2025 on Tumblr: Trends That Defined the Year
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Stranger Things
Sweet Seals For You, Always
Game of Thrones Daily
trying on a metaphor
todays bird
"I'm Dorothy Gale from Kansas"
Monterey Bay Aquarium
@theartofmadeline
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let's talk about Bridgerton tea, my ask is open
Not today Justin
Xuebing Du
d e v o n
Keni
Andulka
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One Nice Bug Per Day
Product Placement
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@gamingbg
Nintendo Switch Online memberships will start on 9/18. You can sign-up for a 7-day free trial from Nintendo eShop at launch! We will introduce more information during the Nintendo Direct on 9/13.
https://www.nintendo.com/switch/online-service/
Tune in March 8 at 2pm PT for a Nintendo Direct featuring upcoming Nintendo Switch and Nintendo 3DS games, including new details on Mario Tennis Aces!
https://nintendo.com/nintendo-direct
Localizing “Jump Up, Super Star!”
Life in the Treehouse moves pretty fast, and it can be hard to remember when you did what, and sometimes even why, so I had to check my e-mail archives to figure out that we started working on the lyrics for the songs in Super Mario Odyssey back in January of this year. (…Unless it was earlier? Who knows, man.)
Faults in my memory aside, the prospect of working on some songs at work was an exciting one. As a former music and Japanese double major, the idea that I would be using BOTH my degrees at my actual job was amazing. Who does that? Besides, I mean, people who chose their majors for more practical reasons…
When I became involved, the song that would eventually become “Jump Up, Super Star!” was basically done, at least as far as the music was concerned. The song was already going to be a hit in my mind, no matter what the lyrics ended up being, and at that time, the first section already had Japanese lyrics, written by Nobuyoshi Suzuki at NCL. I translated them thusly:
Keep reading
Fascinating read on the process of creating the lyrics for Mario Odyssey's theme song. A great read!
Learn more about amiibo in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD here: [x]
Must…resist…smashing impulse!!
This photo was taken this past summer at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival.
Just be cool, Link.
1988 saw the arrival of the long-awaited sequel: Super Mario Bros. 2 for the NES. This was the first game that let you control Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach and Toad, each with a unique ability.
For example, Luigi could jump higher, while Princess Peach could float during her jumps. All of this, along with new enemies and the ability to throw vegetables, made this game a dream come true.
Mario 2 was so weird, but I loved playing it back in the day.
Nintendo Crisis in Saudi Arabia: Tales of Total Recall, Confusion, and a Poor Distributor
Two months have passed with no long-term solution in sight. Some may argue that we have better things to worry about and certain workarounds are currently available, but there’s no dancing around one fact: we have a Nintendo Crisis in Saudi Arabia, and those who deserve blame are left unscathed. Saudi gamers and Nintendo fans are confused beyond belief. But those who have paid attention already know the truth behind it all.
You might have heard of rumors through the grapevine regarding the recent ban of Bayonetta 2 in Saudi Arabia, which might have caused a domino effect that lead to all Nintendo games being banned. This couldn’t be further from the truth as the situation was brewing long before Bayonetta 2’s release date. The methodology of game bans in Saudi Arabia is an article for another day, but I must point out that what’s has happened with Nintendo games in our country is not a ban; it’s a total recall. There’s a huge difference between the two terms.
What lead to this crisis, you ask? Apparently, the Ministry of Commerce have formed a committee which is addressing the distribution of electronic products in Saudi Arabia. Let me explain before we head into the thick of it. For the longest time, our country had a mixture of European (220v) and American-based (110v) electronics with no fine line between importing and distributing all types of products for retail. In recent years, The Ministry of Commerce has been pushing towards the European model since the Middle East is located closer to Europe. In essence, it would be more convenient for our region to have distribution channels based in Europe. I’m not sure why we didn’t work with Asia when it comes to electronics distribution (and Saudi Arabia is technically part of Asia), but I’m assuming language convenience and price costs play major factors.
Where do videogames come to play? Technically, games are part of the electronics family, but for a variety of reasons went largely ignored by the Ministry of Commerce and thus not as staunchly monitored as other electronic products. Games were always looked at as a niche market which was largely aimed at children. Therefore, gaming in Saudi Arabia (and by extension the Middle East) relied on import shops and piracy in the early days. Throughout the birth of gaming in KSA during the 90s and the golden age during the early 2000s, we didn’t have any official distributors for videogame products. Import shops like Computer House relied on US products to distribute to gamers, fighting against the piracy movement and pioneering authentic gaming in Saudi Arabia. NTSC/USA was the unofficial dominant product type for gamers in our country due to heavy reliance on imports.
