Outside the US - What is left?

[ukpokemonpro]

Okay,

I am trying to get a handle on what is left of Leagues and OP outside the US?

Here we have kept going as ever on our own, just like the bad old wotc years..

And yes we have tried in the UK to work with Nintendo and TPC since the first announcements of WotCs loss of the TCG License and well lets just say they have been pretty poor at working with us.

TPC have at least talked to us but the response from Nintendo inside the UK and from the US has been very poor... Emails and calls going unanswered, no involvement of non-US professors in shaping future floor rules.. and despite our protestations that there has been no OP in the UK supported by WotC since MAY! and unwillingness to bend a rigid timetable.

Now we see 14 Professors outside the Americas and the majority of those from the UK where we struggle on regardless of the lack of support or knowledge.

Nintendo continue to promise OP for Europe

A: Pokémon Organized Play will start after the product is released internationally later this summer.

Erm Summer... we're in September and October talking about it ... come on guys hardly summer!

The truth is that had Nintendo talked with those few Master Profs in the UK and Europe they could have had OP and Leagues NOW... just send the MPs some league kits and hey presto we can at least get the ball rolling and pick up straight from where WotC stopped..

Instead it will be 5 Months at least between WotC support ending and Nintendo organising anything and that is based on October being the month when OP starts.. most of us suspect December is more likely ... 7 Months after WotC UK stopped sending league kits!

Bravo Nintendo no wonder Michel and crew are playing YuGiOh!

So it's awful here in the UK and Nintendo are silent.. what is it like in the rest of the Non-US world?

[Tego]

The thing is: it isn't as easy as you think. They cannot just send us kits all of a sudden. Nintendo are planning OP all over Europe, but they need to speak with all of the distributors first. It's a longer and harder to get everything going in Europe than in the USA.

But it is a shame that it takes so long. But I trust Nintendo on that OP will start this fall here. We are later than the US, but there is no need to panic. Michel's decision to play YGO is his own. Many great old players leave, many new ones rise up. That's the way it is.

I am getting frustrated too about how long everything takes. Let's just all hang in the last weeks before Nintendo's OP starts in Europe. It may all seem hopeless right now. It may seem like the game is completely dying. But it isn't.

There is hope.

[Ultramew]

At least Europe HAS Nintendo looking out for them. Oh how much I would love OP in Australia, oh how I would.

[ukpokemonpro]

The thing is: it isn't as easy as you think. They cannot just send us kits all of a sudden.

Why?

How can WotC all of a sudden send kits to the MPs and Profs and Nintendo can't? What it takes is a corporate decision and the will to do it! After all we are not talking a lot of kits here ... following WotCs terrible running of leagues and OP in the UK at least.

If WotC stopped promoting leagues and OP in May (for the UK) which they did why no interim support from Nintendo? Why is because of a lack of will that's all..

I trust Nintendo on that OP will start this fall here

It's great that you trust them TEGO, but we do not.. you have to earn trust and you don't do it by not talking to us, not replying to emails, PMs and phone calls.

Let's just all hang in the last weeks before Nintendo's OP starts in Europe.

What few weeks? We know that the meeting to discuss OP won't be until the 10th October and we know that in the past program timescales seldom match reality and that we are really looking at November or December as a real start date. That's winter to me and to most other people... hardly fall! So the trust is earn't by not delivering on the first promised dates anyhow!

Add to that the US centred prof program that has failed to get all the UK and European Professors signed up.. why because they couldn't! So how many will bother after weeks of trying to return?

Where is the email from NOA to the European Professors letting them know they can now sign up? Nowhere that's where!

Tego we know you know someone inside Nintendo really well ;) But they are being too slow, too quiet and too damn complacent at the moment.

Now tell me what it is like in your league now, how do you cope with no support, no promo's since may and no news from Nintendo?

[)v(ajin_ipg21]

=/

Been there done that.

How long has POKEMON USA had Pokemon?
HOW much time do they have to COORDINATE all of this?

FROM what I hear THEY ARE SLAMMED *to put it mildly*.

THESE RANTS on the WotC perhaps made sense because the MT's get their information from the board, ok so we have a few members from POKEMON USA but I DON'T know how THIS is going to change anything.

OK, so the more things change they stay the same... BUT Pokemon USA has SO MUCH to have to do and I don't expect miracles overnight.

