where to find Trauma Center new?

[monkeyf1]

I've been looking for a new copy everywhere and no one seems to have it. I tried the Atlus site and they don't have it either. Anyone know of any online stores that have it in stock?

[Magehart]

If you live in SoCal you can find it all over the place. Is it really that hard to find now?

[edison]

I don't know about online, but a friend was looking today and found some sitting on the shelf at 2 of the local Wal-marts (B&M).

[mtxbass1]

This is at nearly every store I've been to lately. Have you checked anywhere? Walmart(s) around the southeast seriously have about 10-20 copies each.

[Vegan]

Trauma Center's availability or lack thereof seems to be a regional phenomenon. In some areas it's everywhere. In others it's not to be found.

[JohnnyVolcano]

The scarcity of some of the titles for the DS is really starting to annoy me :bomb: . Most of the games I want to play are now considered rare and cannot be found. Phoenix Wright, Trauma Center, Lost in Blue...

I am a new Nintendo user. I own multiple consoles and this is the first time I have ever encountered games being rare. Is it something that Nintendo is doing on purpose? Are publishers releasing only limited number of titles on purpose? I thought they are in the business of making money, not making wanna-be entrepreneurs on ebay pockets padded.

I just dont get it and it is kinda putting me off. Is it like that with all of Nintendo consoles?

[Dingleberry]

Both of the best buy's by me have plenty of copies in.

[Ecofreak]

Both of the best buy's by me have plenty of copies in.

Same with me - they even got a restock within a week or so of selling out.

[Foolman]

The scarcity of some of the titles for the DS is really starting to annoy me :bomb: . Most of the games I want to play are now considered rare and cannot be found. Phoenix Wright, Trauma Center, Lost in Blue...

I am a new Nintendo user. I own multiple consoles and this is the first time I have ever encountered games being rare. Is it something that Nintendo is doing on purpose? Are publishers releasing only limited number of titles on purpose? I thought they are in the business of making money, not making wanna-be entrepreneurs on ebay pockets padded.

I just dont get it and it is kinda putting me off. Is it like that with all of Nintendo consoles?

Are you asking if Nintendo tells publishers not to print enough copies so the games may become rare? That is a really stupid question.

[monkeyf1]

I'm in the Northwest and have not seen it in any of the best buys, gamestops or ebgames in my area. I'll have to take a look at Walmart even though I hate the place.

[Womp]

Best Buy seems to be the best in terms of regularly having it in stock compared to other retailers.

[Vegan]

The scarcity of some of the titles for the DS is really starting to annoy me :bomb: . Most of the games I want to play are now considered rare and cannot be found. Phoenix Wright, Trauma Center, Lost in Blue...

I am a new Nintendo user. I own multiple consoles and this is the first time I have ever encountered games being rare. Is it something that Nintendo is doing on purpose? Are publishers releasing only limited number of titles on purpose? I thought they are in the business of making money, not making wanna-be entrepreneurs on ebay pockets padded.

I just dont get it and it is kinda putting me off. Is it like that with all of Nintendo consoles?

One-word answer: Atlus.

[depascal22]

The northeast seems wiped out while you could probably score multiple copies in the west or southeast.

[ShimSham]

I thankfully picked it up yesterday at my EB. I saw one last copy there.

[banpeikun]

funny thing is they (PW, TC, LiB) all came out the same week

[asianxcore]

funny thing is they (PW, TC, LiB) all came out the same week

I remember that. Didn't the games all come out within a week of each other?

Of all the places I frequent for games, the only store I see Trauma Center at is Fry's Electronics. Then again I always see tons of Atlus stuff at Fry's.

[bigbabyaggie99]

I have seen a few copies at Fry's each time I visit.

[ShimSham]

Since this is slightly related, if anyone's looking for Phoenix Wright, Lik Sang and Play Asia have the Japanese version for $30 with cheap or no shipping costs.

The Japanese version has an english language option so there's virtually no reason to not pick this up if you can't find it in stores in North America.

[Hollow Man]

I got Trauma Center at Toys R Us today. Was $29.99, thus, $24.99 after using the coupon listed in the Video Game Deals area.

-HM

[Rozz]

This game is only difficult to find if you

A) Dont get out of the house or
B) Dont check anywhere online

Otherwise, you should have no problem finding this title. Its really common actually - go to Best Buy or Toys R' Us and you should find plenty of copies.

[hfdpro]

I cannot find a single copy of TC anywhere B&M. I live in Maryland, with many options available to me.
I had to order from Atlus 3 days ago, and now it seems to be out of stock on
their site.

