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Nintendo Australia drops Wii price
Nintendo of Australia is dropping prices left and right! That is, if you imagine a DSi on the left and a Wii on the right. The company announced a substantial price drop for the Wii console today, from its original AU $399.95 (US $369) down to AU $299.95 (US $277). The new price is still painfully expensive compared to other regions, but it's better. And EBGames is sweetening the deal by throwing in The Bigs 2 and Overlord: Dark Legend. The price drop is taking place concurrently with the release of Monster Hunter Tri, making Capcom's ARPG essentially the unofficial "launch" game for the new, cheaper Wii. If you buy that and the black Wii, it's sort of like you bought a bundle! [Thanks, Alejandro]
EB Games endorses R18+ rating in Australia
Australia isn't just dangerous because of its abundance of deadly, poisonous wildlife, it's also not a great place to live if you're an adult gamer. See, the country's maximum rating for video games has long been MA 15+, meaning that a mature game must either be censored down to what the country deems is suitable for a 15 year old individual or outright banned from release in the country. This forces many gamers to navigate the seedy streets and back alleys of the importing scene. Nasty stuff, believe us. But, there's hope. A new rating of R18+ has been a hot topic as of late. Recently, the government has been receptive to a change in the legislature, despite South Australian attorney general Michael Atkinson's vehement disapproval. The public is able to weigh in on the proposed change right now, but retailer EB Games has also decided to join the fight for more mature titles. And like anyone else trying to get something done on the internet, it's started a petition. The "Grow Up Australia & EB Games" petition pretty much mirrors the same form found on the Aussie government's site here, so if you're a bloke or sheila who has already voiced your opinions on the government site, there's no need to fill out this new EB Games questionnaire. If not, get on it. The deadline is February 28. [Via IGN]
Dress up at Australian New Super Mario Bros. Wii midnight launch for fabulous prizes
If you live near Melbourne, Australia, you'll have the opportunity to pick up New Super Mario Bros. Wii a bit early, and either vie for a lovely prize or laugh at people in silly costumes! Nintendo is holding a midnight launch event for the game on Wednesday night, November 11, at its "Nintendo Experience" EBGames store.Attendees will have a chance to win the glass laser-etched Mario statue seen above, provided they're willing to dress up as their favorite Mario character. Does the Kuribo's Shoe count as a character?If you don't already have a costume, you'll have the beginning of a (terrible) Mario outfit once you pick up your pre-order: EB in Australia is giving away Mario baseball caps with reserved copies. [Via GoNintendo]
WotLK breaks internal records at EB Games
One of our secret correspondents inside an EB Games store forwarded us this picture of an internal email sent out to the videogame retail company, saying that not only was the week of WotLK's launch the biggest sales week of the year, but it was the biggest week ever outside of last year's Christmas sales, and the biggest launch the chain has ever had. Additionally, at EB Games, Wrath was the highest presale ever, the highest single-format (which means PC/Mac only) week one sales (in just two days), and the highest day one sales of any game ever, multiformat or otherwise.Pretty incredible. EB Games isn't a small company by any means, and while we knew Wrath was big, it looks like Blizzard's second WoW expansion smashed pretty much every sequel it could in the chain, even toppling some of the console gaming records. Anyone that claimed World of Warcraft had peaked with Burning Crusade should be looking pretty foolish at this point.We'll have to see where Blizzard goes from here -- there's no doubt that one reason Wrath was so popular out of the gate was that it returned to the "core" of Warcraft III: the story of Arthas and the Scourge. Can Blizzard replicate that with another expansion, no matter what the setting?
Nintendo Australia and EBGames opening 'Nintendo Experience' December 6
Nintendo of Australia has announced that they will open a special Nintendo gaming area above the EBGames store on Swanston Street in Melbourne, Australia on December 6. The opening of the "Nintendo Experience" won't just be a chance for people to come hang out at EB and annoy the staff, however -- Nintendo is throwing a launch event starting at 10 AM, and some kind of VIP event the night before.The announcement hints at appearances by Nintendo characters at the morning event, so maybe you can finally get that "guy in a Pikachu suit" autograph. More exciting is the fact that the first 100 to go in will receive a free game, effectively avoiding prohibitive Australian game prices. Consoles will be given away at the event as well! [Via Vooks]
Boogie sequel confirmed?
EB Games' site has a rather interesting listing up. It's for Boogie Superstar, which we can only assume is a sequel for EA's Boogie game (you think, Wii Fanboy?). Uh, did Boogie do well enough to justify a sequel? Also, will this supposed new sequel utilize the Balance Board, as rumored?Despite some lukewarm reviews and an overall failure at retail, it would seem that EA is not giving up on their rhythm-based franchise. Let's just hope that this time around, it will require more than a babbling baby's effort to actually succeed.[Via Go Nintendo]
Chaos, Panic, Disorder: WAR CE pre-order rundown
As tumultuous as the delay has been for the Warhammer Online fan community, an even bigger headache has loomed in the minds of many. One of the biggest details to come from the announcement of the Collector's Edition and its myriad of goodies was that those who put in a pre-order for the CE would get early access to the Open Beta and a head start on the rest of the Warhammer fanatics when it finally comes time for release sometime this fall.That's all well and good, but who could have anticipated the sheer number of discrepancies and problems that have arisen from these simple perks? Different retailers are handling the distribution of codes differently, there are gaping holes in the system that allow for exploitation, players are reporting on bunk codes, orcs and dwarves living together, mass hysteria! Having navigated this minefield ourselves in the quest for that delicious artbook, we thought we'd give you a bit of a rundown on the situation.
