Reader Reggie Santiago sends us news of an unfortunate importer mix-up that had thousands of pre-order customers watchingHalo 3cutscenes that star a Mandarin-speaking Master Chief. The mental image is funny, but you have to feel bad for these guys.
English-speaking customers of video game importerPlay-Asia.comexcitedly tore into packages to finally popHalo 3into their Xbox 360s, only to find that they received theHalo 3Asia Version. It turns out that Play-Asia did not know that the game would not have an English voice track. The Asia Version does feature English subtitles, but there are parts of the game (like teammate talk) where no subtitles are displayed, leaving these unlucky importers scratching their heads.
To attempt to make good, Play-Asia is offering a trade-out for the English Asia Version to those who ordered before September 26th, but unfortunately this trade requires the return of an unopened copy. They are also offering a $10 in-store gift certificate as an apology.
You can read the full details from Play-Asia after the jump, but I got a big kick out of this line: “If you are happy with the Asian Version Chinese cut-scenes voices, then please ignore this email.”
To be fair, Play-Asia is a great store. I’ve imported consoles, games, and figures from them many times, and I always find that the service is great. I think this is just a case of details slipping through the cracks.
[thanks, Reggie — bum luck, meng]
Thank you for contacting Play-Asia.com.
This email is regarding your ordered item Halo 3 Asia Versionfor Xbox 360. This email does not apply to the LimitedEdition Asia Version of the game, so if you also have purchased theLimited Edition Asia Version of the game, we may ask you for your patiencefor the time being. Please read this e-mail carefully.
We strive to keep our products listings updated and accurate, however, wehave not been informed of the fact that the game does not include anEnglish voice track for the story line. To avoid any possiblemisunderstanding: The game is fully capable of displaying English,however, the voices in cut-scenes will be in Chinese.
We were not aware of this fact prior the time we received our batch and toclear our pre-orders as fast as possible, a thorough check of the game wasonly possible once the first batch of pre-orders has shipped.
We understand that this may be an inconvenience for some of our customersand have tried hard to find an acceptable solution to the problem.
Every customer who has purchased Halo 3 Asian Version (regular versiononly) before 26th of September is entitled to a replacement towards theEnglish Asian Version of the game if they so wish to do so; but somelimitations apply
– Your copy of the game must be in original shrink wrapped, unopenedconditionYou must be willing to return the original game to us (*1)
If you are happy with the Asian Version Chinese cut-scenes voices, thenplease ignore this email.
(*1)As soon as we receive your exchange request (in writing, by email, statingthat you will return the original Chinese Voice Asia Version) we will setup an order in your account and dispatch the English Voice Asia Version ofthe game.
You will receive our return instructions, and on return of the originalgame, we will issue a store credit voucher of US$10 which you can use toyour hopefully next order on Play-Asia.com
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We again kindly ask you for accepting our apologies for this incident,please understand that only the voices during the cut-scenes areaffected.
Please feel free to directly reply to this email regarding any comments orquestions. If you wish to go ahead with the replacement, please reply tothis email and state that you will be returning the original game uponreceipt of the replacement at your own cost (however, the store creditwill be issued once we receive the originally sent game back to cover forthis)
If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to ask.
