We like to think we're reasonable people at
Pocket Gamer, but the simmering issue of
release dates is really starting to get us boiling.
How difficult can it be to release a game in Europe that's already been out – on identical hardware – in Japan and America for six months?
And today that question is pointed in the direction of Nintendo, which is really getting its balls in a twist over casual coloured ball puzzler,
Actionloop.
First up was the strange decision to rename it – it was released in the US as
Magnetica, a more interesting title, we reckon, back in June.
OK, we can live with a bit of marketing tomfoolery, but more worrying has been Nintendo's seeming inability to actually release the game in Europe.
Even accounting for language localisation, this is a game that's been functionally complete since April. Still with a 27th October release date promised, the delay didn't seem too bad.
Which makes the news that
Actionloop has been pushed back to spring 2007 something of a mockery.
Indeed, Nintendo seems to have a general problem when it comes to hard, round objects.
Metroid Prime Pinball, released in the US in October 2005 (last year!) seems to have completely fallen off the European release schedule. And
Mario Slam Basketball (released in the US as
Mario Hoops 3-on-3 in September) has also been bounced back to 2007.
Frankly, it's all a bunch of balls.
Joined:
Oct 2006
Post count:
74
This is completely ridiculous in this day and age, particularly with portable handsets. Why? Firstly, because by some measures Europe is the biggest market so we shouldn't be getting games late. But anyway, secondly, the hardware is identical on both sides of the Atlantic - it's not like the PAL versus NTSC issue you get with TV consoles.
Okay, there are language translation issues. But people should be building that into the development cycles by now, surely. And how long does it take to translate a player "oomph!" from Mario Slam anyway? German: "Oomph-angazen". French: "L'oomph!". Repeat until launch.
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