Feb14: RON BETA CONTEST!

[shou]

Impress GameWatch just uploaded a opening movie of Rise of Nations.

http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/game/docs/20030210/demo0210.htm

You can download the file directry from here.

http://cgi1.watch.impress.co.jp/cgibin/pc/redirect.plx?url=http://download.watch.impress.co.jp/game/demo/200302/ronopen.lzh

LHA archive, Windows Media Video format, 32.5MB, 2:13.

[tniem]

It seems that it is a limited Beta test with a thousand participants. Quickly reading through it, no multiplayer test. However, it looks as if those that are winners will be automatically entered into the beta test which seems to be testing mp. Anyone have anyother thoughts on this after reading the press release?

[Peter Triggs]

And the UK release date:

This latest title from Big Huge Games Inc. founder Brian Reynolds (designer of Civilization 2 and Alpha Centauri*) is scheduled for U.S. release on April 22, 2003 and UK release on May 2nd 2003.

[MarkG]

Originally posted by Tassadar5000
1) The more people beta testing, the quicker you can find bugs and things that make people unhappy and

huh???

[RONS_thesimss]

Thanks BHG for making me unhappy!!!! 1000 people? What about the big fans of RON like me and other people!!!!! How come you have to play around with us like that? Im sooooo mad about this!!!!!!!! I been waiting for awhile for this game and first i thought it would be out in march and i was like no big deal NOW its the 22!!!!! Second you get all the RON fans all happy and you gives us a screw job and only let the top 1000 people get it!!!!! What about us real fans? What about us people who sit here everyday and look at the websites. What about us fans who are shelling out 50 bucks for it? What about us!!!!!! Its us the fans that keep you in your job!!!! We give you are money to make us happy and enjoy are selfs!!!! But now your giveing 1000 people around the world a chance that a lot of REAL rise of nations fans want!!!! What about us!!!!!!! Im soooooooo mad about this!!!! BHG i thought you took care of your fans that keep you in your jobs. But i see that you don't care about us fans that deserve a chance than some kid who just wants to try it ot see if he likes it!!!!!! Why do u and Microsoft do stuff like this!!!!!! Just cause i don't have a website about Rise Of Nations doesn't mean i don't buy all the magazines the game is in or spead a lot of time thinking about it or love coming on here and thinking about it and talking about it with other fans!!!! You guys should think about the people who love Rise Of Nations and are will to shell out the money that makes the game.

[RONS_thesimss]

And anyone who reads it post what you think too!!! I wanna hear how everyone feels!!! i wanna know if anyone feels the same way i do about this.

[theponyguy1]

I know. It's pretty ****ty. The people who actually knew about the game and spent their whole entire school year checking the websites and forums, will get screwed over. I don't know why BHG is advertising it as much.

We had some time to use the computers in English, and I went to RON Heaven to see what the anouncement was, and one kid, who didn't even know wtf a comuter was, looked over my shoulder, and was like "hmmm, that looks pretty cool, guess I should check it out when I get home" And then he showed his friend and he's like, "Yeah, I'm gonna enter too"

So, you see, all these people who never even knew of RON from the start are going to get this game, while us, dedicated gamers don't get crud. The dedicated fans should get first priority in Beta distribution, because they spent a whole entire year more being tormented by not playing it.

But I guess it's not that bad. BHG and Microsoft didnt have to do this for the fans, they just wanted to do something nice. Even if I don't win, at least we get the game in April, I was thinking it would come out late June.

[tniem]

Its smart marketing in the sense that it gets people interested that had no idea previously - like those guys at school.

As for the rest of us, if sales go higher through these type of gimmacks, then we can be assured more high quality (at least I hope high quality) games from BR and the team at BHG. Hopefully sales skyrocket which will lead to more games and more opponents in MP.

As for the number of participants, from what I have read, public betas can be huge pains in the asses. Most people don't fill out bug reports so that leaves the program to have to record bug reports itself, which can lead to a lot more programming time and stress on developers. While, I think they are a good idea (all Blizzard games) many developers feel that they are not worth the time. And judging from the many games that have not gotten public betas, they may be right. As long as the team of beta testers does their job, I will be happy with the game shortly after my finals are done a the end of April.

