Update – If you don’t want to read the whole post, you have basically 2 options:

1. Buy locally at S$169 (‘discounted’) – S$199
2. Buy from Amazon, need to wait, but including delivery it will be less than S$120 with the 3-4 day expedited delivery. (pay in USD, amazon’s exchange rate is ridiculous). Australians could save as well, total cost should be about AU$100.

Click here to see SC2: Heart of the Swarm Collector’s Edition on Amazon

——

Argh. The problem with not being an American sometimes. If you’re reading this, then it’s most likely because you’re also looking for SC2: Heart Of The Swarm’s Collector’s Edition. It has lots of wonderful goodies of course:

• Original Soundtrack CD
• Behind the scenes DVD/Blu-Ray
• Art Book
• Zerg Rush Mouse Pad
• Exclusive SC2 in-game portraits
• WoW Pet Baneline
• Diablo 3 Wings and Banner Sigil

The funny thing is that most of the local (Singaporean) retailers that I’ve asked are not going to sell it and have no clue if its even coming into Singapore. I’ve been reading a few comments here and there, and it seems to be the case for other countries in South East Asia (Philipines, Malaysia, etc) as well.

One important thing to note – the expansion is also region… well not sure if it’s region locked, but region ‘defined’, so obviously for us, getting the South East Asian (SEA) version would be preferable, as I believe you can’t access Asian servers if you bought the American version, but you can access both Asian and American servers if you have the Asian version.

But, here’s the thing. I’m getting lots of conflicting information. Battle.net support says that the Collector’s Edition (CE) is only being released for Australia and the US. I called Asiasoft just yesterday and they say that it may be available soon it very limited quantities (I forgot to ask whether it’s SEA or US). Singaporean retailers are behaving as if the SEA version will not be available, like Tec-Drome giving a flat ‘NO’ when I called and GameMark the US version at a ridiculous S$199. Then you have Play-Asia that have the products listed for 3 zones, US, Asia & Europe.

Argh. Why are they making things so hard for people who are *begging* them to take their money?

Anyway, as I see it now, there are 3 ways to to his:

1. Buy from the US

Since those of us in Asia have accounts for both SEA and US anyway, we can just go ahead and buy the US version. Just buy directly from Amazon and get them to ship directly to your home. The time frame and cost of the expedited shipping option is reasonable, so no need to use forwarders like Comgateway.

Click here to see SC2: Heart of the Swarm Collector’s Edition on Amazon

2. Wait for updates from Play-Asia

Click here and use the ‘Personal Agent’ facility so that they email you once this product becomes available. This will be definitely much easier than chasing it down at different stores.

Here’s the link for all the versions, US, Asia & Europe.

3. Local Shops

Get your local stores to inform you when they have any news of incoming stocks. And, in case you want to bug the regional distributors, they are, AsiaSoft and IAHGames.

I’ll keep this page updated as I get more information.

 UPDATE – 14/3/13

There is no South East Asian version available despite an email from Asiasoft saying that it is so. Apparently Asiasoft doesn’t even know what stocks they’re carrying. I collected my set today, only to open it and see the cd-key label with ‘US’ staring at my face.

The disappointment is of course, not that there’s no SEA edition. The disappointment is that the distributors for the game actually has the cheek to get the information wrong. As above, an email from Blizzard tech support said that Collector’s Edition is only for Australia and US. I even told Asiasoft about it and they reassured me that the stock they were carrying were the SEA version. I guess I should’ve listened to Blizzard.

– Update, according to Blizzard Singapore, it was they that didn’t give the right info to Asiasoft. But Asiasoft did make an assumption and didn’t double check with Blizzard, so my original judgement still stands.

Anyway, long story short, buy from the US.

if you really want to get the collector’s edition, I suggest you get it directly from the US via Amazon. The local stores are selling it at S$179 – S$199. If you don’t mind waiting, direct shipment from the US is only about S$120 in total, so no forwarding through Comgateway needed. I believe this applies not only to Singapore, but to most other South East Asian coutries as well, like Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philipines.

Click here to see SC2: Heart of the Swarm Collector’s Edition on Amazon