Change in Release Date

Wittlich · October 14, 2003, 08:22

I just received this email from GameStop.com:

Quote:

Dear Customer,

You have signed up to receive release date changes for:

Civilization III: Conquests with Bonus CD!

http://www.gamestop.com/product.asp?...645419&affid=1

Old Release Date - 10/28/2003
New Release Date - 11/4/2003

Thank you for visiting GameStop.com!
The World's Largest Selection of Gaming Products!

NOTE: The product release date is the best estimate as to when the product will become available. These dates are subject to change at anytime. GameStop.com is in constant communication with product vendors to provide
you with the most accurate release dates possible.

So as of right now, it looks like Conquests will be released a week later ... which I guess isn't really that bad.

Stuie · October 14, 2003, 08:35

EB is showing an 11/4 ship date now, too.

Saint Marcus · October 14, 2003, 09:10

Amazon still says October 28/29/30 (.com/.de/.co.uk)

Wittlich · October 14, 2003, 09:12

Amazon will most likely update their site(s) in the next few days.

CerberusIV · October 14, 2003, 09:37

Gameplay.co.uk are listing 31 October.

Could it be that the European release will be out first!

Mazarin · October 14, 2003, 10:00

amazon.de now says 27 Nov.

statusperfect · October 14, 2003, 10:14

Quote:

Originally posted by CerberusIV
Gameplay.co.uk are listing 31 October.

Could it be that the European release will be out first!

That would be SOOOO l33t!!!

OPD · October 14, 2003, 10:46

Quote:

Originally posted by CerberusIV
Gameplay.co.uk are listing 31 October.

Could it be that the European release will be out first!

Gameplay also list Half life 2 to be released in november

Whats the deal with this where is the PR statement

Saint Marcus · October 14, 2003, 11:11

some official statement from Atari would be nice, since the online retailers don't seem to know it either.

Stuie · October 14, 2003, 11:34

How about this:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showth...95#post1291195

12th post down is from Jeff at Atari.

vmxa1 · October 14, 2003, 12:23

I paid for it yesterday at Gamestop and was told 11/5/03.
BTW I got the free Cd right then, so they have them on hand.

asleepathewheel · October 14, 2003, 13:55

Gramphos · October 14, 2003, 14:33

They said that US probably would be a Tuesday and Eu a Friday.
It could Be EU Friday before US Tuesday (but probably not...)

asleepathewheel · October 14, 2003, 14:53

Well, hopefully the extra week got rid of a few bugs.

Here's to hoping for a more polished product than its predecessor.

vmxa1 · October 14, 2003, 14:57

Jeff made it sound like they are not so close as to do a "gone gold" this week. He seems to be saying that they have the things lined up to get it from gold to store in a very short time. It usually takes two or more weeks.

Gramphos · October 14, 2003, 15:09

Some extra buggtracking never hurts. I guess we never will se some bugs, but they will add others for aus

You remove two bugs (or some other number) and add one (or any other number here as well

) new. That's how debugging works.

vmxa1 · October 14, 2003, 16:12

I am not against them doing what they think is best, only saying that we have not had a gone gold announcement, so any talk of getting C3C in days makes no sense.

realpolitic · October 14, 2003, 18:06

Making a game like Civ is not an easy task, I'm glad most of the posts here encourage patience.

G'Kar · October 14, 2003, 18:29

I'm glad to hear of the 11/4 release date; that gives me more time to actually do some work.

Randolph · October 14, 2003, 22:37

I can even remember the last time a game product was actually released on the first proposed date. A one week delay seems like just about the bare minimum.

Stuie · October 15, 2003, 07:43

Civ3 came out "on time", and then we had to wait until the following April (or was it May...) for the game to be playable. I remember playing it for about two weeks when it came out and finally thinking "is that it", and putting it away. Then I came back when 1.17f was released and discovered there was actually a game there.

So I hope they take their time and get it right on the first pass this time.

Then again, if C3C is broken (which I highly doubt) I can always uninstall it and keep playing PTW 1.27f until C3C gets patched.

Gramphos · October 15, 2003, 09:01

You probably won't have to uninstal it to play ptw as it will most likely be a new exe to play conquests.

Gunter · October 15, 2003, 11:15

Quote:

Originally posted by Stuie
Civ3 came out "on time", and then we had to wait until the following April (or was it May...) for the game to be playable. I remember playing it for about two weeks when it came out and finally thinking "is that it", and putting it away. Then I came back when 1.17f was released and discovered there was actually a game there.

Same here,in addittion I added some graphic / units mods.

Nowdays a game such a strategy one never is really good on first 6 months of life or it needs at least 3/4 patches.

Gunter

Jeff_ATARI · October 16, 2003, 17:04

Quote:

Originally posted by vmxa1
Jeff made it sound like they are not so close as to do a "gone gold" this week. He seems to be saying that they have the things lined up to get it from gold to store in a very short time. It usually takes two or more weeks.

Hi gang,

No official news on release date yet, either in the U.S. or the Rest of World, except to say that we have not gone gold yet. Let's just say that we've saved everyone the trouble of some patches.

Let me also say that from the beginning of this project we were determined to avoid the get-it-out-now situation that occurred with Play the World. And every time we receive a new candidate it resets the clock on our final Quality Assurance team's checklist before we can certify the release.

From a marketing perspective, that's made my job harder -- you may not see us advertised in circulars or in premium placements in the stores so that people know we've shipped, because those have to be bought from the retailers well in advance -- and we're fighting to keep on shelves at some retailers (someone mentioned that we have to rent space in stores -- that's not quite true but there's definitely a lot of horse-trading involved). In the end, you will see a solid release that we at Atari, Firaxis, and Breakaway are all very proud of.

Best,
Jeff Foley
Atari

statusperfect · October 16, 2003, 17:46

Thanks for the info

Spiffor · October 16, 2003, 18:20

Congrats to Firaxis and Infogrames for pushing back the release date

At last, there seems to be a commitment to favor quality over schedule. I hope you guys will restore Civ's reputation with Conquests

vmxa1 · October 16, 2003, 18:30

Jeff, just to be sure that there is no confusion, I have no problem with a delay. I am only pointing out to people, that any talk of a date needs to consider that you need a gold version first. Then you need some time to get it on the shelves. How much time is a question of ho one does business, but most will take at least two weeks, not all though.
I have already paid in full, so I am good to go.

asleepathewheel · October 16, 2003, 20:00

Gunter · October 17, 2003, 05:16

I believe every forumers is happy to listen that the release date is slipped a bit in order to have a stronger product,anyway please be ready to release a comprehensive patch more or less after 1 month and another one after 2 month after the release because for sure some bugs / anomalie will surface and if you are subito ready to listen to expert forumers ( not me

) in order to subito produce 2 patches the game will be the game of year for sure.

Let us know about your disposal to do so

Thanks

Gunter

kermit_the_frog · October 17, 2003, 10:48

they say 2003-10-31 at the site i check release dates

but i bet that will change