ARCANUM - delayed
Frank G
thanx to the frogs (sierra is a french owned company now, isn´t it ?)...and
no, mr. adam kahn, i *don´t want* to understand your situation at sierra. to
be exactly, i don´t care at all.
fr@nk
here´s the ugly part :
[...]
Hello everyone at the Arcanum Inn! My name is Adam Kahn and I've been
handling the public relations efforts for Arcanum here at Sierra for the
last year or so. Many of the regular posters here know me, but for those who
don't, I've been following the community on the board with some interest
since I started on the project.
This is why I wanted to come here and personally let you all know about the
fact that Arcanum's date of release has changed from May until September.
It's important to me that you know that this decision was made here at
Sierra, and has nothing to do with the progress Arcanum has made. The game
will be done on time, and were it not for our business need to ship the game
worldwide on the same date, we would be able to share the final product with
those of you in the U.S. within a month or so.
[...]
I hope you can all understand the situation we're in here at Sierra, and I
do want you to know that the Arcanum community is extremely important to us.
We all appreciate your dedication to the game, and hope that you will keep
with us until September when I know you'll finally see that the wait was
worth it.
[...]
Here's the official statement:
Yesterday morning the Arcanum team here at Sierra made a decision to delay
the release of the game in the US until early September. The decision had
nothing to do with the progress Arcanum has made - it will be complete
within the next few weeks and we couldn't be happier with the final product.
However, the need to ship Arcanum simultaneously across all worldwide
territories necessitated the delay here in the US. Worldwide launches are
important to the overall success of a title, and a game as in-depth,
detailed and comprehensive as Arcanum will take more time to localize than
some of our previous titles.
The need for us to ship a game at the same time worldwide is based on
several factors, but the primary reason is the growing proliferation of the
international gray market. When a game ships in the US first (rather than
simultaneously across the world), foreign retailers will often buy the
non-localized, US versions of our games (instead of waiting for the
international versions) and sell them to their international customers. At
first glance, this doesn't seem like a big deal, since it's not truly
"piracy" of our products - those customers do, in fact, pay for our game.
However, because most of these retailers then refuse to carry the localized
versions we prepare, this practice prevents us from localizing our games for
specific countries and regions.
So, for a game like Arcanum, which relies heavily on dialogue (with its
accompanying subtexts and references), this situation means that someone
playing in France, for example, might miss a significant portion of the game
's charm, wit and detail. In addition, they will have to deal with a manual
written in English, no information about technical support in his or her
home country, etc.
While this means that Arcanum fans here in the US, who have waited so
patiently already, will have to endure another, final wait until September,
we're confident that they will all find the time worth it.
[...]
The Arcanum demo will still be available in early May on the covermount disc
for Computer Gaming World (as well as several international magazines). We
will also offer the demo for download, though it's size (about 250MB) could
be prohibitive for many of you.
James Garvin
Frank G wrote:
> arcanum is delayed again. we have to wait until september !!!
Well. It think it is better to release a game world wide. I have to
agree with the decision (although being in the US I REALLY don't like
it). It only makes sense and you can give better support that way....(I
know that is a broad statement....)
I wish it would come out in May...but I'm betting on a July release date
(probably gonna choke those translations down)
(why can't everyone just use bablefish?)
--
James Garvin
bo...@nmt.edu
Peacedog1
>Well. It think it is better to release a game world wide. I have to
>agree with the decision (although being in the US I REALLY don't like
>it). It only makes sense and you can give better support that way....(I
>know that is a broad statement....)
Of course, it makes more sense to think about this a few months ago, and not
right now. Or I'm crazy.
>I wish it would come out in May...but I'm betting on a July release date
>(probably gonna choke those translations down)
Read the press release. Delayed until September. I doubt July would piss
people off. . .
portia_EH
developed? I think it was something like...
"A late game is late until the day it ships, a bad game is bad forever!"
I'm glad we're not getting Arcanum until it's complete -- good for Troika!
--
=================================================
"When virtue sleeps, [x] awakes refreshed!" -FN
-EH (remove "no2spam~" for reply address)
Frank G <FGo...@t-online.de> wrote in message
news:9bqbi2$frd$03$1...@news.t-online.com...
