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Old December 3, 2002, 23:50   #1
Lee Johnson
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December 3 update from Constantine H. on IG MOO3 board
Only recently posted to the official forum:

http://www.ina-community.com/forums/...hreadid=239733

Quote:
Chantz Update 12/3
Hi Folks,

Just a quick update;

Still chugging through our regression testing; no comment on dates.

I have decided to let some of the beta testers post thier impressions of the game in a seperate thread; please do not ask them questions because they *will* not answer, just sit back, enjoy and absorb what they have to say. This is from their own mouths, unedited by me or any other precieved forces of evil. Cool?

You may recognize a few (well respected) names; our beta program consists of over 55 testers; 16 internal, 25 external via contest and the remainder hand picked by me and the QSI team. So please, don't get your chakoonies in an uproar if you see a MOD or brain trust member or someone you've know via the boards for 2 years post.

Thanks in advance. We're working hard to get this puppy wrapped up ASAP.

Best,
Constantine
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Old December 4, 2002, 00:26   #2
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great news...if the testers are giving out info now, then gold is not far away...this week I bet...
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Old December 4, 2002, 01:15   #3
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I'm actually thinking the opposite. That it isn't very close. Especially withthe "Few Weeks" comment Chantz made. Which is about the only thing we'll get even close to a tentative release date comment since the last uproar over delays. And even that no doubt a bit of a slip on his part.

To me it seems like this Beta Tester's can talk thing, and that we're gonna space them out over the next few weeks indicates we're looking at a little ways off yet. AKA, 3 weeks minimum. And they are using it as a way to placate the fans.

I'm actually thinking of staying away fro mthe the Apolyton and IG forums for a couple weeks. I've gotten too tied up into wanting this game out when it ruins what has been an otherwise great day to get this announcement and find myself refreshing the damned thing at work every couple minutes just to see if there is a gone Gold announcement on the Forums yet. Once a day to the QS Website to see if it is announced Gold. and once so. Then maybe I'll come back on. Something to sleep on at least. But I r3eally am obsessing over the game too much,
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Old December 4, 2002, 01:29   #4
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Yep, sounds like we'll see it in January. They're going to try and pull a Diablo I bet. Glad I cancelled my pre-order. I'll probably pick it up when it has been out for a while and is on sale.
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Old December 4, 2002, 05:44   #5
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I think its gonna make christmas it has to anyway to take advantage of sales.
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Old December 4, 2002, 15:23   #6
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a few days before Christmas is not enough anyway for stimulating sales. Perhaps Feb 2003 ( one of my latest predicted release ) is not so unlogical after all, for a more polished game. IG, generally very strict about release deadlines, seems to be quite open-minded about MoO3's marketing. Unusual, like some have said recently, but promising in my mind: a great game is coming.
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Old December 4, 2002, 16:44   #7
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My local games shop told me today, that the release had been postponed to january. But he didn't specify whether me meant the European release, or just the release. (And my son was kinda cryin' real heavy, so I didn't have the energy to pursue the matter further)

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Old December 4, 2002, 22:54   #8
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Chantz is very irritating, what he means by "no comment on dates". Does it mean that bugs are so serious and so many of them, they have no idea when they will be able to fix them? Or he is just another irresponsible person who doesnt care about it? They cant polish a game during years, it gets old, more bugs appear due to new hardware/software etc. How many excuses he is going to come up with ? I bet there is another reason for all these delays, more real.
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Old December 4, 2002, 23:38   #9
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No, I think the "no comment" routine on dates is there because he swore after the last flap that there would be no more announcements of dates on the official forums.
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Old December 5, 2002, 02:56   #10
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I don´t hope, they´ll postpone the release for a month or more just because of bugs in the Mutliplayer-Mode.
I think most of the fans (as myself) will be happy if they are able to just play the game in Single Player Mode.

