Ni No Kuni: The Another World

Ni no Kuni Manzai Promo Video Suggests No Magic Book for PS3 Version:
http://andriasang.com/comyfc/

In the second video, our hilarious manzai duo attempts to explain how the PS3 version of the game differs from the DS version. One member says that the PS3 version will not include the magic book that came with the DS version. The other one responds that this is okay because a digital version of the book is included (you can see a bit of the in-game book in the video).

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Looks like the game will be released in US too:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=31455065&postcount=1

Kifimbo said:
Sorry to bump this thread, but it looks like Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch will be the official name in North America.

http://tarr.uspto.gov/servlet/tarr?r...entry=85431777
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Ni No Kuni: Wrath Of The White Witch Hands-On – Oliver Vs. Pig Tank
http://www.siliconera.com/2011/10/2...-the-white-witch-hands-on-oliver-vs-pig-tank/

There were two Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch demos at Level-5 World. The first one titled "My First Ni no Kuni" showed the scope of the world and dazzled players with a bright forest. The PlayStation 3 version had a large field where Oliver and Maru ran around and fought monsters.

I spent most of my time playing the second demo, which started in a city.

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Namco Bandai On Their Partnership With Ni No Kuni Developer Level-5
http://www.siliconera.com/2011/10/2...artnership-with-ni-no-kuni-developer-level-5/

One of Namco Bandai’s strategies for Western expansion is partnering with other Japanese developers. In 2009, they made a deal with Game Republic to distribute titles such as Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom and Knights Contract. This year Namco Bandai partnered with From Software to bring Dark Souls and Armored Core V overseas.

Their latest partnership is with one Japan’s fastest growing developers, Level-5. Namco Bandai will publish Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch in North America and Europe in 2012. (Read our hands-on impressions here!)

"For us, if you look at the course of what we’ve done last year, we’ve narrowed our slate to really good titles. We focused on less is more," said Carlson Choi, Vice President of Marketing at Namco Bandai, in a Siliconera interview. "When started talking to Level-5 — look guys we have a great opportunity. We have a great team in the States and we can maximize the potential of the game in the West. Those are the kinds of things we brought to the table because at the end of the day we want to bring the best games to the market."

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http://www.siliconera.com/2011/11/14/this-week-in-imports-ni-no-kuni-goes-gold/

Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch and its limited edition Magical Gold PlayStation 3 go on sale this week. ...
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But the real news is...

In Korea, Ni no Kuni Is Rated for Adults
http://kotaku.com/5859558/in-korea-ni-no-kuni-is-rated-for-adults

The game is apparently rated 18-and-up, due to, according to our Kotaku tipster, Ni no Kuni, the in-game casino. In Ni no Kuni, there is Las Vegas style city, where players can play card games and slots.

As The Korea Times pointed out, gambling is a sensitive area for South Korea, especially after recent nationwide gambling scandals. Gambling laws have already caused headaches for other game developers, such as Blizzard with Diablo III, and they seem to be why an all-ages title like Ni no Kuni is getting slapped with an adult rating.
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PS3 Ni no Kuni Sold Only 40% of Stock
http://andriasang.com/comz35/

With first week sales of 65,000 units, it may have seemed that the PS3 version of Ni no Kuni wasn't performing to expectations. Media Create seems to confirm this suspicion today with word that the game sold through just 40% of retail stock.

The other major Japanese release for the week, One Piece Gigant Battle 2 sold 120,000 units, but this was also just 45% of stock. The first Gigant Battle sold 134,000 units in its first week in September of last year.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3, the top selling game for the week, sold 179,000 units on PS3 alone. This was 75% of stock, which is usually as high as sell-through rates go before we hear of repots of sellouts. ...
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A Little More Insight Into Ni no Kuni’s Japanese Sales On PlayStation 3
http://www.siliconera.com/2011/11/2...-ni-no-kunis-japanese-sales-on-playstation-3/

... The point of interest is that ASCII’s report also says Ni no Kuni only sold through 40% of its initial shipment.

Judging by the numbers, one can calculate that Level 5 shipped somewhere in the range of 164, 000 copies of Ni no Kuni on PlayStation 3. That’s a far cry from the 600,000 copies they shipped of the Nintendo DS version in 2010.

The 600k number was rather high, too, as the DS version sold only 170,548 of those in its first week in the market. However, with the aid of price cuts and continued sales, the DS game eventually sold over 500,000 copies.

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Ni No Kuni: Wrath Of The White Witch DLC Adds More Monsters To Hunt
http://www.siliconera.com/2012/01/1...e-white-witch-dlc-adds-more-monsters-to-hunt/

Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch has a new quest for players that completed the game. "The Great Sage of the Olden Days" quest will reveal the truth about the King of Moya when Oliver speaks to Mirant, the Great Sage, and answers questions using the Magic Master.

Level-5 also created new monster hunting quests. One has players subdue an enraged Inokka and the other has Oliver face a gigantic bird called Kacus (maybe Cacus?).

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The DLC is free. Hope it comes to US as well.
 
Europe has a lot of Move sales so they better include Move support if they're going to be that late.
 
Why do they keep doing this? No sane developer in the world waits until their games are outdated before releasing them outside Japan. Much smaller developers can release their RPG's a lot faster then Level-5 seems to be able.
 
New games still keep improving every year, so potentially everything, graphics, game design, ect. And if comparisons to current gen games aren't enough, releasing it in the build-up to the next gen console won't do it any favours. Releasing an old game in a market where gamers are always looking for the latest and greatest is just a really bad idea.

Even if the only lose a small amount of sales because of all this, then there is still no reason to do it. If anyone can tell me the advantage of delaying a release for a year, I'd sure like hear it.

Besides, it wasn't just Ni No Kuni they have done this with. Rogue Galaxy and both White Knight Chronicle games got the same treatment.
 
I would say that Ni No Kuni is quite a unique game that will not "age" in a year. Of course, if NBG could release it now, that would probably be a nice business case. But translation, voice recording and other localization takes time, and a half assed product is not good (remember Yakuza 3?).

Also, releasing a niche title in the busiest period (Q4) is not always a good idea either....
 
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