I might be an optimist about MP but.....

[Robert]

Are you saying there's a possiblity the game will ship with PBEM/Hotseat?

I still believe it will.

[Grim Legacy]

Perhaps it's a comforthing thought that Civ3 will eventually include multiplayer FOR SURE. Civ1 and Civ2 had it too after a 'while', and so will Civ3.

Do be prepared, however, after waiting years for each instantiation of Civ, to wait some more for MP.

[Ozymandous]

Originally posted by CyberShy


1. the interviewer shortened the question. (from 'can you give us any info on multiplayers')

How do you know they shortened the question? Were you there? Did you see the transcript before it was published? Or are you simply implying what you think may have happened?

2. if the answer would be 'no' than an explanation would've followed. (pherhaps like: it will come later we don't know how yet) but all that was said was "we don't know how we implement it"

Umm, the explaination WAS included, you even quoted it yourself, "we don't know how we implement it", which is almost identical to your "it will come later we don't know how yet".

Are you deliberately being obtuse???

3. the 'no' and 'we don't know how to implement it' are in contradiction if the 'no' means we won't release it, and the 'implement' part means we will release it.

How are they in contradiction? They are asking about the initial release, and the answer is NO. The comment about they are still working on it was more than likely referring to a future reference, as in "it will but we're not sure when" type comment.

4. not any company would allow something like "We rushed the game and will publish a part later and ask money for it again" line to appear in such an interview

lol, no, but that's what they will do. The simple "No." means it's not in, the "we're working on it" means they will add it later in one way or another.

5. the question 'any multiplayer' is a really silly one.
Imagine in an interview suddenly out of nothing the question "Any multiplayer" was asked.

The question would've been "Are there any multiplayer options" or "How is multiplayer implemented in the game" or "Can you give us some information about multiplayer"

'any multiplayer' just doesn't make any sence.

It absolutely makes sense if the reviewer had browsed any forums regarding the game where the rumor had been circulated regarding a lack of MP.

How do you know the reviewer hadn't actually done research on Civ3 before the interview and had specific things he/she thought important?

I can guarentee that if I had done the interview and researched the game I would have asked that question because 1) I would have noticed the lack of MP mention in all descriptions of the game, and 2) I would have cruised the web-boards and fan sites to see what major issues they were discussing so fans would like the interview (and thius visit our site more).

"Any MP" is not a weird or unique question any more than "how is the MP" would have been if the game still mentioned MP capabilities.

6. the answer Soren gave is exactly the same answer that all Firaxis people have given for the past few weeks. (including the 'no' part after the interview asked "Can you tell us more about multiplayer)

And your point is? So they have said the same answer, maybe because they still don't have a clue.

7. Their website FAQ still says they're busy to implement MP. They would've removed it long ago if there wouldn't be any MP in the game.

And they are still more than likely working on MP, that doesn't mean it will be in the initial game release. If they released MP later as a download or X-pack they would still be including it, just not in the initial release.

8. Mike told us before that the programmers weren't allowed to explain anything that wasn't revealed officially yet by the company. Why could Soren do ? And *if* the permission was given now, than Dan could come and explain it as well to us. Niether Dan nor Mike did.

This serves to prove that MP is not in the game more than it is. Since no "official" word on MP has yet to be issued, other than the removal of MP mention in the game description (which speaks for itself), they couldn't do anything other than say "No. We're working on it."

Because he didn't add more doesn't mean it's there but a secret, it more than likely means they are still working on it and not sure how it will look when finished.

Conclusion: pherhaps there's no MP. The past weeks Firaxis has worked very hard on that, and for that reason they didn't dare to say a 'yes' or a 'no'.
Since civ is only gold for 1.5 days so far, I doubt the interview was made before it was gone gold. For that reason Soren couldn't give any info on it.

those are my reasons.

Conclusion: Although Firaxis worked very hard on MP it doesn't look like it made it in. This was probably the reason they made no mention of it to confirm or deny for so long. Regardless of if the interview was made before or after the "gold" date Soren and everyone else should have been able to tell at least a week before gold if they would be able to do it or not so the "No." is the final answer at this time.

[ColdWizard]

i'm a pessimist

i strongly doubt that MP will be included on initial release (for various reasons like pre-order sites taking MP of the list of features) but in this instance i'd rather be wrong.

[Zeppy]

Ok...maybe I'm another eternal optomist, but I think a lot of broad conclusions are being drawn on minimal facts.

Yes it is very likely that MP will not be included, but it is also very likely that it will be included. Until we see something black and white on the CIVIII site, then we are making assumptions on vague comments. To say that because MP is no longer listed in the features list on some sites doesn't mean anything. It could easily be a typo. To say otherwise is simply an assumption.

The comments from the programmer are vague at best. Cybershy summed it up very well. It was a poorly worded question to begin with. It should have been a little more drawn out to force a more detailed response, or at least a follow up should have occured.

I agree that the answer "no" simply refers to the fact that he has no information or cannot discuss it. The later is the most likely. An answer of no to multiplay from a programmer is very unlikely to be an overall fact of the situation. I guarantee that if Firaxis was 100% certain that MP would not be included in the inital release that we would know about it by now. Odds are that they are still trying to figure out a way to get it in this release.

Firaxis is keeping quiet on the MP issue for a reason. What it is, who knows? Do I like it? NO! Hell no, actually! But, there isn't a thing we can say or do to change that.

It's obvious I'm not going anywhere with this other than to say that we all just have to wait and see.

[ColdWizard]

in case you haven't seen and are interested

no MP

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=29192

[MarkG]

i might as well close this
head over to the other thread

thanks