Bricks and Mortar Edition - Australia

Hello Von..

I brought the LE from Stardock directly.. (Pre-purchase.) I just got home today and my wife put it on my PC table (It's just arrived). I'm a very happy lad. I figured if I just brought it from Stardock themselves, it would be just as expensive/cheaper than buying from EB...

von, I am like dalamor in that I pre-ordered from stardock and have MY LE on my computer bench (at us$69.95+us$10 shipping,

but I also have ordered a copy through jb hifi (and paid au$49.95), but they are getting the run around from the distributor (all interactive) who initially told jb hifi that it would be released on the '19th of august' and on the 19/8 they said that they were in 'stocktake' and would be able to release after the 'stocktake' and checked again( and jb had been told that the 'stocktake' was over yesterday at the store I ordered it through (AND told them that I had just received the LE pre-order from stardock)and they told me that they still had no idea when it would actually be received by them,

and in game they have been told the 30th of september(also all interactive),

while eb games was told the first of september with no idea who the distributor is,

but i suspect it to be "all interative", and based upon this admittedly small sample(but all data was personally sighted by me in each chains computers, so is accurate at the time of collecting), I think that australia's distribution problem(s) are with ONE 'company' called 'all interactive'

and one last piece of information that will upset you, according to all three chains ONLY the standard edition will be released in australia, as there is only ONE stock code in the 'all interactive' system, so would suggest you seriously consider a direct to publisher order so that YOU have the choice and more reliable receipt date.

harpo

You guys seem to be having the same problem we had in Canada. It's supposed to be available, but nobody has it. Something didn't work out with distribution.

tridus, you are correct, the problem IS the distributor, not the chains, not the distant shipping (that you do not have, and the europeans also have), unfortunatly this sort of behavoiur will either help to kill PC gaming in australia, OR kill PC game distribution within australia, and with australians being both lazy(and doing their best to do the minimum posible ( and a lot of us like to think up ways of reducing effort while still getting the results that we want) I think it might be the distributor that gets the shafting.

harpo

When I priced Elemental in Australian retail in early August there were 4 outlets I found taking pre-orders.  They all listed 19 August as the release date.  The one I ordered through suggested that pre-orders normally ship 2-3 days before their release date.

Elemental went Gold on about the 13th or 14th (i.e. when a version gets sent out to be put on CD).

BUT in Australia the game has to be reviewed and classified by the Classification Board (just in case us poor kiddies might be inflicted by some graphic violence, or sex...or something - shock, horror!)

Elemental has not yet been given a classification by the board, which states that it can take as long as 5 days (plus 2 days administration) for a priority review or 20 days (plus 5 days administration) for a standard review. A priority review costs $4000 more.

Can't imagine how the board could have got the gold edition before about the 19th given that it had to be pressed to CD and sent to them.  Hopefully that means it's getting close now.

The real question is why 4 retail outlets thought they would have it by the 19th.  Surely they and the distributor are fully aware that things need to be reviewed and of the sort of time this takes.

After speaking to several store managers (EB's, Game, JB's) it's ebcome clear you can only get it from the stores if you preorder it. That right it's preorder only. Additionally its not due to arrive to next month by some reports... And there is no limited edition available. It's regular only.

That said I ordered the limited edition from Stardock and it arrived in the mail today.

Thanks for the responses chaps(etts) - Interestingly I went and gandered at online purchases (being the luddite that I am, I still hate digital purchase and using Impluse is going to make my hair go grey (well, greyer)).

Amazon already has it listed cheaper than Stardock has it (although yes, the benefits exist for buying it directly from Stardock) and if, come crunch time and I can not find a b&m version down here anytime soon, I'll bend my 'non-digital' viewpoint and get it from here. (won't be the first time I've gone digital (http://www.crypticcomet.com/ - Cryptic Comet being one I've purchased both their games digitally) and no doubt won't be the last)

Somewhat interesting noting that it seems physical versions are hard to come by in many places.

Ooroo 

(heads off mumbling something about life being easier in the days of punch cards.. (it wasn't, but hey, everything looks better in the old days..*cough*MOM*cough*))

Interesting, as by EB games (Melb - CBD), they have stock on order and expecting shelf copies tomorrow - copies that are not pre-ordered but for sale to walk-ins.

Certainly agree with the no Limited Edition part - single version listed on their system (and a slightly cheaper shelf price as well, although it could be they had not converted it from USD to AUS price).

That said however, that this afternoon as I mentioned earlier, one of the Melbourne store owners had not heard boo from the warehouse in regards to meeting the 9th release date he had on computer - he also noted it wasn't the only game slated for a 9th Sept release date that he had yet to receive anything from the warehouse over.

A good news update.

Elemental cleared classification on the 7th of September.  So that means EXPECT IT SOON in a store near you.  A couple of days for printing the boxes and mailing them out!

Interesting indeed. Let me know if they actually have any on the shelf by Monday.