Region servers will become available when Star Wars: The Old Republic launches locally on March 1; the official SWTOR Twitter confirmed these servers will be physically located in Australia.

Those who have or create an account on international severs before February 28 will have the chance to transfer characters to local servers for free, after launch. Notifications will be sent to eligible players.

A Standard Edition of the MMORPG will go for AUD$79.99 AUD/NZD$89.99/HK$389.00/S$64.00, with a Digital Deluxe Edition on offer exclusively on Origin for AUD$89.99/NZD$99.99/HK$465.00/S$76.00.

Pre-orders from participating Australian and New Zealand retailers will net an in-game colour crystal, to change their weapon effects, but all players will net a Founders’ medal.

“We appreciate that our fans in these countries have been patient and we are excited to deliver this same great customer experience to players this March,” BioWare’s Greg Zeshuk said.

Star Wars: The Old Republic launched in the US and Europe in December, but while no retail release graced Pacific territories, BioWare and EA gracefully turned a blind eye to extra-territorial sign ups, while promising to work on a local launch. The RPG has been labelled the fastest-growing subscription MMO.

The Vita releases in Japan on December 17 and reaches Hong Kong and Taiwan on December 22 and 23; other international territories have to wait until February 22. Import prices have soared in response to limited stock and significant pre-order demand in both Hong Kong and Japan.

Vita launches in Hong Kong on December 23 and anticipation of the device is high, with pre-order events causing long queues.

Interest in the upcoming Sony handheld is proving to be intense in the Far East, with Japanese retailers previously being forced to cut off pre-orders thanks to over-demand.

Yodobashi Camera, Bic Camera and Sofmap have since re-opened orders for the machine, which launches in Japan on December 17.

Japanese gamers said Vita was the hardware they most wanted to buy this year in a recent survey.

Vita will launch in the West on February 22.

GamaLive (French, via auto-translation) claims a source inside Sony on a November Asian release for the company’s new handheld, PlayStation Vita.

According to the informant, the device is expected to launch in Japan and Hong Kong close to November 12, with international media receiving hardware on the same date.

A full Western release is slated for March, before the end of fiscal year 2012 at the end of the month.

The report matches Sony’s vague comments on the matter, as well as industry analyst predictions and the platform holder’s usual hardware launch pattern, although the bit about media outlets getitng the hardware months in advance seems a bit odd.

Those keen on playing StarCraft II in Southeast Asia are being given different fee-based options by Blizzard in order to take their game online.

Blizzard will be making prepaid game card options available for players in Hong Kong/Macau, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand starting on November 18.

These gamecards will exist alongside the boxed version of StarCraft II, which includes unlimited access for the life of the game. They are available in 3-day, 7-day, and 30-day pass versions, and can be used on the Southeast Asian Battle.net server for single and multiplayer play.

A DVD starter kit will also be available, and it allows allowing players to install the game client quickly without downloading it and comes with a 7-day pass.

The game cards and DVD starter kit will be made available across Southeast Asia in “select Internet gaming cafes, convenience stores, and gaming retail shops”.

More information as well as pricing can be found through here.

StarCraft II is free to play online via Battle.net for no additional fees in the US and UK and the first expansion, Heart of the Swarm, will be made available sometime after 2011.

Thanks, BigDownload.

Microsoft is to hold a press conference in Japan tomorrow in order to announce Asian 360 price cuts, according to Microsoft Hong Kong’s Julie Leong, NetworkWorld reports.

According to that piece, parts of Asia-Pacific will begin enjoying dropped 360s on on September 10.

The SRP of an Elite will be lowered by around 28 percent to US$305 in Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan.

More through there. Thanks, Kotaku.

Sony Hong Kong has announced they are to hold a worldwide launch party for the PS3 Slim on September 1.

They will be the first country to get the Slim in the world, and will kick off the launch day from 6pm HK time with a midnight launch obviously included.

It’ll retail for £249/$299/€299 in the UK, US and the Euro regions.

