Will Nintendo know how to handle a game launch of this magnitude?

[Kittah4]

I preordered at GameStop, but my receipt got washed. Doean anyone know if you have to have this to redeem your pre-oredered copy?

I usually never have to show my receipt, they should have put down your name. Im just keeping mine for posterity, and for the fact that I'll have had it reserved for over a half a year before I finally get it.

 

[Symphony X]

I usually never have to show my receipt, they should have put down your name. Im just keeping mine for posterity, and for the fact that I'll have had it reserved for over a half a year before I finally get it.

Thanks.

I had Soul Caliber II reserved like 8 months before I finally got it. I love that game. I love Sash so much more, though.

 

[Lant]

I pre-ordered Brawl in 2006, plus there's rarely shortage of games etc in the UK luckily (or at least where I live)

The only thing I can recal ever being sold out and hard to find was the Wii last christmas, because everyone and thier pet giraffe was buying it.

I expect Nintendo will learn from past mistakes, have faith.. or go to the dark side. (ps3 i guess)

 

[FlatSoda]

lol, i reserved it and at my gamestop they offered an extra 10 bucks on it, so from 5$ to 15$ reserved, gg.

 

[BokutoGuy]

im gunna pre order

 

[Symphony X]

This guy can.

Am I missing something here? I've been seeing this picture a lot lately, and admittedly have no idea what this is referring to.

 

[bob-e]

Am I missing something here? I've been seeing this picture a lot lately, and admittedly have no idea what this is referring to.

That guy is Admiral Ackbar, supreme commander of the rebel alliance fleet. He is famous for is line, "It's a trap!" His picture implies that something is a trap.

 

[Symphony X]

That guy is Admiral Ackbar, supreme commander of the rebel alliance fleet. He is famous for is line, "It's a trap!" His picture implies that something is a trap.

Ah. Thanks for clearing that up, now I may LoL.

 

[True Fool]

I preordered mine out of fear. Because I had NEVER actually bought a Nintendo game on release, I wasn't sure how they do on it. It's not as if I lose any money by preordering it, although I like having the freedom of picking a store on launch day.

 

[DraginHikari]

I work at Wal-mart in the Electronic Department. Usually how it works is most of the time with very popular games we tend to recieve them a few days before the release (As with Halo 3) and keep them under lock and key until the time to put them out. However, this is rarely done, I can only think of a handful of games that have actually had this happened. We recieve most games within a week or so of release and usually at very random times. We only recently started getting on Wii systems on the truck for the longest time Nintendo was shipping them directly by FedEx XD;;

 

[Dogenzaka]

Simple solution to a simple concern.
Pre-order.

 

[Maricalistaro]

I peo-ordered two at seperate places just in case as high profile games usually sell out here.

 

[Vortok]

Yes... Nintendo doesn't know what they're doing because Wiis are hard to find. Nevermind that they're producing and shipping enough to SHATTER SALES RECORDS. Yeah... they must be clueless at this whole business thing. Guess what - you can't snap your fingers and make another factory come online to increase Wii production.

Brawl is the most anticipated Wii game evar and Melee wasn't the highest selling GCN game selling to only the hardcore. Almost everyone will want Brawl (oh look Timmy, it's another game with that Mario fellow you were playing at Christmas - Yeah, buy it mommy, it looks cool!). Pre-ording is the smart thing to do, unless you got a hookup or something like that (like you work at a store, so you can snag one because you're an employee, lol).

 

[GaryCXJk]

That guy is Admiral Ackbar, supreme commander of the rebel alliance fleet. He is famous for is line, "It's a trap!" His picture implies that something is a trap.

It's mostly used in context of CP or mangirl / girl with an extra though.

 

[Incognito2me]

<snip>

</Snip>Reserve Brawl or be gaurenteed to miss out. That is the bottom line.

Well I pre-ordered mine on the 13th of october 2006. So i'll be pretty pissed if I don't get it.

 

[Youko]

See, when I read the thread title, I thought the discussion would be how will Nintendo handle a game launch of this magnitude from a MARKETING PERSPECTIVE, which would probably yield actual discussion. That is, as opposed to one simple answer for this topic...

Preorder now, don't worry then.

