Civ-3 released simultaneously in US & Europe + elsewhere?

Ralf · August 21, 2001, 13:30

Well, read the subject. Any info on this?

Mahdimael · August 21, 2001, 14:36

I would hope so, but I suspect not.

And please, let's not turn this into a europe/us bashing thread as has happened on oh so many message boards with similar topics.

Bereta_Eder · August 21, 2001, 15:34

Even if it gets out in the US first, what's the problem? Very soon it will be in Europe too.

But for the time in between (where it is in USA but not in Europe)
the american Apolytoners must bring us full coverage

Saint Marcus · August 21, 2001, 16:17

Long live Amazon.com. Where ever it will be released first, I'll get it

Lemmy · August 21, 2001, 16:22

if they're gonna do it lilke any other game it will probably first be released in the US and a couple of weeks after that it will be available all over Europe. But if they, Firaxis, want to do it special, and that's what i'm hoping for being an European, the release date will be the same all over the world, say December 25 midnight GMT. All over the world Civvers would bring their sleeping bag and wait outside the store until their long awaited game is finally released......ah, who am i kidding, first US, then poor old Europe..

Provost Harrison · August 21, 2001, 18:00

Well as Infogrames is a French company, there is a lot more chance of it being released simultaneously in Europe and US, so don't worry too much. Although I dislike it when these things aren't done at the same time...

introvert · August 21, 2001, 20:45

Having seen Australian suppliers claiming that CivIII will be avalible here in October, perhaps it will be a global release...
Hmmm... 20-10-2001 according to one place.

star mouse · August 21, 2001, 23:40

If they've done a good job of implementing internationalisation in CIV3, there's no good reason why the releases shouldn't be nearly simultaneous. PC games are not like the movie indutry, which deliberately staggers the release of movies so they can ship the film reels from one country to another.

General Ludd · August 21, 2001, 23:52

I wouldn't be surprised if there are a few delays in some parts of the world, there always is, and the people in those parts of the world are - for some odd reason - always surprised and outraged. But unless some disaster happens to stop the shipment, the most you'll have to wait is a day or two, no big deal. (though it may seem like one, at the time)

korn469 · August 22, 2001, 04:52

all of the uk previews have said that civ3 will come out in the uk a month or so after it comes out in the us...

according to amazon.co.uk civ3 is going to come out in the uk on 28 December, 2001

according to amazon.com civ3 is going to come out in the us on October 31, 2001...hmmm that's interesting, they have moved back the release date by a week

so i dunno but that is the word from amazon

Uffty · August 22, 2001, 06:14

I hope that the german version will be released a bit after the other versions, since my experience says, that translated version will have a second allaround check....(my CTP2 has no bugs).

I dont wanna hurry my life up buying a computer game and if so, i want a working one.

Grim Leaper · August 22, 2001, 06:45

I will be very disapointed if infrogrames decides to release civ3 in the USA before any where else. It's like what EA did with Black And White. Released it a week earlier just because the americans kicked up a fuss about Lionhead wanting a global release.

It really pisses me off! Bloody capilist pigs. Think they own the world.

No offence anyone. And nothing personal. Just my inner self speaking out

Sorry

red_jon · August 22, 2001, 06:59

If Korn is right, I honestly hope civ3 flops. A month is a ridiculous period of time for a computer game. December 28th? Isn't that a bit of a stupid time to release a game? AFTER Christmas?

I don't think it will be that long, though.

down th' pub · August 22, 2001, 15:49

December 28th, my birthday!

Ooh wait I emigrated... to the States,

Early present to me!

Grumbold · August 22, 2001, 16:57

They don't deliberately do this to cause pain. Sierra decided to hold Arcanum back from US release while worldwide localisation took place. You should have heard the fuss at the four month delay!

Every country has their own certification process and local copy protection standards, manual writers, printers etc. I hate the fact that the UK sometimes has to suffer a delay, but I live with it. The alternative is 35-40$ extra in shipping and import taxes. What I hate is when they decide the European market is too small to warrant any local distribution at all. We may only be 5% the value of the US market, but you'd have thought 99% of the expensive hard work would have already been done!

Uffty · August 22, 2001, 17:22

The whole game is finished and ready....Just some more gameplay checks and bugsfixing.

If they wanted to they could release it by September 1st!