[A7las]

I'm going to hijack this thread for just a moment.
I'm about ready to throw my nice new DS Lite at the wall because of this game. I'm on one of the first operations where you need to remove glass from this guy's heart. Well, after you've removed all of the little pieces, there is that big glass shard that you have to pull out carefully. I pull it out, then attempt to suture the hole left by it, but I can't sew it up for the life of me!
I've replayed the thing about 7 times. Once, I think I may have actually done it, and this yellow star thing kind of came up, but since it took me so long, he only had one vital left and died as soon as the little cut scene was over. I have not been able to replicate that the last 3 times I have tried.
Any tips?

[RedvsBlue]

I'm going to hijack this thread for just a moment.
I'm about ready to throw my nice new DS Lite at the wall because of this game. I'm on one of the first operations where you need to remove glass from this guy's heart. Well, after you've removed all of the little pieces, there is that big glass shard that you have to pull out carefully. I pull it out, then attempt to suture the hole left by it, but I can't sew it up for the life of me!
I've replayed the thing about 7 times. Once, I think I may have actually done it, and this yellow star thing kind of came up, but since it took me so long, he only had one vital left and died as soon as the little cut scene was over. I have not been able to replicate that the last 3 times I have tried.
Any tips?

Wait till you get to the one where you have to repair aneurysms in someone's digestive system. That one's annoying as all hell.

[ShimSham]

Make sure you're suturing from end to end on the wound and zig zag a lot.

[A7las]

Wait till you get to the one where you have to repair aneurysms in someone's digestive system. That one's annoying as all hell.

Woah... I can't wait...

Make sure you're suturing from end to end on the wound and zig zag a lot.

I'm trying. I just don't understand why it is so much more hardcore than the rest of the cuts I have sutured. I breeze through those.

[Hollow Man]

Just make sure you use plenty of green liquid to get the hit points of your patient up. It took me a bit to figure out exactly what process the game wanted for the zig-zagging, but once I figured it out, I had little problems.

And, yes the aneurysm one is 5x as bad. Probably played it a dozen times. Fortunately the game gets a bit easier after that (well, I haven't finished it yet, so we'll see).


-HM

[A7las]

Just make sure you use plenty of green liquid to get the hit points of your patient up. It took me a bit to figure out exactly what process the game wanted for the zig-zagging, but once I figured it out, I had little problems.

And, yes the aneurysm one is 5x as bad. Probably played it a dozen times. Fortunately the game gets a bit easier after that (well, I haven't finished it yet, so we'll see).


-HM

Well.. I know this is a thread about finding new trauma centers', but I may have a used one up for sale pretty soon...

I don't mind repeating a stage in a game 3 or 4 times because at least you get some sense of accomplisment afterwards, but I've done it 10 times now. It's getting quite ridiculous.

[Hollow Man]

Maybe you can find a screenshot on the web somewhere of the wound (or similar looking one) and trace out with a paint program the technique you're using for stitching? Then we can maybe see what you're not getting quite right.

-HM

[A7las]

Maybe you can find a screenshot on the web somewhere of the wound (or similar looking one) and trace out with a paint program the technique you're using for stitching? Then we can maybe see what you're not getting quite right.

-HM

Thanks for the offer, but the eleventh (literally) try did the trick. Instead of being quick with the strokes, I took my time and tried to make them nice and evenly spaced. I must have been doing them too close together or too quick, I'm not really sure. I was doing them the way I did with all of the rest of the cuts, but I guess this one required something different.
Oh well.. at least that hurdle is over.
Now I have the fun aneurism to look forward to.

[Hollow Man]

I'm probably about midway through chapter 4, and I can tell you that after that aneurysm (and maybe one or two other operations here and there), it gets quite a bit easier. So try to tough it out, especially because there are some other unique things you get to do.

-HM

[monkeygod]

I saw it at Fry's in Fountain Valley, CA recently.

[suko_32]

I sold my personal copy ofTrauma Center on ebay and got $44 for it. I know, wtf?

[Vegan]

The aneurysm one is artificially difficult solely because of the zooming bullshit.

[JohnnyVolcano]

Not a single copy in any B&M in Kentucky. Can't seem to find it anywhere online either (other than overpaying on ebay).

[Vegan]

There's no such thing as overpaying for Trauma Center. It's that good.

[JohnnyVolcano]

There's no such thing as overpaying for Trauma Center. It's that good.

Well, I dont believe in paying over MSRP for anything, just because the publisher didn't produce enough copies to meet demand. They should have thought of doing more reprints of high-demand titles for the DS Lite release. I am sure there are other new DS users out there looking for those hard-to-get titles. There really isnt any real reason why I should be paying 10-15 bucks more for a title.

