2006.298 (October 25, 2006)

EA Replay UK, Eh?

Electronic Arts' United Kingdom press site has confirmed that EA Replay will be released in England! The game should be available in time for Christmas, with a planned December 8th release. Amazon UK currently lists the game as having an MSRP of £34.99 -- significantly higher than the $19.99 American release. The American version was also originally announced with a higher price point, so this may go down in the near future... but if it doesn't, shop accordingly -- PSP games are region-free.

Meanwhile, the exact release date for the American version is still up in the air. EA still lists an October 31st date at their press page, but all secondary sources now list November 14th. We'll let you know as soon as this is resolved.

Introducing... The Beetles

BradMick has posted early pictures of WC Pioneer's next ship. Don't recognize it? It's the Scarab, from "The Frontiersman: Interview With a Privateer," the story from the original Privateer's manual which introduces the player character.

This story has always seemed somewhat unusual to fans, as it is eight solid pages of prose in the middle of a highly illustrated game manual. Some time ago, we learned that Origin had initially planned to illustrate the manual with Claw Marks style line art -- and we were able to restore these drawings in our Archive. Since they specifically opted not to use this artwork (included below), this may not he the 'official' look of the Scarab... but it's a neat reference, nonetheless.

You can find the unused manual art here and the published manual (including the story) here.