New Zealand: Nintendo's new red-headed stepchild
by Candace Savino 
{ Jun 2nd 2008 at 9:00PM }
Softprint Interactive, the company that distributes Nintendo and other companies' games in the land of the kiwis, has recently filed for receivership (aka bankruptcy). Hopefully, someone will step up (perhaps Nintendo themselves) to fix this distribution disaster, otherwise New Zealand might be in trouble. Activision will also have to find a new distributor in the country, as Softprint was responsible for their games as well. Yikes-- we hope none of you kiwis were looking forward to Guitar Hero: On Tour.
[Via Go|Nintendo]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Madhatter @ Jun 2nd 2008 9:23PM
oh man thats terrible :(
good luck to my kiwi neighbors :)
Nushio (NDF - Blue) @ Jun 2nd 2008 10:12PM
Candace: You deserve an Internet Cookie for posting that image and video.
Here: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9a/Choco_chip_cookie.jpg/800px-Choco_chip_cookie.jpg
Candace Savino @ Jun 3rd 2008 1:01PM
Haha, thanks for the cookie, Nushio :). That video is one of my favorite things on the internet, ever.
stevyb23 @ Jun 2nd 2008 11:50PM
Here in NZ we are sure getting a rough deal! We are still waiting for Mario Kart Wii for goodness sake!!! Many of us here have already resorted to ordering from Australia where games have already come out yonks ago. New Zealand has had a bad run for a number of years now - Softprint was only slightly worse than Monaco Corporation which had distribution rights through all the 1990's and until recently and served Nintendo badly by having too many fingers in too many pies. In NZ you would never know that Wii is the leading console in the world. It gets no print or tv advertising whatsoever. The Nintendo Channel is out of date for NZ's region - it says Mario Kart Wii came out 24/05/2008, but we're still waiting! Thank goodness for VC and WiiWare game downloads - perhaps the only consolation we have is that we got Dr. Mario Online DX (Dr. Mario and Germ Buster) a week or two before other regions got it - and I'm enjoying it too!!
PLEASE! Someone look after us here in NEW ZEALAND!!!
Candace Savino @ Jun 3rd 2008 1:03PM
That just sucks :(. I really hope things get better for you kiwis.
Parsnipzilla @ Jun 3rd 2008 2:01AM
My gosh, like we don't get left out enough!!
We provide the world with Flight of the Conchords and THIS is how they repay us?
SquishXD @ Jun 3rd 2008 3:23AM
It's bad enough that we kiwis usually get games much later than the rest of the world, but now this?
I see bad times ahead. Very bad times, in the form of video games based on movies/soft toys/crap that even children wouldn't want to touch. D:
Arkrex @ Jun 3rd 2008 7:56AM
That's it, I'm moving to OZ next year.
QR @ Jun 3rd 2008 7:00AM
ooioooh man this aint good for us kiwis
Dihydrousoxide @ Jun 4th 2008 3:48PM
Note: Receivership is not the same as bankruptcy.
It sucks living in NZ at the moment, I doubt there will be any change for a long time, if ever.
mawbdrummer @ Jun 13th 2008 8:02AM
Well here's a good place for this question, maybe:
I'm moving from the US to NZ on a working holiday visa in the fall, and I'm thinking about bringing my Wii with me to NZ. Cause aside from all the traveling, hiking, etc, I'm sure I'll still want the occasional quiet day or night in with some video games. Voltage aside, will my Wii work in NZ? Would my US wii connect to the NZ Nintendo WFC servers and allow me to Brawl online? Would I be able to connect with friends stateside?
As for the distributor dilemma, couldn't you all just import wiis and games from another region? Seems like it'd be cheaper, anyway, since regions outside the US seem to get shafted on prices.