Darth Grendel

I know I've said this in other threads It is normal for International game releases to contain fixes to problems seen in USA releases or Japanese releases (whichever came first) This is true for many developers/publishers There is a window of opportunity because we nearly always get things last, so developers tend to use this window of opportunity to fix issues. It kind of makes up for us having to wait for the game, and also if there is bad publicity then there is no reason why more people should suffer bugs that can be fixed before we get it. It wouldn't make commercial sense - particularly as Europe is a target market for expansion by both Microsoft and Japanese game companies Product standards are typically higher in Europe and I'm not just talking about games, plus the prices we pay are higher - like $75 for a new game, so sellers need to go the extra mile to sell something good Microsoft made sure that Halo2 was top quality before it was released, and I think so should others. But this is more of an exception - so it's really up to gamers to speak out and demand better quality games - and this would be good for everyone in the world

I know other games have been fixed for Europe, not just those from LusasArts For example the Indiana Jones game was reported as having problems for the US version, and the European version did not have those problems (that I heard of) I guess because we have to wait for the games, there is a time window available. I'm sure developers do realise it's worth making efforts to fix things if there is a window of opportunity. No point in annoying any more people if it can be helped btw I have heard of US gamers playing through KotOR2 without ANY bugs and such...

It has been confirmed in another thread that the International Xbox owners will get some bug fixes Microsoft and Japanese publishers want to increase sales in Europe etc, so they will have to try harder to make us happy. As it stands most International gamers are very unhappy at always being last to get things I know Capcom games are fine tuned for Europe - usually with some enhancements compared with the original Japanese release The standards are higher here in most consumer markets, but then again why not? We pay a higher price than the US does for games. A current release game in the UK costs $75 US dollars!!!

This is indeed splendard news!!!! Thankyou Akari and Obsidian! You all Rock!! (w00t) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> This is good news I think this is also what happened with the Indiana Jones game, that US version suffered from glitches that were not reported in the International release So there is some justification and reward after all for not being the first to get the game :cool:

I hope they fix the International Version. There is no reason why Obsidian can't reduce the problems for the rest of the people in the world - and would help us accept the delay in getting it Here's hoping

I hope the International Xbox Version will be fixed It would make up for having to wait longer for it's release

I think the International Xbox Version and PC Version could be fixed together without any problem

If there truly was no reason, there would be no delay. International release of most products takes time to arrange for myriad reasons. Distribution rights, contracts for manufacturing and financials, language issues (getting new voice-overs, subtitltes, proper packaging, etc), trade/import legalities, being amongst them. I'm actually surprised the international release of KOTOR2 is happening only two months after the North American release. Also, international release arrangements are handled by Atari and their international partners; Obsidian has nothing to do with any of it. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> That's all good reasons, but I think in today

Some of the latest Xboxes still use those same original drives

This is spot on We have had many so-so star wars games in the past that kotor came like a breath of fresh air in a stagnant sky A quality title (like the way halo 2 was delayed until they had it just right) will sell truck loads and make lots of money It's when games are rushed that they start to disappoint and people's good will starts to fade away if it happens too many times We need an ongoing QUALITY series of star wars rpg games, like say a kotor 3, and even beyond that with another new story. Or even a prequel to kotor There is LOADS of potential and I hope the good reputation of the kotor series isn't wasted We want EXCELLENT rpgs and we want them with star wars stories - a rich source with a lot of potential as has been shown by the old republic storyline

I am glad to see that KOTOR 2 has beaten Fable to get IGN's RPG GOY award, but then again only NA has this game, so a potential 6.2 billion people are still waiting Thus it seems kind of weird that it has the 2004 award and yet we won't actually even get it until 2005 Well that's life I guess In any case, well done to all the devs! :D

