Why Stagger Release Dates??

Saturday 31 March 2001

<rant> Well it would appear that the distributors have done it to us again!! Tribes 2 is out and on the shelves in the US but is nowhere to be found in any other country! Distributors in Australia state that it is "likely" to be available by mid April. Once again someone else gets to play a great game before us. Were there no War3z sites, we would just have to lump it! It is no wonder that other countries' users get right royally pissed off and game companies go broke. But can we do anything about it?? Our hands are tied! If we don't buy the game in protest then a potentially great software developer goes down the tubes. If that happens we suffer. E-mail petitions don't work! So what are we left to do?? Some people turn to the WaR3z sites to obtain a copy of the game so that they are not missing out in expertise when it comes to the competitive on-line gaming world. The difference between really enjoying a game and being competitive vs. struggling and being seen as a lam3r and not really enjoying it, is quite often the difference between the release dates. If, in about 3 weeks, when Tribes 2 comes out here, I was to jump onto the servers and try to play, I would be laughed at and would quickly find myself being "kicked" from the game. All because I was not very good, cause I hadn't been playing the game as long as the rest! I don't really enjoy that feeling! And I don't think any of you guys do either!

Those gamers who get an obscure copy of the game and play it before it is released in their countries, should buy a legal copy when it is released. Those who don't bother purchasing the game may do so for a number of reasons:


Any way you look at it, the developers lose out on their income. While we will never stop piracy, there is much that the software companies can do to minimize it. One of those things it to get their collective bottoms moving and have simultaneous world-wide releases! This would close one reason for piracy. Another would be not to release games until they are finished and fully tested!! But neither of these things will ever happen, will it? </rant>

Thursday 29 March 2001

<rant> It seems that I am not the only one pissed off at the software manufacturers/distributors about their inability to ship titles according to proposed deadlines. My friend over at Tim's News is also a tad upset!! He raises a valid point about the link between piracy and release dates. Not so long ago I was offered a full copy of Project IGI. This was about 2 months before it was available here in Australia. It had been released elsewhere in the world and someone had pirated it so that others could try the program. Many who played it will not go out and buy a legitimate copy of the game because they have finished it, most probably by the time it hit the shelves here!!!!!

It almost seems as if the rest of the world is merely trying to be treated the same as the US. They may be the biggest market base. Most of the software companies may be based in the US but with global distribution systems and trans-national corporations, there is absolutely no excuse for any delay between countries. For crying out loud, the designer company, Lionhead Studios is British!!! They can't even get the game yet!!!!!!!!!! I hope that one day the software companies will realize that they alienate more people by pandering to the Americans than they gain in profits. After all, it is the consumer who ultimately decides the fate of a business!!!!
Chew on that EA!!!!! </rant>

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