bugged by lack of release date info

[Tingkai]

Why can't firaxis or infogrames provide a list of release dates for different countries? Is it too much to ask for such basic information?

I'm in Hong Kong and the shop owners I've talked to say they have no idea when Civ3 is being released. Most are betting on end of November. All i want to know is what date can I expect civ3 to hit the shelves. Not too much to ask for.