WTF happened to the PAL We Love Katamari?

[optimusrhymes]

many moons ago when i was at Game, they took the decision to stop selling Disney dvds because of a row between the buying dept of Game and Disney, so it wouldn't suprise me if they are having similar disagreements with EA.

http://www.pressstartonline.co.uk/in...=258&Itemid=70

heres the link to the news story referred to on teletext.

[nips]

None in Cardiff GAME

[IanE]

None in Cardiff GAME

Ask them to search for stock, check on the system etc? Or have they sold?

[Sony Fanboy]

How does GAME or yourself know that many consumers won't want something thats not available in the charts? If GAME are not trying to provide their customer with choice then they are not providing a service.

Where are you getting this from? Not providing a service for you specifically?

There is such a thing as market research and past experiences. With Katamari specifically, even with a budget and plentiful stock in the US, it still sold relatively poorly.

[nips]

Ask them to search for stock, check on the system etc? Or have they sold?

I asked whether they had any in at all, the guy had to ask his manager what game it was and he said that he hasn't seen any in yet, but he wasn't in on Friday, so if they sold their allocation on the day of realease, then that's a possibility, although he'd be suprised... the last game that did that was GTA:SA.

I'm not concerned, I've got my US copy on the way, I'm just posting it incase anyone in the area was going to have a look - save 'em a journey, like.

[IanE]

I asked whether they had any in at all, the guy had to ask his manager what game it was and he said that he hasn't seen any in yet, but he wasn't in on Friday, so if they sold their allocation on the day of realease, then that's a possibility, although he'd be suprised... the last game that did that was GTA:SA.

I'm not concerned, I've got my US copy on the way, I'm just posting it incase anyone in the area was going to have a look - save 'em a journey, like.

If they got any, they would have had a maximum of 4, games sell out of their allocations all the time on release day, mainly because only one or two of a certain title are stocked.

[cohen205]

Cardiff gamestation seems to have quite a lot of copies in.

i noticed that it was number 2 in their sales charts, so they must have sold/and still have a few copies left.

[Pezley]

the Dispute between GAME and EA was pretty much cleared up a month or two ago, EA branded titles did drop in price after this, things that may of been distributed by ea and not made by them (HL2, katamari) have stayed at roughly full retail because they have no interest in advertising for these games.

EA have shown interest in dropping their prices across the board but it hasnt happened yet.If your Local GAME store says no stock of katamari, it pretty much means exactly that, the stores were only sent enough to cover pre orders.and at ?39.99 you wont see them get too many more in.the 39.99 price point is partly EA's fault and partly GAMES, they managed to get ea to budge on prices by dicking them over in the charts over xmas,after ea realised this all prices were the reduced. but as i said before, if EA arent to bothered about selling katamari in mass quantities they will not offer cheap prices on the games.Game keeping the price at 39.99 is stupid as everywhere else is cheaper, but they are doing it to show EA they cant control the prices.

[Sony Fanboy]

I think WL Katamari had a higher wholesaler price than many other games which is why it's ?40 in most high-street retailers.

(by the way:

)

[NekoFever]

My god...that's the worst box art I've seen in a while. The Japanese one is quite cool but that's hideous.

[Lesley Smith]

I have to agree with NekoFever, yikes!!

[Concept]

To give GAME their due, the way they've handled the launch of ICO's re-release and Colossus' PAL release has left me impressed. ICO is on the shelves in a fairly prominent place on my store, Colossus is being adveritised in the shop, GAME's website has a fairly large banner promoting them both on the front page, and the reviews for each of the games are well written. I'm still critical of their handing of Katamari and Psychonauts, but with regards to ICO and Colossus, they've gone some way to disspelling my cynicism by promoting two games that aren't destined to sell well, but are wonderful in their own right.

[EvilBoris]

To give GAME their due, the way they've handled the launch of ICO's re-release and Colossus' PAL release has left me impressed. ICO is on the shelves in a fairly prominent place on my store, Colossus is being adveritised in the shop, GAME's website has a fairly large banner promoting them both on the front page, and the reviews for each of the games are well written. I'm still critical of their handing of Katamari and Psychonauts, but with regards to ICO and Colossus, they've gone some way to disspelling my cynicism by promoting two games that aren't destined to sell well, but are wonderful in their own right.

Sony always go bonkers with their own published stuff. Usually doesn't work though.
The SCEE mark of death as I call it , that fatal little orange diamond of death.
Unless you are gran turismo of course.

[sj33]

Indeed, I reckon SCEE are giving this a big push. Both SotC and even Ico are real graphical showcases for the machine.

[MattyD]

Of course SCEE are pushing Ico - it's money for old rope, and it's been hyped up on every website and magazine for the last two years. If it fails to sell now there really is something wrong with punters.