Another game I won't buy. Is it so hard for Nintendo to release prepaid cards in my country?

It is great to have indie games. I recently enjoyed Thomas was Alone. However no one spends a lot of money for a Wii U (or/and PS3,Vita,3DS etc) for these kind of games.

@Sentinator I think that they actually said the opposite, that it is "easy" to develop for PS3. That seems certainly not a lot more expensive since there is experience from PC development.

As for Insomniac I recently got the Spyro games and I will try them. I had played Size Matters in PSP sometime ago and it was fun.

Will this be in Wii VC or Wii U only? I don't have a Wii U yet.

Either I have grown old or this game looks sort of bad. I don't really like the art style. It just looks like upscaled DS visuals. I would prefer a 3D game. I hope they let you use the buttons, the touchscreen controls on the DS games were frustrating to me!

It makes no sense not to release this game in 3DS and Wii U (and Vita). I may just get it on PS3.

@Felix_ Thanks for clearing this up. We have the same pricing.

@Peach64 I agree with you generally. Taxes in Europe are higher too. But Vita on launch cost 249$ and 249 euros at the same time and Nintendo consoles are priced way higher in Europe. 3DS cost 279 euros on launch. The Wii U basic costs 319 euros. In the end it all falls to the company setting the prices and it is a mistake for Nintendo not to set prices in Europe.

And I thought that 419 euros for Zombi U pack was a ridiculous price in my region... It has not been discounted here yet.

Wii U may not be expensive is US but certainly is in many PAL regions when a lot of stuff is overpriced.

A very interesting article @Thomas
Some remarks from me.

Especially in Europe the economy in general has shrunk with big unemployment rates and low salaries. The least someone may want is to give 319 euros to buy a Wii U when PS3 costs 239 euros and has better games. Also almost all have a smartphone or tablet and has access to free games. I love my Vita but I understand that 239 euros may seem expensive. A typical salary where I live is 600 euros on young people (more if you have some kind of university degree) and 30% unemployment.

The Wii was successful as far as hardware sold is concerned but it clearly is not as successful in core gamers as PS3. Most people have a Wii and only Wii Sports something unfortunately not profitable for Nintendo and 3rd party developers yet people with PS3 buy more games. Yet if it wasn't for Xeno, Pandora, Project Zero and Last Story there were no games that appealed to me but they arrived late. From previous games I only enjoyed Dawn of the new World and Chocobo Dungeon. What I loved in Wii is VC but it was somewhat pricey!!!

Anyway if PS4 is 400 euros and Wii U 200 euros I may get both when I have the money but PS4 is the better choice for me since I love jrpgs and Wii U most likely won't have as much.

I want a Wii U but there is no way I will give more than 250 euros for it.

They still haven't fixed the PSone era visuals... 3DS can do better.

Outrun in whatever console...

This game will be released in Europe sometime in 2016
Meh I am tired of this...

@milojica And I thought In my country where Wii U Basic Costs 319 euros and 3DS XL 229 were expensive (average salary for young people 500-600 euros)!
As a comparison new PS3 and Wii U releases cost 60 while Vita and 3DS 40 to 50.

@MadAdam81 If you import a faulty console you are done for. In my country you may also need to pay tax in big packages.

Don't see only UK or USA. Consoles need price cuts to sell in the rest of EU. Some consoles (including Wii U) are very expensive. Compare the retail price of Zombi U pack. It is 419 euros. Compare it to pounds or dollars and you will see that someone thinks we are fouls and charge way more. What annoys me is that only Nintendo has this problem by not setting the prices. Vita on launch retailed for 249 euros in the whole region!

Where I live people don't know what Wii U is but everyone knows PS4 is coming. Talk about very bad marketing.

I have seen a sign in a local shop that says "Wii U games don't work on Wii".

The bundle where I live costs 420 euros so I don't think it will sell.

Square did a good job in trolling their fans in this year. There was no localization of Type-0 or Bravely Default, until recently there was no word of FF10HD and the best of all was the announcement that a FF game will be announced for PS4 at some point.

I liked the series, too bad it was cancelled. I may get the game at some point.

When I saw the title I thought that some kind of glitch was found that lets you complete the game in 4 minutes!

