[Rant] Europe = Second Class ? ("These EU nincompoops don't need no Celebration !")

Hello, everyone.

No, this is no real quote. It's an example of the impression I get.

I'm living in Europe, and the message I get from the US is that they put their own country above all. The only relevant country in the world, to put it cynical.


The fact is that I - as an European - often feel like treated by US companies as being second class. First class is the US, of course.

I am not alone with this impression. Here in Germany there is especially among PC gamers a huge subtle feeling of anger and anti-americanism, because they feel like treated as second class. This feeling also exists among some Star Wars collectors; the site 4-inches is a good example of this.

However, there are quite a lot of things that have accumulated in my memory over the years that support my impression of the US companies treating Europe as second class.

Here's my list :

- No Celebration so far EVER in Europe. European collectors and fans don't exist. Neither do collectors and fans in any other country of the world.

- Hasbro's Jedi Points auctions. For whom ONLY : of course US citizens. The latest information I read on a collectors page was the an US section of Hasbro was "working on it". I'm not surprised there was never anything more. I'm quite surprised, by the way, that an US section of a company plans for Europe ... what would you think if it was the other way round ?

- LucasArts had their 20 years anniversary. They made so-called "sweepstakes". For whom, only : You guessed it : For US citizens only.

- Exclusives for Star Wars collectors only in the US. It was a HUGE surprise as I read about (and actually saw) the CIII Darth Vader being sold at TRU here in Germany - for 25 ?. However, some items never reach Europe.

- Patches for PC games being ready for English versions within a few weeks - for european games only within months (worst case was Homeworld II : almost half a year ... my impression was that Sierra actually wasn't interested in delivering a Patch at all or at least within short time. Cut the resources for testers, I suspect.)

- Games being published in the US first, even games made in Europe (Example : Age of Wonders : Shadow Magic was made by a company in the Netherlands; Take2 wanted to publish it in the US first. First class, what else ?)

- Soundtracks of games only sold in the US (Icewind Dale - Soundtrack appeared last year in a compilation with all Icewind Dale games, not sooner).

- Games include goodies not present in EU versions

- EU versions get parts of the Handbook cut. (Baldur's Gate for example).

- Translated versions of professional software sometimes costs double the price of US versions. And US (English) versions are sometimes NOT allowed to be sold here. (Example : Photoshop) (There was once an article in one of German's most serious computing magazines. There it was stated that the reasons for this incease of price was the costs for translations. The article, however showed that other companies selling professional software translated them too, WITHOUT inceasing the price. So the impression the reader got was that the company wanting double the price for this software just wanted to get more money from europeans. That the higher price might be a way to subsidize a cheaper price for it in the US.)

All in all this list could go on and shows me that US companies are actually preferring US customers. EU customers are not interesting, because too much money must be put into products for this area (too many languages, too many laws, for example).

This scheme can be seen very well in the gaming industry, if one knows how to "read the signs", but in other areas, too. I was quite shocked as I experienced a quite aggrssive form of anti-americanism caused by the announcement of an English chat for a game (Sacred). German gamers (Ascaron is a German company) got very angry and aggressive towards the impression that "once more" "americans" were preferred.

If you look out carefully, you might be quite concerned to see this anger within european gamers. But nobod

 

Mate, no offense, but if you want to **** and moan about games, go to the Games: Video and Boardgames board. The Senate is supposed to be a place where we discuss issues, sure, but you've framed this in an area which isn't really something a Senate discussion could sustain. Before a mod comes in and locks you down, either make your points less specifcally related to games or move to the games thread.

Danke,

E_S

 

These are US companies. So it is no suprise we get them first. And if they don't do well enough here, there may not be any real money taking them to a higher taxed, more regulated area.

Look at Japan. They get all the best games first. (Exept X-Box). They also get special stuff in their games.

As far as prices go, part of your problem is TAXES. You guys live in a socialist country. So you must pay your government. But hey, enjoy your "free" healthcare.

So get out there and vote in some American style conservatives and maybe your life will get better.