[Hollow Man]

You can say you don't believe in it, but it's a supply and demand issue. If in fact there aren't enough to go around, you're going to see the price go up.

That's as real a reason as any. It may SUCK because it isn't clear why the publisher doesn't crank more out, but if they don't, then you're stuck looking everywhere on the planet for a cheap copy.

-HM

[Vegan]

I don't know, Atlus has issues.

They KNOW Phoenix Wright is in high demand, for instance, and instead of doing a massive reprint, they keep doing a tiny tiny reprint every few months that sells out before it makes it to shelves.

I was talking to a friend who works for a company in a similar position (small-scale manufacturer) and he tells me that there's a lot of factors involved in doing large print runs, it's just hard for a small company to have enough spare money to do it.

[Hollow Man]

Actually, Capcom does Phoenix Wright.

I agree - I figure these companies don't have the money to make large print runs.

-HM

[JohnnyVolcano]

You can say you don't believe in it, but it's a supply and demand issue. If in fact there aren't enough to go around, you're going to see the price go up.

That's as real a reason as any. It may SUCK because it isn't clear why the publisher doesn't crank more out, but if they don't, then you're stuck looking everywhere on the planet for a cheap copy.

-HM

How come only games for Nintendo systems seem to suffer from this case of "not enough to go around" as you put it?

I own a PS1, PS2, XBOX and dreamcast and I never had much problems finding any of the titles that I wanted.

So, are the publishers for the other consoles doing anything better than publishers for nintendo?
It doesn't seem to me that its an issue about number, since Nintendo is clearly dominating the handhald market.

Bottom line is, I shouldn't have to go to ebay to find a pretty popular game for a system that is less than 2 years in the market. As a comparison I can still find or order online all the popular games, brand new, for the Xbox, which has been far longer on the market than the DS.

[Hollow Man]

How come only games for Nintendo systems seem to suffer from this case of "not enough to go around" as you put it?

I don't know - I'm basically a PC gamer, so I'm not used to this either.

Is this wacky Japanese export title/anime genre unique to Nintendo titles as opposed to other console systems? If so, that could be why. The companies that make them perhaps aren't interested in producing that many for the USA.

If that isn't the reason, then I don't know. I'm as frustrated as you (considering I just spent $10 over list for Phoenix Wright).

-HM

[espy605]

How come only games for Nintendo systems seem to suffer from this case of "not enough to go around" as you put it?

From my understanding, cartridge based games (GBA and DS in modern terms) are much more expensive to produce per item relative to CD/DVD ones (GameCube/Xbox, etc.). The profit per item is also much lower. You aren't going to want to make millions of them if you aren't sure they're going to sell. I assume GameCube games are just as easy to find as other CD/DVD based systems. If I make $20 profit from one DS game sold, I can manufacture 2 more copies. Yet if I make $50 profit from one Xbox game sold, that's enough to pay for 5 more copies.

I own a PS1, PS2, XBOX and dreamcast and I never had much problems finding any of the titles that I wanted.

Optical-based systems. Even then, there are rare games for these systems. Suikoden 2 for PS1 gets around $100 on eBay. Valkyrie Profile PS1 gets that much occasionally (although its price might be affected by the PSP release). For a while, Final Fantasy Tactics PS1 was the same before its Greatest Hits reprint (an honor reserved for games selling a certain amount that FFT didn't actually sell). On PS2, Rez was/is hard to find. On Dreamcast, Marvel vs. Capcom 2 goes for $50 plus on eBay. I don't know the pricing for it, but Panzer Dragoon Orta on Xbox is a very well received game that's impossible to find outside of eBay even a single year after it came out. Marvel vs. Capcom 2 on Xbox is also a rare find. Notice these are all fairly niche titles that do not warrant producing excessive copies. Even Squaresoft didn't gamble on FFT on its initial run, and only reprinted it as a GH after the Final Fantasy brand became very well known.

You can find Trauma Center and other rarer DS/GBA games on eBay quite easily, you'll just pay more than the MSRP for them.

Bottom line is, I shouldn't have to go to ebay to find a pretty popular game for a system that is less than 2 years in the market. As a comparison I can still find or order online all the popular games, brand new, for the Xbox, which has been far longer on the market than the DS.
But it isn't a pretty popular game. My definition of popular is a game that will definitely sell well to the average consumer, not to a niche market as Trauma Center and Phoenix Wright both certainly are. Both these games have virtually no marketing and are aimed towards the hard core gamer market, which is very small compared to the Super Mario one. This is proven by the fact that Trauma Center still sits unsold on shelves in several parts of the country as people have commented in this thread. It's also why several online retailers have dropped Trauma Center (new, not used) from its online catalogue, yet the game is still available for purchase from Atlus directly.