Am I asking you for patience? Hell no.
You've heard that WAY to often.
BUT am I telling you to GIVE up on POKEMON USA? Hell no.

If the POKEMON interest is there with you guys it will survive (I was BLOWN away by the SBZ held there by you guys... simply amazing) BUT even here STATESIDE we ain't sure about what is happening.

You are not alone... and WE ALL MUST wait.

*PS just that NEW board same old posts =(*

[Prof|l0ne]

Here in Italy we still have leagues. We still have a community. We still hold tournaments.
We - the Italian professors - organized a tournament, the last DCI-sanctioned in Italy, on August 31st. We invited people from all the leagues we could get in contact with, and we made a great event with Constructed, booster draft and TMP tournaments.

What's left in Europe? WE are left. We're still here, and as long as we'll enjoy the game, we can't be easily ignored. Nintendo, sooner or later, will see us and find that our passion can turn into profit for them. And they'll come. (They have promised to: http://op.pokemon-tcg.com/international_faq.html)

- l0ne

[ukpokemonpro]

Don't get me wrong here in the UK we still have leagues and we are still organising look at southeastchallenge.com for details on our next big tourney.

The problem is not what we can do but can we be bothered to struggle and rage yet again to get anything going.

We are so tired of being second best in Europe, the after thought, the also rans... WotC UK blew OP and the leagues when they had a chance WotC France did the same, Italy almost died and the rest of Europe just hung on.

Without our hard work and comitment to the game in the UK there would be no OP on which Nintendo could build... All I am saying is that refusing to talk to us, ignoring us and cutting us out of the loop is not the way to keep us comitted and working for the game.

Jimmer and Co take note.

[Michel]

Europe ? Where is that ???

Do you want my point of view ? (if you don't, stop reading here ;) )

Situation in France : no Pokemon OP for a VERY long time, more than 2 years. Will Nintendo find leagues and players there ? Not sure.

Situation in Belgium : the following leagues have more YGO players than Pokemon players : Charleroi, Vise, Brussels, Gent and probably Aarschot ... and when I say more, I mean for example 20 YGO players for 2 Pokemon players in Vise !
Leagues in Antwerp and Kappelen have still Pokemon players, but I know the best players are shifting to YGO.

You say I play YGO now ... yes, but not because I want to quit Pokemon, simply because I don't want to play with my daughter only. More funny to meet people who play the same game as you, no ? :p

The Pokemon distributor in Belgium is also distributor of YGO. They put a lot of efforts in YGO OP in the dutch part of the country (they don't work with the French speaking players).
The French part of the country work with the French distributor who's very active in France and starts OP in Belgium too.
YGO world is moving, and moving fast in France and Belgium.
Pokemon is asleep for a too long time !

Please understand what I say ... I LOVE Pokemon, I want to keep on playing, judging, meeting people, having fun, collecting cards, ... but I see our Pokemon community going away because they're alone, because there is nothing new for a too long time.
You know that TO's and Profs in Belgium have fought hard, like in the UK and in other countries.
You know too what I say for months ... we can do a great job together, but not alone (without the support of a company) or against someone.

I maybe believe that we are more important than we actually are, but I'm sure that Wizards, or Nintendo, can't do anything without the TO's, Profs and Master Profs.
As far as I know, and my information are quite good, nobody has heard from Nintendo in Belgium.
I've received an email from TPC-USA in May saying Europe will have OP, and then nothing at all, neither from the USA, nor from Europe.

In addition to that, Nintendo will work with local distributors like Wizards did. Wizards did OP themselves in the UK, Italy and Belgium.
Why in Belgium ? Because there were too much problems with the local distributor when that company was in charge of Pokemon OP in Belgium. It has been a Wizards decision, and the TO's and players have seen a big difference after that... in a positive way !
The same distributor is in charge of YGO OP (Dutch part of the country). I don't want to explain my personal reasons here, but it is very clear to me that if these prople run Pokemon OP for Nintendo in Belgium, they'll do it without me, and certainly without other people I know and who are involved in our game.
I've had too many bad experiences to be involved in OP with them.

Will I keep on playing ? Sure, if I'm not alone ;)

And, BTW, who was complaining about differences between the USA and Europe when Wizards had Pokemon ?
We had the sets, league kits, ... some weeks after the USA (sometimes with some difficulties, I agree). We had a chat on Thursday, chats with Wizards UK and Europe, OP, Profs mailing list, rulings, people to contact in Europe and in the USA, ...
But wee felt, and we were right, that the USA had more than we did.

