Gamestop's role in this but do they have to be selfless and virtuous for people to appreciate something they are doing that is a nice treat for RPG fans?

[brunoafh]

That's the thing, we don't know if NoA was going to bring it over and GS intervened, or if GS's proposal was the spearhead in NoA's final decision. If the former is true, that's some pretty disrespectful business tactics. This is going to hurt the frequency of RPG localization overall if it doesn't sell well, which it probably won't, partially due to the fact it's being restricted to one store.

"Company tries to make money; News at 11"

Also, is this really gonna be on the news? This sounds like an interesting scoop that I must DVR.

[Flake]

Nintendo flat out said, time and again, that they were not bringing this over. So if Gamestop did anything to affect Nintendo's decision, that is a net gain for you as a fan of the genre. Also, if it were going to sell well, it WILL sell well. Gamestop is the industry leader for retail video games. It's not like distribution is restricted to Mom and Pop Games, inc.

Why the reluctance to give Gamestop a thumbs up for recognizing the value of pleasing your demographic and correcting what so many felt to be an error on Nintendo's part?

[dsheinem]

Nintendo flat out said, time and again, that they were not bringing this over. So if Gamestop did anything to affect Nintendo's decision, that is a net gain for you as a fan of the genre. Also, if it were going to sell well, it WILL sell well. Gamestop is the industry leader for retail video games. It's not like distribution is restricted to Mom and Pop Games, inc.

Why the reluctance to give Gamestop a thumbs up for recognizing the value of pleasing your demographic and correcting what so many felt to be an error on Nintendo's part?

[AppleQueso]

Why the reluctance to give Gamestop a thumbs up for recognizing the value of pleasing your demographic and correcting what so many felt to be an error on Nintendo's part?

Because gamestop is dirty and icky and I don't want my thumb anywhere near that.

[ZeroAX]

ahem.....

http://wii.nintendolife.com/news/2011/0 ... es_closely