Comments on: Massive Delays

By: /AFK – Let’s All Play Whatever Stargrace Is Playing Edition « Bio Break

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 17:27:49 +0000

[...] Kill Ten Rats doesn’t like the TOR delay, not one little bit. [...]

By: Tamat

Tamat — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 20:36:48 +0000

This doesn’t surprise me; actually, this rather exciting! During an interview with Jake Neri at E3 last year (http://www.zam.com/story.html?story=19039), he measured the amount of dialogue in SW:TOR by saying that it was enough for 23 Empire Strikes Back. That’s a lot of VO! After hearing that, it was hard to accept that the game would be ready and polished for a retail launch in 2010.

They certainly have challenges ahead of them. Some of the promises that have been made could very well set the bar for future MMOs. It will be interesting if they fully adapt and embrace the “It will ship when it’s ready” approach to game making.

By: Tesh

Tesh — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 15:35:02 +0000

…which makes me wonder again what things would be like if you could port a character across games…

By: Tesh

Tesh — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 15:34:18 +0000

Bad time for a Portal joke?

By: Bhagpuss

Bhagpuss — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 23:50:14 +0000

It can come out in 2111 for all the interest I have in it.

I just re-upped my Station Access account and after a 6 month break I realise that I probably don’t need any new MMOs after all. Its my characters that matter, not the games they are in.

By: Rodalpho

Rodalpho — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 17:50:44 +0000

Maybe they intend to invest in a very long WoW-style closed beta period? With a 9 month beta, that would work out nicely– and the NDA-free closed beta certainly helped pump up enthusiasm for that game.

By: We Fly Spitfires

We Fly Spitfires — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 12:10:40 +0000

I have no idea why people got upset when TOR was announced for 2011. I mean, I always assumed it would be 2011 and Bioware never said anything to indicate otherwise.

“I want to play TOR when it’s ready, but I also want to play it right now.”

Yup hehe I know the feeling! We want our cake and we want to eat it right NOW! :)

By: Stabs

Stabs — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 11:32:31 +0000

Is it really so inconceivable that in an industry where almost all of the managerial staff either are or were hardcore gamers that there might be so competitive strategising regarding releases?

By: Randomessa

Randomessa — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 09:42:38 +0000

I’m quite torn on this; on the one hand I would of course prefer a company to release a game “when it’s ready” and no sooner (ref. Guild Wars 2). On the other, short-term pleasure hand, I want to play something NOW, and I guess that makes me an accessory to those companies who release their games without a few more months that could be spent percolating in beta (STO).

I also believe in the theory that the ability to postpone a game’s release is a luxury afforded only to the biggest and most wealthy companies with years of established cred such as Bioware and Blizzard (touching again on my not wanting to wait), and if things were otherwise I would either have a smaller selection of games to play, or more less-polished indie releases which might not be to my tastes as they tend to go after niches I don’t belong to (EVE, Fallen Earth, Darkfall).

In short, the elitist in me says this is a terrible state of affairs, but the gamer in me who just wants to have fun tonight says, “carry on.”

By: Aaron

Aaron — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 09:17:15 +0000

Thing is, a month after it’s released, no one will remember all this hullabaloo, and no one will care. Most importantly Bioware’s accountants, who are no doubt fully aware that, within reason*, delaying a game never made all the people who wanted to play it stop wanting to play it.

*The reasonable part meaning it can’t fall massively out of date technically speaking, take another 5 years, or have direct, heavy competition. I know there’s a million MMOs coming out, but how many include the words ‘Star Wars’ or ‘Bioware’?