No hard copies in the UK :(

This and also we are all in the same boat here. So lets do something productive till it gets released. Me I am getting some work done while also queuing up all the games from my library that I did not download to my HD sofar.

There might be a case of not wanting to have pirated version released BEFORE some of the paying ones, too. That might motivate them to do an "international" release at the same time everywhere. Since we are ranting about a few hours/1 day, and some talk about cancelling their preorder just to grab a physical copy 5 hours early, that might make them skittish about having a big shop like steam release a few hours after the pirates have started to do their "work".

For the guy who wants to pirate? No difference, nope.
But for the guy who says "What!!? Not on steam/gog/whatever yet? I want it now!", then there MIGHT be a risk if a pirate version is out earlier.
Not saying it's really the case, mind. But I think it's one of the reasons for "international" versions, and not platform/timezone ones.

We should never let the paying customer be punished for Fear of Piracy. Doing what's right should never be a hindrance to the consumer.

It's getting crowded in our comfy little AoW corner again. =o
I still have an AoW 1 turn to play while downloading the files later on the day. :)

I invited a friend over to play in hotseat mode. We usually can't meet more than once, or twice a month, because of work, family and all that. So for us it's more than just a few hours ruined.
And I can imagine a lot of people took a day or two off from work, to play it.

With midnight releases being quite a regular thing in the gaming industry, i don't see why we have to wait 2/3 day (in europe, australia even a whole day) before we can download it.

And on the pirate situation: pirates are going to pirate. There's nothing you can do about it. And I happen to know, that there's allready a pirated version around, for quite some time actually, based on the press release. It probably just needs another patch and is as good as ours.

So that can't be a reason to delay the release for anyone.

Ive taken the day off and im thoroughly peeved with this wait what a joke!

According to one of the developers (Tombles) on the Something Awful forums this morning, they are releasing when they are to accommodate the Steam staff:

"We chose this time because we don't want to release the game when most of Valve's staff aren't at work. Valve only has a skeleton crew of support people at work now, so if we were to release now and something were to go wrong, there might not be the right people around to fix it.

Yeah, I get that I just thought I'd explain why a European company is releasing on a US schedule. We would all much rather release in EU time to be honest, since then a bunch of us wouldn't have to sit in the office until midnight to help fix any problems people might have when the game goes live. "

Based on that, there's no reason for GOG not to release it earlier than Steam and doing so would actually help out Triumph since they are on Central European time.

Hah, lucky for me that I did not take the day off just to play this game!

Oh wait, I did didn't I?

....bugger... :(

According to one of the developers (Tombles) on the Something Awful forums this morning, they are releasing when they are to accommodate the Steam staff:

"We chose this time because we don't want to release the game when most of Valve's staff aren't at work. Valve only has a skeleton crew of support people at work now, so if we were to release now and something were to go wrong, there might not be the right people around to fix it.

Yeah, I get that I just thought I'd explain why a European company is releasing on a US schedule. We would all much rather release in EU time to be honest, since then a bunch of us wouldn't have to sit in the office until midnight to help fix any problems people might have when the game goes live. "

Based on that, there's no reason for GOG not to release it earlier than Steam and doing so would actually help out Triumph since they are on Central European time.

That's a fantastic point in favor of releasing it earlier on GOG. Apparently GOG and its paying customers are inconsequential compared with the mighty Steam.

Bah. I'm frustrated and I want to play AoW3.
Now that I heard there's a pirated version based on the press release I'm kicking myself for not downloading that version last weekend when I actually had the spare time to play games.
I don't mind paying for a game, I just want to actually play the damn thing already.

They should have just listed the launch day as April first since it won't hit Europe until close to midnight anyway or have done whatever it is they are doing now a day earlier so we can actually play the game on March 31. Frustrating.

says 3 hours on the steam count down clock...yay I get it on the 1st of april

It says "approximately" March 31st on your account page, so it's fine if they don't release it at midnight (ie. midnight anywhere in the world).

Listen, I realize this is a complicated thing and you can't really have it launch so that everyone is happy and everyone knows exactly what is going to happen. These things happen and so far this isn't a tragedy.

If I were to actually set things in my life aside just to play the game, I would have picked a day or two after the actual release date so I'm sure I won't get 'screwed' by exactly this sort of thing. My apologies to whoever did take a day off today, hindsight is always perfect so of course NOW I know to say this.

BUT

The important thing is.. I don't actually care about logic and logistics. Someone somewhere in some official capacity said March 31. It is March 31 and I want to play the damn game already.