EB pulls plug on radical Haze promotion [Update]
You may remember last week reading about a Canadian EB promotion that would allow you to buy Haze, play it for a week and then return it to the store for full credit. It's a great promotion, but we're not sure it makes a lot of dollars and sense for Ubisoft. That's probably a good clue as to why we're sadly reporting that the deal is no more.MTV was told by Ubisoft that "there had been a miscommunication between the publisher's Canadian arm and the EB Games retail chain in Canada." You know, the offer seems pretty self-explanatory to us, we're not sure how a miscommunication could have happened.EB Games: Wait, so you want us to give people full price back if they return the game within a week?Ubisoft: Absolutely.EB Games hangs up.Ubisoft: Oh, and by full price we mean $30. Hello? Are you still there?[Update: Reader Duggy promptly pointed out that this ad is still on the EB Canada website. So, what does that mean? We're trying to find out.]
EB: Play Haze for a week, then get your money back
In what's bound to be one of the most bizarre trade-in deals ever, EB Games in Canada is offering a unique deal for customers who pre-order the PS3 FPS Haze: they can return it a week later for a full refund.The deal, as seen on their website, states that customers who pre-order the Ubisoft game will be able to pick it up on the release date and play it for a full week, then be able to sell the used game back to EB for full retail price. The deal only applies if the game, case and manual are kept in good condition, and if the game is returned within a week of purchase. If we were Sony or Ubisoft, we would be less than thrilled with this promotion, which seems to suggest that Haze is only worth a week's investment of time. Then again, a sale is a sale, and maybe more Canadians will be tempted to purchase the title, if they know ahead of time that they don't have to keep it.
EBGames has fun with WotLK listing
Reader Kevin G (thanks!) sent along a tip about EBGames having some fun on their listing for the Wrath of the Lich King expansion. As you can see (we've saved the listing for posterity above), the entry jokes about the listed 11/03/08 release date being unofficial, and determined by overpowered warlocks rolling 20 sided dice. The price, listed at $40, is also made up, and they say that if the price jumps by more than $1,000, they're all headed off to the Caribbean. Considering how many copies Burning Crusade sold this year, yeah, no kidding.It's nice to see that EB is up for having a little fun with an unannounced release date. Good for them.
Lost in Blue 3 could be found in North America soon
A listing for Lost in Blue 3 (when are these folks going to be found already?!) has emerged on EB Games' website, causing many to believe the game is bound for a North American release sometime soon. As it stands right now, the game is currently set to release in Japan next week.Regarding a proposed release date outside of Japan, the listing at EB Games (which has since been pulled down) states the title will ship in March of 2008. Odds are this will happen, of course, considering the first two titles graced retail shelves in other territories. The real question is: do you care?
The House of the Reasonable Price
We rejoiced when we heard about Sega's House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return. Yes, they're ports, but they're awesome ports of classic shooting games on the only system that doesn't require extra hardware to play them. Luckily, the filthy undead care only for chowing down on brainmeats and have no patience for economics, thus allowing the game to sell for a mere $30. That's the same price as Ghost Squad, but with two awesome shooters on the disc. We think it's cheap enough for previous owners to pick up just for the convenience of the wireless "gun." And let's be honest -- when it comes to Sega, ports are often preferable to new games.
Consumers: Dude, where's my Wii?
Well then, who saw this coming? Certainly not us. With a console being scarce and incredibly popular for a whole year now, we never would've figured that consumers would be angry they could not find one. The nerve!But, in all seriousness, we feel your pain. It's been tough trying to get a console ever since it released and when stores like, oh we dunno, EB Games tell you that they're getting stock in on a certain day and you show up that day to try and get one and they say "Sorry, we don't have any,"we'd be pretty ticked off too.And Robert Whitted is the latest casualty, stating "They [EB Games] said they should be getting in a shipment this week, went by there on Tuesday of this week when the shipment was supposed to arrive and they're telling me now what they don't have any in stock." Thing is, they did get the console in, but they're not selling them until Black Friday. "They're telling me that the message from the store should be that they're not selling them until Friday."Robert feels cheated, going on to say "They're telling me a lie, they're telling the community a lie, that they do not have them in stock and we all know that they will no be getting them in Thanksgiving Day or the morning before they open."