Frank G
portia_EH <no2spam~ehou...@zipperint.com> schrieb in im Newsbeitrag:
3ae0c...@news.nwlink.com...
> I'm glad we're not getting Arcanum until it's complete -- good for Troika!
what the hell...didn´t you read their statement at all ? it´s *not* delayed
because it will not be completed until may. read it again :
[...]
it will be complete within the next few weeks and we couldn't be happier
with the final product. However, the need to ship Arcanum simultaneously
across all worldwide territories necessitated the delay here in the US
[...]
fr@nk
Peacedog1
>"A late game is late until the day it ships, a bad game is bad forever!"
>
>I'm glad we're not getting Arcanum until it's complete -- good for Troika!
Go read the press release.
portia_EH
> what the hell...didn´t you read their statement at all ? it´s *not*
delayed
> because it will not be completed until may. read it again :
>
The article I read was a beautifully orchestrated press release by the PR
guys that represent Arcanum's publisher (Sierra). They basically said, 'Oh
yeah, it's done and it's great -- we really want to continue paying the
legion of game developers their milestone checks because it would be unfair
to foriegn countries not to experience the game as it was intended.'
I don't buy that.
It sounds a little too like John Romero telling Eidos that 'everthing is
going as scheduled' while the company falls apart trying to paint their
little hooker so that nobody sees the bruises underneath the makeup.
Although I do digress... **Maybe Sierra honestly beleives that if they sit
on a game for five months that (and I quote) "will be complete within the
next few weeks" just to give it a globally timed release that they'll have a
signifigant increase in revenue vs. the paychecks they'll be issuing for the
biggest financial bite of all: "Salary"
Risky.
I'd much rather them issue the statement that I quoted from the Blizzard
devleopment house. The one about a game being bad forever, vs. a game being
late until that day. Wait a minute, that makes it sound like I was making a
brilliant statement about why Sierra really won't publish Troika's game on
it's intended GOLD deadline. ... ... **nah, I wouldn't be doing that.
** = sarcasm
Joe Fernandez
release in it's home country to release worldwide. As a console gamer as
well, I know that a Japanese publisher would NEVER EVER delay a game's
release in Japan to release it simultaneously in the US or anywhere else.
Something is up, either they want to build up the hype or the game really
isn't anywhere near done.
Miles Lippincott
Frank G wrote in message <9bqbi2$frd$03$1...@news.t-online.com>...
>arcanum is delayed again. we have to wait until september !!!
>
What bunch of BS! I'm sure European gamers won't mind, but give me a break.
The game is already six months late and now, just a few weeks before it's
supposed to be out, they decide it needs to be delayed for worldwide
release? So, basically the game will be a YEAR late and this is a game that
is marginal graphically right now. By September we'll be a hell of a lot
closer to Morrowind, Neverwinter, and lot of GeForce 3 designed games. By
delaying it another several months they seriously risk losing sales and
interest. This is an unprecedented move, at least for the US market.
I never viewed Arcanum as a premier title because I seriously doubt it will
even approach BG/BG2 in sales. The fact that they are treating it as the
next Diablo 2 tells me there is something going on that they don't want to
admit.
Miles
I
TwinIon
Actually I'm not so sure. A world wide simultaneous release means we have no
American guinea pigs to test out the game and scream bloody murder and scare
away the rest of the customer....:P
In article <3ae0c...@news.nwlink.com>, "portia_EH"
Miles Lippincott
Sorry to follow up my own post, but a few other things I want to add.
There is no doubt at all that this was a last minute decsion, which is
unfair to fans to say the least. Look at all the marketing effort that has
been made recently: adds in magazines, press demos sent out to hype up the
game in anticipation of release, promo items sent to retailers as incentives
to reserve in advance (Babbages has cloth maps already, as well as oversize
boxes.) It makes no sense at all.
As I said earlier (and I've seen this echoed elsewhere) they are making a
serious mistake here for a BS reason. I have no doubt that Arcanum will be
a commercial failure as a result and I feel bad for Troika that they are
stuck with these decisions.
Miles
LHeilb8013
Independence War not wait for US publishers before they were released in their
own countries........I might not bother to buy the damn thing at all, why
support a company who obviously does not care about the customers??
