Alright, class has started

[BlumenKohl]

"Before the world ends..."

"When it's done..."

I really think id hit the nail on the head as far as announcing release dates went.

My god, in just one game (Half-Life 2), I've seen more threads and discussion based on the release date than 5 of the past best selling PC games.

Maybe it's because HL2 is a mainstream game, and the kiddy population is a bit bigger than usual, so let's all have a lesson on release dates.

For those of you who already know this, bear with me.

Let's start with retailer release dates. You've all have been to school/or are in school, right? (I hope). Ever heard of idle gossip and rumors? Ever have your rep ruined by rumors, or ruined someone elses reputation with rumors?

Well school isn't the only place where it happens. It is the very origin of all retailer given release dates. As you may recall just about every website had HL2 up for a 9/30 release date, right up until Gamespot posted their delay article, which then Homelan said was a miscommunication.

Then just about every site put up something different for the release, while people from Valve continued to say September 30th in their latest interviews.

Then sites began posting things like "When boxed versions of the highly anticipated new game Half-Life 2 appear in stores in a few months, the game will also be available for purchase via download.", and some of our local community "smart" people misinterpreted it as saying that it would come out on Steam first, and retail later...

So what do we have through out all this crap? Valve STILL says September 30th, while every other website says something different. Who's right?

The people making the game, or the people basing their words off of rumors and gossip and miscommunications?

 

[Hudson]

i cant even express how much i hate these types of threads. theyre just as bad as the delay threads, and ive seen just as many of them.

 

[Spiffae]

Thank you. i wish everyone here would read this.

 

[BlumenKohl]

Originally posted by |CC|Hudson
i cant even express how much i hate these types of threads. theyre just as bad as the delay threads, and ive seen just as many of them.

Well you (or should I say don't) see, at least people can gain something worth anything from these types of threads...

 

[Hudson]

thats a matter of opinion.

I rarley even see delay threads anymore, 1 or 2 at the max over a long peroid of time, i dont even see the point of this thread, when there have been so many like it in the past.

 

[dscowboy]

Anyone who thinks Sierra/Vivendi isn't talking to retailers and influencing the dates they give is fooling themselves. That's part of the nature of the publisher/retailer relationship, if Vivendi wasn't talking to retailers they wouldn't be doing their job. Judging from the release-date spread, it looks like Vivendi has told retailers it will be at least 2 months late, and then individual retailers have made their own guesses from there.

We all know Valve has been consistent with their Sept 30th date. And it's clear that Vivendi doesn't believe in that date. Can we all just leave it at that until new information crops up, without these constant blind, stubborn asertations?

 

[Deadline]

Originally posted by dscowboy
Can we all just leave it at that until new information crops up, without these constant blind, stubborn asertations?

no... 30th all the way n00bz0r jk

 

[Alzxul]

Personally, I trust Vavle rather than Vivendi, but hey that's just me...

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

Originally posted by BlumenKohl
Maybe it's because HL2 is a mainstream game, and the kiddy population is a bit bigger than usual, so let's all have a lesson on release dates.

If you look @ it, mainly little kids are complaining about requirements and such.

 

[Xelnein]

cool. another cliche kill the cliche threads. nice.

 

[OCybrManO]

The actual people in charge of publishing Half-Life 2 are the ones that specificly work for Sierra (a subsidiary of VU).
When someone says they talked with someone from Vivendi it could be anyone... another game publisher (under Vivendi Universal Games), Universal Music Group, Universal Pictures Group, Universal Television Group, Universal Parks & Resorts, Cegetel Group, Canal+ Group, or Maroc Telecom... a person in eash of those could be called "a representative from Vivendi Universal" because they are all subsidiaries of Vivendi Universal.

For example: I could drive over to Univeral Studios Orlando and ask the guy that cleans the toilet when he thinks HL2 is going to come out... when he says "I don't know... Christmas?" I could go online and post a message saying "HL2 Release Date Pushed Back? Vivendi Employee Says December 2003!"
It wouldn't technically be lying... but it would be misleading.

I won't trust people unless they say their source is an important person at Sierra... and they have proof.

 

[dscowboy]

Originally posted by OCybrManO
For example: I could drive over to Univeral Studios Orlando and ask the guy that cleans the toilet when he thinks HL2 is going to come out... when he says "I don't know... Christmas?" I could go online and post a message saying "HL2 Release Date Pushed Back? Vivendi Employee Says December 2003!"
It wouldn't technically be lying... but it would be misleading.

True, but it's not about someone from the press publishing rumors. It's about directors/executives at various large retailers and at Sierra/VUGames making decisions that have a heavy bearing on their profits for this quarter.

To promote a game, publishers need a lot of help from retailers. "Could you put up this special HL2 rack? How about these posters? And this cardboard life-size G-Man? Oh, here's a promotional discount thing we want you to be invovled in. BTW, we think you should stock 800 copies at every store, do we have a deal?" Contrary to what people apparently want to believe, publishers and retailers work together very closely for a major release like HL2.

A huge component of any business is revenue prediction. Retailers need desperately to know when major releases will hit shelves. Part of the publisher's job is to share information about the product's release date with the retailers for purposes of revenue prediction. 'Holding out' on the retailers would not only be senseless, it would invite them to retaliate by not investing as much in the promotion of said publisher's games.

I can't be any more clear about this: The publisher of Half-Life 2 does not believe in the Sept 30 date. Whether they're correct or not remains to be seen.

 

[Direwolf]

I do think its just as bad to infer something like that, and present it as the gospel truth. Bottem line we don't have a clue, and thats about all that can be said about that.

 

[OCybrManO]

The only thing I have seen in stores are people's interpretations of how the game's box will look... nothing official, yet.
How do we know who has the right date if they all have different boxes and say different dates?

 

[Blair]

Alright, class has started

Is this really a class? or did you just use the wrong term to describe your wishing to flame other flamers about flaming?

 

[dscowboy]

Originally posted by OCybrManO
The only thing I have seen in stores are people's interpretations of how the game's box will look... nothing official, yet.
How do we know who has the right date if they all have different boxes and say different dates?

Nobody has 'the right date', they're all making guesses based on whatever the publisher told them, like 'Half-Life won't make the Sept 30th date'. If the publisher hadn't told them something, all their dates would be Sept 30.