Rising Star: UK Retailers refusing to stock Muramasa

[68soul]

This is the kind of news that keep frightin' me: the smaller teams struggle to make little gems, they know right from the start that their games won't please millions and millions of gamers...

But they are courageous, and decide to release them anyway, and sometimes to release them on Wii (thanks!)... but it's a though decision, as the Wii market is unpredictable, and they are takin' real risks...

And then you have a kind of "sabotage" from the retailers: if these games have no chance to shine, and can't afford any promotionnal costs anyway, these small teams may go down easily, just as the guys who also took risks with the distribution: in this case, the awesome guys at Rising Star...

It's bad, really bad... and what makes me sad is that Nintendo, with all their billions in the bank, don't do ANYTHING: they could offer promotion and distribution deals for such quality titles... if the game is distributed by Nintendo, NO big retailer in this world will say: no thanks, we won't sell your game...

But Nintendo doesn't even do the distribution of some of their own "niche" games, like it happened not too long ago with Disaster in the US, Excitebots in PAL, or Fatal Frame 4, everywhere: they don't seem to care anymore, because it doesn't bring tens and tens of millions easily, just like any "Wii Fit plus" or most of their "safe" blockbusters...

So, we have guys like Rising Star to do that risky job, and they're not even respected by anyone in the business... the small japanese teams are too far away and can't do the job themselves, Nintendo doesn't move, the retailers don't care, most gaming journalists don't even notice anything... and anyway, most gamers are too busy playing their PS360 FPS on one side, and their Wii 1st party on the other side: and "niche lovers" like us are screwed...

If that's what left for us on the gaming scene, with Edge doin' that kind of frontpage... well, no, i'm not a "happy gamer" then...

http://www.gonintendo.com/viewstory.php?id=101435

It's not a bright future in Japan right now, that's for sure: but don't tell me Nintendo is the gaming's scene savior, cos honestly, the billions they're makin' are just their own and the ones of the shareholders, they don't promote creativity and originality...

You could say it's not their job: but i think they should care... and at least take some small risks from time to time, for games that really, really deserve a little bit of extra support...

I hope i don't sound too bitter... even if i am... :(