New article on Gamasutra
whoppaXXL
Join Date: 2006-11-03 Member: 58298Members, Reinforced - Shadow
Join Date: 2006-11-03 Member: 58298Members, Reinforced - Shadow
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That's certainly interesting.
"OMG!!!"
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->to its ambitious proprietary toolset<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
"oh."
I say Nov. 1. :P
Fall 09 my ass.
Why do the devs of every game I am going to play lie about the release date? This is so frustrating. Just shut up and don't give a date but telling the nontruth is so stupid.
Thats at least 5500 copies btw.
There was also a rebuttal to that article: <a href="http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=25595" target="_blank">Tripwire, Steam, And How We’re Not Getting Exploited</a>
John Gibson is the head of Tripwire Interactive, the developers of Red Orchestra and Killing Floor. He explains that they couldn't have had anywhere close to the same success they've had without Steam; Steam might have even saved the studio from closing. UWE appears to be in a very similar position as Tripwire was a few years ago.
Gearbox is a massive developer with dozens of titles over decades of work; they even worked on the Half-Life 1 expansions. IMO, the Tripwire example and side of the story is infinitely more relevant to UWE and NS2.
Because us humans have a problem with overestimating what we can do in a given period of time. Sorry the devs are human and can't see into the future... I guess they should release the game we paid $40 for now regardless of whether its done or not, because they said fall 09 damn it! *sarcasm*
Can't say that I have seen the contract Valve offers developers who want to sell their games on Steam, but why would they want a cut of non-Steam sales? That seems like it would really hurt business.
I paid 20 euros.
Regardless, it is still a lie. And devs lying about release dates happens to become really the normality. How come?
EDIT: Furthermore, I am pretty sure that the huge "Fall 09" advertisement was responsible for quite some bought pre-orders. So can this be considered as wrong advertisement?
Definition of lying:
* the deliberate act of deviating from the truth
If they overestimated what they could get done in that period of time, then that's one thing. But they were hardly lying. Unless, of course, you're implying they did it entierly on purpose, knowing fully well that they wouldn't release in time. Though, your post would've been differently phrased if that were the case, I imagine.
PS. I'm not a 'grammar-nazi' or anything like that - But I don't appreciate when people call honest people 'liars'.
EDIT: Heck, companies have been sued to the ruins for false advertisement.
EDIT: Heck, companies have been sued to the ruins for false advertisement.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Computer programming companies miss deadlines <b>all the time</b> even if they 'know' how long it takes because programs are so complex that the best that can be done is an estimation. Besides <b>fall is not over until the night of November 30th</b> so they are not past their projected release for people to be complaining.
Complain on December 1st if there is no alpha.
Complain on December 1st if there is no alpha.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I know that they fail their deadlines all the time, its just that it happens to be WAY more frequent in the last couple of year, at least thats my observation.
"The best that can be done is an estimation"
Hey man, I would be more than happy if they gave me an ETA on the NS2 release but stating "Fall 09" is definitly not an estimation. If they advertised with "Maybe Fall 09", I would be more than cool but this isn't the case.
In the gamasutra article is clearly stated that its coming 2010 :(
Because the prepurchase players will be using Steam's services and I'd assume there is some cost associated with that. I could even see a company saying "if your players want to use our service, we need a cut of the sales" just out of principle. Plus even though UWE has sold the game ahead of time they haven't distributed anything (and to our knowledge) have no means of distributing their own game. These presales may end up going through Steam anyways. Obviously, I have never seen a contract between Steam and a developer either but I would expect Valve would want some kind of a cut.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->There was also a rebuttal to that article<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I read that article a while ago. While Tripwire feels like they've had a very successful relationship with Valve that doesn't really change the fact that Steam is the method of digital distribution. Impluse, Direct 2 Drive, and others can't really match Steam. When one company becomes king there's always going to be some kind of exploitation. I'm not saying it's happening now, and if it is indie developers may not care since Steam can still provide them large profits like Tripwire is experiencing, but it's definitely something to keep in mind as Steam moves forward.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Congrats to Runic Games for Torchlight. Very focused, polished and fun-looking game! You nailed it. And it's all on Ogre3D? Wow. #fb<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Whats this??? I dont want to know whats going on Runic Games with some stupid Torchlight.
This article helped me with my personal decision to give them 1 Month for releasing Alpha until i want my money back!!!
I got enough of all those vids, with done models ... they did new models so fast and now nothing is getting done anymore???
Im feeling screwed off!
I see you are using the astronomical (length of day) dates instead of meteorological (temperature), so you can't claim November 20th is wrong without clarifying your system.
<a href="http://www.crh.noaa.gov/glossary.php?word=AUTUMN" target="_blank">http://www.crh.noaa.gov/glossary.php?word=AUTUMN</a>
I think more people would use the meteorological dates.
It did not say "Game will be released by Fall 2009". It did not say "Game will be released in Fall 2009". It did not even say "Alpha will be released in Fall 2009"
All it said was "Fall 2009 - Pre-order now"
It may just have meant that we can pre-order until fall 2009, and after that the deal will go away.
It may just have meant that we can pre-order until fall 2009, and after that the deal will go away.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
If it stated "Pre order now until Fall 2009" your thesis would be pretty good.
But if you watch the teaser again and read everything you will see that the video shows a chain of words:
"Natural Selection II - Fall 2009 - Preorder now".
But if you watch the teaser again and read everything you will see that the video shows a chain of words:
"Natural Selection II - Fall 2009 - Preorder now".<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
If you're going to multiple screens then are you suggesting that we'll be getting Gabe Newell as well on that date? After all, they list him with a descriptive quote earlier as well. Please.
Obviously the Natural Selection II was the name of the product. We all know that. There was nothing suggesting that that's what was happening in Fall 2009. Hell, it could be just another short movie.. in fact, we already had a short movie.
So these people whining about "Well they promised!" need to try remedial reading comprehension. They gave a date. They promised nothing.
Poppycock.
Now, Unknown Worlds hopes one of the biggest incentives to spurring preorders is early access starting next month
"OMG!!!"
QUOTE
to its ambitious proprietary toolset
"oh."<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
heh. Maybe they'll throw us some Skulk Races while they're at it.
If anyone wants to cancel their pre-order and get their money back just write me and I'll take care of it for you.
Or I'll be more than happy to take any pre-orders you don't want anymore :3
I dunno, mostly Steam just provides an interface (for retail customers anyway) to the game. It's not like Valve has to continuously pay upkeep or maintenance for it.
Now for sales over Steam there is the issue of bandwidth and storage of customer data, so that makes sense to demand payment for.