ShopDreamUp AI ArtDreamUp
Deviation Actions
Where to begin...? ^_^;
Well, back in June a new DS game by the name of Soul Bubbles was released. Upon learning about this game and watching gameplay videos, I knew I had to get it. I didn't have my DS yet though so I figured I'd best wait.
Come August, I still don't have my DS, but am now planning on getting it, so I figure I'd best find out how much Soul Bubbles costs. But, as I search around Canadian electronics, gaming and toy stores online, I can't find it anywhere. o_O
Curious, I check to make absolutely sure it has been released, and all the data I pull up says it has. I decide to check random forums, hoping to figure out what's going on and sure enough, no one in Canada seems to have been able to find the game in stores! At the same time though, I discovered that the game was being offered exclusively through Toys R Us.
OK, so I go to search the Canadian Toys R Us website... no luck. I then search the American Toys R Us website and there it is. Of course, if I want to buy something from Toys R Us, I have to do it through the Canadian website.
Fed up with the situation, I check E-Bay, but the only person at the time offering the game beyond the USA was charging $10 over the MSRP, and adding shipping on that, it made the game prohibitively expensive to get.
I wait a month, hoping that maybe all I need to be is patient, but the situation doesn't change at all. Somewhat angry, I go to the publisher's website (Eidos) to try and voice my opinion about the lack of being able to get Soul Bubbles in Canada, but I can't find any contact info. Then I figure I might as well try telling the developers instead (Mekensleep). They did indeed have contact info so I sent a well thought out E-Mail to them, citing references to how exclusive titles that were receiving good reviews never really sold well and that Eidos was damaging the prospect of the game receiving its due in that regard.
Well... two days later I get an E-Mail back from somebody at Eidos by the name of Bob Lindsey, asking for my contact info so he can speak with me directly. Apparently, Mekensleep forwarded my E-Mail to Eidos. I'm thinking to myself, probably some public relations guy or something, but when I look up the Eidos staff I find he's the Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing. o_o;
...oh dear, what have I gotten myself into?! Why is someone in such an important position paying direct attention to a single E-Mail from just one average consumer?
Cautiously, and extremely nervously, I E-Mailed him back with my contact info. A few hours later he did indeed call me. Not even a minute into the 10 minute long conversation two things dawned on me: All he wanted to do was talk and that I was able to speak to him very easily, as though we were on the same level.
During the conversation, he revealed to me how Eidos was having a heck of a time trying to get retailers to stock the game at all. The only way they were able to get it onto store shelves was to offer it as exclusive. Even Toys R Us of Canada rejected the exclusivity deal. Because the game is so different, and completely original, the retailers just didn't want to waste their valuable shelf space on it. Noooo, they'd rather stock large quantities of movie and television based titles on their shelves. x_x;
But, the conversation ended with Mr. Lindsey offering to have one of his sales reps sell the game directly to me. Because the game has been getting good reviews they were preparing to do a more general release in both the US and Canada, but I figure I was offered this opportunity because that was still a ways off. The only condition was that I had to share my thoughts on the game once I had played it.
That was back around the end of September, and thanks to the postal system, it took over a month for Eidos to receive my payment for the games. >_>;
...yeah, I bought two copies. One as a gift for for obvious reasons. ; D
So, I finally have Soul Bubbles, and have been playing it, and I definitely like it. As the reviewers have been citing, it does lack replay value, but there's quite a bit for what's there. The gameplay itself is both weird and wonderful, extremely original, and I would recommend all people with a DS try this game at least once as soon as they can! It's not for everyone, but anyone who can appreciate the magic of bubbles like I can, even just a little, will certainly love it. X3
*goes back to herding souls with bubbles*
--- Gemini
--------------------------------------------------------------
My Games at Pixelmusement
My Videos at GameTrailers
Friends!
Well, back in June a new DS game by the name of Soul Bubbles was released. Upon learning about this game and watching gameplay videos, I knew I had to get it. I didn't have my DS yet though so I figured I'd best wait.
Come August, I still don't have my DS, but am now planning on getting it, so I figure I'd best find out how much Soul Bubbles costs. But, as I search around Canadian electronics, gaming and toy stores online, I can't find it anywhere. o_O
Curious, I check to make absolutely sure it has been released, and all the data I pull up says it has. I decide to check random forums, hoping to figure out what's going on and sure enough, no one in Canada seems to have been able to find the game in stores! At the same time though, I discovered that the game was being offered exclusively through Toys R Us.
OK, so I go to search the Canadian Toys R Us website... no luck. I then search the American Toys R Us website and there it is. Of course, if I want to buy something from Toys R Us, I have to do it through the Canadian website.
Fed up with the situation, I check E-Bay, but the only person at the time offering the game beyond the USA was charging $10 over the MSRP, and adding shipping on that, it made the game prohibitively expensive to get.
