[X360] Mushihime-sama Futari Ver. 1.5 is region free

[jonny5]

I sent an email to NCS yesterday to ask about potential customs reducing shenanigans.

Apparently if you choose a USPS shipping option on any small items (like games), customs charges are considered from US to Canada, and as thus you don't have to pay any :O My already great day just got better.

That's just a head's up for other canadian buyers.

what are you talking about? are you under the impression that you dont have to pay customs on stuff coming into canada from the USA?

cuz that is definitely not the case

[Solarus]

"Hi Blaine, if you select a USPS shipping option, there won't be any customs fees for small packages from the US to Canada. It is only UPS Canada Standard service that will assess a duty on small packages. Thanks for checking with us to make sure.
"

Take what you will

[jonny5]

he is misinformed....

customs charges have nothing to do with the carrier....its assessed by canadian customs

the only difference between using USPS and something like UPS or other international couriers is the couriers will forward a slip stating the customs must be payed before they will release the goods....normal shipping will require payment on receipt of the goods

that being said, on lesser valued items its pretty random...sometimes you will get dinged with customs fees, and sometimes not....

on expensive items, you will have customs fees more often than not, based on a percentage of the declared value plus applicable provincial taxes

and customs also reserves the right to re-assess ther value of items if they feel they are undervalued

[Solarus]

he is misinformed....

customs charges have nothing to do with the carrier....its assessed by canadian customs

the only difference between using USPS and something like UPS or other international couriers is the couriers will forward a slip stating the customs must be payed before they will release the goods....normal shipping will require payment on receipt of the goods

that being said, on lesser valued items its pretty random...sometimes you will get dinged with customs fees, and sometimes not....

on expensive items, you will have customs fees more often than not, based on a percentage of the declared value plus applicable provincial taxes

and customs also reserves the right to re-assess ther value of items if they feel they are undervalued

[Elixir]

I could understand that happening for arcade boards or hardware, but this is just a game. I wouldn't worry about it.

[jonny5]

I could understand that happening for arcade boards or hardware, but this is just a game. I wouldn't worry about it.

ya....if anything it will be a few dollars, if at all....

its mainly stuff over $500 you are going to get ruined on....i payed almost $100 in customs on my futari kit

[Solarus]

I could understand that happening for arcade boards or hardware, but this is just a game. I wouldn't worry about it.

ya....if anything it will be a few dollars, if at all....

its mainly stuff over $500 you are going to get ruined on....i payed almost $100 in customs on my futari kit

The main reason I was concerned was because I've been slammed HARD by them in the past. In 2002 or so (somewhere around that time), I ordered Initial D Special Stage from Play-Asia. The game itself, after shipping and such came to around $120, but I got hit with a $35 customs charge, which as a 15 year old, is a pretty big kick to the nuts.

Although it's not such an issue now, I'd still like to at least hope that it'll be within reason. I hope you guys are right

[jonny5]

like i said....on lesser valued items its hit or miss....ive had a $25 package get hit with $12 in customs

i deal with this shit all day long....i work in shipping

[Solarus]

like i said....on lesser valued items its hit or miss....ive had a $25 package get hit with $12 in customs

i deal with this shit all day long....i work in shipping

Ouch, that's pretty harsh. Oh well, guess I get to roll the dice. Let's hope my luck is good.

[Fenrir]

It's really a roll the dice thingy, yes. I once (2002) ordered 6 CDs (music!) from Holland to Norway and they made me pay something like $40 of customs, out of, I don't know, maybe $80 of value, it was truly unbelievable. I even had to unpack them before their eyes.
But then, I imported a gynormous bunch of cheap DVDs from Hong Kong (108 DVDs with all the Simpsons series, 1-18 - a waste of money tbh) and they didn't make me pay anything.
Go figure

[WarBovine]

I'm pretty sure there are no tarifs on electronics coming into Canada, not that I have a link handy. Customs and brokerage is a little wackier.

With UPS/FedEx/etc., they generally charge a brokerage fee for all the cheaper shipping options (i.e. anything ground-based or reasonably priced). This fee covers all the customs fees and pays their broker to do the paper work. The problem being that they will generally charge this fee on all shipments, including electronics which have no tarifs, and the final amount is much more than if you did the paper work yourself or got hired a third party company to do it. This is usually where people get hit with customs for 1/3 to 1/2 of the price of the goods.

USPS does not do brokerage. When the package hits Canada, depending on whether Customs randomly assess the product, you could be hit with a flat five dollar assessment fee from Canada Post plus GST on the price of the goods. Again this is random, depending on whether the product is assessed or not.

Personally, I've stuck with USPS/Canada Post on principle, since those brokerage fees are a pretty big scam, but it really isn't going to make a huge difference for a small valued order.

[Skykid]

Don't talk to me about customs.

If a seller doesn't agree to mark the value down for me, I don't buy from them. That usually solves the problem.

[emphatic]

Perhaps this discussion could me moved to another thread somewhere as it's not as interesting as FUTARI.

[Cuilan]

I hate to sound like a pessimist, but there's a thought in the back of my mind that tells me Cave might announce that they've found someone to publish it outside of Japan at the last minute, and region-lock the game as a result.

