|
|
By
David Jenkins
Gamasutra
December
18, 1998
|
|
 News
Analysis
Eurospeak
Nintendo:
The Ghost of Christmas Blast
Poor old
Nintendo.
It has managed to create the best game ever (again) but nobody is buying
it, though that's not for want of trying. The "Big N" has gotten
itself into a dreadful catch-22 situation, with a bungled worldwide release
of ZELDA 64.
Its attempts at simultaneous, give or take a couple of weeks, releases
in the US, Japan, and Europe have not gone according to plan. With both
the US and Japan already low on stocks of the cartridge, the delayed release
in the UK (it was supposed to come out here just four days after the US)
has also hit serious troubles. Of the 250,000 units originally ordered
(against 263,000 retail pre-orders) only 225,000 will now arrive. What's
more, only 100,000 made it across the English Channel for the game's release
on the 11th, with THE Games (Nintendo's UK distributor) planning to make
subsequent, staggered deliveries all the way up to Christmas.
There have been promises of an extra 50,000 units turning up for the New
Year, but many retailers aren't holding their breath. The end result is
that retailers are livid with Nintendo, not least because they have to
deal with some 38,000 disappointed customers.
Punters are hardly ecstatic about the situation either, although there
is an underlying feeling that the limited stock adds an extra level of
mystique and excitement to owning the game, which is unusual for a Nintendo
title in the usually Sony-dominated UK. Or perhaps that's just a false
impression created by the fact that I already have my copy.
Sony
isn't having an entirely smooth ride this Christmas either. Already it
has had to dodge complaints about bugs in Tomb Raider III - thankful,
for once, that Eidos
is publishing it. It has also, just like Tony Blair, been having a bit
of trouble with Brussels. The EC (European Community) has told SCEE that
their licensing practices are "restrictive of competition". In particular,
the EC isn't happy about third party publishers having to obtain prior
approval before developing or producing games, nor the fact that Sony
insists on manufacturing all third-party titles themselves. Although Sony
and the EC have now come to an understanding, and new licensing arrangements
have been agreed on, Sony is keeping mum about the details until it has
had a chance to talk to all of its third-party publishers.
SCEE President Chris Deering has indicated that the changes may not be
as significant as some are predicting. As a matter of fact, the whole
incident was entirely avoidable as Sega
and Nintendo had to change their practices for exactly the same reason
after a 1994 investigation by the UK's Monopolies and Mergers Commission.
Sony correctly assumed that it would take years for the Eurocrats to get
around to dealing with it - giving it free rein in the meantime.
Not too much for Sony to get upset about really, especially as sales figures
have just come in from France indicating that Jolly Old Saint Nick is
going to be lugging around an awful lot of les PlayStation this
year.
Overall, sales of CD-ROMs and console games in France have set a new record
this year at 4.5 billion Francs ($777.6m), or just to keep up with times
around 340.2m Euro. Whatever figure you use, that's up 43% from last year
and well above the European average.
Admittedly, the market has been disappointingly small in previous years.
More than 3 million PCs were sold in France in 1998, and combined leisure
sales topped 18 million units. As you might expect Sony still leads the
way with console hardware sales, and now claims 76% of the French market.
In related year's end chest-beating, Sony also revealed that GRAN TURISMO
has secured its place as the best selling PlayStation title ever in PAL
territories. The game has sold over 5 million units worldwide, with over
half a million in the UK alone.
Awards News
This year's the awards event Indin has been and gone, and generated £1.6
million for charity, which may go some way to justify the existence of
yet another UK games award ceremony. Unlike nonsensical rivals, such as
the BAFTA Interactive Awards, Indin has been a regular event now for many
years, and is the closest to a UK games Oscar around, although still far
less prestigious than such a description suggests.
In any case, the notable winners this year were Rare
with a special Industry Achievement Award, Infogrames
CEO Bruno Bonnell with a International Industry Achievement Award, and
Codemasters
with a Industry Merit Award. Other winners included Eidos' COMMANDOS
for the Innovation in Marketing Award, The Official UK PlayStation Magazine
for Magazine of the Year, TOMB RAIDER II for PC Game of the Year,
GRAN TURISMO for Console Game of the Year, EA
Sports for Developer of the Year, and EA
themselves for Publisher of the Year.
In other awards news, the reader-voted nominations for the PC Zone Awards
was a walk-over for QUAKE II. Although only the UK's second biggest
PC gaming mag the PC Zone awards are seen as more influential then
awards from other magazines, and the ceremony is now regularly held in
London's Camden Palace. id's
sequel picked up Game of the Year, Best Action Game, and the BT
Wireplay Award. FINAL FANTASY VII won Best Adventure Game, CARMAGEDDON
II got Best Driving Game, and EA Sport's WORLD CUP 98 picked
up the Best Sports Game award. Bullfrog
won, for no readily apparent reason, Developer of the Year, and Eidos
was announced as Publisher of the Year.
Miller Freeman's plans for a European consumer games show to partner with
the ECTS,
as reported last issue, are gaining solidity. The currently pencilled-in
plans are for the show to occur a week before the trade-only ECTS at London's
Olympia. This places it on the Bank Holiday weekend of August 28th-30th.
The idea is that exhibitors worried about the prohibitive cost of producing
stands for two separate events can leave their plastic space ships and
polystyrene monster gizzards up and re-use them for the ECTS. Although
Miller Freeman indicated that the consumer show will have it's own branding
and will not refer to the more sober trade event. A final decision on
the proposal will take place by February.
David
Jenkins (david.jenkins@dial.pipex.com)
is a freelance writer working in England. He has previously been the editor
of the Develop newsletter, worked on British Telecom’s Wireplay news service,
and contributed to CTW, PlayStation Plus and many other video game publications.
He has also been involved in the organization of the Develop! and Online
conferences in London.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
