September release- not likely?

[Phoenix-D]

Its interesting- I can't seem to find any mention of SE:V on the strategy first pages (except the copied from Shrapnel forums), no advertising, few press releases, etc.

Combine that with the fact that its the 23rd of August and the game has yet to go gold and I think that September 12th date is looking kind of mythical.

[Atrocities]

Look to October for a release.

[Mephisto]

I don't know, I would be more confident that the September release is met more or less.

[Captain Kwok]

SE:V has been featured a lot in SFI's recent newsletters and there was some activity in the last couple of weeks with various interviews/screenshots...

...Sept. 12? Perhaps. It's hard to say with Aaron - he's unpredictable at times.

[Baron Munchausen]

Remember, SFI is a real 'stock-holder' controlled corporation. There will be huge pressure to meet the deadline regardless of the condition of the game. The quarterly earnings statements drive everything else. If they have publicly committed to a September release I'd bet on it occuring. But I would definitely not bet on the quality of the game that gets released.

[Atrocities]

What Baron stated above, "real presure to meet the deadline regardless of the condition of the game" is a real possiblity. Too many highly anticipated games, MOO3 for one, were forced into early release and paid a horrible price. They shoot themselves in the foot when they force a game that is not ready for release into release. It killed the TRIBES franchise, MOO franchise, and lord know how many other games were rushed to an early death that if they had been left alone to be properly developed, would have been successful and highly profitable.

[Puke]

commercial games publicize their release dates to their distributors, retail stores, etc. the info is sent out to magazines, news sites, fan sites, etc. they have a great deal to lose if they miss a date, because the distributors, retail stores, etc. are doing their own advertising and are prepping shelf-space and pressuring the company to get it out on time.

and vast numbers of those games still slip on their dates.

SFI is a relatively small company that does all their own distribution, and only rates a couple slots on the bottom shelves at a few retail outlets. And as far as I know, they only mentioned the relase date (idly, in passing) in one short press blurb.

I think they have almost nothing to lose by letting it slip, as they were probably planing to lead with a steam release and then schedule their shelf space AFTER they had CDs on the way to be mastered and pressed.

So while it would be really great to have a mostly-complete semi-buggy release on target (because then we could all start playing the game while the patches came out), I wouldnt be supprised at all if it slipped a little.

[Atrocities]

Too bad SFI cannot attrack some main stream game developers to their name. I was watching MAD MONEY today, an NBC stock market show, and they stated that investing in game companies, tech, and consule companies is a very bad investment since the gaming industry has been performing horribly in recent quarters and that they predict a total collapse soon. WTF?

EA games is doing well despite the law suits, and Microsoft, ubisoft, and even Midway games are all doing well. Nintendo is doing well, as is Sony and even Atari. So where they get off saying that the gaming industry is dying I don't know. However it does beg the question that perhaps needs to be asked, is the gaming industry on the virge of a major down turn? I mean in recent years the games that have been released haven't been all that good, too heavily focused on eye candy and not substance as in the past. Quality is down across the board and costs are up. Hell we used to get nice manuals with our games, now all we get is a CD in a paper sleeve with some advertisment slips. They won't even spring for a jewel case or manual now. Even the box sizes have been reduce, albeit I think that that was a good idea.

They are scaling back E3 and many game developers are cutting jobs, advertisment, and dropping many titles that they have had in the works for some time all in an effort to slim down the bottom line and improve short term revenue.

I don't feel optomistic about the gaming industries future. With less and less orginal and inovative games being developed, and the utter extinction of small game developers like over the last decade, one cannot help but feel a bit depressed about the future of gaming in general.

While there is still hope, albeit slim, it is still hope that we might see some inovation and inspiring games in the future, but again my expectations are so low, they would have to work very hard indeed to dissappoint me.

Name four games, aside from SE V, that you are looking forward to being released in the next year. Just four, more if you have them, but four will do nicely.

1. Farcry 2 - Crysis
2. Star Trek Legacy (not really high hopes but some expectations)
3. Don't have one
4. Don't have one

[Kamog]

Yeah, September 12th is looking kind of unlikely. I don't expect to go to the local games store in September and buy a boxed SEV.

The "Winter 2006" date posted at the Malfador site is more realistic. I sure hope it comes out by Christmas, though. I'm going to have a week off work around Christmas so I'll have a chance to spend several solid days playing SEV. Then I have to go back to work and then I'll too busy to spend much time playing.

[Gandalf Parker]

Other than SEV? That makes it rough.
Obviously SEV would be #1 or #2.

1. Dominions 3
2. VGA Planets 4
3. Rising Star
4. hmmmm time to jump on the gaming sites I guess...

Gandalf Parker