Now it's very easier ... you want to have news about Pokemon ?
Let's go to the USA ... in Europe there are only some old dinosaurs dreaming of the past and watching their screens to see if Europe in mentioned somewhere on the web when there is talk about Pokemon, trying to know if their dreams for the future of our game in our countries will become reality.

Don't want to be pessimistic, but my last European experience with Nintendo is called ... Expedition

[Michel]

Uh, sorry ... my answer to the question of the topic 'Outside the US - What is left' is ... 'nothing' ;)

(why do I always write a long text when one single word is enough ??? )

[NoPoke]

wakes up...
has a look around....
nothing
just dreaming
goes back to sleep...

[Mr. Raichu]

Hi I am new here not even sure how to do this posting stuff but i really love playing pokemon the card game and am glad to find a place where I can talk and read about pokemon... who went to the prerelease tournament already and how did you do?

[SD PokeMom]

1straichu, welcome to the 'gym.

Rather than take an existing thread off-topic, please take the time to look around at the different forums and see what types of posts go where. There are already several threads in the tournaments forum about the prerelease tourneys; look at those, and I'm sure many of your questions will be answered.

If you have not done so already, please be sure you read and understand the 'gym rules, posted in the sticky topic at the top of each forum.

Thanks for your understanding and cooperation...

SD PokéMom, moderator

[GymLeaderPhil]

I've been waiting for some news for awhile too, while it may not affect me, it sure is something that I want to be established before this winter when most kids bug their parents for stuff more often. You have no idea how many times I have typed in http://op.pokemon-tcg.com/international.html and hit refresh. Well, mostly to check if there is some more info I can post up on Pojo. ;)

But regardless, no news is bad news. If distributors are established and the product is translated, why wait for other languages to be released in Europe? The money is all going to the same people. Perhaps not distributor, but many dont buy foreign language cards. Instead many die hard fans and retail owners purchase cases via the secondary market... which is probably another reason Nintendo wanted distributors to run the show. They are very irate about North American games shipped over in to the UK, when they could stop the problem itself by setting universal release dates for international popular products. Then there would be no conflicts with ROMs and cards IMO.

It's hard to be looking in from the outside seeing what Pokemon USA/TPC/Nintendo is cooking up for anything. The Professor List and aforementioned meetings does look like progress, albeit slow. Our best bet would to start asking questions, not when since those dates usually like to disappear. We need to know how far are they in the process.
-Phil

[Duskull master]

I understand what UKPOKEMONPRO are saying and I can feel the frustration you 're mentioning time and time again.I hope Santaclaus is going to deliver some goodies this winter.

I checked DCI tournament reports in the UK and I was amazed to see you managed to organise 6 to 10 tournaments a day at your local league each with small numbers of people (4~6) everyweek.Some people managed to enter 5 tournaments a day.(I don't know if that is quite possible) If all the winners are getting prizes every week I am sure your BTK kit will dry out quickly.May I suggest you can organise a tournament like 2 tournaments a week..... maybe 1 for under14 and 1 for over15 for the time being.A lot of winners a day makes people happy with good DCI point earnings but with prizes or no prizes I am sure people of your league appreciate your effort to keep Pokemon going until Nintendo will deliver good news .
A little bit of patiance..... ;)

[ukpokemonpro]

You have no idea how many times I have typed in http://op.pokemon-tcg.com/international.html and hit refresh.

And guess how frustrating that is for us Europeans to see the same thing every week... coming soon ... yeah right :(

But regardless, no news is bad news.

Absolutely agree and getting a reply to queries would be nice ..

If distributors are established and the product is translated, why wait for other languages to be released in Europe? The money is all going to the same people. Perhaps not distributor, but many dont buy foreign language cards. Instead many die hard fans and retail owners purchase cases via the secondary market... which is probably another reason Nintendo wanted distributors to run the show. They are very irate about North American games shipped over in to the UK, when they could stop the problem itself by setting universal release dates for international popular products. Then there would be no conflicts with ROMs and cards IMO.

Amen to that but does Nintendo listen and do they even consider that for the UK there is definitely no need to wait as we never see an English (British) version. Heck most of us Grey Import anyhow trying to keep the kids excited and involved.

However by insisting that we can only access OP if we buy from one exclusive distributor, one source, has got to be a good way for Nintendo to reduce grey importing. Funny I would have thought having your promotional OP linked to having to buy from just one source would limit its impact... but hey ho Nintendo know what their doing don't they???