So if it´s just MP, they should release the game with deactivated MP-Mode which placates most of the MOO-Fans all over the world and buys Quicksilver the time to do their bughunting on the MP-Mode.
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Old December 5, 2002, 14:15   #11
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As i said somewhere else, i agree totally, and have no interest in MP, but its likely that with all the effort QS put into the MP aspect of the game, they wanna get it right from the start. I would love them to release the game and just patch the MP, but it aint gonna happen. QS and IG, please prove me wrong
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Old December 5, 2002, 14:38   #12
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Not sure what it is worth, but Avault had a mention of Moo3 being in store 12/17 today.
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Old December 5, 2002, 16:26   #13
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Quote:
Originally posted by Gargantua
Chantz is very irritating, what he means by "no comment on dates". Does it mean that bugs are so serious and so many of them, they have no idea when they will be able to fix them? Or he is just another irresponsible person who doesnt care about it? They cant polish a game during years, it gets old, more bugs appear due to new hardware/software etc. How many excuses he is going to come up with ? I bet there is another reason for all these delays, more real.
Did you read any of his posts AT ALL?

I know that you *must* know how complex and deep this game is...do you think that every time the testers get a build it takes only a few hours to find bugs?

Did you read *any* of his statements about how much Infogrames and Quicksilver care about this game and how they don't want people to get to turn 225 and have it crash without a save?

I'm just wondering when all this juvenile whining about grand conspiracies is going to end.

Jeez people, it's JUST A GAME. A GAME!!
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Old December 5, 2002, 17:11   #14
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Quote:
Originally posted by timorange
I'm just wondering when all this juvenile whining about grand conspiracies is going to end.

Jeez people, it's JUST A GAME. A GAME!!
Exactly what one would expect a conspirator to say

You're obviously in on it.

Remember, just because your paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you...
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Old December 9, 2002, 10:14   #15
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The game DOES have nice autosave features -- the default setting is every turn, but it also only keeps the most recent 5; you can change these settings as well.

That wouldn't have done much good if those autosaved games couldn't be reloaded, though, eh?

The people who are clamoring to just get the SP game out now, and patch MP later -- I see your point, and it's a valid one. But you have to realize that there'll be a lot of fallout if that happens -- anyone who releases a game with advertised features not working up to snuff has felt the heat, I'm sure. Whether or not that would be MORE fallout, I can't say, but I'm guessing IG feels that it would be more, and that's why they're taking the time to get it right first.

I'd guess a majority of MOO3 customers want it *mostly* or even *entirely* for the SP experience, unlike Starcraft or Diablo 2 for example, so I'd probably go the other way; but you have to admit that they're in a "darned" if they do and "darned" if they don't sort of situation.
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Old December 9, 2002, 11:32   #16
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Oh yeah if they chopped out MP because it was unworkable they'd get the same flak as Firaxis got with Civ III. If they left it in but it didn't work they'd get the same flak as Firaxis got with Civ III: PtW

"Done when its done" is a frustrating thing to hear, especially after hearing a couple of planned dates, but its better than "broke when you buy it".

Personally I've just lost a week of my life playing Hearts of Iron. The game needs a number of AI improvements and minor bug crunches but despite that that I'm having an awesome time. I think I may just stick to fighting WW II until a nice surprise package containing MoO3 or SimCity4 drops through the letterbox sometime next year. Reading rants about the delays just makes the time go slower
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Old December 9, 2002, 13:17   #17
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Delays
I have to agree that SP would be nice to have out, but my heart is really looking forward to a new MP game. I fully support delaying the release until all major bugs are squashed!
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Old December 9, 2002, 13:48   #18
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Re: Delays
Quote:
Originally posted by yoda
I have to agree that SP would be nice to have out, but my heart is really looking forward to a new MP game. I fully support delaying the release until all major bugs are squashed!
I suppose I agree as well, but I stongly feel we should be updated very frequently on the status. I've noticed a lot of us fans are students, and that means that putting off updates puts a lot of us in turmoil going into finals. Though my books are open and right next to me, I CANNOT get away from the forums, because I am weak and I've followed this game for too long, and its so close, and problems keep arising, and QS keeps playing with our minds, and I don't know what I'm going to do!

now, leaning over the edge,
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Old December 9, 2002, 13:55   #19
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Quote:
Originally posted by timorange


Did you read any of his posts AT ALL?