Software is FAR easier to produce than hardware, so they'll know what they're doing from a manufacturing standpoint. But if you refuse to preorder (whyyyy?) and aren't planning on being one of the first ones to get it at your local store, you're only setting yourself up for disappointment.

 

[Max780]

I thinks this is one reason Or a positive) for the game delay so they can print more copies.

 

[Drclaw411]

See, when I read the thread title, I thought the discussion would be how will Nintendo handle a game launch of this magnitude from a MARKETING PERSPECTIVE, which would probably yield actual discussion. That is, as opposed to one simple answer for this topic...

Preorder now, don't worry then.

Software is FAR easier to produce than hardware, so they'll know what they're doing from a manufacturing standpoint. But if you refuse to preorder (whyyyy?) and aren't planning on being one of the first ones to get it at your local store, you're only setting yourself up for disappointment.

Normally I would agree with you. But for the longest time, seriously it took like til March, after Christmas, Nintendo's first partu SOFTWARE was nowhere to be found.

 

[Super_alex2]

have you ever bought a nintendo game??

 

[Jopaan]

Simple, I'll take the easy way. I'll wait until March to buy it.

 

[Puppet Master]

*has a Brawl reserve reciept dated 8/01/07*

*has a Brawl reserved recipt dated 12/3/07*

i get one no matter what...good luck to those who dont have reserve

 

[Eternalfire]

I work at Gamestop so I'm getting it no matter what lol. If we only have one copy not reserved, it'll be mine. I might reserve the game just for the heck of it when it gets close to launch though.

 

[balladofwindfishes]

I can honestly say I have had no problems buying major Nintendo 1st party games on release. Diamond, NSMB, and Twilight Princess (GCN one mind you) were actually really easy to find, and pretty common

2nd party software on the otherhand, I've had trouble with. Final Fantasy III DS, megaman collection, amazing island, and Pheonix Write AA were like impossible. The latter I actually had to wait like a year because I simply couldn't find it.

 

[Corax The Cold]

i have mine reserved, and the only reason you shouldn't reserve a copy is if you arent sure you are going to get the game.

 

[slayert3ch]

Be a real smasher. Go out and buy the game at midnight. Put it in your wii and Play like son of a B****!

 

[Drclaw411]

Be a real smasher. Go out and buy the game at midnight. Put it in your wii and Play like son of a B****!

QFT 10chars

 

[ksadkiller]

reserved 7/21/07 10:05 am beat that

 

[Weed]

I don't even have a Wii, and I still pre-ordered it, and I'll definitely hand down my $60 or however much it costs at EBgames when they call me in February.

Who knows, maybe I'll have a Wii by then.

 

[Tsukuyomi]

I technically own Brawl since I pre-paid the game... I even got a second one half paid... If people thinking that this game won't sell out, that's an understatement...

 

[VanillaMummy]

I think we need to look at this now from a marketing perspective, like a previous poster said.

I honestly don't know if Nintendo will be able to hype this game enough. Yes, we've all seen Wii commercials every now and then (and they aren't that convincing). However, this game will need more then the occasional advertising.

I'm talking full page magazine ads in Game Informer and other major video game magazines. Also, maybe placing in ad in a general entertainment magazine might help (though it is costly).

This is also where an in-store demo comes in. In store demos work wonders for games. I have seen people try a demo of a game then turn around and either pre-order the game or buy it if it is out. Not letting people try this game before buying it will just be a poor buisness move on Nintendo's part. A demo needs to be in stores by mid December to make any kind of impact on buisness.

They also need to push the "party game" aspect of Smash. While its not "Mario Party"-esque, everyone will tell you that played the previous installment, its one of the funnest party games to ever be made. Anybody can pick up this game (one of the Wii's selling points) and have fun at it. Even when you don't have skills and you loose to everyone in the begininng, its still fun. With all the mayhem going on, and occasional trash talking, I don't remember playing Smash with a group and not laughing multiple times. They can really sell this aspect in their current advertising model of "Everyone is on their couch, playing a Wii with their family".

Finally, they need to develop something called hype. Nintendo has never done this well/at all. If you want an example of the ultimate in hyping a product, just looks at the Halo 3 launch (not that I'm comparing this to Halo 3 like people like to do). Halo had pop, toys, ads all of the TV, New York shenanigans, etc. just to hype up a game most people already considered to by hyped by magazines enough.

