Hello guys. Today is going to be a different kind of blog because I actually have a topic to talk about and it is about release dates mainly towards two games I am looking to get that have not got release dates as of today over here.

First of all is Rock Band. Rock Band has been out in the USA coming 3 months now and I just find it absolutely ridiculous that the game still hasn't got an official release date here while the Americans and that are all rocking away at it while we Europeans and elsewhere have to resort to Guitar Hero for the time being (unless you imported the PS3 version). Canada though didn't get the game until a month afterwards and I believe that they still haven't got the bundle for it, as far as I know. Now if the game had an actual release date, I wouldn't be complaining about it but the fact that the game is already out in the States and no news on when it is coming out here, pricing, bundles etc has come out since boggles the mind. People have been suggesting though that it is coming out in March but if that were the case then the online retailers would have the game displayed and the date but they don't have a display page for it at all like GAME and Gameplay. Others though like HMV and Amazon have dates in March. I hope that is the case and that I can finally get a chance to play this game.

The second game is Super Smash Bros Brawl. It is currently out in Japan of course and will be in the States in less than a month although it would have been out now if it didn't get delayed again. But once again, us Europeans still do not have an official release date and some signs are pointing towards a summer release because of it not showing up in Nintendo Europe's schedule for the first quarter etc. It has the display pages on the retailers online but they are all different dates therefore it goes to show that the game doesn't have a confirmed date for Europe. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if it were during the Summer or after since we tend to get shunned by Nintendo Europe in terms of release dates (Trauma Centre: Second Opinion & Super Paper Mario coming here months after they were released elsewhere). I know there is the whole conversion to PAL and the translation jobs etc but that should not take nearly 9 months, which was the span between the US release date and the European release date of Trauma Centre for the Wii. Sales, popularity and marketing might be benefactors though as well.

Europeans and Australians and other parts tend to get the short end of the stick when it comes to release dates, as certain games come out months after they were out in the US and Japan. An example is Persona 3, which is only coming out here now at the end of the month after being out in the US for 6 months or so. Some games perhaps that come out in the US tend to do better in Europe afterwards therefore it should show the people in charge of release dates and that that Europe cares about gaming as much as the US do. Sometimes games that have a release date in Europe while already out in the US tend to get delayed for certain reasons and put back more months tend to upset a few people and when it eventually comes out, some big games might be out the same week therefore that game is left in the shadows and therefore sells less because of people forgetting about it and getting these big games and lack of marketing as well.

Now we do tend to get a few games before the US though but it usually tends to be a few days or a few weeks before the US get it although on certain occasions (Zelda: The Minish Cap & Pursuit Force) we get it a few months before they do. It would be nice though that we get release dates announced around the time games are released elsewhere and not months afterwards but that is the whole game and marketing business for you.

Anyway, that is the end of my so-called rant you may say and hopefully I do not have to wait much longer on these two games but I believe I will on the latter because of the reasons I said above. Let me know what your thoughts are in this whole situation and if you agree or disagree with what I said. Until next time, take care!

Toodles.