I don't know - I'm basically a PC gamer, so I'm not used to this either.

PC games are very different to console ones. PC developers do not have to pay licensing costs to Microsoft to develop games for Windows. At least I know they didn't before, I don't know about now. Even so, console developers also have to pay for development kits which I think cost around $10,000 to $20,000 per kit. Unlike licensed PC software tools or engines, console development kits come with hardware (developer versions of the consoles themselves) that can't be duplicated to use on several machines. Additionally, anyone can print their own CDs for PC games, while on consoles they can't. Nintendo gets paid to make the cartridges for other publishers. When someone publishes a game, they're paying Nintendo to make them, Sony to print game DVDs for them, etc. On CD/DVD based consoles, this comes out to about $8-10 profit for the console maker per item manufactured. These costs increase even more when going to cartridge due to production differences. The fact DS and GBA are cheaper compared to console games means the profit per item is much less, making it less of an incentive to make more cartridges. Why pay more money to make less profit per item?

As a caveat, I might be wrong about some of these facts.

Is this wacky Japanese export title/anime genre unique to Nintendo titles as opposed to other console systems? If so, that could be why. The companies that make them perhaps aren't interested in producing that many for the USA.

No, it isn't unique at all. Games like Disgaea on PS2 were never reprinted and are in short supply but are fan favorites (yet not popular) are niche games. Panzer Dragoon Orta is an Xbox example. The fact you call it "wacky" shows it really isn't mainstream, so it doesn't warrant producing many units. Nintendo will collect fees no matter how many are sold, so no company is going to risk producing an excessive amount. This is also why Nintendo games are usually easier to find even if they don't sell well (but not always).

Console makers make little, no, or lose money per console sold. They make all the money on licensing fees, which they don't have to pay if they are publishing titles for their own console. This is why they all want their own consoles. Sega, Nintendo, NEC, SNK, Atari, etc.

[sqyxzylyx]

Is this the new rare game. I just saw an ebay auction that ended more than $50.

[Redeema]

This isn't new or exclusive to Nintendo, try finding a copy of Marvel vs. Capcom 2 (PS2), Cubivore (GC), Ikaruga (GC), Alien Hominid (GC), Metal Gear 3 LE (PS2), etc. If you're having a hard time finding a game it's just because the game is actually good and well liked, as opposed to mediocre and plentiful.

[Rozz]

Is this the new rare game. I just saw an ebay auction that ended more than $50.

I'd sell off my copy if I could get that much for it... PM me if your interested....

[espy605]

This isn't new or exclusive to Nintendo, try finding a copy of Marvel vs. Capcom 2 (PS2), Cubivore (GC), Ikaruga (GC), Alien Hominid (GC), Metal Gear 3 LE (PS2), etc. If you're having a hard time finding a game it's just because the game is actually good and well liked, as opposed to mediocre and plentiful.
This is most common with Castlevania games. Konami makes a fair amount, but people buy them and generally keep them.

Instead of double posting I'm editing my post.

I posted on Atlus' forum because someone else noted they no longer carry Trauma Center on their website. An admin over there confirmed there was another reprint coming in two weeks, so here's hoping it pops up again somewhere.

[JohnnyVolcano]

FINALLY managed to find a used copy at a local gamestop. But good news about the reprint. Hopefully they will make more than the last Phoenix Wright reprint that didnt last more than a week and didnt even make it to all regions (There were still none here in Kentucky).

[fatbeer]

Is this game really that hard to find?I saw 4 copies of Trauma Center in TRU.

[guessed]

Well, I doubt anyone following this thread missed the other one, but it should be linked anyway...
Reprint coming in july: http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=98738

[Maddgief]

Hopefully the masses won't catch wind of the reprint...

[Vegan]

Hopefully the masses won't catch wind of the reprint...

Haha, you say that like it's the latest GTA or something. I'm pretty sure "the masses" don't give a hoot about Trauma Center.

[Hollow Man]

Granted I don't see it in every store I go in, but it does seem to be available in all of my local Toys R Us stores. And they had two copies in the one Gamecrazy that exists here.

-HM

[Maddgief]

Granted I don't see it in every store I go in, but it does seem to be available in all of my local Toys R Us stores. And they had two copies in the one Gamecrazy that exists here.

-HM

You should walk...NO RUN to ebay with those copies sir. Guaranteed 10 to 12 bone profit each.