Welcome to the 47th Edition of Reloading...



“Gaming in general is a male thing.  It isn’t that gaming is designed to exclude women.  Everybody who’s tried to design a game to interest a large female audience has failed.  And I think that has to do with the different thinking processes of men and women.” – Gary Gygax

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Everyone can use a feel good moment to start the day.   Let’s go with this…




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Thanks to the guy who sent me the ROMG worst column ever email yesterday.   I tried to reply to you on my iPhone, but it apparently took offense to your mail and sent it into the Interether never to be found again.   I’ll do my best to make today’s column the worst.  Most people try to keep setting the bar higher and higher, but frankly, that’s a tough gig, so setting the bar lower and lower it is… this one’s for you!



A couple of my Aussie friends (readers, viewers of this column) emailed me to let me know that Star Wars: The Old Republic was not being given a release date in Australia.   I was perplexed, but that feeling often bounces around in my head, so although I took notice I didn’t bump the issue to the top of my “must write” list. 



Here is the deal: SW:TOR (hereafter referred to as sweater because it will be a cold day in Hell before some of you see it) will not be available at launch to anyone outside of North American and Europe. 



I’m looking at you Iceland, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovenia and more…  Yes, some of you are part of the European Union, but that and two euros will get you a cup of coffee.   It won’t get you SW:TOR.



Wipe that smile off your face North America.  The game is being released in limited numbers, so waiting until the last minute to buy this title might leave you as left out as the guy from Lithuania. 



BioWare and LucasArts wiped the SW:Galaxies wake cake off their chins and posted this:



“To all of our fans outside of North America and Europe:



Today we've announced the pre-order details for the initial launch of Star Wars: The Old Republic, and as you may now know, we've taken the difficult but necessary decision to limit our initial launch supply for the game.



BioWare and LucasArts are completely focused on building an exceptional game and an exceptional game service to go with it. We decided to constrain our launch capacity to ensure we deliver a great experience to every player. Part of the reason this decision was made was because of the overwhelming demand for The Old Republic, and we're humbled by that level of excitement and anticipation. We fully intend to deliver to you an amazing game when we expand our service post-launch, but right now we cannot commit to any timeframe for when that may happen.



As soon as we have more information about additional launches in more territories, we'll let you know. We are committed to delivering Star Wars: The Old Republic to BioWare and Star Wars fans around the world, and to growing a truly global community.”




This makes sense on many fronts.   Rolling out a game in one region is hard.  Rolling it out in multiple regions can be a nightmare. 



Even if you were only to roll out one portion of the entire picture, let’s say customer support, it becomes a logistics nightmare.   Rolling out customer support to North America is a mammoth undertaking.   Rolling it out in Europe where it requires multiple languages is much tougher.  Now imagine rolling it out across the globe.   It makes me shudder just to think about it.    (This doesn’t explain Australia however, who could use NA customer support.)



I understand why Bioware would take this stance, especially given the enormous number of people who want to play their game.   I also understand why a person in Kazakhstan would be upset that they can’t play SW:TOR when it launches.   Star Wars is a global franchise, with fans everywhere. 



Are you affected by this decision? 



What are your thoughts on the issue?



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As always, you can contact me a number of ways:

  • Email
  • Twitter
  • Website
  • Telepathy (Just make sure it’s during business hours.  I hate to be woken by this stuff)

Until we meet again,

John “Boomjack” Hoskin




Latest MMOG Features

Interact with our new SWTOR site and win a Collector's Edition!

Local retailer sold out? Can’t find a copy on Amazon? Fear not, we’ve got one fully loaded Star Wars:The Old Republic Collector’s Edition, (complete with pre-order code) for you! Take a look at SW:The Old Republic Post-A-Thon for all the details!

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Disney Seeks to Acquire All Shares of Faxion Online Parent Company

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WIN With Cheap Shots!

What could easily win you $15 to spend on subscriptions or games plus score you an entry in a contest (with at least 1 in 52 odds!) to win some cool Really Big Prize like gaming hardware? It's Cheap Shots, the weekly screenshot caption competition for premium members.

If you haven't entered Cheap Shots yet, what are you waiting for? Rummage through some screenshots, think of funny captions, and post them. (You don't even have to edit your image; we'll do it for you.)

Anacche's winning Cheap Shot illustrates why you don't want your corpse lying around a boss's lair. Ever. Check out this week's winning entry, Teabagged...by a BAWSS!

PlayerScore 4.9.00 Released!

PlayerScore 4.9.00 is now available for download! This new version features the restoration of the database mode and several other feature:



To view the database, simply install PlayerScore 4.9.00 and choose “View Database” from the WoW minimap icon. Once you’re in the database you can click the headers to sort by that type, or change the page. You can also choose to view data for your current group, your guild, or everyone you’ve met!



If you use the PlayerScore updater, you can pre-download most of the scores for your server. This has the added benifit of adding tooltips to your chat window. Mouse over players to see information about them.



Download PlayerScore 4.9.00 here!
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Legally Dead Man Works in Vegas


 

Bruce Campbell Fact of the Day

Bruce Campbell pities Mr. T.





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Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

About The Author

Dissecting and distilling the game industry since 1994. Lover of family time, youth hockey, eSports, and the game industry in general.

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