[HuangShang]

poor grammar Tassadar...............................

[Alex]

One thing is nice: they opened up the contest to "fans around the world". Usually this kind of contest is limited to USA and Canada.

But I somehow agree with the unhappy ones. Most people will not do their homework and will not provide BHG with the feedback they need to iron out all kinds of bugs.

But it surely is a nice marketing ploy. And maybe BR has larger ambitions... maybe he doesn't want to limit himself to a hardcore group of loyal strategy fans, and he's aiming the masses instead. Who knows?

I'm pretty neutral about their decision. Maybe I'll participate in the contest, maybe not. My system is not exactly a powerhouse, but this could also be an interesting source of feedback to the developers; how the game performs on an less-than-stellar machine.

[Timeline]

Originally posted by Tassadar5000
This is an incredbilyu bad decision for two reasons:

LMAO




I fell out of my chair when I saw Tassadar spell like that! LOL

[adaMada]

Obviously, I'd rather have an open beta. Having said that, I don't think BHG's done anything very bad here. They're providing 1000 people with a very complete version of the game (which it sounds like they'll mail to them on disks) -- it wouldn't be possible for BHG to let an unlimited number of fans try it out. BHG's making a smart move here, and it should hopefully produce a very high quality game. Now, I'd obviously like to be one of the 1000 -- it'd be loads of fun -- but I'm not going to get angry if I'm not. It'll be a good game once it's done and out, and I'm happy for BHG if they get lots of applicants -- they deserve it for their hard work. Cheers to them for what they have done, and if nothing else, I'll be buying the game in a month or two .

-- adaMada

[One_Dead_Villy]

I am in full agreement with tneim, and alexm and adamada. The issues with public beta testers actually contributing is a important factor. The point of any marketing campaign especially given essentially giving out a free sample is to make new people aware of the game. They get enough critique from people posting, and from the zounds of official beta testers. You have to remember something, the whole point of any public relations marketing is to INCREASE sales.

If they did what AOM did with the 1st X number of people registering from each site getting a beta. You will get the same situation as what happend there and that was that alot of the fan sites got flooded with entry requests at the mark and was brought down by the overload. An open contest also doesnt hurt all the diehard fans' chances. In fact it helps it. Even though I participated in the AOM forums and monitored the site when the contest registration was due, I still didnt make it in time to make the cut, and I live in North America, cause you still got zounds of people hammering the site to get in before the alottment was full. So a random draw rather then 1st off the mark will actually let fans from all over the world get a chance to win.

[RONS_thesimss]

Yeah but my whole prob with this is i sat here for a long time looking up on Rise Of Nations and decated myself to Rise Of Nations but it feel like there are leting us fans who take there time out of there day to write on these boards and check there website everyday are going ot get screwed. What about ponyguy? Now some punk kids might get the beta over him and hes a bigger fan than them!!!!! Yes you 3 make a good point but you have to understand that i feel let down cause what if i would have be picked right after the 1000 person? And they put a time limt on the signing up? 11 AM PST what is that? I think i know so im skiping school now to sign up for the damn thing. And mosty likely i will prob get screwed and saded by the whole fact of it!!!! So i still feel that there doing something dumb and let all the real true fans get it. Hell i report bugs and do all that crap BUT i don't like how i spent all my time and think about Rise Of Nations all the time and have this happen to me. I speant all my money into this and is getting nutthing out of it till April. Yes im still buying the game its on the top of my list and yes im skiping school on the 22 to go get it and play it all day but still i think the really really big fans should have got first on it. We are the ones who keep the boards alive and websites going. We want are share of cake too. We want it too. Maybe even more than some others on here.

[WarpStorm]

RON_thesimss, you are starting to sound more like a whiney kid than a person I'd want beta testing my products. If you were serious about beta testing, a letter straight to BR explaining why you'd make a good beta tester ('undying' except when let-down fandom probably isn't it) would probably work.