Warren Bills Posted October 4, 2009 Posted October 4, 2009 (edited) Even a delay is better than nothing. Just answer, is it delayed or no? its weird.. this wall of silence. its one of my greatest weapons when im personally mad at someone. its just funny seeing a company use it. i know theyre not mad at anyone (orrrrr are they!?), but that would be hilarious. Edited October 5, 2009 by Gorth Trimmed the quote
Purkake Posted October 4, 2009 Posted October 4, 2009 @LostStraw, how is it customer support if you are not a customer yet? SEGA gets nothing from preorders, all that money goes to the retailer. If you want strict definitions I suppose it would fall under the purview of marketing instead of customer support for potential customers. As for pre-orders, there's a good reason they are pushed and marketed by publishers. Retailers use pre-order data to determine how many copies to purchase. Poor pre-orders also means the game wont get as much shelf space or retailer advertising. I guess the real joke is that everyone here is pretty far from the audience that they actually want to advertise to. Who cares about the diehard fans? They are going to buy it anyway whenever it comes out.
Pop Posted October 4, 2009 Posted October 4, 2009 Okay who wants to set up a betting pool on when Sega will announce the delay. I'm going for Tuesday. 4 dollars. Join me, and we shall make Production Beards a reality!
WILL THE ALMIGHTY Posted October 5, 2009 Posted October 5, 2009 I'm betting in May. "Alright, I've been thinking. When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade - make life take the lemons back! Get mad! I don't want your damn lemons, what am I supposed to do with these? Demand to see life's manager. Make life rue the day it thought it could give Cave Johnson lemons. Do you know who I am? I'm the man who's gonna burn your house down! With the lemons. I'm going to to get my engineers to invent a combustible lemon that burns your house down!"
ironcreed Posted October 5, 2009 Posted October 5, 2009 So, I have been reading this forum for the past few days and I have been wondering why Sega would not disclose an official announcement about the delay. Then I thought, if I was a spy why would I disclose my plan. I would use misinformation, lies, and silence to through off my assailents. So maybe Sega is doing just that. Maybe this is either:1) A huge advertising scheme getting all the retailers to come up with false dates to get a huge angry mob aware of this game. For me I know its all i have been talking about for the last week. I have had several friends who knew nothing about AP to now be on the bandwagon. 2) An embarrassing acknowledgment that the game was rushed, and has a few horrible game glitches 3) A scheme to make more money when the market seems better to release such a title as AP 4) An embarrassing acknowledgment that the game was a complete failure and will be shelved indefinitely In any case, the continuation of this feed is just adding to the speculation and misinformation feed to use through Sega. We can sit and talk about it all we want, but in the end we are no closer to figuring out what the heck is going on. Even though number 1 on your list of possibilities is more than likely completely out of the question, I think it would be the most genius thing a publisher has ever done if such was in fact the case.
Raithe Posted October 5, 2009 Posted October 5, 2009 They're going to surprise-shock everyone and give us a before christmas... "Cuius testiculos habeas, habeas cardia et cerebellum."
Klemer Posted October 5, 2009 Posted October 5, 2009 (edited) Well I feel I won't have it in my hands before my trip to the little box of Asia, Afganistan, gotta find something else to soak up some of my time there. With me not too many thing capture my eye as far as games. Oh well it will probably (hopefully) be out by the time I redeploy. Ahh now just waiting for my deploy date...watch it will get pushed back..HA HA HA..ha..crap i know it won't.... Probably end up playing Jagged Alliance 2 and its mods to kill time...can't go new, go old to something that is known to be good Edited October 5, 2009 by Klemer
Warren Bills Posted October 5, 2009 Posted October 5, 2009 I'm betting in May. i second that bet. maybe then they'll spontaneously remember theyre sitting on AP
Perseus Veil Posted October 5, 2009 Posted October 5, 2009 (edited) I'm betting in May. I'm betting cancellation (come on, is SEGA after all). Edited October 5, 2009 by Perseus Veil
Purkake Posted October 5, 2009 Posted October 5, 2009 You can't actually cancel a game that's already finished. SEGA can choose to not publish it(don't know what the contract actually said). Depending on who owns the IP, Obsidian could go to another publisher. Also, spending money on development and then not even putting it out isn't the smartest business move.
Perseus Veil Posted October 5, 2009 Posted October 5, 2009 You can't actually cancel a game that's already finished. SEGA can choose to not publish it(don't know what the contract actually said). Depending on who owns the IP, Obsidian could go to another publisher. Also, spending money on development and then not even putting it out isn't the smartest business move.
Purkake Posted October 5, 2009 Posted October 5, 2009 They didn't finish DNF, so it's not really the same.
alanschu Posted October 5, 2009 Posted October 5, 2009 Would it be better press if they said they were delaying the game indefinitely (i.e. they don't have specific release date)?
Purkake Posted October 5, 2009 Posted October 5, 2009 Better than straight out not publishing it? Theoretically, it depends on who owns the IP.