Lloyd Heilbrunn
TwinIon
because the only country that speaks Japanese is, well Japan while a great
many countries has English has their official language OR has a vast
population that speaks/understand English. This means that gray market dealers
could not sell a Japanese release as lucratively as they would a English
release.
In article <H%6E6.3134$nm1.3...@newsread2.prod.itd.earthlink.net>, "Joe
Grifman
wrote:
>
>Frank G wrote:
>
>> arcanum is delayed again. we have to wait until september !!!
>
>Well. It think it is better to release a game world wide. I have to
>agree with the decision (although being in the US I REALLY don't like
>it). It only makes sense and you can give better support that way....(I
>know that is a broad statement....)
>
>I wish it would come out in May...but I'm betting on a July release date
>(probably gonna choke those translations down)
>
This really doesn't make sense. Are there any other Sierra games that
have been delayed as such? Or any games by any other publisher
delayed as such? Sure being an RPG there is a lot of text that needs
to be translated but still . . . surely they knew this fact of
translation months ago when the May date was announced - so why didn't
they realize May was out then. Something seems fishy here to me.
Grifman
Hong Ooi
IIRC Warlords Battlecry didn't get to Oz until a few weeks after its
release in the US. Fallout Tactics too, considering it was developed in
Canberra.
--
Hong Ooi | "I used to use my real name many years ago. I
hong...@maths.anu.edu.au | got just as much disrespect then as I do now."
http://www.zip.com.au/~hong | -- T.
Sydney, Australia |
Led Mirage
wrote:
>Well. It think it is better to release a game world wide. I have to
>agree with the decision (although being in the US I REALLY don't like
>it). It only makes sense and you can give better support that way....(I
>know that is a broad statement....)
Bah. It's all bullshit. It's simply publishers and distributors
looking out for their money. This is why there are regional codes for
DVDs. Damn if you don't want the localized version. What if I'm an
native English speaker who lives in France and is more comfortable
with English? You're shit out of luck if you want to buy it off
retailers. In the end it's either you get the localized version (may
be censored) or go to the grey market (get it off web stores or
autions). It's never about "support". Publishers are the one that
makes the most money out of releases, not the developers or retailers.
>(why can't everyone just use bablefish?)
Ummmm.....you don't know languages other than English, right?
Ezzrie
saying that there was still development to do would be more fan friendly
as most fans are content to wait as programming goes on, but to wait just
because Sierra feels like making us wait is ludicrous, and I wont be
buying Arcanum at this point. I'll warez it.
no2spam~ehou...@zipperint.com (portia_EH) wrote in
<3ae0d799$1...@news.nwlink.com>:
>F
Danny Jansen
> accompanying subtexts and references), this situation means that someone
> playing in France, for example, might miss a significant portion of the
game
> 's charm, wit and detail. In addition, they will have to deal with a
manual
> written in English, no information about technical support in his or her
> home country, etc.
I don't understand this. Most people in Europe don't like localised versions
at all because the voices are most often done poorly at best, the
translations from English to French, German, Dutch etc. of the manual, in
game texts are just terrible etc. So how can you delay an often delayed
product even more just to make localised versions of it, which most people
won't buy because they still want the US/ English version?
When they finally release it, I hope for them I have time to BUY and PLAY it
because other great games (BG2 expansion, DiabloII expansion, Neverwinter
Nights) will be released in the meantime and judging from the screenshots
Arcanum now already looks dated...
--
Danny Jansen
'All of this might just be an elaborate simulation running inside a little
device, sitting on someone's table'
hoy.Don...@hawaii.edu
: On Sat, 21 Apr 2001 03:20:07 GMT, "Joe Fernandez"
: <fer...@earthlink.net> wrote:
:>This is ludicrous! I've never heard a publisher (significantly) delay a
:>release in it's home country to release worldwide. As a console gamer as
:>well, I know that a Japanese publisher would NEVER EVER delay a game's
:>release in Japan to release it simultaneously in the US or anywhere else.
:>Something is up, either they want to build up the hype or the game really
:>isn't anywhere near done.
:>
: IIRC Warlords Battlecry didn't get to Oz until a few weeks after its
: release in the US. Fallout Tactics too, considering it was developed in
: Canberra.