I want to buy stuff from the 3DS store but prepaid cards are not available where I live. Why is it so hard to release them in all Europe?

This price is 235 euros. I would get one in this price. This bundle for some strange reason costs 419 euros where I live ...

So you need an extra app and more than 5 minutes. It is simply stupid and outdated. Why is it so hard to do it automatically? When I start Motorstorm RC on either Vita or PS3 it automatically finds the latest savegame and you can play in a couple of seconds. In Metal Gear and Blazblue you just upload your save from PS3 or Vita and download later on the other console from the main menu. It takes 10 seconds only (PS Plus is not needed)!

As for the game I wanted the Wii U pack but it is expensive (419 euros)...

Meh, I really don't understand that the Wii U hasn't 500GB (or even 320) HDD like ps3. It is not that they are that expensive (you may find some 320's for 50 euros here). Perhaps in a hardware revision.

@Luffy That's a good idea. Is it possible to play e-shop downloads from SD? I think I read that it is not possible but I am not sure.

Does anyone know when we will see 3DS prepaid cards in Southern Europe? I want to buy stuff but I can't...

Nobody knows about the Wii U. I have seen signs in local shops that said "Wii U games not work in Wii". Apart for some e-mail and a pre-launch event there was no promotion or advertising.

The price is an issue on many European countries. 319 euros for Basic, 379 for DX and 419 for Zombi and Monster Hunter seem expensive too me.

Castlevania fans want classic games like 8-16 games or adventure games like Symphony of the Night or Aria of Sorrow not action God of War clones. Lords of Shadow is a great game but it doesn't feel lke Castlevania. I may get the 3DS game but I am skeptical because an updated port may be announced for PS3 or Vita like what happened with Revelations.

I want a classic 2d Castlevania or an IGA Metroidvania game not some God of War clone with a suggestive plot. The LoS may be fan games but there are no Castlevania games.
A new Aria of Sorrow or Bloodlines would be great.

@KodaSmoss Thanks, I haven't heard about it! I wonder who the publisher will be though because some don't send copies in my country. I may go for the digital version (if Nintendo decides to publish prepaid cards). Chocobo's Dungeon was very good by the way.

I may play this game in 2018 when the game will be released in EU! Anyway seems like a great game.

Guess the preorder price for the Wii U MH pack in my country: 420 euros !!!! Sorry but no thanks.

It is not 1990. We live in 2013, the digital age and the gaming region differences are a STUPID relic from the past from when EU TV sets were different from US ones.

I really don't get why US and EU are different markets. There is no real reason why Soul Hackers for example won't be available at least as a digital download in April for both EU and US.

I am not familiar with x-box, steam, ipad (I never tried any of them) etc but seems that only Nintendo and Sony keep this region tradition thing.

EU release date? 2017 or never?

I haven't touched my 3DS since I beat Miracle Mask. I want this game! Miracle Mask was great, had some beautiful cutscenes. However the in game character visuals were somewhat blocky and outdated. The use of touch screen was used strangely in my opinion.

I really liked Castlevania Rebirth but the WiiWare service was sort of bad in comparison to Virtual Console and other services. I think that the Virtual Console played a better role in introducing retro games to newer players.

R.I.P.

I had D on Playstation 1. It was a very good adventure game.

I have said it before but I want to repeat it. Criterion is a developer that actually cares about their games. After developing the Vita version of need for speed in house and making it almost identical to the PS3 version they will actually try to make the Wii U version the definite version of the game using all the recourses they have.

It seems that Criterion is one of the developers that really care for their games and aren't lazy. After developing in-house the Vita version and making it almost identical to the PS3 one (the only real difference is less traffic) they are doing their best to provide the definite Wii U version.

We need more developers like them.

The price is too high. Basic costs 319 euros, DX 379 euros and Zombi U 420 euros. Even if it had more games the average consumer would not buy easily.

PS3 and 3DS took off only after major price cuts. I don't remember the EU price of PS3 at launch but 3DS retailed for 269 (or 279 I am not sure) euros! It was way high. The PSP launched with the same price ages ago but the economy was in a way better shape back in its day.