LostStraw Posted October 5, 2009 Posted October 5, 2009 Would it be better press if they said they were delaying the game indefinitely (i.e. they don't have specific release date)? I think 'indefinitely' would be the wrong word to use. It tends to conjure up the idea of never. I do think it would be better than stating it will be released on the 6th (from SEGA's website). As it is now it'll just confuse potential purchasers who visit SEGA's site for information.
alanschu Posted October 5, 2009 Posted October 5, 2009 What word could they use to not have people think it's the next DNF? Seems people are already drawing that conclusion
LostStraw Posted October 5, 2009 Posted October 5, 2009 What word could they use to not have people think it's the next DNF? Seems people are already drawing that conclusion There's always the ominous "soon" which tends to placate people unless it turns out to not be so soon. Perhaps a time window around their best guess would work better e.g. "first half of 2010." If they absolutely have no guess as to when it might be released then that makes me a little afraid. To not be able to make any press release such as "Due to [insert non-technical fluffy vague or made-up reason here] AP will miss it's intended October 6th release date. Stay tuned for new release date information soon" seems strange to me. The delay really doesn't bug me as I didn't pre-order it and I know it'll be coming eventually. It's definitely no DNF.
Oner Posted October 5, 2009 Posted October 5, 2009 What word could they use to not have people think it's the next DNF? Seems people are already drawing that conclusionOn several other forums people cried foul when Blizzard dared to delay SC 2, like it's the first time they ever delayed something. Oh excuse me, they announced a release date before, that changes everything! Down with Blizzard! Giveaway list: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1DgyQFpOJvyNASt8A12ipyV_iwpLXg_yltGG5mffvSwo/edit?usp=sharing What is glass but tortured sand?Never forget! '12.01.13.
213374U Posted October 5, 2009 Posted October 5, 2009 Would it be better press if they said they were delaying the game indefinitely (i.e. they don't have specific release date)?I'm not speaking for anyone here, but there's no difference between "indefinitely" and this silence. It's the same lack of seriousness on the publisher's part - even if the blame lays with the developer. What, after a multi-year long development cycle, could justify an "indefinite" delay? First Crucible, and now this. WTF? - When he is best, he is a little worse than a man, and when he is worst, he is little better than a beast.
Purkake Posted October 5, 2009 Posted October 5, 2009 What word could they use to not have people think it's the next DNF? Seems people are already drawing that conclusion For it to be the next DNF, people would actually have to know/care about the game...
Pop Posted October 5, 2009 Posted October 5, 2009 (edited) Thing is, AP didn't really have a profile before this, though Rorie and the gang did try. The early, inescapable comparisons to Mass Effect hurt it considerably, and to use a crude analogy AP is sort of seen as the Haze to ME's Halo, or perhaps more generously, the Sonic to ME's Mario. Now that the game has apparently been delayed indefinitely for reasons that are likely to remain nebulous, you've got the added stink of a Failed Game on it. Outside the confines of this forum Obsidian is known primarily as a studio that can't make functional games. This delay only reinforces that notion. Like Haze, I expect AP to expire commercially right out of the gate, but unlike Haze I'm sure it will turn out to be a cult hit. Edited October 5, 2009 by Pop Join me, and we shall make Production Beards a reality!
Purkake Posted October 5, 2009 Posted October 5, 2009 (edited) As things are going now, if I were Obsidian, I would release it DD only, in a non-crowded month and rely on word of mouth. Not that they could, with SEGA(most likely) owning the IP. I think some game developer said that the first thing to do was to make sure that you own the IP and not the publisher. Also it wouldn't work too well with the whole multiplatform thing. Edited October 5, 2009 by Purkake
Slowtrain Posted October 5, 2009 Posted October 5, 2009 Outside the confines of this forum Obsidian is known primarily as a studio that can't make functional games. This delay only reinforces that notion. It's pretty unfortunate that both of their last 2 major projects have had such massive problems. Normally, with two consecutive projects having such problems, one would have no choice but to assume it's the developer's failure, but in this case, since both projects also have Sega involved, it's not so clear cut as to where the problems might lie. Notice how I can belittle your beliefs without calling you names. It's a useful skill to have particularly where you aren't allowed to call people names. It's a mistake to get too drawn in/worked up. I mean it's not life or death, it's just two guys posting their thoughts on a message board. If it were personal or face to face all the usual restraints would be in place, and we would never have reached this place in the first place. Try to remember that.
Raithe Posted October 5, 2009 Posted October 5, 2009 I have to admit I was getting more Deus Ex flashes then Mass Effect when I first started seeing mention of AP last year.. Maybe thats just the way my twisted mind works.. With the wall of silence at the moment, it does feel like a sega inspired problem.. so after all the waiting for the october release and dealing with that touch of dissapointment it's definitely making me frustrated with sega and not obsidian. "Cuius testiculos habeas, habeas cardia et cerebellum."
Purkake Posted October 5, 2009 Posted October 5, 2009 I have to admit I was getting more Deus Ex flashes then Mass Effect when I first started seeing mention of AP last year.. Maybe thats just the way my twisted mind works.. Deus Ex = sunglasses & cyberpunk AP has neither.
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