[Boom]

And Nintendo's moronic behaviour only gets worse from Spong:

Nintendo has announced that it will release the PAL version of genre-defining RPG-***-life-simulation Animal Crossing this October, in conjunction with Card e-Reader.

However, amazingly the PAL release will only be issued in Australia, a country where Nintendoââ‚à ƒâ€šÃ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢s GameCube userbase is laughably small.

Why this decision has been made is still unclear. Nintendo Europe has time and again stated that the content found within Animal Crossing was deemed undesirable by European gamers. Yet Australia, land of kangaroos, weird football and, you know, other strange stuff, has been deemed perfect.

Speaking to a GameCube owner in Uxbridge this morning told the whole story. †œWhen I heard this I was almost sick out of my ears,ââ‚ƚ¬Ã‚ÂÂÂ� said Darren Barnes, a long-time gamer and Nintendo fanatic. †œWhy on earth would Nintendo do this kind of thing to us again, after promising that things would get better?ââ‚à ‚¬Ã‚ÂÂÂ�

And Barnes makes a good point. Nintendo Europe has been promising fairer treatment for Europe, with faster localisation turn-around and a release schedule in line with that enjoyed in Japan and the US.

Itâ₠¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢s also worth pointing out that Nintendo Europe has recently issued yet more heavy-handed legal warnings to UK retail foretelling of harsh punishment for those importing any non-European stock. To make matters worse, NOE recently gloated in UK trade mag MCV that its latest band of writ-writing, warning of fire and brimstone for anyone daring to import Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire, had been a great success.

Truly, a disgrace.