Everything changed in 2007. Sony bravely took the plunge in the Middle Eastern market as the first company to officially distribute videogame hardware and software in our region. Not only did they distribute the PS3 and associated games, they also opened a digital PlayStation Store specifically for Middle Eastern countries, including Saudi Arabia. Our community prospered since then. Many gaming companies followed suit by distributing their games and hardware in the Middle East. Piracy has been severely minimized in our region due to the attention games received as a growing entertainment medium, forcing the Ministry of Commerce to raid piracy-focused retailers. PSN has over 500000 users in Saudi Arabia, Assassin’s Creed games have Arabic subtitles, FIFA and PES have Arabic UI and voice commentary, Tomb Raider has Arabic voice acting, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare has Arabic menus and subtitles, the PS4 recently received a localized Arabic menu, and the list of achievements goes on. Not to be outdone, Microsoft also realized the flourishing gaming market in the Middle East and organized official distribution channels for the Xbox 360, Xbox One, and the Microsoft Online Store. While Microsoft entered late in the game, it’s better than never. Keep in mind that both Sony and Microsoft had the foresight in abiding with the lenient electronic distribution rules put forth by KSA’s Ministry of Commerce, so all their game products follow the European model in voltage, socket, and PEGI rating.
Then we have Nintendo. In paper, Nintendo of Europe are the official distributors in the Middle East, but I had not seen a European Nintendo game or system in my hometown until a few years ago…and even when I did, they were not as widely distributed as American-based imports. This is largely due to the fan-base being already used to NTSC via imports, but another major factor that comes to play is Nintendo’s practice of region locking their hardware and software. Practically, a sudden switch to PAL/European distribution will be met with resistance, so game shops continued to rely on NTSC/US due to its wider appeal and potentially better sales. Moreover, the country’s market shifted to bigger electronic shops as alternative means to gaming-exclusive shops, which caused the sightings of European Nintendo products from being rare to uncommon. Big retailers like Virgin Megastore and Jarir Bookstore have taken a piece of a pie from former dominating game-exclusive retailers like Computer House and Tokyo Games.
Here’s where the confusion of our Nintendo distribution begins. It all comes down to one fact: we never had a great or undisputed distributor for Nintendo products in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East. As I mentioned before, Nintendo of Europe was recognized as the sole official distributor in our region, but sadly their support to Saudi Arabia was abysmal. During 2010 and 2011, however, a new distributor entered the fray out of nowhere. Japan-based Active Boeki created distribution channels in the Middle East, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines and Thailand. Their branches include Active Gulf in the UAE and Samurai Nintendo in Saudi Arabia. Things were looking up as for the first time in history, Saudi Arabia witnessed official Nintendo hardware with no delayed dates or raised import prices. The Nintendo 3DS launch was a surreal moment here. It was sudden, smooth, and successful. The months followed saw official game launches Mario Kart 7, Ocarina of Time 3D, and many more.
This success didn’t last long, though…as Active Boeki’s questionable tactics and weird distribution models bit them back hard. You see, unlike Sony and Microsoft which have a unified distribution model following Europe, Active Boeki wasn’t meant to replace Nintendo of Europe; it was actually running parallel to NOE. Nintendo of Europe continued to provide the PAL/UK products, but Active Boeki since its inception was actually following the NTSC/US model, perhaps taking advantage of the existing Nintendo USA import owners in the Middle East. In order to abide by the rules of distribution in our region, the Nintendo 3DS was actually packed in with a 220v European socket, yet advertised itself as a NTSC/US model which played US games. It was a very strange and unique combination which was initially appreciated by Saudi gamers, but caused a lot of confusion among retailers in the long run due to region-locked software and hardware. Parents and sales employees weren’t educated on which game works on what, so a lot of people made the mistake of buying an European Nintendo game while their system was US-based.
