Waiting Game

Us European gamers are constantly complaining that we're getting the crappy end of the stick when it comes to game release dates. That we have to wait, wait, wait for the games we want to play as we impatiently watch games get released in Japan and America long before a Euro launch is even mentioned. How long have the US had Super Paper Mario on their Wii’s? Too long. The Japanese get so many Triple A titles from their top publishers that we wait months for and even after months of waiting these games sometimes vanish from the radar and never see the light of day outside Japan. This bugs the heck out of us. We've all heard the reasons why there are delays, let's not go into that here, and no, it's nothing to do with the odd Central European having a poor grasp of the subtleties and use of English, but did you know that sometimes, just sometimes, the shoe is on the other foot? Or perhaps in this case the disc is in the other console?

Earlier this year, a petition from Japanese gamers appeared online. Why? They wanted to play a localised version of the then unlocalised Elder Scrolls RPG Oblivion. The petition worked, those gamers got their wish, and the game has been brought to The Land of the Rising Sun in Japanese.

Famitsu recently brought word that Xbox 360 games Mass Effect and BioShock will be getting full localisation too albeit after the western releases. This news should make the 3,000 odd Japanese people that are buying Xbox 360s every week very, very happy.

Proof indeed that Japanese gamers have to wait for Triple A titles too.

Sometimes.

Are you happy the Japanese have to wait too or would you die for the right to have worldwide simultaneous release dates? Get yourself heard on the Forum.