Our best bet would to start asking questions, not when since those dates usually like to disappear. We need to know how far are they in the process.

And ask them we do Phil but I am afraid NOA won't talk to us and distributors tell us one thing and NOA will not confirm? Heck even a request for Jimmers number so we can talk on the Phone at my expense was met with Silence!

NOA are not making friends in the UK with the lack of info and lack of response ... will OP work without the professors .. probably for a short while but retailers chase the cash and without the hardcore fans and help they soon get fed up and move on .. YU GI OH anyone?

[ukpokemonpro]

I understand what UKPOKEMONPRO are saying and I can feel the frustration you 're mentioning time and time again.I hope Santaclaus is going to deliver some goodies this winter.

And pigs fly like reindeer too!

I checked DCI tournament reports in the UK and I was amazed to see you managed to organise 6 to 10 tournaments a day at your local league each with small numbers of people (4~6) everyweek.Some people managed to enter 5 tournaments a day.(I don't know if that is quite possible)

Not sure what you are getting at here I run a league with 30 odd players at various stages of developement ... therefore losers lose quickly and can play in many more 4-8 player KO tourneys than in Swiss.

At 30 mins a round a player could play 5 tourneys in 2.5hrs.. given we meet for 3 hours and that play rarely goes to 30 mins for less experienced players that is easily acheived... I do hope you are not accusing me of cheating the system?

If all the winners are getting prizes every week I am sure your BTK kit will dry out quickly.

Exactly I received extra kits due to the size of the league but have to horde prizes, eek out the promos and buy other pokemon related goodies and promo's from Ebay.

May I suggest you can organise a tournament like 2 tournaments a week..... maybe 1 for under14 and 1 for over15 for the time being.

It doesn't work during the week with players dropping into league at all times and staying for varying lengths of time. 4-8 player KOs are the best way I have found after 4 years of running the League!

We do organise 4th Sunday tourneys that are bigger and Swiss plus quaterly SE Challenges.

Go to gamers-guild.co.uk and southeastchallenge.com for details.

A lot of winners a day makes people happy with good DCI point earnings but with prizes or no prizes I am sure people of your league appreciate your effort to keep Pokemon going until Nintendo will deliver good news.

Unfortunately we are being told some info from our sources within the distribution chain and the news is not good :(

Carrying on carrying on but for how long can I keep it going....?

[Tego]

Why are you so sure that we won't get our OP this fall? What do you think the Pokémon Company are doing on all their meetings all over Europe? Talking about the weather and drinking tea?

[GuardianTIM]

Well, to put my 2 cents in - The other day we (our card place) talked to Nintendo Australia about why we weren't getting anything much at all from them (Promos, sets, anything), and they had absolutely no idea what we were talking about - almost like "card game? what card game?"...
In fact, some people have been posting about Sandstorm, and we've only just recieved the EX cards a while back. I bought a Sapphire deck as soon as it was available here, and that was a fortnight ago!!! *seethes with anger* Getting anything from them is like pulling teeth / drawing blood from stones / pulling bloodied teeth from stones.

And let's not even mention OP...

Tego, they're not talking about weather and drinking tea, they're laughing at Australia.


Oh!!! Nevermind - I see a box of Sandstorm cards, along with an E-reader being carried by a flying creature - looks half-pig, half-reindeer!!! :-)

[Michel]

Guardian TIM, there is another topic about places to buy cards on the web. I think it's the best Australian solution.
Like in Europe, I don't know what you'll do with the new sets, but you'll have the cards in your collection anyway ;)

You're right Tego, we're not sure if we'll get OP this fall or not. Good to hear that Nintendo has meetings, but they could talk about the e-card reader instead of OP and cards :p
I remember someone at the European Nintendo office telling me 'No Expedition without the ecard reader'.
Do you know we've never fighten for the ecard reader ???

I think we don't learn very quickly in Europe !
We've never had the sets at the same time as the USA, we've never had the same league schedules and kits, never had main events like they had in the USA (just compare the amount of events these last 3 years and compare that to the amount of players in each continent !), never had ...

5 things have been the same and at the same time on both sides of the Atlantic : rulings - formats - Prof Program - Delegate Program - banning of 15+ from the main events.
All these decisions have been taken in the USA and applied to the entire World directly from Renton.

