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amiibo discussion thread...plus info on upcoming re-stocks...

I want a new 2DS when they come out, but probably will wait until I can get one used. But right now I have a Wii, PS3, GCN, broken DS Lite(May fix/customize), Switch, and of course a PC

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15 hours ago, vladonizer said:

I want a new 2DS when they come out, but probably will wait until I can get one used. But right now I have a Wii, PS3, GCN, broken DS Lite(May fix/customize), Switch, and of course a PC

 

@vladonizer ...hey...sorry, this turned into a bit of a rant...sorry about that, it's not directed at you, it's just me going off on a tangent...(I think I didn't quite let the machano strips I spray painted olive drab (to build my RAID array) cure sufficiently before fitting them into my machine and pumping the fumes around my room with my air-cooling setup).


I love my 3DS (I need to get a spare in advance of their potentially ceasing production of them); I'll be a lot less nervous about it if they announce another 3DS revision but I'm pretty sure (if that happens, and I'm not at all sure it will) that it shouldn't be for another year or so, so as not to prematurely age, in terms of consumer perception, the 2DS...

...but it seems 3D hasn't taken off in the way it was expected to and the 2DS may very well be the standard for the "DS" from here on out...Fire Emblem have anounced that the upcoming release for the 3DS will be the last for the system and that they're migrating the franchise to Switch, and it wouldn't surprise me if that was the case across the board, not least because of the popularity of Switch, so...it seems the xDS range might be supported as a legacy system for the wider DS library (although the older DS games look pretty terrible on the xDS screens, so hopefully the 2DS might address that, I'd hope so, but I'd need to see it for myself) but it wouldn't surprise me if, should that be the case (i.e. Nintendo supporting the xDS as a legacy system for at least probably the life-span of the Switch) that the 2DS is how they'll do that...rendering the 3DS a nieche collectors market item, within the next couple of years (I hope I'm wrong about that). 

I love 3D, I don't understand why people don't like it...I mean literally I find it hard to even conceive why people wouldn't want 3D...sometimes I think it's just a kind of groupthink and it frustrates me because it makes me think that I'm going to loose 3D simply because people can't think for themselves...

...but, as much as I find it almost impossible to believe that people would rather not have 3D, I'm just coming to accept that maybe people just genuinely don't like it.

At the 3DS's launch I think there was a kind of attitude of, if you're impressed by 3D your some kind of rube, and that it became fashionable to trash 3D and then just worked it's way into people's attitudes like some kind of weird, casual, political stance.

Personally, I have every 3D game released for the PS3 and a 3D Sony monitor and the 3DS is one of my favourite systems (and, I'm hoping to get an nVidia 3D setup, or VR if, at the very least, someone can implement some kind of virtual 3D monitor for monitor based 3D games)...I play games I wouldn't have otherwise ever have played, simply because I think they just look fantastic in 3D, or because they add terrific gameplay functionality e.g. playing a 3D platformer in actual Stereo 3D, rather than in Stereoscopic 2D (turning off 3D for an isometric perspective 3D platformer, in favour of viewing that isometric 3D platformer in stereoscopic 2D...just makes absolutely no sense to me...it literally makes me think that there must be something wrong with a person if they would do that...or if not the person, then surely it has to be the culture?)

But yeah...I'd give up Zelda for 3D; I think Zelda's totally overrated and that the earlier titles were just designed to suck money out of the consumer on the back end with stuff like their Zelda hints & cheats bubblegum cards and their premium rate helpline...it amazes me that people swallow this stuff, and ask for more, and defend it like it's some kind of religion...I find it quite upsetting.

But yeah...in as much as like or dislike of 3D is, or isn't, a casual kind of political stance, and whether or not it makes me ,or stops me, being a "real gamer", or someone you can like...I draw my line in the sand and I state my alignment: I love stereoscopic 3D and (while I play Zelda titles) I'm not a Zelda fan.

 

But, as for consoles...I go back as far as GBA, but I play original gameboy games on that also, and I don't have a Saturn, nor do I yet have a Switch, a PS4 or an XBox One, because they're going to come down in price and my current mid-range priority is continuing to collect to me the retro stuff I need (I say mid-range priority because right now I'm all in on overhauling my P.C. and putting together a home-network).

