'Official' releasedate: November

[vovan]

In the Gamespot video, I believe he said "the game will be out for holidays this year," so that'd be November 2005.

[Locutus]

Well, official word has always been 'late 2005'. They're obviously not gonna release the game on Chrstmas day, so it was always gonna be November or the first two weeks of December at the very latest. And of course they won't aim for mid-December because then if there are setbacks they won't have any room to move the date back, so obviously they are aiming at a probably early-mid November release. But what they are aiming for and what the actual release date is going to be are two very different things, it can still end up being released from anywhere between probably very late October and mid-December -- even Soren doesn't know that yet...

[Paddy]

Originally posted by Trifna
November... which year?

hehe bloody good question that

[Nikolai]

I'd say it's pretty weird calling Christmas "the holiday", as if there were no other holidays during the year.

[vovan]

Originally posted by Nikolai
I'd say it's pretty weird calling Christmas "the holiday", as if there were no other holidays during the year.

Well, the whole last part of the year is just like one big holiday, starting with the Thanksgiving and up to just past New Year, any way, like someone above said, so that's what they usually mean when they say holiday season.

[Locutus]

Originally posted by Nikolai
I'd say it's pretty weird calling Christmas "the holiday", as if there were no other holidays during the year.

Holidays. It refers to New Year as well, and Hannukah(sp?) and Festivus (), and normally also to other holidays that fall a few weeks earlier, such as Thanksgiving in the US (and St. Nicholas in the Netherlands ) But when it comes to release dates for games and the like, the term 'in time for the holidays' usually just means in time for Christmas/New Year, not (always) the other ones.

[Xorbon]

I think 'in time for the holidays' means 'in time for people to buy our product as a Christmas gift'.

Cynical, but true.

[Nikolai]

I'd call the summer holidays, Easter and such pretty important too, and they're at the other half of the year...

[Locutus]

Originally posted by Xorbon
I think 'in time for the holidays' means 'in time for people to buy our product as a Christmas gift'.

Exactly. And that's not even cynical IMO: it's a hard economic fact that about a third of all games sales (don't remember the exact figure but it's close to that) is made in the weeks before Christmas. For many games, not being on store shelves in that period means not turning a profit, or worse...

[GAZ082]

Damn, i'll found my own religion and declare July 9th as the GAZmas, the most important holiday!

(July 9th is my birthday )

[Alex]

November 15th, as I said in another thread.

[Gen. Atkinson]

So... I have until November to upgrade my PC.

Actually, anyone know what the specs are yet?(There may still be hope for my old machine.)

[Solver]

What are your current specs?

[Trifna]

The game is based on Pirates' engine. The specs of Pirates are (minimum) 1GHz Pentium/Athlon processor, 256 RAM memory, 32 RAM video card.

[Alex]

My system is an Athlon 1.6 GHz with 512 MB RAM and a Geforce FX 5200.

Anyone with a system similar to mine will probably experience some slowdown in cIV, especially on later ages, when things get bigger and there are more units around. Don't expect to zoom in and out smoothly, and be prepared to have some slowdown while trying to rotate the camera.

On the other hand, now the 3D engine may offer the option to play on a lower resolution (like 800x600) and then things get a bit more manageable. I surely hope so.

(Don't forget that I'm basing my opinion on my personal experience with Pirates; it is possible that Firaxis have found how to optimize the engine now that they have more experience with it.)