Add to that Blade of Darkness. The Spanish version was delayed four
months for Codemasters to localize everything for a coordinated
world-wide release. IIRC, Codemasters wasn't even the publisher in
Spain and Latin America. Note that the amount of text and speech in
BOD is paltry compared to that in Arcanum.
--
hoy xatx hawaii xdotx education
Trash
the arcanum inn.
They say the game is finished, and that they were shocked as well.
However from a marketing point of view it seems to be a valid idea.
To me as a customer it sucks, I'm european and if I wanted to play this game
really badly I could've ordered it through the internet or bought it in one
of the many import gameshops around here.
I still hope the game will be great and I'm sure I'll buy it but right now
all I feel is...
Fuck you sierra!
chainbreaker
> isn't anywhere near done.
>
>
I can never forget that this is the same company that released Outpost (and
Phantasmagoria). Yeah, yeah, I know management isn't quite the same. I'll
grant 'em Half-life, but what's that--one out of how many? And I'm not
talking about "decent" games, I'm talking about games that deserved their
pre-release hype and weren't buggy and/or emasculated as hell.
Jerry Morelock
Mr. Teatime
> Hello everyone at the Arcanum Inn! My name is Adam Kahn and I've been
> handling the public relations efforts for Arcanum here at Sierra for the
> last year or so. Many of the regular posters here know me, but for those
who
> don't, I've been following the community on the board with some interest
> since I started on the project.
> This is why I wanted to come here and personally let you all know about
the
> fact that Arcanum's date of release has changed from May until September.
> It's important to me that you know that this decision was made here at
> Sierra, and has nothing to do with the progress Arcanum has made. The game
> will be done on time, and were it not for our business need to ship the
game
> worldwide on the same date, we would be able to share the final product
with
> those of you in the U.S. within a month or so.
ah fuck off you slimy PR fuckwit. either be straight with us or stop
spouting bs
jon
Acid Queen
says...
Is QA a possibility? I haven't been following this particular game, but
what video card was it designed to use - did it have to switch cards in
the middle of development?
As far as marketing goes, you're right - it makes no sense at all. If
there were issues with it, it would've been smarter to say so. People
will wait for problems to be fixed - they won't hold still for this
nonsense. Besides, European companies release games there first -
Rowan's Battle of Britain, 1602, Longest Journey, Silver etc spring
immediately to mind.
AQ
Devo
>Sierra has no reason to lie about the game being unfinished. In fact
>saying that there was still development to do would be more fan friendly
>as most fans are content to wait as programming goes on, but to wait just
>because Sierra feels like making us wait is ludicrous, and I wont be
>buying Arcanum at this point. I'll warez it.
>
Ditto.
--------------
Devo
Devo
<fer...@earthlink.net> wrote:
Why would they lie about the game not being done? It would be better
if they delayed it because it wasn't finished than this world-wide
release bullshit. Yeah I smell bullshit alright.
--------------
Devo
Devo
Haha. You sound suprised! Let me tell you something, no game
publisher cares about it's customers! It is the way of the corporate
world, it's all money we all know that. We and the game developers
must take it up the ass.
--------------
Devo
Gerry Quinn
>Sierra has no reason to lie about the game being unfinished. In fact
>saying that there was still development to do would be more fan friendly
>as most fans are content to wait as programming goes on, but to wait just
>because Sierra feels like making us wait is ludicrous, and I wont be
>buying Arcanum at this point. I'll warez it.
>
They have every right to choose the date on which they release their
game.
Do you steal from shops if they don't open early to suit you?
- Gerry Quinn
Qenan
>arcanum is delayed again. we have to wait until september !!!
>
...<snip>...
>Here's the official statement:
>Yesterday morning the Arcanum team here at Sierra made a decision to delay
>the release of the game in the US until early September. The decision had
>nothing to do with the progress Arcanum has made - it will be complete
>within the next few weeks and we couldn't be happier with the final product.
>However, the need to ship Arcanum simultaneously across all worldwide
>territories necessitated the delay here in the US. Worldwide launches are
>important to the overall success of a title, and a game as in-depth,
>detailed and comprehensive as Arcanum will take more time to localize than
>some of our previous titles.
No problem. But if I can wait until September to buy it, I can wait a
year and buy it off the bargain shelf.