The oldest console I have is a Famicom, that I imported to play a Sweet Home fan-translation ROM flash I picked up on eBay, and I don't have snes, Megadrive/Genesis, or an N64 as I don't have titles I want to play on them (I have 1080 Avalanche and Waverace: Blue Storm for the Gamecube and while I do consider Excitebike 64 to be one of the best games ever made, I think it's been far far superseded by the MX vs ATV series (I just wish they let you race practice laps in that franchise)...I play Mario Kart Super Circuit on the GBA and, that's personally all I need to carry over from the SNES (but tastes differ and sometimes other people's tastes can be, if not hard to understand, at least difficult to relate to).

"I try to put good out into the world...that way I can believe it's out there." --CKN                  “How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours.” --Wayne Dyer            

[Needs Updating] My PC: i5-10600K @TBD / 32GB DDR4 @4000MHz / Z490 AORUS Elite AC / Titan RTX / Samsung 1TB 960 Evo / EVGA SuperNova 850 T2

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Bayonetta amiibo pre-orders open again at game.co.uk: 

 

http://www.game.co.uk/en/bayonetta-amiibo-super-smash-bros-collection-original-outfit-1891493

 

http://www.game.co.uk/en/bayonetta-amiibo-super-smash-bros-collection-1891424

 

Also, at time of writing, the pre-order for the second ("metrosexual"-style) Cloud amiibo is open at Game.co.uk, but the original cloud it seems is sold out.  

http://www.game.co.uk/en/cloud-amiibo-super-smash-bros-collection-advent-children-1891487

At time of writing the pre-order for one of the Corrins is also open at Game.co.uk:  

http://www.game.co.uk/en/corrin-amiibo-super-smash-bros-collection-female-1891490


Also, I just posted this at Nintendolife.com in response to someone quoting me about compulsivity of amiibo collecting:
 

Quote

 

You don't know the half of it...I've been searching compulsively for info on pre-orders for these things...I got import pre-orders for the re-stocks of 30th Anniversary Zelda and Sheik placed literally by sitting up through the night (while I was fixing emergency P.C. issues) and repeatedly clicking around the potential pre-order sites...

 

...the pre-orders must have only been open for a matter of hours, if that.
 

I almost missed out on the pre-orders for the two new Bayonetta (which I eventually pre-ordered from Game.co.uk) because I was waiting on Amazon to receive stock but it looks like Amazon didn't actually get any...they don't even have out-of-stock pages for those. Eventually I searched further afield for those two, and found them at Game.co.uk and pre-ordered but they were sold out within a day of me pre-ordering.

 

...as for any Link amiibo...they don't even seem to be getting to retail where I am...as I say Amazon.co.uk don't even have out-of-stock pages for the new amiibo...it's as though they never got stock.
 

I'm not going go into how I feel about this...needless to say...if Nintendo are using artificial scarcity to create a buzz around their products, I think it's unfair, to say the least (I think it's a really lousy thing to do to the fans; really exploitative...I don't think it's a good practice...it doesn't make me feel any better about Nintendo's marketing strategies)...but I don't want to get into an argument.
 

I've read that they've stated that amiibo are difficult to produce...I'd like to think that was the case (and give them the benefit of the doubt) but it's a case of not wanting to loose myself in denial about the fact that Nintendo are a business with the goal of making money, even if it's at more than their fans' financial expense.

 

What really rubs salt into the wounds is that they're all going to be available at three to four times the price on eBay, from people who've bulk-purchased them to re-sell...you can already "pre-order" the new amiibo from scalpers on eBay...and it seems that nothing's done to prevent this...
 

...if amiibo really are that difficult to make, then at least a "one per customer" type rule could be set up and Nintendo could refuse to stock retailers who won't abide by that policy with amiibo...but then that wouldn't create the kind of buzz that Nintendo are probably looking for.

 

But yeah...if amiibo are that hard to produce they could just create a "one per customer" type rule with their vendors...I have seen that done in at least one place...it should be universal.

But, to be honest, I think the real reason behind this practice is creating artificial scarcity, limiting amiibo ownership (through inflated expense) to people who'll exhibit them as status symbols, while creating a buzz around their products, basically as a kind of marketing strategy...I think it's a shameful and disgusting practice.

"I try to put good out into the world...that way I can believe it's out there." --CKN                  “How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours.” --Wayne Dyer            

[Needs Updating] My PC: i5-10600K @TBD / 32GB DDR4 @4000MHz / Z490 AORUS Elite AC / Titan RTX / Samsung 1TB 960 Evo / EVGA SuperNova 850 T2

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21 hours ago, GuruMeditationError said:

But, to be honest, I think the real reason behind this practice is creating artificial scarcity, limiting amiibo ownership (through inflated expense) to people who'll exhibit them as status symbols, while creating a buzz around their products, basically as a kind of marketing strategy...I think it's a shameful and disgusting practice.

