are DS titles being understocked in the UK?

[Ady]

these things can become a self-fulfilling prophecy: retailers don't order enough ds titles, shelves look bare & devoid of new exciting games, manz don't buy the plattform 'cos they can't see what it has to offer, retailers order even smaller numbers of new titles...

That's how it is. Not wishing to turn this into some puerile PSP/DS feud, but the UK press (gaming and otherwise) has already made up its mind regarding both consoles. In turn, its already been decided for the consumer who, by virtue of choice (or lack thereof), are limited to what has already been decided as the 'winning' machine (in this case, the PSP).

So, as it's already been decided that the DS won't do as well as the PSP in this region (or rather it has not been allowed to), so the games will be harder to come by.

Simply, the DS has had it in Europe and won't be afforded the opportunity to at least prove itself. It's either online or not at all. :/

[Vince]

That is totally true, i agree. Also i believe that stores like Game try and control the marker to a certain extent, from their point of view the ultimate goal is to only have to stock 1 format, it would make life so much easier. This is why i believe they promote the Sony consoles so much, if they only had to stock PSP's and PS2's then it would make life for them, their suppliers and everyone else so much easier, so if they can push Nintendo and Microsoft products into the dark corners of the store then all the better.

The problem then is that people like us can only get our products from online stores or importers, which is fine because they'll happily supply us and at better prices, but it doesn't help for publicty, no one sees anyone queuing to get the new Castlevania DS game for example so no normal person thinks anything of it. Ultimately though as long as we keep buying games, wherever we get them from then the games companies will still make them.

[mattSix]

Simply, the DS has had it in Europe and won't be afforded the opportunity to at least prove itself. It's either online or not at all. :/

i really hope that's not true... there's room for both handhelds in the market, and retailers will miss out big time if they decide to 'lead' it in this fashion.

there's also no reasonable argument for doing so; the psp's line-up pretty much compliments that of the DS, in that the only genre significantly represented is 'racing', which the DS hasn't fared too well with thus far...

i'd be keen to hear some input from anyone that works at game, or any other games retail outlet. do individual store managers decide stock levels themselves, or does HQ do that for them? who is it that thinks no-one wants to play meteos when it's evidently a popular & anticipated title??

[Vince]

To add to this i went into town earlier to get Advance Wars and no one had any stock left.

[mattSix]

To add to this i went into town earlier to get Advance Wars and no one had any stock left.

on the afternoon it's released?!?

these people are fools... they've missed out on your ?30, and countless others too no doubt... *sigh*

this IS how platforms die... 'A' class titles get released, but only stock that doesn't shift gets left out on view... doubleplusungood.

[Dogg Thang]

Well Game only got two copies of Castlevania today - one was already preordered and the other was sold. HMV said their stock never arrived.

That's just ridiculous. Nuts.

[C']

After reading this thread (I wasn?t even aware that Meteos was released or that Advance Wars and Castlevania were out today ? good job NOE) I went into Warrington on my lunch break to see if I could grab aforementioned games.

Advance Wars was no problem at all. Got mine from Game and they seemed to have tonnes of stock left over, with Gamestation and HMV also having a good supply. Castlevania I also got from Game but they had to go into the back room to get it suggesting supplies were low. Didn?t see Castlevania in HMV and forgot to look for it in Gamestation.

Game and Gamestation never had Meteos (the Game blokey said they had gotten 6 copies on day of release and sold out in 2 days) but there was a case on the shelf in HMV which I grabbed along with Another Code: Two Memories. The shop fella seemed to be having difficulties finding the contents of Meteos leadig me to believe that they were also sold out, but a computer check revealed they should have had one more in stock and further searching found it listed under B (go figure -_-; ) so I managed to grab all 3 of the supposedly difficult games from 2 shops.

Guess I was just lucky.

Certainly though, based on experiences on past Castlevania games (the GBA ones especially) anyone wanting a copy should snap them up quicksmart. I don?t expect to see them out for long.

[Kaladron]

The reason some shops may be having trouble with Castlevania is that the delivery of it only arrived this morning instead of the usual Wednesday/Thursday for new releases. Its possible that some stores do not check their deliveries until late in the day.

Having said that, my local only recieved three copies and have now sold out. Maybe Castlevania will end up being quite rare.

[Dogg Thang]

How can they possibly make any money having two or three copies per shop?

[Morcerf]

I think some of the blame should be levelled at Nintendo Europe to be honest.

We can all buy games cheaper from the US, earlier, and in nicer boxes.

I've never really been an importer, but all my DS games now come from the US.

[Dogg Thang]

Well except that Castlevania isn't out in the US yet...

[Kaladron]

...and isn't published by Nintendo.

[Morcerf]

.... ok, but generally it is the case!

[The Mole]

The reason some shops may be having trouble with Castlevania is that the delivery of it only arrived this morning instead of the usual Wednesday/Thursday for new releases. Its possible that some stores do not check their deliveries until late in the day.

Having said that, my local only recieved three copies and have now sold out. Maybe Castlevania will end up being quite rare.

Castlevania is in VERY VERY short supply, it seams like the HMV games buyer didnt order any (MISTAKE). the only place in the whole of Newcastle that had a copy was Game, all three branches two stores only got two copies and one got 5.

I managed to get the Fenwicks store to break the release date and they sold it to me on Thursday. I went back today with two mates who wanted it and ended up back in Game after hoping another stores would have it.

What is going on with DS games?

[Geoff D]

What strikes me as even weirder is that a big(ish) online retailer such as simplygames.co.uk isn't even listing Castlevnia DS :/