[BulletMagnet]

I hate to sound like a pessimist, but there's a thought in the back of my mind that tells me Cave might announce that they've found someone to publish it outside of Japan at the last minute, and region-lock the game as a result.

While I'm generally a pessimist on this sort of thing as well (I never would have thought that Futari would actually end up region-free), I don't think they're quite THAT bad...they say they're only doing this to test the waters as it is, so I imagine they'll at least go through with that much.

[1up]

how much is shipping to EU from yesasia? I see the game on there for around €55

[elvis]

For once it sounds like Australia isn't getting raped on something.

Customs here is totally void on anything under AU$1000 (around US$880 at the moment, and climbing).

Anything over AU$1000 falls into categories. In particular, any "electronic game item designed to plug into a TV" falls under duty-free. When I import arcade gear from China and Japan, I tell them to remove the coin mechs and ship them separately. After that, I claim all arcade machines are designed as console attachments (because I do actually hack consoles into arcade cabinets for people). End result is $0 duty either way.

Considering Australia (and all PAL regions) get completely screwed on everything else game-related, it's nice to know our import duties aren't so bad by comparison. Small victory, all the same, when our shelf prices for localised titles are 30% more than the US.

[everlust]

Yep, that's one thing to like about living in Australia.

On a somewhat topic related note. Can't decide whether to drop down cash on the LE or stick with the regular version. No matter what it is, I'm always a sucker for special editions and what not, that it sometimes goes a bit toooo much. Comes to about $150AUD shipped from NCSX with the lowest cost shipping option. I definitely love my Mushi and Shmups in general, but hrrrmm, hard to decide considering the game packed few months from now.

EDIT: By any chance, does anyone here know if Play-Asia, upon pre-order of the standard version, will likely include the Bonus DLC card? Thank you!

[everlust]

Caved in and just pre-ordered and paid for the LE. Now to play the extensive waiting game

[evil_ash_xero]

I read somewhere that they were upgrading the animations as well as the graphics. However, I don't know if this is true. Is that stage 4 beetle as animated as that in the PCB?

[brentsg]

On a somewhat topic related note. Can't decide whether to drop down cash on the LE or stick with the regular version. No matter what it is, I'm always a sucker for special editions and what not, that it sometimes goes a bit toooo much. Comes to about $150AUD shipped from NCSX with the lowest cost shipping option. I definitely love my Mushi and Shmups in general, but hrrrmm, hard to decide considering the game packed few months from now.

It's a no brainer if the LE comes with some type of superplay DVD, but the OST is a harder sell to me.

[2dvertical]

So now there is talk of localizing deathsmiles (see thread). I guess for those who havent made the 360 jump, a local system might be the ticket.

[t0yrobo]

Preordered the LE from NCSX. I probably shouldn't be dropping $120 on a game, but I'm still kicking myself for not getting Border Down or Under Defeat when they were still new, that's not gonna happen again.

[Fenrir]

I read somewhere that they were upgrading the animations as well as the graphics. However, I don't know if this is true. Is that stage 4 beetle as animated as that in the PCB?

Have you seen a clip of the 360 port?

[neist]

On a somewhat topic related note. Can't decide whether to drop down cash on the LE or stick with the regular version. No matter what it is, I'm always a sucker for special editions and what not, that it sometimes goes a bit toooo much. Comes to about $150AUD shipped from NCSX with the lowest cost shipping option. I definitely love my Mushi and Shmups in general, but hrrrmm, hard to decide considering the game packed few months from now.

It's a no brainer if the LE comes with some type of superplay DVD, but the OST is a harder sell to me.

Yeah, I can't really justify the price just for the OST. While it'd come with a pretty slip-cover, I'd never touch the OST after one playthrough.

[lawnspic]

Another PA pre-order, cant wait!

[evil_ash_xero]

I read somewhere that they were upgrading the animations as well as the graphics. However, I don't know if this is true. Is that stage 4 beetle as animated as that in the PCB?

Have you seen a clip of the 360 port?

I don't know if that was rhetorical or not, but yeah, i've seen about 3 clips of the 360 port.

[everlust]

On a somewhat topic related note. Can't decide whether to drop down cash on the LE or stick with the regular version. No matter what it is, I'm always a sucker for special editions and what not, that it sometimes goes a bit toooo much. Comes to about $150AUD shipped from NCSX with the lowest cost shipping option. I definitely love my Mushi and Shmups in general, but hrrrmm, hard to decide considering the game packed few months from now.

It's a no brainer if the LE comes with some type of superplay DVD, but the OST is a harder sell to me.

Yeah, I can't really justify the price just for the OST. While it'd come with a pretty slip-cover, I'd never touch the OST after one playthrough.

Yeah, really true. I actually probably wouldn't even touch the OST. I'm such a sucker

Ah well, won't really do me any problems, I'm just gonna skip one or two 1st day buy's of other titles.

[Wonderbanana]

Only found this out yesterday - great news!

Off to pre-order now and just sent Cave an email saying thanks in the hope that the more contact they get, the more likely they are to do some more

[Square King]

So I don't normally care about achievements, but has anyone heard anything? Just curious how Cave's handling them so I know what to shoot for.

Heh.