Since there's no site called "PAL-US"...

[BaudAttitude]

Hello all

It's been probably a year since I've been a regular site visitor, but I see an awful lot of familiar names and avatars still. The domain name change threw me for a bit of a loop, I'll admit - I thought the place might have closed down while I wasn't looking.

Anyway, I'm an American who's traveling to the UK for the first time ever this fall. I'll be spending a week in London with my wife and then another week in Scotland with the rest of my family - my mother is from Glasgow and wants to show everyone where she grew up.

My wife's priorities are, of course, finding places to go and things to do.

I am fully in support of these priorities, but, you know, it doesn't hurt to have a second agenda while I'm at it, and that agenda would be seeking out games that were published in, or localized for, the UK market but didn't quite manage to make it to the US.

For example, I know I'll be hunting down Another Code R and the Hotel Dusk sequel, and Xenoblade if it's out, and I know that an awful lot of SIMPLE2000 games came out in the UK, but beyond those I have only a vague sense that there must be things I'm missing.

So please, help me decide what to look for when I say to my wife "hey, a games store. Can I just look inside for 10 minutes?"

Edit: Also, if anyone has suggestions for hotels convenient to touristy sorts of things in London, those would be terribly appreciated as well.

[Neon Ignition]

I think Xenoblade is coming out next month or so over here so you should be able to get hold of that one easily. I know that Disaster: Day of Crisis on the Wii wasn't released in the US and if you find a copy it should be pretty cheap and is a fun, often overlooked title with a bit of spectacle to it.

[Jei]

Personally I'd order the majority of them online and have them shipped to your family's address in Scotland ready to be picked up

[Neon Ignition]

With a box of chocolates of something to bribe your wife's anger away with

[fuse]

You will be hard pressed to find the SIMPLE2000 ports in any of the chain game shops, they're more common in the entertainment sections of big supermarkets. Would definitely recommend buying them online first if you can.

[abigsmurf]

A Lot of the PAL exclusive games became hard to buy so be prepared to shop or call around for some of them.

Exclusive PAL titles:

One Piece Unlimited Cruise Wii (not a chance in hell of finding this in store)
Disaster : Day of Crisis Wii
Tingle's freshly picked rosy rupeeland DS (don't be put off by Tingle, it's a fairly creative game)
The Hotel Dusk sequel Wii
Another Code R Wii
Inazuma 11 DS
Solatorobo (for a couple of months) DS, warning, this is DSi enhanced, won't run on a US DSi/XL or 3DS, will play fine on any DS Lite.
Xenoblade Wii

London advice: Staying in central London is incredibly expensive. Don't be afraid to go slightly further out if you can get a hotel a short walk from a tube station. You're rarely more than half an hour from central London on the Tube.

The tower of London is a must if you're at all into historical buildings, just be warned you usually have to queue to get in. Don't be afraid to do the Museums, they're free (you may have to pay for guest exhibits though) and they're pretty great. Best ones are the Science Museum and the Natural history museums but the British museum and imperial war musuems are also great.

[J0e Musashi]

Leicester Square is pronounced "Lester Square".

[djjimbob]

^^ He's kidding - it's "Ly-sess-ter Square"

[charlesr]

Have you ever tried playing PAL wii stuff? I presume you have geckoOS installed yeah?

[abigsmurf]

If you're after Simply 2000 stuff, be aware that some of them have weird names . The Daibijin for example is known as "demolition girl"

[kryss]

PAL Wii games are all well and good but your TV in the States won't support playing them. That was my experience with Little King's Story and GeckOS on my Samsung TV. If you have a USB capture card or something that let's you play on the computer then you'll be okay though.

[cutmymilk]

What are you lot on about with simple 2000? Were they all released as budget games with crap artwork and crap names? In supermarket 2 for ?10 bins?

[abigsmurf]

They got pretty low profile releases and weren't really marketed as a series

[cutmymilk]

LOL wtf is that boxart?!

[prinnysquad]

That's an amazing game. You fly around in a chopper trying to photograph a giant girl's tits and fanny. Sort of.