The Zone

Since some of you peeps are still hesistating about ordering games online, lemme tell you this - your fears are misfounded as the team including FatCatLim and yours truly have experienced the convenience called online ordering =P

The ordering steps should also apply to most other online retailers that deal via credit cards and bank TTs (telegraphic transfer) and you are assured of a secure transaction, especially with sites that have good feedback from local buyers.

Just some information from what to expect from ordering online is that although most websites offer free shipping, not all bundle shipping insurance together with your parcel, so if your parcel gets lost somewhere in between transit flights, there is a big chance you will never see your money back, although it varies with each insurer, really.

more after the jump.

I've had an opputunity to order a game online when the local distributor did not have it in stock, which was a bit dissapointing as I wanted it BAD enough and anyways, my interest would have died if I had waited that long. BTW, is called Darkstar One and yeah, its a geeky space-sim kinda thing, much in the vein of Wing Commander, Freelancer and the X-series. I played through much of the Wing Commander series, replayed Freelancer at least 5 times (although with different mods along the way), loathed X1 and X2, and now at least, there is a diffrent take to the genre that I am so looking forward to.

Enough of rustic thoughts, the shopping experience I had on Play-Asia.com was a very pleasant experience. A reason for choosing that site when I was scouring for prices was the free shipping, and the fact that they are located in Hong Kong lent to anticipation of fast delivery. The order was placed on the 22nd of last month, and was paid for by Visa, in order to complete the transaction by the day itself. The shipment was sent out by the end of the day via Air Mail, and since I wanted to be a scrooge, I chose the free postage option, which gave me two packaging choices; padded envelope or in a box, and obviously, choosing the box adds more bump protection. The price for ordering online and a week's shipment? USD 32.90, which is admittedly, slighly cheaper than buying a local copy XD

Stay tuned to a in-depth review of the game soon!

The box

The game - pirate users beware. The Copy Protection technology encoded into the files will eat your hard disk alive!!!

The freebies!!! Who wants a USD5 coupon? =D

The resident LEGO TIE Interceptor got jealous and tried to annihilate the newcomer....but failed.