next »

[Corpus]

Valter, I don't understand at which point he confused you.

Maybe they're reluctant to release it because the down under governments are dicks who ban everything.

[Shambrook]

I hate them for treating my entire country with nothing but a thinly veiled contempt.
I mean its nothing new for Aussie gamers, pretty much every company does it to us. But this is fucking ridiculous.

I was hyped for the game, I was really excited for it when ti was announced, me and my mates had it all planned out, saturday nights at his with a 6 pack and rockband.

After like two or three months late we just stopped careing, after seven months that apathy has turned into outright hatered. I won't buy shit off of steam because of the bullshit they pull with Australian customers, I'm not gunna buy Harmonix shit either.

Maybe they're reluctant to release it because the down under governments are dicks who ban everything.

They ban games that have content that leads to an R rating, It's bullshit yeah, but Rockband is rated Teen. It's not gunna get banned.

[Gainsworthy]

HARRUMPH! I mean, agreed, Benza. I wasn't going to buy it, myself, I was merely planning to visit those who would shell out the Two Hundred odd dollars needed. So I don't hate them, though I do find issue with the whole never releasing games down here. Why is it still rife, we wonder. And the odd banning doesn't help things along.

ALSO: Double the fecking price of American games. Made sense when our dollar was ~half, but now it's almost even! And still  One Hundred and Twenty for a shiny new PAL game. Yuck.

[mewse]

HARRUMPH! I mean, agreed, Benza. I wasn't going to buy it, myself, I was merely planning to visit those who would shell out the Two Hundred odd dollars needed. So I don't hate them, though I do find issue with the whole never releasing games down here. Why is it still rife, we wonder. And the odd banning doesn't help things along.

At the end of the day, the reason why games are often released late or not at all in Australia is that there is a much, much smaller market here than there is in Europe or the US.  And we're so far away that shipping costs and distributor deals and the import tariffs levied by customs are so high that it pushes prices up and pulls profits way down.

Yeah, it sucks.  But I can at least kind of understand the mindset that leads to things coming out later here, especially things with bulky and expensive-to-ship peripherals like those that define Rock Band.

(I tend to import almost all my games and consoles from web stores in the US;  means I get stuff cheaper and earlier, as importing a single copy of a game for personal use typically doesn't get hit for customs fees.  Also means that I'm not tempted into the "trade your old games in" schemes)

What I don't get are the on-line distribution spots like PopCap which arbitrarily charge 50%-100% higher prices to Australians (as determined by IP-based geolocation).  This is the scandalous, purely opportunistic stuff, IMHO.

[Shambrook]

Honestly, I don't care what the reasons are for it. I'm not going to support a company that treats us as second class.
I import most of my games too except Rockband is reigon locked for the 360. So uh, fuck em.

[joshg]

At least do the right thing and hate the company that's handling the distribution.  I doubt the developers at Harmonix have a whole lot to do with it - it's probably negotiated between the publisher (MTV) and the distributor.

Interestingly, distribution for Rock Band is being done through EA.  Huh!

[team_q]

What I don't get are the on-line distribution spots like PopCap which arbitrarily charge 50%-100% higher prices to Australians (as determined by IP-based geolocation).  This is the scandalous, purely opportunistic stuff, IMHO.

This is to keep the online prices in lockstep with the offline ones. If they didn't then offline retailers would refuse to carry their product, and that would cut their profits in half.

[Shambrook]

Interestingly, distribution for Rock Band is being done through EA.  Huh!

Most EA games are released in a timley fashion, infact they're one of the beter companies for releasing games here.

So yeah, I'll stick to my Harmonix hate thanks.

This is to keep the online prices in lockstep with the offline ones. If they didn't then offline retailers would refuse to carry their product, and that would cut their profits in half.

No sorry, thats no excuse. When you can click on one link and get charged 80 bucks, compared to another link that charges you like 30 bucks? Did they seriously not expect people to look at that and go "What the fuck?" The reasoning "Well if we charged you a reasonable price online then we couldn't price couge you in stores" Does little to convince me.

People wonder why the Australian game industry isn't that big? It's because half the people that do play games in Australia import there stuff because we get absolutly gouged at the checkout. And a lot more people simply don't play games because games cost over 100 bucks each and its not worth it.

Add to that the fact that we get ridiculous delays, sub par support, gimped consoles, and yeah. Forgive me if I display a little bit of vitirol in regards to game companies in general.

[team_q]

No sorry, thats no excuse. When you can click on one link and get charged 80 bucks, compared to another link that charges you like 30 bucks? Did they seriously not expect people to look at that and go "What the fuck?" The reasoning "Well if we charged you a reasonable price online then we couldn't price couge you in stores" Does little to convince me.

Sorry that you are so fanatical in your contempt for the games industry. Do you honestly think they sit there and say "Well, fuck Australia!" No, they don't, what possible benefit could they have to shit on Australia? The fact that you can get games for cheaper at an import shop shows, to me, that its probably your import laws and taxes that are wack.

People wonder why the Australian game industry isn't that big? It's because half the people that do play games in Australia import there stuff because we get absolutly gouged at the checkout. And a lot more people simply don't play games because games cost over 100 bucks each and its not worth it.

Add to that the fact that we get ridiculous delays, sub par support, gimped consoles, and yeah. Forgive me if I display a little bit of vitirol in regards to game companies in general.

No, it can't be that you have 8% of the population of the United States in an area of about the same size and are half a world away from the other major English speaking parts of the world. Can't be that, the entire games industry just hates you. I and about 90% of my fellow Canadians can drive to the USA within about 2-3 hours, and even though our dollar is at about parity, we still pay more, why? Taxes and Import laws.