It all comes down to the fact that the more people hear about a product the more they will have interest in it, which means a better chance they will buy said product. Nintendo really needs to sell this game. Its what I would consider "a killer-app". This game has a huge possibility of being THE game for the Wii, and if they hype it right, they can easily gain a great step up in the console wars.

I mean, look at the features already: Online vs., Online Co-op, Stage Creation, New Stage every day via Wi-Fi, HUGE single player game, large character selection, etc.

If Nintendo can't get this game into the hands of 80% of the Wii owners, then they have a problem with their marketing and they are selling this game short.

 

[Mars-]

Nintendo has a history of not always having the smoothest launches. It is commonplace for even highly anticipated games to arrive at non-game stores (Wal-Mart, K-Mart, etc.) several days, or more, late. Which is why I reserved at GameStop.

But, no matter if the release date changes again or not, I could easily see Brawl being in short supply. The entire GameStop franchise sold out of PREORDERS for Wii Play. I was lucky to get a copy. Now, I know this comes with the remote, but I think it is safe to say thatBrawl is more popular than a Wii Remote.

And let's not forget the lack of Nintendo first party products all the way through the end of February and beginning of March last year. The DS was nearly impossible to find, and even (at least where I am) the GameCube didnt last long on shelves. The Wii still doesnt. Now you may say that those are systems, and Brawl is a game.

It was common for Nintendo first party games to be sold out for a while around--and after--Christmas. New Super Mario Bros, Twilight Princess, Mario Kart DS, both Kirby DS games, Wario Ware for DS, GCN, and Wii, and many other titles took a good long time to finally start appearing on shelves again.

I remember even long ago, after Pokemon Yellow was released, it took a nice couple of weeks for it to show up in stores, and stay on the shelves for longer than a couple days.

When Halo 3, by far one of the best games of all time had it's release, millions of copies were sold on day one, and millions more are still being sold. I live in a college down, and the game was sold out for a week even though every store filled preorders and (even walmart) ordered hundreds of copies.

I do not expect Super Smash Brothers Brawl to be an easy thing to find, until at least the middle of March. I expect them to ship whatever the game stores order to fill preorders, and probably about 30-50 copies in addition. I also expect non game stores (best buy, target, walmart, kmart, and cosco and the like) to get much less copies than this. I expect those stores to recieve 20-25 max.

Nintendo has a history of not quite being able to meet demand, both on their consoles and on games, and even first party games and systems that have been released for a while tend to be in short supply around the Holliday season, and for a couple months after. There are those who expect Link's Crossbow Training to carry the Wii Zaper to sell out. I am pretty sure that Brawl is in MUCH higher demand than Link's Crossbow Training.

Nintendo has had problems before, and I dont know if they are aware how truly big they need to make the launch of this game. Much like the Halo 3 launch, this needs to be an event, not just a shelf stocking.

Reserve Brawl or be gaurenteed to miss out. That is the bottom line.

I don't know what your talking about with this "nintendo has a history" crap, just because they sold out doesn't mean anything. Don't forget that the PS3 sold out, and still is hard to get. Your really stupid if you think this is just a problem with nintendo, it's actually a common problem. The only real problem that nintendo has had was with the gamecube, when they didn't advertise enough. And I know for a fact that nintendo has made it public that they realized this, and they fixed it pretty quickly. With how brawl is going right now, it could sell for millions, so what is the problem. Yeah some people might not get their copy the first day, but that doesn't mean that they won't get it later.

 

[CT Chia]

Overall, unfortunately I don't know if Nintendo is ready for such a launch, but we could be wrong. Nintendo makes amazing products, but it seems like they don't know anything about proper advertising lately, but it's possible it's time to change. Even though it's ridiculous that it's still near impossible to find a Wii, it was a very successful launch. Nintendo advertised the system very well, and still had a great launch supply, although there was no denying that the system was just too popular. The fact that it's already surpassed the 360 in sales in under a years time, even while the 360 had a year head start is almost hard to believe.

Games normally aren't as much as a problem, except for oddly enough Wii Play. I'm surprised just how crazy people went over a pack-in Wii remote. Granted it's a great deal, but it's still topic the top-10 lists in software sales today even though it launched back in February.