I wait a month, hoping that maybe all I need to be is patient, but the situation doesn't change at all. Somewhat angry, I go to the publisher's website (Eidos) to try and voice my opinion about the lack of being able to get Soul Bubbles in Canada, but I can't find any contact info. Then I figure I might as well try telling the developers instead (Mekensleep). They did indeed have contact info so I sent a well thought out E-Mail to them, citing references to how exclusive titles that were receiving good reviews never really sold well and that Eidos was damaging the prospect of the game receiving its due in that regard.
Well... two days later I get an E-Mail back from somebody at Eidos by the name of Bob Lindsey, asking for my contact info so he can speak with me directly. Apparently, Mekensleep forwarded my E-Mail to Eidos. I'm thinking to myself, probably some public relations guy or something, but when I look up the Eidos staff I find he's the Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing. o_o;
...oh dear, what have I gotten myself into?! Why is someone in such an important position paying direct attention to a single E-Mail from just one average consumer?
Cautiously, and extremely nervously, I E-Mailed him back with my contact info. A few hours later he did indeed call me. Not even a minute into the 10 minute long conversation two things dawned on me: All he wanted to do was talk and that I was able to speak to him very easily, as though we were on the same level.
During the conversation, he revealed to me how Eidos was having a heck of a time trying to get retailers to stock the game at all. The only way they were able to get it onto store shelves was to offer it as exclusive. Even Toys R Us of Canada rejected the exclusivity deal. Because the game is so different, and completely original, the retailers just didn't want to waste their valuable shelf space on it. Noooo, they'd rather stock large quantities of movie and television based titles on their shelves. x_x;
But, the conversation ended with Mr. Lindsey offering to have one of his sales reps sell the game directly to me. Because the game has been getting good reviews they were preparing to do a more general release in both the US and Canada, but I figure I was offered this opportunity because that was still a ways off. The only condition was that I had to share my thoughts on the game once I had played it.
That was back around the end of September, and thanks to the postal system, it took over a month for Eidos to receive my payment for the games. >_>;
...yeah, I bought two copies. One as a gift for for obvious reasons. ; D
So, I finally have Soul Bubbles, and have been playing it, and I definitely like it. As the reviewers have been citing, it does lack replay value, but there's quite a bit for what's there. The gameplay itself is both weird and wonderful, extremely original, and I would recommend all people with a DS try this game at least once as soon as they can! It's not for everyone, but anyone who can appreciate the magic of bubbles like I can, even just a little, will certainly love it. X3
*goes back to herding souls with bubbles*
--- Gemini
--------------------------------------------------------------
My Games at Pixelmusement
My Videos at GameTrailers
Friends!
Ralsei and Kris Together at Last!
My secret plushie project is DONE! :D
Ralsei, the fluffy Prince of Darkness himself from Deltarune, has been fully materialized... LIFE SIZED!
Or rather, my-sized, as I intentionally made him to be just very slightly smaller than me. :B
I go into a TON of details about this project on the submission itself, so check it out if you wanna learn more about why I made this, what went into it... and how much it COST... >_>
https://www.deviantart.com/gem…
So I Herd U Liek Ponees...
Yes, it's true, I happen to be a casual fan of the new My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic cartoon series...
"LIES!!", shouts the internet, "You are far more than a casual fan! The plushie is proof!"
But no, the plushie is only proof that I like plushies, which isn't a big surprise. Anyone who knows me to any extent knows that plushies, in general, are one of my most favourite things. If you want to know more about my Gigantastic Fluttershy Plushie, then check out my post of it here on DA.
As for how I even got into MLP:FiM, well, here's my story:
Firstly, I was never a fan of the original series (and even now I still find the art style o
Why So Few Conceptshots?
You'd think I'd have about a zillion of my conceptual screenshots (aka conceptshots) up here by now... but while zipping through all of my artwork I've noticed something: VERY LITTLE of my artwork is actually completed. x_x:
In fact, a whole bunch of my conceptshots are actually pretty close to completed, but not in some way that doesn't really make it worth uploading. For example, many of them have the gameplay laid out, but the status bars are incomplete, while others have completed status bars but no gameplay. This kind of ties in with how I develop conceptshots based on what aspects of my game ideas I need to visualize, and then go from
Ancient DOS Games is Online!
I had an extremely bad and abruptly short day at work this morning... dunno whether or not I'll still have a job when I go back on Tuesday but I'll find out soon enough.
But, the big piece of news is that I've started a new webshow! Hooray! ^_^
It's technically a relaunch of an old show I tried to make a couple years ago called Ancient DOS Games. The new show carries the same name but is a completely different format and will focus more on talking about the games themselves and how to make them work rather than critiquing them and calling them epic masterpieces or miserable piles of (insert profanity here).
Those of you who want to see my
© 2008 - 2024 Gemini000
Comments0
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In