It is very annoying. The worst part is that people are buying cases to sell them for 3 times as much, instead of people getting them, then selling them when they get tried of them. Collectors value is stupid

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6 minutes ago, vladonizer said:

It is very annoying. The worst part is that people are buying cases to sell them for 3 times as much, instead of people getting them, then selling them when they get tried of them. Collectors value is stupid

I know, and no one in the supply chain seems to be doing anything about it.

People even buy this stuff to dead-stock as a kind of equity...it sucks....Nintendo should enforce a limit on numbers sold per customer, but it helps them when this kind of thing happens because it's good advertising for them...it may as well be a marketing strategy. I just find it absolutely foul.

"I try to put good out into the world...that way I can believe it's out there." --CKN                  “How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours.” --Wayne Dyer            

[Needs Updating] My PC: i5-10600K @TBD / 32GB DDR4 @4000MHz / Z490 AORUS Elite AC / Titan RTX / Samsung 1TB 960 Evo / EVGA SuperNova 850 T2

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So, I just spoke to an assistant via Live Chat at Game.co.uk, and the bottom line is, basically: If Nintendo generate more stock, we'll sell it.

"I try to put good out into the world...that way I can believe it's out there." --CKN                  “How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours.” --Wayne Dyer            

[Needs Updating] My PC: i5-10600K @TBD / 32GB DDR4 @4000MHz / Z490 AORUS Elite AC / Titan RTX / Samsung 1TB 960 Evo / EVGA SuperNova 850 T2

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I've had to contact Nin-Nin games about their already drawing the money from my credit card for June's re-stock pre-order...

...I'm just not sure how the representative will react when he sees my order reference...I'm worried they might think I'm some kind of trolling hacker:

 

 

Pre-order enquiry.png

"I try to put good out into the world...that way I can believe it's out there." --CKN                  “How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours.” --Wayne Dyer            

[Needs Updating] My PC: i5-10600K @TBD / 32GB DDR4 @4000MHz / Z490 AORUS Elite AC / Titan RTX / Samsung 1TB 960 Evo / EVGA SuperNova 850 T2

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On 5/28/2017 at 4:05 PM, GuruMeditationError said:

I've had to contact Nin-Nin games about their already drawing the money from my credit card for June's re-stock pre-order...

...I'm just not sure how the representative will react when he sees my order reference...I'm worried they might think I'm some kind of trolling hacker:

Oh that order is just too good

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Just now, vladonizer said:

Oh that order is just too good

I know: for a second I thought I'd ordered Nintendo-themed b***p***s :D

I've since contacted them to ask to cancel it...it's just too expensive, especially since I might have to pay import duty and customs handling fees...it's just too expensive.

They're not very no-quibble about that but they say in the terms of service if it's absolutely necessary than pre-orders can be cancelled, so I have to see how that goes.

"I try to put good out into the world...that way I can believe it's out there." --CKN                  “How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours.” --Wayne Dyer            

[Needs Updating] My PC: i5-10600K @TBD / 32GB DDR4 @4000MHz / Z490 AORUS Elite AC / Titan RTX / Samsung 1TB 960 Evo / EVGA SuperNova 850 T2

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When I started this thread I thought it might be a fun thing to do...

 

...now it seems I've found my way into a shady world of diverted stock, artificial scarcity, strategic dead stocking and an insatiable demand for a product that would probably require an army of third-world sweat-shop workers to fulfil; for a product almost certainly produced to protect Nintendo's market sector control in the face of assault from other companies with their cheaper toys-to-life variants: Nintendo want's your toys to life money, and when Nintendo wants your money, you may as well just let them frisk you: Reggie's gonna come shake you down son.

So...I've cancelled my hard-won pre-order with https://www.nin-nin-game.com/en/ (who were very good about it, despite what it says in their user agreement) and I'm out of the amiibo market...

...sorry guys; I thought this would be fun; it was a horror-show.

Scratching at the paint on his gold mario: "...the...uh...stuff that dreams are made of." 

 

"...forget it Guru', it's Chinatown."

 

"I try to put good out into the world...that way I can believe it's out there." --CKN                  “How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours.” --Wayne Dyer            

[Needs Updating] My PC: i5-10600K @TBD / 32GB DDR4 @4000MHz / Z490 AORUS Elite AC / Titan RTX / Samsung 1TB 960 Evo / EVGA SuperNova 850 T2

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