I've spoken to a few of the online retailers, and none of them have heard of it.
Well, that is not strictly true - *all* of them that I spoke with have *heard* of it, due to the massive
PR web that EA has, and the fact that their press release about it has made its way on to every vaguely game-related website in the known universe - but not one of them had any idea when, or even *if* they would be selling it.
One rather knowledgable chap (who informed me that he had a countdown on his PC desktop set for Spore's release) told me that he had been chasing EA about it but could not get even get a clear answer from
them as to when (or if) it would be available through UK retailers. In fact, he told me that it had taken him sometime to even find someone at EA who knew
there was a Galactic Edition!
Faced with this situation, and given the [sarcasm=On]
wonderful response rate from EA representatives on these forums[/sarcasm], I think that we may have to assume that the Galactic Edition is a no-show, until we are told otherwise.
Word to the wise: if you were thinking of pre-ordering, but want to get GE, don't give up and order the standard edition - wait to see what happens with GE first, you still have time.
Also, don't just order from the EA store - it is a hell of a lot cheaper elsewhere (but I am sure that most of you know that already)
most importantly: If EA decides not to release the GE at the same time as the standard edition, please please please, for the love of all you believe in, just wait for the GE,
or buy the standard edition - don't buy both for just yourself, as this will only encourage EA to pull this kind of crap more often, for more profit. I am sure we are all sick of companies doing this kind of stuff, and I am really hoping that EA doesn't try it, but I thought it was worth putting the thought out there for folks to mull over.
Well, after a long ramble (sorry, it's late),
fingers crossed for an official response on UK/Europe retailers!