I'm from Canada, which shared the official release date for FFXI with the US so I'm not sure what your point is. SE is just lazy with their shipping. I'm sure it wouldn't cost more to ship from CA to BC, Canada compared to shipping to NY. The only province in Canada that has really strict laws about contests and lotteries is Quebec and they are often just excluded from things like this. Point is I think the areas that FFXI was officially launched in deserve the same treatment. I could understand Australia, China, Russia, etc. because I don't think they've had official launches.
Australia has interweb access?
As far as legit, its not like you even have to login with your POL ID so even if it wasn't (though it obviously is), you wouldnt have to worry about your FFXi account anyways. It's done through your Square Enix login that you register for. It asks you if you play FFXi and lets you type a comment. I'm assuming if you win anything, you'll get an email and a message on your SE account.
It's been a few years, but I've been through this same argument with a different company over something that was a $20-30 item in the US. The reason that was given was the customs tax to bring it into Canada, which amounted to something like $8, in addition to the regular shipping. The company just decided it wasn't worth the hassle.
Like I said, it's been 2-3 years, but it may be a similar situation.
Bumping this, SE announced the 25 winners.
Sweepstakes | SQUARE ENIX MEMBERS
I apparently won. I forgot I made an account there for this based off this thread. So, thanks BG.
SE also formats email like a boss.
http://homepage.mac.com/bobkiwi/.pic...xigiveaway.png
Also, I had all the correct info there to begin with. Silly SE. I guess I'll go update it with the same data