Wii U needs some more advertising. Most don't know what it is. I have seen in a local retailer a sigh which says that Wii U games don't work on Wii!! Apart from e-mails and one or two events before launch there was nothing.

@Bluezealand I live in Greece. Wii U basic retailed for 319 euros, DX for 379 and Zombi for 420! If it was 309 for DX I would get one.
You are right about the pro controller, I didn't see it. 379 is still expensive.

If Wii U + MH3 is 379 euros (like the NLand bundle) I don't think it will sell. It should be cheaper. Isn't Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate a port of a PSP/Wii game anyway?

I am not sure I agree with the general idea of the article.

After PS2 (Persona 4 was the last mainstream j-rpg released in EU) all j-rpg fans had were DS and PSP with tons of games but the hardware was not as good as it should be to deliver the best experience. We had Radiant Historia, Dragon Quest 4,5,6,9, Final Fantasy 4, Star Ocean 1,2, Tales of Eternia, the YS series only to name a few (on both DS and PSP). Wii had only the not so good Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World.

As the years passed PS3 took the place of PS2 in j-rpg for US and EU gamers with tons of "Niche" Japanese Titles like the Hyperdimension Neptunia series, Atelier series. Tales of Graces and some more (Ar-tonelico, Trinity Universe). During Wii's final years Xenoblade and Last Story were released but it was too late.

Now PS3 is still strong on new localizations like Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory and Atelier Ayesha out next month in US and EU (and Ni No Kuni released the previous week).

Apart from this we have absolutely nothing. For Wii U there is nothing released in Japan nor anything announced. For PSP there are tons j-rpgs (and some classics like Suikoden) released even today (and upcoming in the next months) but nothing is going to be localized for sure. There are some upcoming for Vita (like Legend of Heroes) but again, until now, nothing was announced for localization (except YS4) and most seem highly unlikely. There are some on 3DS but the only real j-rpg we have seen here is Tales of the Abyss (and Etrian Odyssey 4 out soon).

As far as localizations are concerned after PS3 there does't seem to be a clear future on "Niche" j-rpgs as localization of psp, vita and 3ds games seems unlikely. So the emergence of "Niche" j-rpg in the Nintendo (and any other platform except maybe PS3) Mainstream (after the DS) seems somewhat unlikely to me.

@Nano
Yes for games 1$=1euro. New releases retail for 60 euros. For example I bought Ni No Kuni for 59.99 euros last week. However Wii U is priced EVEN higher. If I recall correctly the basic is 299$ while here is 319 euros. Wii was 250$ and 250 euros in release date and PS Vita 3G model was 299$ and 299 euros.

This difference in pricing is frustrating and annoying...

@Nano New games in Europe cost 60 euros, not 29.88/ 44.83 euros! The Wii U basic costs 319 euros, the DX 379 and the Zombi 419. Most Wii U games retail for 60 euros. I really can't understand the difference in pricing.

@Schprocket You are right but 3rd party developers didn't abandon the PS3 because they thought that the brand name would sell after some time.

As Peach64 stated Nintendo games are not as popular in UK (and many mainland EU countries) as they are in the rest of the world with SEGA (then) and Sony (now) leading the market.

In my country there was no real advertising apart from e-mails and a store demonstration. Also I have seen in local shops sighs that Wii U games don't play on Wii. Most don't know what the Wii U is.

Also I don't get why the hate to those who play COD and FIFA. Anyone can play what they like. Also Ni No Kuni topped UK charts last week and is 6th or something this week excluding Digital sales so this argument doesn't hold.

RE Revelations is a good and fan game but I strongly disagree on the argument that it is better than RE6 or that it is the best game since RE4.

RER feels and plays like a watered down port of the big counterparts. Surely is visually stunning but by no means it is better that RE6.

I may get a home version (PS3) if it is clearly a 1080 port and it is not full retail priced (60 euros).

SEGA does what Nintendon't !

I still don't get why the original Zombi U bundle retailed for 420 (!!!!) euros in Europe (420 euros ~ 560 $).

The lame think here is that the 3DS version has no online. This may be old news but I haven't heard it before...

I still play Game Boy games occasionally and my unit is in perfect shape!