It's just a marketing gag they stay hold it in.....damn they had 5 years since Civ II.

Outlook gets a new version EVERY YEAR

korn469 · August 22, 2001, 17:50

Quote:

If Korn is right, I honestly hope civ3 flops. A month is a ridiculous period of time for a computer game. December 28th? Isn't that a bit of a stupid time to release a game? AFTER Christmas?

well according to amazon.com civ3
Shipping: This item ships internationally, and on the amazon.com site it says that software can be shipped to other countries
however on another part of the site it says Toys, games, and video games can be shipped only to locations within the U.S. and U.S. protectorates

so you might want to contact amazon.com and see if you can order civ3 from them...if so it costs 12.98 for the 5-10 business day shipping option plus whatever customs may apply

however like grumbold said there are many issues to resolve when going for an international launch of the game, and if infogrames does decide to go with an international launch all they may end up doing is missing christmas everywhere because they would have to hold the US version back...what if it is really difficult to translate civ3 into mongolian so that holds up all of the release dates by three months is it really worth it?

didn't EU come out in europe first? possibly sudden strike also? i think it is more of a logistical problem rather than any company trying to intentionally annoy their international customers...all companies are equally greedy, and if it was possible to release it everywhere i'm sure they would

Quote:

The whole game is finished and ready....Just some more gameplay checks and bugsfixing.
If they wanted to they could release it by September 1st!
It's just a marketing gag they stay hold it in.....damn they had 5 years since Civ II.

lol uffty...if they released it on september 1st, then most likely it would crash every ten minutes and wouldn't even install on half the systems out there

SMAC was fairly buggy even after they extended the beta testing, after an expansion pack and two expansion pack patches SMAC-X still has bugs, but at least it's stable now...while when civ3 gets released it might be completely stable i doubt that it is solid enough or balanced enough to sell right now

i have never read about a developer just waiting around after they had a perfectly polished, balanced, and solid game just to toy with people

plus i'm actually surprised that civ3 is coming out this year at all...they first announced it in like May of 1999, with Brian Reynolds as the main designer, Tim Trains as executive producer, and the rest of the people who left and formed big huge games as important people on the project...then about half way through the development process they leave and firaxis later admits that their leaving caused delays in civ3 (which was pretty obvious to us here at apolyton) and still civ3 seems like it's ready to go in just over two years, that's impressive in my opinion!

Provost Harrison · August 22, 2001, 18:50

Well if companies start treating you as a second class citizen because of the part of the world you live in, I only have one word to say to you: warez. Play now, buy later. Why should you have to wait for issues of corporations 'dividing and conquering' different areas of the world. If it comes out at the same time in all parts of the world, I withdraw my objection...

Swissy · August 22, 2001, 19:57

I checked all the Infogrames sites, and Civ3 is only mentioned on the North American site. But, the Asia-Pacific site linked to the NA site. And all the sites seem to be displaying the most recent Infogrames releases. So there is hope for the rest of the world

Immortal Wombat · August 22, 2001, 19:58

Quote:

Originally posted by Provost Harrison
Play now, buy later.

I follow the reasoning on the first part...

Saint Marcus · August 23, 2001, 12:17

Quote:

This item ships internationally, and on the amazon.com site it says that software can be shipped to other countries
however on another part of the site it says Toys, games, and video games can be shipped only to locations within the U.S. and U.S. protectorates

Video games aren't computer games. The reason they don't ship American video games (like PS2 games) is because the US has a different format (NTSC?-US) from other countries in the world (NTSC?-JAP, SECAM?, PAL). They aren't compatible. However, this isn't the case with computer games, which can be played on any system with a compatible OS.

Provost Harrison · August 23, 2001, 12:27

Quote:

Originally posted by Immortal Wombat

I follow the reasoning on the first part...

Well I am in favour of paying the guys if they have done a damn good job with the game and will allow them the opportunity to make more in the future. But I intend to get hold of the game on the day of release, one way or another...

Tingkai · August 23, 2001, 13:22

How about this for a cool dream.

Apolyton contacts the Civ gods and arranges to get a batch of CIV3 at a discount and well before the release date and then sells the games to Apolyton members at a discount so that we can all be playing the game on the official release date.

I don't think we loyal and faithful subjects would be too much out of line to ask for such a small gift.