To Be Here by February 28th

[H Tower]

TO BE HERE BY FEBRUARY 28TH
(6 January 2003, 23:22 | MoO3) All that is being said about the release date for Master of Orion III is that it will be before February 28th according to a report filed publicly today on The Adrenaline Vault. The author of the brief, Ian Smithers, also added:
In an effort to cut down on the regression testing phase - which normally takes up to three weeks -- they`ve hired more testers and are now estimating that it`ll take only one week. - DanQ

The part that interests me is that they are introducing more beta testers to a game which they have never played and will need time to get used to. what's the point in introducing a group of people who haven't been participating so late in the game? I think they might miss the end of February deadline purely because all the new testers will have to get up to speed

[Sarxis]

Now the thing that REALLY gets me is about the office move. "Hmm, ok, we are in regression testing, let's just up and move the dev team to smaller offices."

Of course, these are the guys that 'retired' their lead designer before completion.

[Gooberman32]

At least they didnt pull a fast one on us and set it for the 29th of febuary then we'd have to wait till 2004!

[Urban Ranger]

When it comes out, it comes out. Other than that, all these announcements are just hot air.

[Asmodean]

Again, I must reiterate my complete faith in QS, IG, FBI, NAACP and everybody else involved in making MoO3. To publicly announce that the game will not ship untill all crash bugs are ironed out was a bold move, and one that i support fully.

Asmodean

[Urban Ranger]

That's nigh impossible. It's not because of their programmers, it's because that there is no way to prevent a program from crashing under Windows.

[Bolverk]

They need new testers as the previous testers will be too familliar with the bugs - I have found that I get used to bugs, and after hours and hours of repetitive play, avoid them almost subconsciously.

Gamespot did a review of the single player game, and mentioned specifically that it didn't crash. They also mentioned that they didn't recieve the multiplayer capable game. I'll bet that's where the problems lie.

Or maybe I just hope that's it. I don't care for multiplayer games. Not unless I'm playing someone in the same room, so I can beat them into submission, should the game go badly. I'm a poor loser

[H Tower]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
That's nigh impossible. It's not because of their programmers, it's because that there is no way to prevent a program from crashing under Windows.

I think the excuse for being able to get away with moving the office was that they had just sent out a new version to the betatesters.

[TheMaestro]

Seriously, anyone who thinks any game is bug free is delusional. Once again, delaying a game too much does kill sales --

I mean, if they wanna face off against Generals, Splinter Cell, Battlefield 1942 EXP, American Conquest, Condition Zero, RoN, Galactic Civilizations...MOO3 will lose, prolly badly in the sales charts.

Cause as much as I want M003, Generals, Rise of Nations are better looking, and top notch -- so then sales will be hurt.

But ehh, just cause we're consumers who spend money, what do we know.

[Bill_in_PDX]

There will be bugs in the game when it comes out, and they will not be related to WinDoze, they will well be the fault of the code in MOO.

There is no way around that, and it is true with all programs.

Clearly the delay now is either for significant bug problems, rumored corporate issues, or a combination thereof, but to assign some sort of notion that we will be getting a bug free product is simply not realistic.

[Lemmy]

Seriously, anyone who thinks any game is bug free is delusional.

/me sits in a corner playing PONG trying to find a bug


End of feb isn't that bad...it can compete with GalCiv then.

[ravagon]

Originally posted by Asmodean
Again, I must reiterate my complete faith in QS, IG, FBI, NAACP and everybody else involved in making MoO3. To publicly announce that the game will not ship untill all crash bugs are ironed out was a bold move, and one that i support fully.

Please let me know if this works and they do send you your copy early. I'll give it a try too.

Clearly the delay now is either for significant bug problems, rumored corporate issues, or a combination thereof, but to assign some sort of notion that we will be getting a bug free product is simply not realistic.

Not necessarily. They made a stand some time ago about wanting to release it bug-free and took a lot of flak for it. If they were to go ahead and release it now with significant bugs still therein then all the negative feedback last time would come back in triplicate.
This wouldn't bode well, either for Moo3 or the future of the company.
Once they have taken a stand on something they should stick to it.

[Asmodean]

Let us just get one thing straight here. There is one heck of a difference between bug-free and free of crash bugs. The former is nigh on impossible. QS and IG are aiming for the latter - something which can be done.

Asmodean

[Corentor]

Originally posted by TheMaestro
Seriously, anyone who thinks any game is bug free is delusional. Once again, delaying a game too much does kill sales --

I mean, if they wanna face off against Generals, Splinter Cell, Battlefield 1942 EXP, American Conquest, Condition Zero, RoN, Galactic Civilizations...MOO3 will lose, prolly badly in the sales charts.

Cause as much as I want M003, Generals, Rise of Nations are better looking, and top notch -- so then sales will be hurt.

But ehh, just cause we're consumers who spend money, what do we know.

Hey look! Its the person who pretends to be an expert in software development but in actuality knows nothing.

Just to clarify with you again. The publishers do not want showstoppers. Remember those in our last discussion? No it will not be bug free but they are aiming to have no showstoppers. Good policy.

As for your comment about delaying games too much causes a decline in sales, have we already forgotten our discussion about Blizzard Entertainment and their release policies? And how many copies of the much delayed Warcraft 3 sold?

If Moo3 does badly in the charts, it will be because there is not enough of a base for this type of game. I have read a lot about how people want this game released and do well in the charts so that Infogrames can be convinced to do another one. It doesn't work like that. If Infogrames doesn't make another one due to lack of sales, it will be the right decision because the demand for 4x games just isn't there for them to make money.

And I chuckle about that consumer comment. Companies hire people to fool and confuse customers so they can rip them off, and they do a damn good job. So ya, the customers in general don't know too much, especially on in particular.

[TheMaestro]

Corentor, you are faaaaaaar to sensitive, and you care way too much about a message board. Go get laid or something, seriously. Stop taking offense to everything.

Take a breath, calm down...there ya go...nice and easy...calm down...wait, calm.

You need to take it easy. But ehh, if you have delusions of grandeur by trying to have power on a message board...that's your fault -- not mine.