I know that you *must* know how complex and deep this game is...do you think that every time the testers get a build it takes only a few hours to find bugs?

Did you read *any* of his statements about how much Infogrames and Quicksilver care about this game and how they don't want people to get to turn 225 and have it crash without a save?

I'm just wondering when all this juvenile whining about grand conspiracies is going to end.

Jeez people, it's JUST A GAME. A GAME!!
No need to scream, I hear very well, and yes I read all those ridiculous threads. I dont think it takes only a few hours to find bugs. But I do think that serious people would at least have estimate on when they will finish. Sure, it can be delayed for a week, two, a month, two months, but a year??? What kind of people are working there? Did they just start learing programing? If they couldnt give approximate dates, there was NO need to post those idiotic announcemnts about release dates. No, they set one date, then another, then one more, and so on. Is this serious? Cant make games, do not produce them. Nobody wants a game with bugs, but in this case it seems they are just not able to fix them or better to say, not able to produce quality product, they feel it and thats the reason of all delays. Hire more beta testers, hire better programers, etc etc. I personaly dont care when moo3 will be released, I dont say hey release now, i want it now with bugs, I just want some definite statements, not idiotic promises based on nothing.
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Old December 9, 2002, 14:00   #20
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Yes, PRECISELY!!!
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Old December 9, 2002, 17:27   #21
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Quote:
Originally posted by Gargantua


No need to scream, I hear very well, and yes I read all those ridiculous threads. I dont think it takes only a few hours to find bugs. But I do think that serious people would at least have estimate on when they will finish. Sure, it can be delayed for a week, two, a month, two months, but a year??? What kind of people are working there? Did they just start learing programing? If they couldnt give approximate dates, there was NO need to post those idiotic announcemnts about release dates. No, they set one date, then another, then one more, and so on. Is this serious? Cant make games, do not produce them. Nobody wants a game with bugs, but in this case it seems they are just not able to fix them or better to say, not able to produce quality product, they feel it and thats the reason of all delays. Hire more beta testers, hire better programers, etc etc. I personaly dont care when moo3 will be released, I dont say hey release now, i want it now with bugs, I just want some definite statements, not idiotic promises based on nothing.
If you're b#*ching about announcements, you should probably complain to IG. If it's decisions on release dates, again--you should probably complain to IG. QS has almost NOTHING to do with those things and accusing the programmers of doing their jobs poorly because IG makes decisions you don't like is well, misguided to say the least.

Did you stop to think that maybe they've fixed all the bugs but testing this game is a very long and arduous process and it'll take a long time to make sure that no new bugs were introduced?

Do you know what the exact testing process IS for this game?

In fact, do you know at all how games are made and how much money it takes to make something like MOO3?

That's right, yes, just hire more people! Maybe they'll work for free so that you can get your game faster! Maybe IG can just pull some money off the money trees they're growing and hire 100 new testers! How about 80 new programmers? Hey yeah, that's it!

By the way you're spouting off, it seems you know very little about how the game industry works, both at the publishing level and the development level...and it seems you also don't realize why this game has been delayed for as long as it has.

If you don't like the announcements or the decisions being made about the release of the game, don't read the announcements or complain to the people who make them. Wait to make your judgements on the programming once you've played the game.
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Old December 9, 2002, 17:49   #22
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Quote:
Originally posted by timorange


If you're b#*ching about announcements, you should probably complain to IG. If it's decisions on release dates, again--you should probably complain to IG. QS has almost NOTHING to do with those things and accusing the programmers of doing their jobs poorly because IG makes decisions you don't like is well, misguided to say the least.

Did you stop to think that maybe they've fixed all the bugs but testing this game is a very long and arduous process and it'll take a long time to make sure that no new bugs were introduced?

Do you know what the exact testing process IS for this game?

In fact, do you know at all how games are made and how much money it takes to make something like MOO3?

That's right, yes, just hire more people! Maybe they'll work for free so that you can get your game faster! Maybe IG can just pull some money off the money trees they're growing and hire 100 new testers! How about 80 new programmers? Hey yeah, that's it!