Thanks, Siliconera.

Warhammer Online is to launch in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau next week via GigaMedia’s FunTown game platform, Kotaku reports.

The Mythic MMO currently has around 300,000 subs in the US.

Siliconera reports that SCEA (Asia) is releasing “Radiant Red” and “Vibrant Blue” PSPs.

The new models will cost $1,380 Hong Kong Dollars (approx. €130) and will almost definitely never ever leave Eastern shores so you can look,. but you can’t touch.

Bit more through the link.

Thanks, Kotaku.

By Mike Bowden

Sony’s put out a press release saying Home will release in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan in “fall 2008″. There’s going to be a closed beta in “mid-September,” apparently.

Full thing after the drop. Thanks, Kotaku.

SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT HONG KONG LIMITED ANNOUNCES 3D ONLINE-USER COMMUNITY SERVICE FOR PLAYSTATION®3– 「PLAYSTATION®HOME」 COMING TO HONG KONG, SINGAPORE AND TAIWAN IN FALL 2008

CLOSED BETA TESTING FOR 「PLAYSTATION®HOME」WILL START FROM MID-SEPTEMBER 2008

Sony Computer Entertainment Hong Kong Limited (SCEH) today announced that the unveiling of a first-of-its-kind 3D online community service for the PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3™) computer entertainment system would be available for Hong Kong , Singapore and Taiwan region PLAYSTATION®Network users.

PlayStation®Home is the online community service on PLAYSTATION®Network. It is an evolving online social gaming service built for PS3™ users to meet and share gaming experiences. With an avatar uniquely customized according to each user’s preference, users can explore the 3D community which includes custom spaces dedicated to specific games, press releases on kotaku, event spaces or personal apartments. Each user is assigned an apartment in PlayStation®Home where they can invite others to join them as they show off their own style in an area they can personalize themselves with furniture and other items. Very rich interactive communication with others is achieved through built in text, audio chat, along with sophisticated emotional animations for each character.

PlayStation®Home official website for Asia is now available at The Closed Beta testing for PlayStation®Home will be starting from Mid-September 2008. SCEH would like to invite Hong Kong and Singapore users to participate in the Closed Beta testing. The details will be available on the official website from August 29, 2008.

SCEH will continue to further expand PS3 users’ gaming experience and create a new world of computer entertainment by offering the high quality of the world of PlayStation®Home towards the Open Beta Service in this fall along with more and more attractive PS3 software titles which will be available le in the market

1. The Sims 2 IKEA Home Stuff
2. Diablo Battle Chest
3. Spore Creature Creator
4. The Sims 2 Double Deluxe
5. World Of Warcraft: Battle Chest
6. World Of Warcraft
7. Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures
8. World Of Warcraft: Burning Crusade
9. The Sims 2 FreeTime
10. Warcraft III Battle Chest

Thanks, Kotaku.

By Mike Bowden

The price of a basic version will drop by 17 percent to NT$10,360 ($340) in Taiwan and by about 11 percent in Hong Kong effective today, Hsieh said. Prices will fall 5.1 percent to 369,000 won ($369) in Korea and by 20 percent to S$499 ($366) in Singapore, according to separate e-mailed statements.

Last month, Microsoft cut the price of the Xbox 360 in Europe for the at least the second time in a year to win customers from Sony and Nintendo. The basic Arcade console fell to 199.99 euros ($311.38) from 279.99 euros, and the model with a 20-gigabyte hard drive dropped 80 euros to 269.99 euros.

More through the link.

“It should be noted that even with this price increase, the PS3 is still a good $25 cheaper in Hong Kong than the MSRP in North America.,” said the site. “In Singapore, it’s about $44 more than in USA, so this recent price increase made it even more expensive, when it was close to par recently.”

More through the link. We’ve seen this in a few places this morning, and no one appears to have any clue as to why the price has gone up. God moves in mysterious ways, obviously.