Australian release date: 21st June 2007

[rinku]

Finally announced on the Nintendo Oz website!

Later than I'd hoped for, but at least we know now.

[Crazy Elf Boy]

Wow thats cool, now i have 2 months to save up and buy a DS

[Andrew]

About damn time. I can't wait to actually get Pokemon again!

[Razola]

Import the American version. I mean...it's in English and goes online just the same (I got a Japanese Turtwig in a trade). The Brits have even said that their versions of the GBA Pokemon are perfectly fine when transferring and unlocking Pokemon with the North American Diamond/Pearl.

So, if two months is excessive, just pay a bit extra and get the game now.

[rinku]

Unfortunately we've already put in our pre-order deposit

But I do need a month or so to save the rest, so I'm not overly stressed.
The other reson to buy locally is to get a warranty. Pokemon carts are usually pretty reliable, but you never know...

Edit:

Looking at the strong Aussie dollar, and the Amazon prices, I think I'm going to import now anyway. Aus retail is AUD$69.95 each - I can get both carts *and* the pre-order styluses from Amazon with shipping for less than what I'd pay here, even if I can't get the deposit refunded. Warranty isn't so crucial with that sort of markup.

Further Edit:

Amazon won't be able to help - only delivering it to US or APO/FPO addresses at the moment. Will look for other distributors...

[Razola]

Unfortunately we've already put in our pre-order deposit

You can cancel pre-orders. I did it with Gold version way back when and got my deposit back.

[rinku]

Yup. EB Games are happy to refund, and my order is now in through play-asia.com. They were about the only distributor I could find that's doing Australian delivery at the moment for a reasonable price.

And I like the current avatar, Raz - nice to see a bit of GG around!

[Silent Dragonfly]

Import the American version.
So, if two months is excessive, just pay a bit extra and get the game now.

I paid less than it's likely gonna cost over here when it does gets released and that's including the p&p. It shipped Monday (1 day after release) and arrived Tuesday morning.

Fully compatible with my US import of Ruby and my UK FR and Emerald.

[rinku]

That's good news about it only taking one day to ship - mine was shipped on Friday, so it could even turn up today!

[Drago]

Just makes me wonder why, y'know? Considering the DS handles multiregion games, why does it take so long to PAL it? Do they even transfer handheld games to PAL?
My mom sent me Ruby after the NA release date so I wouldn't have to wait. I was pleased. Right now I'm none too fussed about the wait, it gives me time to finish the games I got right now then when it arrives it'll tide me over for the next release. Pretty much everything is just fodder for me 'til Smash Bros Brawl.

[Storm]

so why not just get it over ebay? i can understand in france or germany people await the local release, but i guess in australia you will (just like in the netherlands) get the american-english version?

[rinku]

The release delay is never anything to do with PAL format for the hand held consoles, PAL is a television format and would only affect GameCube and Wii release dates. Aus releases are quite often within a few weeks of the US one on the GBA and DS, since we usually get unmodified US cartridges with local version manuals (exactly the same apart from contact addresses).

My guess with this one is that we've been linked to the Euro release for some internal admin reason, and the main reason for Euro delay is usually given as time required to do all the non-english translations. It's the French, German, Swedish, Italian etc releases that delay the UK.

I don't trust ebay this close to US release date. It's too soon for anyone to be selling genuine second-hand carts, so the chances of a scam are much higher than normal. It's also likely that auction prices are going to be as high or higher than a distributor's price. In a few months time, sure. There will probably be a flood of used DP carts.

[Storm]

Well, of course I payed 10 euro more than i should've, but i got it over ebay. Also I saw it already in importshops. Where ever you live in the world; there must be people thinking to make a good deal out of this and sell brand new games, imported from the USA. I guess...