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An American player in the EU realms
Kraylessa is, I'd guess, an anomaly-- she lives in the United States, but has actually obtained an EU copy of the game and rerolled on EU servers. She says she loves it-- her nationality is a topic of conversation, no one's been xenophobic, and while the lag isn't great, it's just about as bad as it was when she played cross-continent servers (she's living on the East Coast).I'm not sure how well I'd do playing on an EU realm-- while I'm sure the people are great (hi, EU readers!), it seems like I'd have even less chances to raid (with my schedule being so off), and as ocannie points out in the comments over on Kraylessa's post, customer service would be an interesting experience if anything ever went wrong. It would definitely be interesting to see the cultural differences, however, and it would make it a completely different game to be "the outsider" in Azeroth. Right now, the vast majority of my guildies are American (and quite a few of them are from St. Louis, my hometown), and it would definitely be a different experience to play entirely with people from the other side of the world.Have any of you played on realms in a different country before? Did it make Azeroth a lot more like actually visiting another place, or weren't there too many differences? Would you recommend it or not? I don't know if I'm curious enough to try it now (since I'm good and situated on a server where I am now), but if I had the chance to start a new game on another region's servers, I might give it a shot.
Sony sees Blu-ray growth in emerging markets
Although exact sales figures overseas have been hotly contested, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has just announced "an increase in total Blu-ray disc sales across six emerging markets including Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Eastern Europe, South Africa, and the Middle East." Notably, Sony's T. Paul Miller mentioned that it was "extremely positive to see an increase in volume of BD software sales in these markets where piracy had previously ravaged the DVD business." Some of the top sellers in these locales included 007: Casino Royale, Ghost Rider, Open Season, Kung Fu Hustle, Black Hawk Down, XXX, and Stealth, and it was also stated that South Africa accounted for the largest share of BD sales (for the aforementioned regions) with "more than 15,000 units shipped to date."[Via MovieWeb]
IBM gearing up to lay off over 100000 American employees?
We'll admit, even we're a bit frightened that immensely intelligent humanoid bots may one day oust us from these seats, but according to whispers going around at IBM's HQ, something just as momentous could be going down as early as this year. Shortly after Lenovo told 1,400 of its US-based employees to politely hop off the payroll, IBM's LEAN plan could call for over 100,000 American workers to be canned in favor of (surprise, surprise) hiring overseas. Already, the firm has laid off 1,300 employees in 2007, but according to a recent report, an ongoing "planning meeting" for how to handle the company's Global Services could eventually axe "up to 150,000 US jobs" while hiring cheaper labor in China and India. Interestingly, this news could actually be sweet music to Wall Street, at least in the short term, but we can't imagine how this logistical nightmare will ever bode well for Big Blue's future.
Live security curbs overseas movie downloads
We reported recently that Microsoft was planning to ban fake Live accounts that use an overseas location to download content from other regions. It was believed that Micrsoft would do this primarily to avoid copyright issues involved with downloading movies and television shows. Microsoft has now officially made their plans clear. According to Major Nelson, Microsoft will now begin matching credit card billing addresses with Live account locations (i.e. no American billing address, no American Live account). Major affirms that the Video Marketplace is the prime reason for this change, as the Video Marketplace is currently a US only service. It is important to note that these accounts won't be banned, they just won't be allowed to access American content -- right now it's unclear if this is restricted to Video Marketplace content or if it applies to all US Marketplace content. Furthermore, Microsoft is aware that there is a small number of international accounts that have billing addresses in a different country for valid reasons. Microsoft is working on a solution to this problem.Does anyone out there have a billing address in another country? Will this affect your valid use of Xbox Live?
Pro-Idee kicks out pricey, portable go-cart funfest
We're down with fanciful portable gaming, and we're certainly crazy over limited edition toys from overseas, and Pro-Idee's suitcase-based go-cart track fits both bills quite nicely. Even if your work regulations won't allow you to toss a PSP or DS Lite in the otherwise pointless front shirt pocket, your boss will have no idea that the sleek, silver briefcase you're toting actually contains a two-player cart racing game, complete with a two-meter long track, stop watch, and a built-in battery pack for "five hours" of rubber-burning madness. Sure to make those long flights zip by, this jewel will be supposedly be limited to 60 units and will demand a whopping €598 ($766), which is probably a good bit less than you'd pay for an oh-so-coveted Playstation 3 right about now.[Via TRFJ]
How to score a 2nd-shipment DS Lite in Japan: wait & run
Nintendo's dual-screened portable is in high demand over in Japan right now, and this video goes to show what lengths must be taken to obtain the redesigned DS in its Lite form overseas.Granted, it might be as easy (as presented here) as hanging out less than an hour before a Saturday morning store opening, but there's a lot more running involved after the doors open than might be first imagined.360 launch veterans are well aware of how many frigid hours might be required to get a taste of the next generation this fall (sans pre-orders), but how would you deal if the only unit left in stock were pink--if pink's not the way you swing? We eagerly await the day(s) when we can pre-order the next gen and be done with this retail-rushing nonsense.[Thanks, InfectedZero]See also: Official Yamato Damacy page w/a few more video formats you can use DS lite import pricing meets supply and demand Nintendo DS Lite second look [with lots of comparisons to the old DS]
