Dragon Age: Origins is THE game that I've been wanting to play since it's early development in 2004 by BioWare. Impulse, despite its growing pains, is one heck of a platform and I love it. Just recently I saw these two great, colossal goodies coming together in perfect gaming bliss. But then I read... USA and Canada only...

I'm in mainland China btw, where genuine boxed versions in English are rarely available. As a gamer, I have the same urge to try a cool game as soon as possible. I do get to see the same buzz: trailers, videos, news, interviews, forum discussions, all that pizzazz. But what do I and other outcast gamers usually get? "Sorry, but you're living in the wrong part of the world" or "you'll have to wait until it gets to your region"... In this age of instant communication, what would ANY gamer think of having to sit tight for months on end, or needing to give up from buying that cool but restricted game?

There are MANY gamers out there, with cash, outside of the traditional markets, that are being smothered with region locks and inferior options (publishers' own digital distribution services are often slow since they seem to lack a network of worldwide high speed servers - that Impulse provides - and offer extremely limited re-downloads). The digital distribution of games offers the opportunity to reach anyone in the world with an internet connection. This could even be viewed as a way to reduce piracy. But what do we see happening? Games being locked out by publishers and allowed to be digitally sold only in the same old markets.

By restricting their games to just a handful of regions, publishers concede to pirates a much desired distribution service for those outcasts that pirate not because they don't have money, but because of the urge of wanting to play great games.

Also, from what is observed, most gamers in the traditional markets prefer the boxed version over the digital one, while those outside continue to have very limited options.

There's an artificial restriction in the digital distribution market that needs to go away.

- aLap