Rumor: Rock Band delayed in Canada until Dec. 19 [update 1]
Harmonix and Electronic Arts' love child Rock Band is supposed to launch its North American tour in a little over a week, but Canada might not be seeing this game until just before Christmas. Canadian retailer Future Shop (owned by Best Buy) has updated its listing for the game with a new release date: December 19 for Xbox 360 and the day after for PlayStation 3. (Curiously, a version of Rock Band without instruments is also listed for those dates.)A number of readers have also reported that their local Canadian EB Games are corroborating the four-week delay. There's no official word from EA or Harmonix yet. Online retailers are prone to error, and with just a week before the game is slated for release, we hope that's all it is. Otherwise, given such short notice and such a noticeable delay, local EA offices might have a mosh pit of angry Hockey fanatics to contend with.Update: bits bytes pixels and sprites has an interview with Harmonix where it is noted that packaging regulations (i.e. Canadian boxes must have English and French text) might cause a short delay -- though we hardly doubt that would justify four weeks of absence. It should also be noted that the PS2 version of the game is due out December 17 which, if the delay is indeed an error, would explain the origins of the miscommunicated release date.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
DS Daily: Filling out the GBA collection
With the possibility of cheaper Game Boy Advance games tempting us, we are considering a trip down to the local GameStop to blow some cash. There are plenty of GBA games we never picked up but would like to, including ... well, a bunch of stuff. Embarrassingly, we never got the Mario Advance games (because we have multiple versions of all the Mario games already). We'd definitely consider those at the right price, for portability alone. We'd also be likely to buy every copy of River City Ransom EX we saw and distribute them to anyone nearby, possibly by throwing them from a parade float. What about you? What does your collection need? Are there any GBA games you want, but have yet to get? If so, are you planning on checking out the (potentially) newly-price-dropped stock?
The truth about Catz and Dogz, as told by EBGames commenters
The issue of which pet-care game is the best is much too divisive to solve here. Even splitting them up into categories: horse, cat, hamster, etc. (as well as the non-pet care games involving human babies) is just much too controversial for us to make our own call.GamesRadar's staff, hoping to put this issue to rest, turned to the EBGames user comments for each game to determine which was the best. Using this resource, they were able to get expert reviews, like this one for Nintendogs: "this is wat i said to my mom when it came out! " o.m.g i really need to get this game." she said ok." To be fair, a lot of the commenters, especially for these games, are children, and probably don't need to be made fun of. But some of the comments run a little psychotic: "I had my nintendo ds for a while now and i have been ready for this moment," a commenter said about Imagine Babyz. What rituals must one go through to prepare for Imagine Babyz?
Halo 3 Xbox 360 pre-orders go live
Just two days after learning that the oh-so-covetable Halo 3-themed Xbox 360 would be landing next month, EBGames now has the console available for pre-order. Currently, the site is listing September 16th as the official ship date, but we wouldn't put too much stock into that number just yet. Coincidentally, Microsoft has also made known today that "over one million" copies of Halo 3 have been reserved in North America, which reportedly shatters "pre-order records in the video game industry." Also noteworthy is the tidbit about the "exclusive Halo 3 Gamer Pics and Theme" that comes bundled in with the special edition package, and while we doubt this minutiae will sway you one way or another, at least you now know precisely what your $399.99 will be buying.Read - Halo 3 Xbox 360 pre-orderRead - Halo 3 title exceeds one million pre-orders
80GB PS3 goes on sale on EB Games' site
If you're the sort that turns their nose up at paying less that $600 for a PS3 and has an insatiable hunger for gigabytes and off-road racing, you may want to point your browser to EBgames.com, where 80GB PS3 pre-orders have gone on sale.It may seem a bit of overkill to pre-order a system that's already available and hasn't exactly been flying off shelves, but those who want to pay $600 for their game system as a matter of pride or only like a limited number of the PS2 games they own may want to act fast. -- If some are to be believed, you may have less time to buy a $600 PS3 than you think.[Thanks, Steve]
Crimson / black DS Lite for sale in America?
Alright kids, no more complaining that Canada gets all the good stuff. 'Course, all of us North Americans still have a bone to pick with Japan and South Korea, but that's another story for another day. Apparently, the crimson / black DS Lite that snuck up on us last week at Future Shop has made its way south to the US of A -- or at least, it had. According to DSFanboy, GameStop had the specially colored bundle (which included Brain Age 2 but sadly omitted the carrying case) listed on it's website for $149.99, but now it seems that the item has been yanked. Keep your eyes peeled Americans, it ought to pop back up in due time.[Via DSFanboy]
Rumor: Wii Fit priced at $69.99?
Considering that the game won't be released on American shores until early 2008, it's probably much too early to consider any announced price for Wii Fit to be definite. Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime even stated that the company still needs to research the cost of its Balance Board controller before pricing can be accurately determined.Wii Fit's product pages at EB Games and GameStop, however, list a placeholder price which is pretty much in line with what we're expecting -- $69.99. That might seem like highway robbery to those who naively hoped for the usual $50, but when you compare it with the expensive fares people will be paying to play games like Guitar Hero 3 or Rock Band, the bundle's pricing doesn't seem too unreasonable. Our only concern is that $70 might be too much for the casual audience Nintendo is hoping to attract with Wii Fit.%Gallery-4745%[Via Digg]