If there truly was no reason, there would be no delay. International release of most products takes time to arrange for myriad reasons. Distribution rights, contracts for manufacturing and financials, language issues (getting new voice-overs, subtitltes, proper packaging, etc), trade/import legalities, being amongst them. I'm actually surprised the international release of KOTOR2 is happening only two months after the North American release. Also, international release arrangements are handled by Atari and their international partners; Obsidian has nothing to do with any of it. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I can understand that this is probably way out of Obsidian's hands As for the other points, yep probably valid points However no reason for the publishers not to try and improve the situation such that the customer comes first, and if that means making changes to the way things are done then so be it The NA release could have been delayed so everyone felt one and no possibility of spoilers. You could say that how many people come here and will read spoilers? True, but then again this is the only dev forum for KOTOR 2 so you cant exclude 6.2 billion people and penalise them because they dont live in NA. The fans and potential fans should be important and treated fairly Is the bottom line simply money?

Damn right, I've just finished playing KOTOR 4 beta and it is amazing! But seriously... I have to agree. This game seems to be selling great with very little media buzz even now. If they sell a lot of this game you can bet on at least a third one. They'll keep making similar RPGs as long as they make money. I only have three important questions. 1. Which company will get the job? I hope it's either Bioware, Obsidian, or both. 2. Will they finish the trilogy, answer the questions everyone has, and end the current storyline? I hope so and after that they could start a different story. 3. Will they wait to put it on the next gen system(s) or will they rush it out for next Christmas? I would imagine Microsoft would want it as an exclusive title with Halo 2 to launch the X-Box 2. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> This sounds spot on, and I too would like to know the answers My suggestion is to use the upcoming new Jade Empire engine (not that I know much about engines) for KOTOR 3 or a new story SW RPG to the same quality as KOTOR game of the year If LucasArts needs more money then they would be foolish to stop KOTOR specifically or these quality of Star Wars RPGs in general. There clearly is a market for good quality star wars rpgs, but what we exactly dont want is quickly rushed jobs which lose quality as a result Give us something *good* and it will SELL BIG TIME I hope LucasArts give the devs long enough to create good games

I guess it means arranging for an external developer to create KOTOR 3, instead of LA doing it internally If LA were doing it until it got canned, then I guess that means BioWare and Obsidian were too busy to do it So either LA get A.N.Other company to do it, or we have to wait until Bioware or Obsidian free up some time to do KOTOR 3 It's all down to LA / MS to make the call... Oh, and Bioware have a new Engine for Jade Empire, so maybe they could use that?? Plus I can't see the game being released except on Xbox Next, so that in itself might delay the game a bit longer

I now only play console games because I got sick of upgrading my PC at great cost just to keep up I only have to change console every 4-5 years and yes I guess I lose out a bit but the games are still fun and not that bad looking anyway on the Xbox and the sound is Dolby 5.1 so no problems there plus HDD etc Xbox allows me to spend more money on games not PC upgrades

Like I said, there may only be one or two Xbox games in existence that are not region locked on the game disc That's why I'm having to wait until Feb

Unfortunately this is probably quite close to the truth. I am sure they wanted to hit Xmas season in the US even if the game wasn't quite de-bugged yet Well, the Indiana Jones game (xbox) had bugs. Reviewers in the UK didnt seem to report those same bugs, so I am guessing some of them might have been fixed That doesn't mean that TSL will work out the same way, but I hope it does - at least then the extra 2 month wait will have been worth it...