Now would be a good time to release, because there isn't much out. By
next September, there will likely be more competition, and Arcanum may
languish. It wasn't at the top of my list or anything... But, their
call. I can certainly live without it.
Mr. Teatime
> what video card was it designed to use - did it have to switch cards in
> the middle of development?
maybe it was very buggy and Sierra have seen what a bad response really
buggy games get in terms of returns. For example, the fallout series, while
'finished' when released took a good few months afterwards to fix each game
with patches.
jon
Acid Queen
says...
That's definitely the way I feel about it. Having thought about this,
the only conclusion I can come to is - the French company that owns
Sierra has intervened. Only the French are stupid enough to jeopardize
their earnings in order to put it out in France first.
Not to mention not being able to get shelf space in American stores when
there will be an abundance of tried and tested games vying for it...
AQ
Gandelon
> Assuming what they say is true, the same thing could not have happen in
Japan
> because the only country that speaks Japanese is, well Japan while a great
> many countries has English has their official language OR has a vast
> population that speaks/understand English. This means that gray market
dealers
> could not sell a Japanese release as lucratively as they would a English
> release.
A VERY interesting point you have there. You're implying that Sierra is
going for a world-wide release so that pirated copies aren't available
outside the U.S. before the legal game is. Since I'm rather doubtful that a
company is going to admit to it's U.S. customers that they have to wait to
keep piracy rates down outside the U.S, this does make a certain amount of
sense.
OTOH, software has a tendency to be "99% complete" for the last half of its
development cycle, so I would take any assertion that the software is almost
ready with a grain of salt, too.
Acid Queen
says...
> arcanum is delayed again. we have to wait until september !!!
> The need for us to ship a game at the same time worldwide is based on
> several factors, but the primary reason is the growing proliferation of the
> international gray market. When a game ships in the US first (rather than
> simultaneously across the world), foreign retailers will often buy the
> non-localized, US versions of our games (instead of waiting for the
> international versions) and sell them to their international customers. At
> first glance, this doesn't seem like a big deal, since it's not truly
> "piracy" of our products - those customers do, in fact, pay for our game.
Here is what doesn't make sense. Sierra is the distributor and can
control this absolutely - it can stop any wholesale to overseas
retailers.
It looks as though the pressure is coming from overseas retailers. One
has to assume that market must be more lucrative for them than the
American one - possible when you consider companies have to buy shelf
space here.
AQ
James Garvin
> what the hell...didn´t you read their statement at all ? it´s *not* delayed
> because it will not be completed until may. read it again :
>
> [...]
> it will be complete within the next few weeks and we couldn't be happier
> with the final product. However, the need to ship Arcanum simultaneously
> across all worldwide territories necessitated the delay here in the US
> [...]
Hence it is not complete. They still have to finish translating. Good for
them. I'd rather see the game late and finished for everyone then see Sierra
screw up a good game (yet again)
--
James Garvin
bo...@nmt.edu
James Garvin
> >(why can't everyone just use bablefish?)
>
> Ummmm.....you don't know languages other than English, right?
Ummmm....It was a joke.
--
James Garvin
bo...@nmt.edu
Peacedog1
>A VERY interesting point you have there. You're implying that Sierra is
>going for a world-wide release so that pirated copies aren't available
>outside the U.S. before the legal game is. Since I'm rather doubtful that a
>company is going to admit to it's U.S. customers that they have to wait to
>keep piracy rates down outside the U.S, this does make a certain amount of
>sense.
This was actually mentioned in the press release.
Peacedog1
>Why would they lie about the game not being done? It would be better
>if they delayed it because it wasn't finished than this world-wide
>release bullshit. Yeah I smell bullshit alright.
>
>
Beta previews have all been positive, with only minor complaints (from what
I've seen). So it looks like the game is actually done.
Jarno Kaarinen
>Bah. It's all bullshit. It's simply publishers and distributors
>looking out for their money. This is why there are regional codes for
>DVDs. Damn if you don't want the localized version. What if I'm an
>native English speaker who lives in France and is more comfortable
>with English?
Complain to French authorities who require that n% of radio music is
French, games are translated to French etc. Let's not blame Sierra if
they localize games.
I always buy English versions of games, of course.