We still haven't learned that, if decisions or actions have to be taken in offices out of the main office in the USA, it takes much more time than we need to run a tournament or provide the new US sets to our players ;)

Japan has always been the first to see the new things, USA second, Europe third, and some countries, like France, Australia, Chad, Saudi Arabia, Easter Island and some others, have seen the news on the web only (do they all have a connection ?).
Will it change in the future ? Not sure at all.

Sets and OP will come when Nintendo will decide it. Will it be too late or not, will it be before or after Christmas, will it be in hands of competent people in every country, ... ? Once again, not sure at all.
But anyway, even if we are the players, the customers, the people who certainly know the best what happens in the Pokemon community in our countries, these decisions are not in our hands.

Keep on sleeping NoPoke, and have a nice dream, ... I just hope they don't do the same during the Nintendo meetings

Ben, if you ever see a flying pig with big horns, I may assure you it's not a new Pokemon. My friends in the USA told me that this animal was not in the new sets. :p

[Dunjohn]

Just wanna chip in with my own two Euro-cents. The game was never anything more than a fad here a few years ago, and died out gradually when the post-Pokemon anime influx (Digimon, etc) diluted everything. Recently, though, a couple of players have been wanting me to start up a league.

For the past few weeks, all I've had to tell them, despite their constant reminders, is that Nintendo have yet to organise anything for Europe. If it takes much longer, I'm afraid that the newfound interest will simply fade away again. I don't want that to happen, because I wanna see that League happening too.

[ukpokemonpro]

Why are you so sure that we won't get our OP this fall? What do you think the Pokémon Company are doing on all their meetings all over Europe? Talking about the weather and drinking tea?

Okay so why are our distributors and NOA talking about their meeting on 10th October about OP in Europe ... TPC can meet all they like NOA can tell them there's OP come October the 1st but if you are not meeting to finalise it till the 10th I am damn sure nothing is gonna happen until November at the earliest..

Experience with the personalities and companies involved makes me beleive no OP until December... I mean we can't even sign up our leagues yet so how can we get OP rolling ... :(

[ShadowCard]

What do you think the Pokémon Company are doing on all their meetings all over Europe? Talking about the weather and drinking tea?

Would that surprise anyone? *heh heh*

Nintendo waited too long. They should have come in at August, even if WOTC still had some control. Most big chains, not including those little card shops, close down their league operations around November for the winter holidays due to the huge crowds. This leaves no more than 3 months for nintendo to do something. Anyone who only attends those stores that close their leagues during that time (by choice or cause it is the only place around them) will most likely sit back and wait for January, as opposed to looking out for those tourneys nintendo speaks of.
I know I'll be waiting for January because the sandstorm tourneys are scattered and aren't in close places and that card game-game boy game merge wasn't the best idea to be their premier event.

Honestly, ukpokemonpro, I know my approximation will make you angry, I expect nothing big in the US until January, which is the smartest choice now seeing as they started their support too late, if they expect better attendance.
My prediction for Europe to receive league support, since the US will most likely get the stuff before Europe, will be late January at best, maybe into February. (just to babble, in astrology, in late January, the Sun moves into Aquarius, a sign of change through breaking down old barriars and restarting fresh, if that brings any thought...).

Australia? they still play Pokemon down there? :D Sorry, forgot all about you guys.

Just don't go into yugioh, it is a cheap (though quite expensive) game that will only waste your time, and you'll regret it. Unless you intend to snag back Pokemon players through the yugioh league, that's what i'm doing and it's working .

[pokeprofRaymond]

I don't know if I would brag or frustrate of anything. We are still in Season 3 of Battlezone and ends about March. (Being late in OP has great advantages as I observed). My only frustration is the introduction of Yugi-Oh with the same distributor of the Pokemon league. Actually it is not serious because our local distributor still waits on International OP on October. Pokemon has its presence in Asia. (slight or very present)

I was thinking of the possibly for Nintendo of Japan will be the International distributor for Asia with English-Asia based cards for their products like the ones Yugi-Oh had.

Still......long waits are stressfull but paitience has its rewards!!!

[viper111]

PokeprofRaymond, where in Manila do you play? My daughter and I might be interested in playing. We are planning a vacation this December. Do you play unlimited or modified? I would appreciate it if you can give info. Thanks. :)

[Tego]

If they just could inform you better. It's just so clear that few of us have any idea of what's really going on.