By the way you're spouting off, it seems you know very little about how the game industry works, both at the publishing level and the development level...and it seems you also don't realize why this game has been delayed for as long as it has.

If you don't like the announcements or the decisions being made about the release of the game, don't read the announcements or complain to the people who make them. Wait to make your judgements on the programming once you've played the game.
First of all, no need for offensive language, I am not *****ing, as you intelligently expressed yourself, I am trying to explain my point. But if flame is all you need, then I am out of discussion. BTW,Yes, I have been a beta tester myself, so I have some ideas how it works.
I though shall agree with the last point, we shall wait untill the final release. Something tells me its gonna be buggy as hell, but again, we'll see
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Old December 9, 2002, 20:10   #23
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Getting more testers at least would NOT be a problem for Quicksilver. There are at least 100-200 (more probably) MOOniacs over there who would give their right arm to be in the Beta testing program (myself included). We should be so lucky...


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Old December 9, 2002, 22:25   #24
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Quote:
Getting more testers at least would NOT be a problem for Quicksilver. There are at least 100-200 (more probably) MOOniacs over there
finding people is not the issue. managing the process(legal stuff, mail cds, gather input) is


they could try the smac model though: release a demo, gather bug info, release final fixed version two months later.
but then again, they are closer than 2 months from geting where they want to get...
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Old December 10, 2002, 02:07   #25
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I have it from an anonymous source that the hold up is financial. IG is late on a payment to QS and QS says no check, no disk.

Litigation. Liquidation. Bankruptcy. Vaporware.

Welcome to the Bush economy.
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Old December 10, 2002, 11:48   #26
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I really hope this financial rumor is not true!?

I can picture the article now...
-IG is pissed @ QS for numerous missed dates.
-when QS missed last date IG hold back a payment to try and inspire QS.
-Recall that the 2nd CD and boxes have been bought and paid for by IG in advance (and let me tell you, no company likes to have capital sunk into materials only to sit on a shelf - most companies live off their liquid capital)
-QS responds by withholding what may finally be a finished product.-
-And Voila! We have a pissing match!

I really hope this is not true.

It may explain the rumor that Rantz was to go on vacation over the Xmas season. QS wants to sweat IG a little so QS strategically floats that one of the lead designers is going away - damn the torpedoes, IG will just have to sit on their capital investment of CDs, boxes and books just a little while longer.
For the life of me i could not previously fathom why Rantz would say he was going on vacation when the game was not released yet. As a lead designer he has some serious accountability and a serious incentive bonus tied to the release of the game - worth far more than a handfull of days in the sun.

Oh well... this is just conjecture at this point.

B.t.w. Just how reliable (on a scale of 1-10) is this source?

IMHO
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Old December 10, 2002, 12:13   #27
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Shnozwangler, you are the unfortunate victim of yet noather troll by jimmytrick

jimmy, the next similar post of yours will mean free christmas vacations to mingapulco
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Old December 10, 2002, 12:50   #28
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Hmmmm....! thanks for the heads up on jimmytrick... Ill be sure to check then name b4 i put too much into a reply next time.

Rgds.
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Old December 10, 2002, 13:25   #29
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Still not gold yet. Well, I'm out of my frenzied state after a good night's sleep. I want to go on to say that we should all respect the fact that the MOO3 team, from actual QS empolyees to the moderators and testers, have been so generous with information over the course of its production (and in actually attempting to make something so great).

And you know, whether this game is good or not, balanced or unbalanced, functioning or disfunctional, we may all have to agree that they have been shooting for something revolutionary. Hopefully thats what three years of dedication produces, a game with new ideas and playing concepts, and maybe even some radical new code and technology.


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Old December 10, 2002, 13:34   #30
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Quote:
Originally posted by MarkG
Shnozwangler, you are the unfortunate victim of yet noather troll by jimmytrick

jimmy, the next similar post of yours will mean free christmas vacations to mingapulco
Honestly, I think he should be banned for this kind of thing. It is not like it is the first time he does it, is it.

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