Attached Link: http://www.gamasutra.com/gdc2002/features/newell/newell_01.htm

It's getting loud in here... :) Run a search on my name, and besides the usual invective, you will eventually come upon a similar thread to this one, where "Starlet" the US Curious Labs employee organising the US upgrade, says explicitly that thier pricing in Europe will be at a level so as *NOT* to compete with thier European distributors. Which I took to mean that I'll get it cheaper by *NOT* buying direct from them, (or Egi.sys) Where this leaves you for upgrade pricing I have no idea, but (idealy, you'd buy it retail, a get a mail-in rebate) I'm expecting to pay 260-270 Euro's, (or perhaps that should be, "they are expecting me to pay...") Now, depending on strength of feeling, if you really wanted to "hurt" CL/Egi.sys (financially) the best thing to do would be to wait a while and then buy from a discount club or shop. Why? I used to work in a computer shop, (in the UK) and generally speaking the shop has a 45% markup (retail) on the distributor price, and they too, have thier markup (<10%) on the price they buy wholesale from the manufacturer. The distributors make their money on volume. The shops bear the risk, as, generally speaking, they don't buy it on "Sale or Return" grounds, (unlike newspapers). Which is why there are such things as "bargain bins" because otherwise the shop bears the loss. Not the manufacturer. Not the distributor. So if you buy direct from the manufacturer, then they're getting around 50% more than they would if they sold to a distributor. This is especially true at the launch of the product when the demand is greatest. After the initial 2-3 weeks they make more selling in bulk, this is the classic "retail distribution model" the link will take you to a realted atricle on gamasutra.com, (free registration required) it's a games software developers website, or simply throw the phrase into google. Incidentally, it's why Dell make so much cash, they're big enough to do thier own distribution, and offer "value added" customisation, etc. and untill recently they *only* sold direct. I'm going to wait until Friday, see what the pricing is, and then do the math, chances are it'll work out cheaper to wait a couple of months, and I've got 2 new games on my cube, one on the PS2 and 5 on the PC (went home recently :) to keep me occupied until then :P later jb