Things might change though, and the biggest hint is the Dojo. I personally have never seen anything like this done for a game before. Even Halo 3, the biggest entertainment launch in history didn't do something like this. Bungie released information on Halo 3 rarely, and granted when they did sites were all over it, but Brawl has week-daily updates, which some sites report on a daily basis, and others report on a weekly basis. This gets the game into the media more than any other game out there, and essentially getting more people to know about it.

It's also clear that Nintendo isn't holding out on this iteration of Smash. Sure there's the basis of the game were used to with Melee, but this is offering just as much, if not more content than Halo 3 which is shocking for it's time. Stage editing, multiple/editable control schemes, tons of characters and maps, daily content, online play, full story mode with online co-op, screenshots, movies, the stadium, and plenty more. Also, the fact that the game has been delayed once (technically twice if you count Iwata saying that they were trying to make it for the Wii's launch) means that they realize they need more time to finish, and produce copies. Nintendo knows that Melee is the un-disputed #1 seller on the Cube, and one of the most popular tournament games of all time, so I actually think they will be ready for Brawl.

Atleast we can already tell it won't be handled like Metroid Prime 3, which was advertised and launched TERRIBLY. Super Mario Galaxy is starting to show a change in the right direction, and Brawl will be perfection.

 

[Mars-]

Let me give you an example, just to clear things up. I don't remember ever hearing an advertisement for super mario 64, but I still have the game, and so does just about everyone that owns an n64.

 

[Old Man Nintendo]

Brawl and Galaxy reserved on 8/5/2007, paid in full.

Reserving games is never a dumb thing to do, as it guarantees you that game on release day (assuming you want to pick it up on release day).

Regarding Nintendo's launch strategies, it isn't their fault that a given game sells out like there's no tomorrow, but it is their responsibility to make sure that they've manufactured enough games in anticipation of a major buying spree. In the case of Brawl, they better have millions of games made for Day 1 as well as a steady stream of Brawl games afterwards (perhaps somewhere in the range of 200k-250k games shipped per week until demand really starts to level out).

~Old Man Nintendo

 

[Tyrael64]

Let me sit you down and tell you something son...

Pay attention, logic only comes around once in a blue moon around this sesspool....

It is Nintendo. They will do what they must baby, do what they can to please the consumer. Whether it be through false promises or a 5 figure bribe, they will do what they can son.

First of all, games don't take long to manufacture, it is but a blank cd son, a blank cd.

This ain't the endsville that Wii went through, what with it's frustrating (but understandable) supply and demand ratio inaccurancy.

Case and point, they understand the many orgasms Smash will yearn, and like an eager 50$ callgirl, they will do what they can to please you as soon as possible.

cesspool.

 

[DraginHikari]

You won't see many in-store demos for Brawl particular since most places won't put out a Wii display due to the completely wireless and motion sensory makes the ability to make a secure stand near close to impossible.

 

[Kittah4]

You won't see many in-store demos for Brawl particular since most places won't put out a Wii display due to the completely wireless and motion sensory makes the ability to make a secure stand near close to impossible.

My gamestop has a demonstration Wii. The managers just make you leave your ID with the manager and trade it for the Wii Remote. However the manager that seems to have moved from my place was cool and let me play Super Paper Mario as long as I wanted without giving up my ID.

 

[VanillaMummy]

My gamestop has a demonstration Wii. The managers just make you leave your ID with the manager and trade it for the Wii Remote. However the manager that seems to have moved from my place was cool and let me play Super Paper Mario as long as I wanted without giving up my ID.

My store does the same and they kind of keep an eye on the people too. That's just common sense. They also don't give the remote out without a parent being present.

They could also hook up a Gamecube controller since every GameStop/EB has like 30 used ones lying around.

 

[caduceus]

yes, yes they do.

not reserving games makes you dumb. unless you dont care enough to want it at launch. then my advice to you would be : stop doing things you dont care about immensely.

thinking that people who don't reserve games are dumb, makes you dumb.

 

[Jammer]

thinking that people who don't reserve games are dumb, makes you dumb.

Calling someone "dumb" for something as minor as thinking that people who don't reserve games are dumb, makes you dumb.

I guess that makes me very dumb.

Sorry.