I think it has to do more with Best Buy than with the state of the DS. When I browsed Best Buy (in Canada) this week, it was along the lines of what you said, Jeff. Games completely disorganized, games not placed in alphabetical order, etc. And it's not just the DS section, but also the Wii section, the PS3 section, and the X360 section. It's like they didn't bother to clean up or reorganize the shelves after Boxing Week. The selection at big electronics stores (Best Buy, Future Shop) and also at department stores (Wal-Mart, Zellers) is generally poor, IMO. They don't carry a lot of niche titles because they just don't sell. It's a shame to say, but games like Ghost Trick and 999: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors (which is absolutely excellent) would not sell as much as AAA games. I was very surprised to see that my Best Buy stocked SMT: Strange Journey, though.
I personally have bought a lot of DS and PSP titles in the past year because the selection has been great (you wouldn't be able to tell by reading this site, but it really, really has). I even think the selection was better than the console selection for the most part. I've noticed that I have had to get most of my portable games from Amazon, mostly because it's hard to find the stuff in brick-and-mortar stores, especially in Canada. I remember in an interview that Iwata said that they'd try to bring over a few games that never made it here, but for me it's somewhat late for that as I've already imported them (Soma Bringer, 7th Dragon, Tales of Hearts, ASH), though I would consider double-dipping. I recently found out that the 3DS is region-locked, so it's almost a nail in the coffin for me. I import from Japan a lot, and I have a few PAL games (Tingle, Last Window), so I'm not even sure if I'll invest in a 3DS at all. I believe that the DS still has life in it. I'm not sure if they've pushed it to its technical limit, but I'm not ready to invest in a new portable system yet. I'm very happy with my DS Lite and the DS library, and I'm hungry for more (Layton 4, Inazuma Eleven, Okamiden, and Ni no Kuni, to name a few). I spoke to a few of my female friends who aren't that big into gaming at all, but had DS Lites. They kinda figured that the DS was like the iPhone or Facebook, where games will always keep coming for it. They seemed pretty happy with their DS Lites, but have moved on to iOS gaming. They're not really planning on getting a 3DS at all (and for the most part, they didn't know what it was until I talked about it). They liked Style Savvy, though. I'm surprised Nintendo isn't trying to recapture the casual audience with their handheld anymore. My non-gaming friends--both male and female--just aren't that interested in the 3DS hardware at all. They're pretty focused on Kinect and iOS games.
Also, it's a shame that you haven't gotten your hands on Ghost Trick yet, Jeff. It's really great. I had to order mine off Amazon because it was pretty hard to find here too. But it's worth the wait. :)
It's really clever and a very good marketing idea. This isn't a necessarily a 'demake' (which would imply gameplay to me--it's all about semantics and lexical unit choices, after all). It seems to serve as an "advertisement" (seems to backtrack from this previous advertising campaign: http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2010/08/04/fallout_protests/) for the Fallout games in Japan. From what I got out of it, it's a flash site that mostly explains Fallout's gameplay in an 8-bit RPG fashion. IIRC, Dragon Quest sites in Japan (used to?) do this, as do a few universities in Japan (I recall a Japanese university's website being made in the image of Mother/Earthbound).
It doesn't, however, detract from the fact that I'd like to play a Fallout game in this fashion. Wasteland, here I come!
"Did nobody on the staff play their PSP this year? Some really really amazing games came out on PSP (Valkyria Chronicles 2) this year that deserve at least a nod.
This. I think I've played my PSP more than any other console or handheld (ok, I poured tons of hours into DQIX, and enjoyed 999, Golden Sun and SMT:Strange Journey on the DS) this year. Valkyria Chronicles II, Persona 3 Portable, Ys Seven, Ys: The Oath in Felghana, God of War: Ghost of Sparta, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Zettai Hero, and KH: BBS were all awesome. Doesn't seem like the guys are too much into JRPGs, so it's understandable.
Ah, so then Import Deposit doesn't mean anything, eh? I haven't had to pay for anything coming from amazon.com, NCSX or gamestop.com, but I've had to pay for a few things from Play-Asia. I suppose it's entirely dependent on the item's (items') overall worth. It is entirely up to the CBSA, then.
http://www.canadapost.ca/tools/pg/manual/PGcustoms-e.asp#1382719 " The CBSA does not assess duty or tax on mail items valued at $20CDN or less... The CBSA does not consider items to be of low value in cases where a single transaction is split into smaller shipments to keep the value below $20CDN. "Mail items containing merchandise enter Canada through CBSA screening centres, are inspected by CBSA Officers and assessed for applicable customs duties, taxes and charges. If duties and/or taxes are owed, items will be delivered along with the E14 Customs Invoice indicating the amount that the addressee must pay before the package can be released to them."
I don't know if I can help, but I'll try. I know in my experience with Play-Asia, if an item (or items) adds up to over $100, I've had to pay the customs fee when they brought it to my house / when I picked it up at the post office.
I guess it depends, really. I know I've had to pay an Import Deposit Fee at checkout on Amazon.com before (I just did the other day when I ordered 999 and Theresia). Fake edit: Here's their info about the Import Deposit Fee: http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=596184#import. I've ordered from Amazon.com a few times before, and I haven't really had a customs problem (ie: where I've had to pay more or if the package takes too long to come over the border). But then again, I haven't ordered anything for more than $100 from Amazon.
In a nutshell, it says: - duty and tax info is estimated and collected at checkout - if the actual import fees are lower than what you were charged at checkout, you will be refunded the cash - if the actual import fees are higher than what you were charged at checkout, "you will not be charged any additional fees" by Amazon (it is up to the discretion of the seller if you buy it from a Merchant that is not Amazon).
However, that last bit is a little vague. I would assume that Canada Post would expect you to pay it out of your pocket if the estimate's off. I'm sorry I can't help more. Good luck, though.
@iAmJohn: Interesting. Hope that comes to fruition. Regardless... soundtrack, day -1; I can't resist anything by Hamauzu.
The bigger question here is: to import the game or not to import? I'm hoping XSEED will localize this while they're trying to get through the Falcom games. XSEED have been awesome, with Ys Seven especially. Still a bit bummed that they lost Arc Rise Fantasia. It's a decent game underneath all the negative aspects.
The first one was amazing, and the music was so amazing that I had to import the soundtrack. The second game is going to have tracks by Shimomura, Hamauzu, Mitsuda, Ito and Sakuraba, so you know the atmosphere is going to be good. I wonder if Yuzo Koshiro's going to come back for this one, though? I could always use more Koshiro in my life.
What happens if you need to use the stylus and the thumbstick simultaneously? What'll that do for lefties? But overall, I'm VERY interested in this device. The software developer lineup looks promising.
Log in to comment