I love Dungeon Siege.

No really, it is one of my favourite games ever, it might sneak into my top 5, it’s certainly top 10. If you haven’t got Legends of Ariana buy it at once. DS is an action RPG, an evolution of Diablo 2, quite like Gauntlet of old. Pure fun, hardly any stats or thought required.

Dungeon Siege

I’ve played the Beta of DS2 through and the sequel carries the hack and slash tradition on, adding more customisation of your characters abilities. So it’s DS, with a little more thought, but not too much. This makes it an instant purchase for me.

I checked the release date, August the 16th. Huzzah. I go to Amazon.co.uk and discover the UK release date is September the 2nd. WTF. Seriously.

Dungeon Siege II

In this day and age when your product is digital – or can easily be made digital - you must, MUST, release your product worldwide; either on the same day or within a couple of days. The Internet will not allow you to wait or your sales will suffer.

DS2 is released tomorrow in the US, I will be able to download it tomorrow from a torrent, well before its UK/Euro release date. I’m buying DS2, Gas Powered Games deserves the cash for the game, I might download it some three weeks prior to its release though.

How many others will download the game and buy it when its eventually released? Some, but not all. They must be losing out on a lot of sales. Games companies in particular need to be aware that staggered release dates hurt there bottom line. Litigation, like Sony slapping lawsuits on retails selling the PSP before its official release date, are not the answer.

The answer is get your own damn house in order. If you are a global player, act like one.

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