So how can Warlords "go gold" BEFORE release?

[smacfan]

Maybe I just don't understand the mechanics of game distribution and sale as well as I thought I did. I saw the announcement on some website, don't remember which, while searching for the release date for Warlords, and the claim from 2kgames (but NOT on the 2kgames website news yet, so where did this claim come from?) is that is has "gone gold and will ship on July 24".

WTF? What don't I understand here?

Confused,

smacfan

[Solver]

Gold is before game release, always. When a game has "gone gold" it means that the game is ready and that a master disk has been created, from which all other disks are manufactured. Essentially, you can think of the gold version as the first copy, from which the rest are created.

[Qwertqwert]

Yeah, for other medias, going gold means it's sold a certin amount of copies, but for games (atleast PC games, console games might be different) going gold just means they're done with it.

[Dale]

In the old days when CD's first came out, "going gold" meant that literally.

The MASTER copy of the release was burnt to CD then covered in a thin layer of gold to protect the integrity of the copy. Then the MASTER was used to manufactor all of the other copies.

That was until modern production techniques started.

Dale

[Schtix]

Originally posted by Dale
In the old days when CD's first came out, "going gold" meant that literally.

The MASTER copy of the release was burnt to CD then covered in a thin layer of gold to protect the integrity of the copy. Then the MASTER was used to manufactor all of the other copies.

That was until modern production techniques started.

Dale

I like Dale's explination most.

[smacfan]

Originally posted by Solver
Gold is before game release, always. When a game has "gone gold" it means that the game is ready and that a master disk has been created, from which all other disks are manufactured. Essentially, you can think of the gold version as the first copy, from which the rest are created.

Well, many thanks for the explanation. I thought there was some mysterious "pre-sale" sales figure, maybe orders from distributors, that was being used to measure "gold".

Your explanation makes a lot more sense.

Again, thanks for curing my ignorance.

Peter

[smacfan]

Originally posted by Qwertqwert
Yeah, for other medias, going gold means it's sold a certin amount of copies, but for games (atleast PC games, console games might be different) going gold just means they're done with it.

It's always interesting to discover the "hidden lingo" in a field of human endeavor. People always seem to make the most pedestrian or well-understood words and phrases mean something completely unique to the field.

Thanks for enlighntening me.

Peter

[Solver]

Uhmm yeah, like making "mouse" not mean a rodent animal, but instead a device for inputting graphical information .

[smacfan]

Originally posted by Dale
In the old days when CD's first came out, "going gold" meant that literally.

The MASTER copy of the release was burnt to CD then covered in a thin layer of gold to protect the integrity of the copy. Then the MASTER was used to manufactor all of the other copies.

That was until modern production techniques started.

Wait a minute -- I thought that was the vinyl RECORD that was plated with gold when sales passed some magic number (ISTR 100,000, but that could be bogus; memory is the second thing to go, but I forgot the first...).

Thanks for the info, though.

smacfan

[smacfan]

Originally posted by Solver
Uhmm yeah, like making "mouse" not mean a rodent animal, but instead a device for inputting graphical information .

Exactly!

smacfan

[Dale]

Originally posted by smacfan


Wait a minute -- I thought that was the vinyl RECORD that was plated with gold when sales passed some magic number (ISTR 100,000, but that could be bogus; memory is the second thing to go, but I forgot the first...).

Thanks for the info, though.

smacfan

That's post-sales (for music). Games "go gold" pre-sales.

Just assume it means the game has gone to the factory to be boxed.

Dale

[Badtz Maru]

I think the master copy that the others are produced from is still made with real gold. You can still buy CDs made with a thin layer of gold, audiophiles usually buy them, supposedly they last longer.

[MarkG]

i can easily imagine the master copy being sent electronically over the net these days

[Nubianmercenary]

: Um, doest "Gold" mean releasing a Game with its Expansion pack, all in one packet together? e.g- "Rise Of Nations Gold, contained its Original game with its Expansion set also".




NubianMercenary

[MarkG]

that's just "gold"

the phrase "game X has gone gold" means that it's done and sent by the developers to the publisher for mass reproduction