As for the races the current plan is to release with 4 playable races, the three you see on the screenshot and the Suwari (cats).
Ok, I'm editing this after thinking a little bit and relooking at the screenshot. I think the 2 subraces for each race is still an option. The screenshot only shows races, not the subraces (or the Suwari for reasons Sisca mentioned).
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lol, if the above is not correct, and there is in fact only 4 selectable race/subraces then this was my response prior to being edited...posting it again so you all could laugh at my hasty reaction.
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This doesn't make any sense to me at all from any direction. I may not be a marketing wizard, but it seems to me the point would be to appeal to as many people as you can, especially at launch. If you don't grab a player when the game launches they are not going to stick around until it becomes something that appeals...no, they'll go play the other MMO that they've had their eye on. We all know that MMO players are an impatient lot, and we all seem to have a need that an MMO will fill.
I don't care which way you look at it, when people are reading the back of a box and it says "Choose from 4 races"...well, I'd sit the box right back down. Heck, I have 10 other MMOs coming out where I actually have a choice of races.
Simu is going to be competing with WoW (which btw, is simply slaughtering the copetition in MMOs) EQ2, and a number of other games that will launch prior to, or with, HJ. They certainly could use every edge they can get in drawing players, and only including 4 races seems to me to be a step in the wrong direction.
Another impression this gives me is that Simu is, in fact, rushing the release of HJ. It's the only logical reason to release the game with so few races "we don't have time to finish them."
Anyhow, maybe I'm just a little hot right now since not including the Qwi pretty much ruined my entire character. Heck, I know many people that simply wouldn't play the game at all due to the fact there are not "short" races. Many people.