Friday 22 November 2013

A calm reflection, I hope

  Sorry to upend my plans folks!  I have rage and you guys are going to get a post full of it! >:0
It concerns my pre-order of A Link Between Worlds, and it is the epitome of “first world problems.” I debated about steam rolling my wrath and just going forward with a cursory review of the game, but darn-it, there’s no denying my anger, so let me just spill it and get it out!

  Okay, calmly…

  So I pre-ordered Zelda: A Link Between Worlds at BestBuy for today.  Facts are facts, and they still speak well of BestBuy overall.  They delivered it through the regular mail, on time, day 1.  As is well and good.  And then I realized that the mailing envelope looks a little thin. 

  The pre-order bonus is no included in the package!

  By this I am referring to the small, musical treasure chest that was shown online.  As soon as I started hearing that North America might miss out, I became fearful of this.  And then I heard that BestBuy had the bonus, where only some companies, like EB Games/Gamestop were going to miss out.  I reacted.  I placed my pre-order there.  I backed up the order after it was approved.

  Stupid me.  I should have backed up the page that advertized the pre-order bonus.  I wasn’t included on the order confirmation, and BestBuy has since updated their page for the product; this much is reasonable as the pre-order is logically no longer possible on the shipping date.

  So yeah.  I have a good dose of anger over this exclusion, and no proof that it was ever offered on BestBuy through online, though I swear that I saw it.  If I had been smarter about that, I would think nothing about walking in their front door and giving some poor clerk a terrible day over this.  But I hate having no proof.  

  I’m pretty angry at BestBuy, but I can’t hide how angry that I am at myself, too!

  I might mention that I’m a little angry at Nintendo too, but for different reasons.  Let’s not imply this anger should go anywhere near the familiar, named, friendly faces we know from Nintendo Direct, like Eiji Aonoma, or Mr. Iwata.  I’m more angry at the still-quite-hidden distribution workers.  The musical treasure chest is a real thing for some gamers out there, probably Europe.  Any anger that I have for Europeans is simple jealousy, by the way.  Yeah I’m pretty petty overall.

  But darn it, this isn’t the first time customer relations in North America have felt strangely strained.  The person who decided to ship the musical treasure chest to mark ALBW is a genius, worthy of promotion.  The person who decided only some gamers were going to see them is a jerk.  The same sort that decided the Operation Rainfall games would not be published here.  What do I need, a petition drive like what brought Xenoblade here.  Is XSeed, the heroes of unlocalizable content, going to get into the plastics trade now?

  I can be pretty angry at Nintendo of Canada but … who am I kidding?  I just feel sad there.  All of my anger at NoC is simply because slavishly copying everything Nintendo of America does didn’t work out for me this one time.  Better to leave that alone, I guess.  Shine on, second stringer!  Yeah, so I’m just going to be mad at Nintendo of America, then.

  And reality hits me like a ton of bricks.  It’s just a plastic treasure box that plays like 8 notes max.  That’s hardly worth getting in a snit over!  And yet I am in a snit.  The heart wants what it wants, I guess.  It should pass, soon.

  This leads me round to the real problem, for me.  I don’t want to crack the case open today!  Zelda: A Link Between Worlds is about the closest spiritual successor to Zelda NES we’ll ever see, and I don’t want any part of this out-of-context rage to touch it.

  I know that this is going to suck for faithful readers.  Bear with me.  I’m sure you’d agree with me that Zelda isn’t a launch hype sort of game; I wouldn’t have any excitement to buy now as opposed to Boxing Day (Dec 26 for non-Canadians) without the plastic extra.  Zelda is now and forever a classic, something that is best to slow down, take time with, and appreciate fully.  Nintendo may have claimed that they are not in the business of making art, but I don’t believe that for a minute.

  A Link Between Worlds is worth more than the plastic treasure box.  It’s also worth more than a temporary bit of consumer rage, or jealousy.  I might be having a bit of a meltdown, and still perched on my outraged consumer soapbox, but this, like all nerd rage, will pass.  Zelda is forever!

  I have a bit of content for ALBW up soon.  I have a post that I was working on before it arrived that I could return to.  I just need to get into the right mindspace again.  Thanks again for hearing out my diatribe folks. 


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