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[cvxfreak]

From The Magic Box:

- Nintendo announced they have officially launched the GameBoy Advance in China on June 8, the price of GBA in China is around 9248 yen or US$84. Nintendo is planning to release a series of popular GBA titles in Chinese language, one of the launch title is Made in Wario in Chinese.

Made in Wario in Chinese is a GREAT idea for a launch game. I'm guessing that leftover original GBA units from Japan and the U.S. were sent over to China. I hope the GBA sells well over there.

 

[belgurdo]

Here's to $40 Dragon Boy Advances on Ebay within six months

 

[Naked Snake]

I think the price of the unit should have been a bit lower, Nintendo could easily afford that... but this is Nintendo afterall.

Made in Wario = Wario Ware Inc?

 

[jarrod]

$84? Is that more than iQue? Also how will games be distributed? Unless it's a NP style kiosk download model, I don't really see how software will turn a profit. :/

 

[human5892]

With the easy piratability of GBA games, and the prolific state of piracy in China, I'm not sure how well this will do.

Also, would it really have killed Nintendo to sell it for a little bit less (especially if it's the original GBA and not the SP)? $84 is way too much to be paying for a new GBA (if it is the SP, on the other hand, kudos to Nintendo for giving China a discount ^_^).

 

[jarrod]

The original model GBA went out of mass production already iirc... I'd think this is probably SP, especially with the price tag being so high.

 

[StrikerObi]

The original model GBA went out of mass production already iirc... I'd think this is probably SP, especially with the price tag being so high.

GBA is not out of production. It's out of mass production. They are still producing them on a by-order basis. They are selling the original GBA model in China.

Also, MagicBox is wrong. If you look on www.ique.com you will see that Wario Ware is not listed. Wario Land 4 is coming out for GBA in China, along with Super Mario Advance.

 

[Naked Snake]

Oh no, this is the original model GBA? I feel so bad for Chinese kids

Shame on you Nintendo

 

[ge-man]

No need to feel sorry, Nintendo will learned a very hard lesson at this price. I hope this is the SP for their sake because 84 bucks for a regular GBA is robbery.

 

[jarrod]

Well crap, that's a bad move on Nintendo's part. I don't see how they expect the Chinese to pay more than everyone else for a product. Also 2 platformers at launch is overkill, espeically when they don't have anything else yet. Mario 2 and Wario Ware would've been decent but not Wario Land 4. What's Nintendo thinking? :/

On the bright side, it seems they're releasing Paper Mario in Chinese. iQue has a pretty good lineup already over there.

 

[StrikerObi]

I'll agree that the $84 price tag is a bit high. The games better be pretty cheap to make up for this. I'm thinking whereas in other territories they are willing to take a loss on hardware they will not in China. They know piracy is going to be a problem so they are not as willing to take a loss on hardware because they know they won't make up as much in software if people buy pirated games.

 

[sc0la]

The probably know they are going to have a snag in software sales because of piracy. that is probably why this unit is so expensive. they turn a profit on the hardware, software sales beyond a reasonable forcast (given the piracy climate) will be bonus to them.

But it isn't about a big profit imo.

I think this is about building a brand in a land where the people are rapidly embracing consumerism and there soon may be huge new market opportunities. If China move more towards commercial models piracy will start to decline as they crack down on it, and Nintendo will have a foot in for establishing its brand already.

 

[jarrod]

Sure but Nintendo could cut that price in half and still be making more than 50% profit off GBA. $84 is highway robbery, that's no better than Sony expecting $240 for a PS2... I doubt it'll get better results. :/

iQue was done right for China, PS2 and so far GBA look to be huge blunders.

 

[daMandus]

Anyone who knows anything about the iQue is doing? Sales wise? Are new games being released or is it all N64-stuff?

 

[human5892]

I'm not sure about sales (I don't even know of any sales-tracking services available to the public that exist for China's videogame market), but I'm pretty sure that there isn't really any new content gaming-wise on the iQue.

 

[StrikerObi]

I'm not sure about sales (I don't even know of any sales-tracking services available to the public that exist for China's videogame market), but I'm pretty sure that there isn't really any new content gaming-wise on the iQue.

