I'm happy to say I finally got my shipping conformation!!!
For those who are wondering, my order number was #1892.
Funny thing is, I recently sent an email to Analogue complaining about the HDMI / analogue signal issue.
I also complained about their poor communication in general.
They responded to me with the following:
I responded with this to say:
The final response was perhaps the most mysterious:
I really don't know what to make of this, it's pretty hard to believe they had a good reason to not keep us informed.
But who knows at this point, maybe Nintendo themselves were involved with the delays.
I guess we'll find out pretty soon at least.
For now I'm gonna buy a HDMI to RGB converter and just move on.
For those who are wondering, my order number was #1892.
Funny thing is, I recently sent an email to Analogue complaining about the HDMI / analogue signal issue.
I also complained about their poor communication in general.
They responded to me with the following:
Hi Reid,
Cheers!
The internet can be a tyrannical monster. One that is filled with conspiracy theories and speculation. Fortunately this sort of thing is the result of no more than a handful of people, in a couple places on the net -- many of which aren't even customers of ours. Frankly, 95% of those who pre-ordered the Nt have felt informed through the process. We know this because we speak with tons of our customers daily. We're here and anyone can reach out directly to us anytime.
Regardless of what conspiracy theories and speculation may be found on the internet -- the Nt was indeed finished, in production and planned to ship on our originally announced dates. All of our delays, have been entirely transparent and honest (and can be flatly proven). To be clear: the Analogue Nt is not a Kickstarter...an important distinction between a Kickstarter and taking pre-orders: we offer refunds to our customers at anytime. Pre-orders are there simply to 'lock' your place in line.
We do have an incredible story to tell about the obstacles we ran into and what it took to maintain our standard of quality (which outside of the out-of-our-control port delays and customs, is the reason for the bulk of delays). This story will completely shed light on the Nt's timeline. You can count on this story being told, but in the meantime, we're still focused on getting these last orders out to everybody.
Regardless, any misunderstanding at all us unacceptable and we of course completely understand why some have gotten upset. We'll definitely be refining several things in the future to totally eliminate any chance of this kind of thing in the future.
And don't worry, we're not going anywhere. The Analogue Nt is only the beginning.
I responded with this to say:
I dont mean to come off accusatory of you guys not informing your customers.
But there is undeniably some information that myself and others feel was left out.
I am not referring specifically about the delays themselves but why they were happening.
We were never informed about the change to the HDMI upscaler.
It went from being an external attachment made by Analogue to the internal board developed by Kevin Horton.
You told us that all units would be shipping in June / July but no one received their HDMI unit until the end of August.
We were never told that the HDMI upgraded units were delayed because you were waiting on Kevins boards to be finished.
We were never told about how the change to Kevins board meant that the Analogue Nt could only output HDMI and not analogue signals.
Many people ordered the HDMI upgrade and analogue cables when you first announced it because it was never stated the two werent compatible.
The HDMI feature was advertised as an upgrade, why would anyone think this would remove other features from the system?
These are just a few of the details that were not given to your customers, and trust me I know theyre not happy about it because Ive spoken to them.
I really dont see why you couldnt of sent us an email saying something like, Listen guys, I have good news, Kevin Horton joined our team and is working with us to make the Analogue Nt even better! His HiDefNES board will allow the Analogue Nt to surpass everyones expectations! But please be patient, this means you all will have to wait a little longer, but we promise it will be worth the wait."
Something that simple would have made all the difference.
Please consider this kind of communication for your next products, it can only help.
And, no you did not do a kickstarter, but the way they communicate can relate to your process because your product was not finished.
The final response was perhaps the most mysterious:
We'll explain these things, but I'm not going to do so now and start rumors. It'll all make complete sense, don't worry.
We've been in this business for 5 years and we didn't get to this point by being dishonest.
We do appreciate your interest in what we do, we're super passionate about it too. The amount of human effort that went into producing the Nt is truly unbelievable. We pretty much lost 2 years of our lives making it. It was worth it!
I really don't know what to make of this, it's pretty hard to believe they had a good reason to not keep us informed.
But who knows at this point, maybe Nintendo themselves were involved with the delays.
I guess we'll find out pretty soon at least.
For now I'm gonna buy a HDMI to RGB converter and just move on.