This is probably the only saving grace for the wait we are having to endure. Sometimes the delay in releasing to the world allows the developers to fix bugs that are found in the US version Maybe they should have waited longer to release the US version too and fix those bugs

My normal policy is that because the manufacturers make me wait longer until it gets released, then I make them wait to get my money when I buy it I have created a backlog of games to play and so I wait until the price of the game drops, maybe even wait until it goes "classic" and then buy the game at a lower price That way the sales figures and probably the profits too are lower I figure that customers should be treated fairly and if they are not (like having to wait) then this is the only way I can show my frustration I do the same for DVD films too The world games market (excluding US/Japan) is fed up with waiting for game releases. I know because this is a topic that I have seen raised by other people at several forums that I am a member of

Only if you live outside the US- its the US Xbox version only which came out on the 6th <{POST_SNAPBACK}> It's that word "only" that is the problem 6,200 million people live outside of the US...!!! And only 300 million people live in the US I'm not asking for preferential treatment. The least they could do is make sure that the whole world gets the game at the same time... It's annoying logging onto the forum and seeing people discussing the game, knowing that I've still got 2 months to wait until I can get it on my Xbox

Language wise we are usually given the American version perhaps with an English manual. So in reality we are really just waiting for the Spanish, French, and German versions to be added. So in theory all the other English speaking countries do not actually need to wait. My understanding of the Xbox hardware is that it is not region encoded in the hardware for games. The DVD playback facility works differently. The DVD region is also not initially encoded. But when you buy a DVD controller and plug it in then the DVD region becomes locked at that point. So I could lock my Xbox DVD feature for the US. However, there is no "hardware" region lock for the games. The way region locking works for the games is that Microsoft have said that it is up to developers to decide whether or not to region lock the game itself. So in theory any Xbox in the world can play US games that are not region locked in the game. But there may only be one or two games in existence that are not region locked. The next problem is NTSC vs PAL. US and Japanese TVs use NTSC. Most of the rest of the world uses PAL. BUT modern PAL TVs also support NTSC. My TV can. So for me the NTSC issue ought not to be a problem. Interestingly the Gamecube can play import games with an official disc that you can buy that enables it. Ironically I believe it was Nintendo themselves who first started this region locking "problem" because they wanted to control the market better? Good for them I guess, but a problem for game fanatics. Is there a grey market in the world for US and Japanese games? Most definitely yes. I can buy US and Japanese games here in England from certain import shops. I can also order from say Hong Kong but then get stung by Customs Import Taxes!! You can also (occasionally) buy US and Japanese Xboxes. Two reasons for importing are: - the game will never be released in the rest of the world (rare but sometimes happens) - the rest of the world has to wait (happens for almost all games) Importing US games poses no problems for language, does for Japanese (for English speakers) The problem is manufacturers do not like grey imports. But on the other hand they mostly do nothing to stop the need for importing. Halo 2 and a few other games get released worldwide at about the same time, so no problem there. Unfortunately KOTOR is not one of those games, so we have to wait for it But if the game wasn't region locked and the manufacturers allowed it then I could order a US copy of the game and start playing it right now Oh well...

Exactly! I am half-tempted to start using my PC again for playing games, but it's just so much hassle keeping the technology up to date and working hard to get the right drivers and patch a game to make it work. That's why I stopped, the expense and the time But having the extra features/tools that PC games sometimes carry is tempting... :cool:

Yep, the majority of the world has to wait until Feb 2005 to play this game It is very annoying the way this always seems to happen, not just with this game either. Many gamers are continually fed up with this situation as it has been going on for years I had hoped the Xbox would bring a fresh approach to this problem, but it seems to be just the way it always has been with the Japanese releases Oh well...

1UP website scored the game with 7.5 Reckoned it isn't a sequel because it uses the same game engine, so they call it an "expansion pack" Oh right, so how many other games fall into that category then? And while we're at it I guess the Star Wars V film wasn't a sequel to Star Wars IV What is the definition of a sequel? Technology based? Or maybe if the story is advanced then it is a sequel? In which case it would seem that KOTOR II is a sequel Whatever the argument, 1UP website rating of 7.5 seems to be too low

I have called several, but it won't be released until 11 Feb 2005. Says exactly the same on Amazon too And I doubt there will be any extra content on the Xbox to make up for the delay, just like there wasn't with the original KOTOR The PC gamers got extra features in the original to make up for their delay, but not us Xboxers Grrr!!!