December 3 update from Constantine H. on IG MOO3 board

[Shnozwangler]

FYI, Game spot web site has been updated in the last few hours to show that MoO3 will be out 1/16/2003...


excuse me while i go and sink into a deep dispair in some corner... It is borderline stupid that I would get so worked over the release of a vidio game - but damn! I have been following this for over 2 years now, dreaming of the day i could continue the MoO saga.

In the end, we should all give the MoO team some thanks. By releasing the game after xmas, we can all enrich our lives by actually spending some time with our families this holiday season; rather than hunched over our PCs with dried egg-nog on our unwashed cloathes and turkey sandwich crumbs floating in the cold and stale coffee mugs

IMHO

[booje]

While jimmytrick may certainly be talking out of this ass i had a conversation about the delay of the game with my boyfriend who worked at Disney for quite some time. There are some parallels here since games are also entertainment. In any case, he was surprised the release had been so sloppy and that if it were a movie, the suits and execs would have fired all the people and finished production to rush it out if they had missed as many dates as MOO3 has. As incentive they might've refused to cut checks before firing them.
Sorry to say but the current scenario makes sense even if jimmytrick is making it up. Hence also the massive leaks about the game since it really is code complete and it also explains a lead developer leaving before publishing. While I do respect the developers, it's hard to believe the investors would let Xmas sales slip by. The developers probably won't care to miss Xmas sales since they've already been paid (mostly under this scenario). In the end, QSI can scrape together cash and release it anyway leaving Infrogrames out in the cold.
This is the current state of the gaming industry. Crap.

[Lee Johnson]

For frap's sake, folks, there isn't some nutty conspiracy to keep the game out of IG's hands. Rantz is the creative director for the game. The art assets have been locked down for weeks. There's not much left for him to do, apart from lending his efforts as a tester. He doesn't write code, he doesn't fix bugs. I don't read anything sinister into his taking a vacation now... and neither should you.

[Capt Dizle]

My source is a network engineer employed by the US government and a beta tester for the Starfleet Command series (Interplay, Activision). It's not unlikely that he was feeding me a line of bull, but Mark, that was no troll. I sent him an email, maybe he will contact Mark and get me off the hook.

Anyway, Mark is always looking for an excuse to ban me AND to slander me. Nothing new there.

We shall see what we shall see.

[canimoo2]

Wether or not jimmy is a troll, I do not know. However, there are some rather thought provoking articles to be found on the news wires.

The attached are interesting reads. Make special note of the second article, second paragraph. Although I do not have any confirmation, it does give one pause for thought.

http://www.gamers.com/news/1216038

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=1747923

And just as a way of showing balance. The attached article pretty much says the opposite of the other two.
Draw your own conclusions.

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/021126/nytu141_1.html

[Sammual]

Originally posted by canimoo2

Wether or not jimmy is a troll, I do not know. However, there are some rather thought provoking articles to be found on the news wires.

The attached are interesting reads. Make special note of the second article, second paragraph. Although I do not have any confirmation, it does give one pause for thought.

http://www.gamers.com/news/1216038

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=1747923

And just as a way of showing balance. The attached article pretty much says the opposite of the other two.
Draw your own conclusions.

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/021126/nytu141_1.html

Read them again.

The Parent Infogames (Europe) is in BIG financial trouble.

The US Infogames is doing rather well.

There is also a BIT of tension between the two (I am not going to create any more rumors about why. The news sites are where I get my info).

My best guesses are;

Infogames US wants to hold the game up until 2003 to spead the tax write offs around.

Infogames Europe needs cash ASAP and wants it out the door.

QS doesn't care one way or another. Infogames US pays them and they want a shot at Master of Magic II so they will side with Infogames US.

Sammual - Whatever, just make sure the game rocks when I get it.

[Gooberman32]

I understand that Jimmytrick may have a good reason to believe his source, the source being in the industry but that does not make the source reliable. A government network engineer and beta tester may be privy to certain information but the corporate stuff he is talking about, wouldnt that be limited to producers and corporate bigwigs? the flimsiness of this info is leading me to believe what he saying is has very little concrete backing.

[Grumbold]

It's just another rumour. Financially unstable companies are rife with them. Not quite sure how we get from rumour to flaming bannable troll-post though?

[Kc7mxo]

Can you imagine the rioting if infogrames went under and moo3 was dumped? I suppose QS could try and bring back sharware game distribution. Heh heh.

[yoda]

Financial trouble

Speculation is interesting. Infogrames stock price suggests it has serious problems. The 50M shot in the arm has stabalized the situation for the short term.

So, as QS, how do you proceed? If you have an agreement where profits are shared through some sort of royalty once the game is released, how can you protect that royalty? If Infogrames goes under, creditors seize assets. That means QS may be out a great deal of potential revenue!

Of course, this is all speculation. However, if I was QS and was in a situation where my distributor (or publisher) was in trouble, and my profits could be in jepardy, I would sit on the game citing "late game crashes" that need to be fixed. Question is, which "game" is being talked about?

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

I personally find the attacks on JT's character out of order.

While droll and humorous and in the past known to troll, the continuos inference that he is full of sh1t somehow bothers me.

Despite his trolling I have found many of his posts amusing, thought provoking, and well downright enlightening at times.

Cut the guy some slack.

If he says he has a source and he tells what that source is wihtout giving away the identity that shoudl be enough and no I don't think he was trolling in this situation.

Personally I hope for IG's sake they aren't in financial troubles as since it looks like they've missed the Xmas window.

[MarkG]

ok Ogie, i have a source telling me that Sid has been actually left the industry(keeping his shares in firaxis) to live in a island on the pacific and (what else?) play civ.

if you saw some photos of him in public, they are all fake.
i'll try to get my source to post here, but it's all true, i tell you!

[ikilledmybroker]

Update from a Pacific Island

Sid took the cabin next to mine. He borrowed some sugar yesterday, and mumbled something abot 110v converters for his PC

The rumours MUST be true

[Gooberman32]

Originally posted by MarkG
ok Ogie, i have a source telling me that Sid has been actually left the industry(keeping his shares in firaxis) to live in a island on the pacific and (what else?) play civ.

if you saw some photos of him in public, they are all fake.
i'll try to get my source to post here, but it's all true, i tell you!

LOL!!!

[Shnozwangler]

Sid is not in the pacific!!!

He took a cabin on the Alaska-British Columbia border and spends all of his time playing pre beta releases of Dionsaurs

Dont you guys know anything?!

I know this cuz a bud of mine told me Sid borrowed form his hermit uncle a cup of fish sticks from for his sled dogs