What Eidos Did for Me

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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 :iconabercrunchie: 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

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