[Shambrook]

Sorry that you are so fanatical in your contempt for the games industry. Do you honestly think they sit there and say "Well, fuck Australia!" No, they don't, what possible benefit could they have to shit on Australia?

Um, getting twice as much seems like a pretty good benefit to me?
If it was all to do with taxation etc then that doesn't really explain why some new release games cost 90 bucks on release compared to others that cost over 120 dollars. Despite them having the same price in America.

No, it can't be that you have 8% of the population of the United States in an area of about the same size and are half a world away from the other major English speaking parts of the world. Can't be that, the entire games industry just hates you. I and about 90% of my fellow Canadians can drive to the USA within about 2-3 hours, and even though our dollar is at about parity, we still pay more, why? Taxes and Import laws.
[/quote]

Honestly, so? What am I supposed to be greatfull that we get fucked over?
And if it was only that then why the insistance of reigon locking on say the Wii?
Could it be because then customers could import games at half the price and deprive Nintendo Australia of profits? Why the delays? Why is it some companies can get there shit together and we get simultaneously releases of most of the big Capcom games for example, while we still don't have Smash Bros Brawl? One of the biggest NIntendo franchises?

[joshg]

Interestingly, distribution for Rock Band is being done through EA.  Huh!

Most EA games are released in a timley fashion, infact they're one of the beter companies for releasing games here.

So yeah, I'll stick to my Harmonix hate thanks.

Most EA games aren't big frickin' crates full of instrument-based controllers which present entirely new and unique shipping and logistics challenges.  Not to mention Rock Band is seen by EA as a "low margin product", which means even less incentive for them to make Australian distribution work in a timely manner.

But, whatever, if you want to keep hating Harmonix, I guess they have enough fans left over that it's no big deal.

I get that it sucks to be a gamer in Australia as far as retail costs go.  Hopefully the digital distribution bandwagon will start to change that I guess.

[team_q]

Honestly, so? What am I supposed to be greatfull that we get fucked over?

Honestly, I understand why you are bitching, sure it sucks, but don't you think if they could the "video games industry" would try and compete with itself, as in the apperent thriving import industry?

And if it was only that then why the insistance of reigon locking on say the Wii?
Could it be because then customers could import games at half the price and deprive Nintendo Australia of profits? Why the delays? Why is it some companies can get there shit together and we get simultaneously releases of most of the big Capcom games for example, while we still don't have Smash Bros Brawl? One of the biggest NIntendo franchises?

Capcom doesn't have to worry about the worldwide distribution of a hot property console. You don't have brawl yet because North America is getting all the Wii's right now. Now that Wii fit is out most of the Wii's will be distributed elsewhere. Super Smash Brothers Brawl is a game people buy a Wii for, if there aren't any available, then the big N would lose both hardware and software sales, so the release of SSBB is delayed until the world Wii pendlium shifts back to your favor.

[Türbo Bröther]

Oh god damn it...

[gummikana]

Gentlemen, please. There is only one * Hero game you should be wishing for.

To the casual observer it would look like that Activision is selling out...




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlUFfAf88mE

[team_q]

To the casual observer it would look like that Activision is selling out...

When Guitar Hero 3 came out it became quite apparent that Activision had a "Lets run this shit into the ground" attitude with their newly acquired franchise.

I mean look at the 'Features':
Attack abilities that unbalance versus mode evenmore!
Boss fights with the lame attack abilities!
Even more forgiving gameplay!

They did alright with the coop campaign and having real guitarists was kinda cool, but it seemed to be a lot cheesier. Also because of it, I have to listen to Pat Bennitar all day at work, because kids are too lazy to switch the freakin' song.
and as a bonus to piss me off, they got rid of my and my girlfriend's 3 favorite guitarists.

[Etaoin Shirdlu]

Gentlemen, please. There is only one * Hero game you should be wishing for.

To the casual observer it would look like that Activision is selling out...




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlUFfAf88mE

I thought the air guitar one looked cool, until I realized it was just an MP3 player that you had to wave your hand over to make it play.

And I'll see your cell phone game and raise you the LCD edition:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlvW_KtOYgE&feature=related

[Bree]

Even more forgiving? I'm sorry, but I have to disagree. GHIII was even harder for me; a couple of my friends have realized that Activision even added extra notes in the last few songs on Expert Mode, all for the sake of challenge.

[Lazer]

Even more forgiving? I'm sorry, but I have to disagree. GHIII was even harder for me; a couple of my friends have realized that Activision even added extra notes in the last few songs on Expert Mode, all for the sake of challenge.

Here's the frame for a note hit in gh1 or gh2. |O|

Here's the frame for a note hit in gh3 |----------------O-------------------|

Getting the inhuman achievement was cake. I was kinda pissed.

[Valter]

I've seen the note chart for Jordan, and I've seen the note chart for Through the Fire and Flames. GH3 is a cakewalk.

Some might try to qualify the new "Devil went down to Georgia", but that hardly even qualifies as music to begin with 

[team_q]

Even more forgiving? I'm sorry, but I have to disagree. GHIII was even harder for me; a couple of my friends have realized that Activision even added extra notes in the last few songs on Expert Mode, all for the sake of challenge.

after playing Guitar hero 3 for a couple months, we switched to Rockband, we thought there was something wrong with the game how unforgiving the note timing was, then I went to a buddy's place that only had Guitar hero 1, and I realized that they have been watering down the keypress timings.