Hakobus

"Kay explained that VAT adds 17.5% to the total UK price, adding, "We're not trying to screw people.""

And yet, he didn't bother to explain where the other 82.5% in the doubled price comes from.

If the instruments are universal, you could order the game + instruments from the US and then buy just the game in Europe. Would save you 40-50 euros easily (even more if you can get it from the US without VAT+toll).

So, uh, did you guys actually interview any of these adventure game makers, or did you just present the same stupid puzzle to all of them?

Oh come on, Joystiq. The video wasn't a hoax, because no-one claimed it was real. Right from the beginning everyone knew it was fan made.

Just google "mario galaxy ds fan video" and you'll see that pretty much everyone reported it as a fan video and not as a real game.

I've understood that this device can only play licensed content purchased from the store. So it isn't suitable for warez or homebrew. And as was pointed out, it's licensed by Nintendo.

Indeed.

"this can make for a pretty handy (although fairly minimal) portable gig setup"
Only if you want to play the whole gig at a set volume, or turn a knob to change the volume. Instead of, you know, just hitting the drums at a different velocity.

Wow. I should probably go pick up all the Wii systems that are sitting on shelves in my hometown and ebay them to the UK. Wii has been readily available all over Finland since about March. Have yet to see a store without any in stock.

"what with them being on different consoles"

What with Quake Wars not being on a console at all at this time...

"As for the rest of Europe, it seems as though the "Banhunt" will stick."

This is total crap. In Europe the game is only banned in the UK and Ireland (AFAIK, they didn't even try to get a rating for Germany). It's been rated 18 in Scandinavia, and could be released if Take Two wanted to. It's anyone's guess why it isn't out everywhere else yet.

I'm just wondering what the real price will be if there is a price cut in Europe. The MSRP in Europe is 399€, but premium has been selling in Finland for 349€ since January. Hell, many stores have even been selling the Gears of War bundle for 349€.