Damn doesn't anybody do any research before they post? It would have taken you all of 30 seconds to go to www.ique.com to see that Paper Mario came out in May.

 

[human5892]

Damn doesn't anybody do any research before they post? It would have taken you all of 30 seconds to go to www.ique.com to see that Paper Mario came out in May.

...because Paper Mario never came out on the N64?

 

[FnordChan]

FnordChan

 

[StrikerObi]

...because Paper Mario never came out on the N64?

Are you retarded?

LOL FnordChan

 

[human5892]

Are you retarded?

No, but you very well may be -- I was responding sarcastically to your attempt to correct me that there hadn't been any new gaming content on the iQue that wasn't an N64 game. I don't see how Paper Mario -- an N64 game -- is new, non-N64 content.

 

[sc0la]

Damn doesn't anybody do any research before they post? It would have taken you all of 30 seconds to go to www.ique.com to see that Paper Mario came out in May.

This is GA. This is where we do our research

 

[daMandus]

Before this gets too ugly I must say that I was quite pleased with human5892's answer.

 

[StrikerObi]

No, but you very well may be -- I was responding sarcastically to your attempt to correct me that there hadn't been any new gaming content on the iQue that wasn't an N64 game. I don't see how Paper Mario -- an N64 game -- is new, non-N64 content.

Do you even understand the iQue? The whole point of it was for Nintendo to release N64 games in China. The games are already developed so there isn't any development cost. This way they won't be blasted by piracy. There's pratically nothing to lose. Why would they develop new content when it goes aganist the very point of the platform?

 

[human5892]

Do you even understand the iQue? The whole point of it was for Nintendo to release N64 games in China. The games are already developed so there isn't any development cost. This way they won't be blasted by piracy. There's pratically nothing to lose. Why would they develop new content when it goes aganist the very point of the platform?

Erm...yes, I understand it very well. I wasn't trying to insult the iQue -- merely answer a question that was posed.

This is one of the most confusing arguments I've ever taken part in. 0_o

 

[StrikerObi]

Erm...yes, I understand it very well. I wasn't trying to insult the iQue -- merely answer a question that was posed.

This is one of the most confusing arguments I've ever taken part in. 0_o

Oh well I'm not gonna argue aganist the iQue being a total cop-out device becasue it obviously is. It's still a smart move on Nintendo's part. And hey, China has never played those games before so as NBC used to say "If you haven't seen it, it's new to you."

 

[cvxfreak]

I think then high price of hardware will help combat piracy. Even if .01% of China's population bought a GBA, then it'd equate to 1 Million.

 

[Naked Snake]

human5892 > StrikerObi

 

[maskrider]

Launching only means officially available, many people already have GBA way before the launch.

If they need to buy any games, they can also buy them easily way before the launch. And web sites (in China) that host the ROMs have been up and running at least some years ago.

Major difference will be the new customer buying the official GBA are now supposed to have better warranty than before.

And BTW, the same case for other game consoles.

 

[StrikerObi]

Launching only means officially available, many people already have GBA way before the launch.

If they need to buy any games, they can also buy them easily way before the launch. And web sites (in China) that host the ROMs have been up and running at least some years ago.

Major difference will be the new customer buying the official GBA are now supposed to have better warranty than before.

And BTW, the same case for other game consoles.

The warrany is a very smart move on Nintendo's part. They're offering like a full year. Why should they care, Game Boys never fucking break. This is a win-win situation.

 

[hirokazu]

last time i went to China, they had plenty of import GBAs and even SPs there already, but i could not find 1 single, non-bootleg GBA game. i ask the store people why this is so, while they sell both real PS2 and Xbox games, including JP, US, and PAL, as well as pirated ones, and the reason they gave was "there's no real difference between real and bootleg GBA games apart from the price, with the PS2 and Xbox, you have to modify your system, and some people don't have modified systems"

so the bottom line is, they only sell proper, non-pirated games because they have to

EDIT: hmm, their base unit is Platinum, or is that just to make it look nicer on their site? and they have their iQue logo on the screen...