In addition to the mass confusion of region-locked hardware and parallel distribution channels, Active Boeki’s quality dropped exponentially since the initial 3DS launch window. The Nintendo 3DS XL launch in the Middle East was bad due to jacked up prices. 3DS games were either distributed weeks earlier by ignoring the embargo (A Link Between Worlds, Mario & Luigi: Dream Team) or launched very late with little distribution (Super Smash Brothers 3DS). The Nintendo Wii U was by far the worst console launch I’ve seen in the history of Saudi Arabia. Active Gulf in all their wisdom didn’t localize the system specifically for Middle Eastern/Saudi gamers like what they did with the Wii, 3DS, and 3DS XL. Instead, they had the audacity to lazily import consoles from Nintendo of America, place a warning sticker on the box that warns of the 110v, and jack up the price to double the original. In other words, they transported us back to the 90s when retailers used these same tactics due to the difficulty of importing US games. I could understand it back then. Gaming was an expensive hobby because we were essentially importing niche products. There’s no excuse to do the same now, Nintendo, especially since the competition (Sony and Microsoft) have essentially held the Middle Eastern market in the palm of their hands. To add more fuel to the fire, we’ve seen no official Wii U physical game distribution from Active Gulf in the Middle East for the past two years, even though they technically launched the console here. Retailers once again relied on US imports for software.
Our story doesn’t end here. The past two months was arguably the most important time period for Wii U and 3DS fans in Saudi Arabia due to the flurry of AAA titles (especially both versions of Smash Brothers), but we’ve seen nothing from Nintendo here due to the poor distribution and communication of Active Boeki and Nintendo of Europe. The Ministry of Commerce in KSA’s recently-formed committee noticed the confusion of Nintendo products and therefore issued a total recall of all their products in our country which didn’t abide by the rules of a unified electronic distribution. While Active Gulf run their own Facebook and Twitter pages, they have failed to communicate with fans as to what’s causing this. They’ve quietly fazed out Saudi Arabia in their product advertisements, only mentioning the UAE. So let me get this straight; instead of addressing the problems or trying to work with the Ministry of Commerce for a solution, Active Gulf decides to ignore the Nintendo fan-base in Saudi Arabia? Really? If Sony and Microsoft can successfully sell their products here with no confusion, why can’t Nintendo?
As a Saudi gamer and Nintendo fan for more than 25 years, I can’t help but shake my head due to their ignorance. Technically, Nintendo are the first to gain mainstream attention in Saudi Arabia due to import shops. I should mention that that MSX are the ones who entered the gaming market first in the Middle East through Kuwait back in the 1980s, with official distribution channels no less (the system was named Sakhur in our region). While it gained considerable popularity in our country, Sakhur were nowhere near as huge as Nintendo during the early and mid-90s. It’s ironic that the tables have turned on Nintendo today as they barely recognize our region despite a massive following. Since the Nintendo 3DS launch, Active Gulf promised a Middle Eastern-based digital distribution channel in the eShop, but failed to deliver. When inquired on its status, the workaround that they always suggest to fans is to set their system regions to the United States and use US eShop cards to top-up and download content…which is sadly the only sure-fire way to enjoy Nintendo content in Saudi Arabia as of this writing. We have no clue to when this crisis will end, but what matters is that we know who to blame:
1) The Staff of Active Gulf and Boeki: for their poor distribution tactics and lack of communication with fans.
2) Nintendo of Japan: for continuously ignoring the Middle Eastern/Saudi market as their competition does the opposite, not to mention the fact that their hardware is region locked.
In closing, I hope that my fellow Saudi gamers don’t lose hope. As long as we spread the word on the truth behind this crisis, somebody in Nintendo of Japan will have to take notice. Due to poor distribution and lack of communication, the Nintendo community in Saudi Arabia is frustrated. The potential for the market to grow is untapped and I'm hoping Nintendo HQ wakes up and sees how they've lagged behind their competitors in that regard. In the meantime, all we can do is wait, buy those US eShop cards, and use Amazon to get our hands on physical copies and hardware. I look forward to the day Nintendo finally recognizes my country’s passion for Nintendo games.
Life lesson from an awesome videogame. Quote stuck to me as I played last night. #fantasylife #3DS
The loot I bought from #superpotato in Tokyo, a store focused on retro gaming. Really needed some SNES controllers!
Staring down Snake in the top floor of legendary retro gaming store in Tokyo, #superpotato
Pierce Brosnan Plays GoldenEye 007 with Jimmy
Spring cleaning treasures: given to me by @nintendoamerica in 2005. The good ol' days in the forums.
Slow day at work in Obhur PHC clinic means...time to start #shovelknight and temporarily warp to the summers of my childhood. Nothing like a faux-retro buzz to do that!
Best. Birthday Cake. EVER. I'm blessed. 😙
Brilliant emulation of SSBM’s intro using the Souce engine and Valve characters.
Giant Enemy Crab for lunch tomorrow. Attack its weak point for massive fullness.
THIS. IS. AWESOME. Live Big Band Medley arrangement of the Smash Bros. series' iconic melodies, including the recent ones for the 3DS and Wii U. Put this track in the game, Nintendo!
