Well, it's April

[Jason Petho]

Yes, it's April. The noted deadline of February - March has passed, but I can assure everyone we have the finish line in sight! Barring any Vista disasters we are nearly good to go.

Just a little bit longer, we're almost there!!

Take care and good luck
Jason Petho

[junk2drive]

Thanks for the update.
 
If my friend buys the Matrix editions and I have the originals, will we be able to PBEM?

[british exil]

Not meaning to be rude or anything similar. But we were "promised" a deadline for Christmas 2006. Why is the deadline being postponed so often? If I had a good answer I could be patient- I think!
I know that you mentioned that the work gets done in the little free time you guys have.
But it would be nice to have a real deadline for a change.

[Temple]

ORIGINAL: british exil

Not meaning to be rude or anything similar. But we were "promised" a deadline for Christmas 2006. Why is the deadline being postponed so often? If I had a good answer I could be patient- I think!
I know that you mentioned that the work gets done in the little free time you guys have.
But it would be nice to have a real deadline for a change.

I don't believe there was ever a promised deadline, in quotes or not. It's unrealistic to insist on deadlines with so many involved in the project donating their time. And unlike the major gaming retail releases, staying away from deadlines means less of a chance of the game going out the door with major bugs due to a need to meet some arbitrary date. Be patient, there's really no point in angsting about it [:)]

[british exil]

Sighhhhh.
I know thats what my problem is about.
I keep thinking the more I moan about things the faster I'll have the game.
Then I'd complain that they were too fast and didn't get rid of the bugs.

I know your right with your statement.

[bubbak]

The thing that i worry about is this Vista thing just wait until they get close then we will find out that Vista needs a patch, then we'll have to wait until the patch so they can fix what now needs to be fixed with the Vista patch, I would have waited until at least a year to see if this Vista thing works or needs to be fixed then I would have put out a patch for the program to run on Vista, or I would have had the patch for Vista already and if everything worked I would have released it. I know you had to have this Vista thing and now things you have don't always work so you need a patch so what's one more patch to have to wait for.

[jchastain]

The LAST thing I want to see us do is criticize them for providing information and status.  I appreciate their guesses.  And I know they will not always meet their self imposed targets.  I doubt many of the stable of matrix developers makes a living solely through their production of games.  Most do this because they love it.  That's one of the things I enjoy about the games - they are generally labors of love made by actual gamers.  And, as with any sideline profession (and even primary professions from time to time), sometimes "real life" gets in the way.  Sometimes when a real gamer is producing a labor of love, he goes the extra mile because something "isn't quite right".  All of that is OK in my mind. 
 
Where I have a problem (with any company - this is not a Matrix thing) is where deadlines pass and no one says anything.  Or where a project is announced but then just sits on the shelf and is ignored for months or years without anyone really being told.  I don't expect project managers to be perfect guessers or planners; things do happen, but I do expect them to follow up on expectations they have set and let us know when things have changed.  If you don't want to do that then don't announce the project.  If you announce the project, then expect to answer simple questions about it and keep us updated as things change.  That's pretty simple in my mind.
 
So thank for the update Jason.  I appreciate you giving us information on how things have changed, where you think they might land, and exactly what you're working on to try and finish things up.  In my mind, that's exactly what I would hope to hear from a company that is managing expectations properly.  That's about as detailed a status as any company can provide and I appreciate this level of transparency in the process.
 
And as to your point bubbak, I think they are progressing in a very reasonable manner.  First you get something working on a reference platform, then you confirm it works on the other platforms.  It sounds as if they have tried it on Vista enough to know there aren't any huge glaring problems as they wrapped up their functional modifications and now they are being thorough and trying all the smaller stuff just to be sure.  In any testing it is always possible you'll find problems that needs to be addressed - that's why you test.  And realistically, I suspect they do have a list of little things they are continuing to work as they wrap up their testing.  But overall it sounds to me as if they are doing exactly what I would want and expect.

[FlipTrac_511]

Well said jchastain.  I for one, would rather have a postponed release than a premature one.  I also consider it a luxury that updates are being provided at all, so thanks Jason and keep up the good work.  Besides, I'm still saving up for the reworked TOAW III.

[asiaticus]

Well you can blame it all on me. I was going thru that monster trying to edit out errors and glitches especially for the addons for the early period 1935-39 units in WF, adding in new country slots, and rail units for all three games and adding in Japanese and Chinese forces for the 1931-41 period. Last thing was getting in pack animals that move like infantry and cavalry instead of wagons for all three games. Its been bugging me for a while and I got a solution at the last minute. Beleive me the Chindits and Merrils Marauders will be happy to have them in Burma. :^)

It is going into the hands of the rest of the team. Testing on Vista needs to be done. Then I think its going to be ready to come out.

You will be able to fight just about any battle between the Mukden Incident and Operation Coronet in the Second Sino Japanese War, Chinese Civil War, Invasion of Ethiopia, Spanish Civil War and World War Two. I dont think you will be disappointed.

I am now going to see about up dating scenarios to be compatable with it.

[Temple]

Definitely a Day One purchase for me now (as if it wasn't before [;)])

[mikul82]

This has been a day one purchase for me since I heard about it...  I won't be playing anything else for weeks once this one is out, I've really missed these games (damn WinXP).

[bubbak]

jchastain, you have me wrong I'm not criticizing Matrix for getting this to work on Vista, as I said I would have waited until Vista proved itself, I'm just worried that just when they are ready to release this Vista is going to have a problem which will cause the dedicated people at Matrix to have to work harder then they should have to get this out, because now they may have to fix another problem before they can release it. I'd love to have this now even though my Talonsoft games work on my computer I think Matrix will give me a much better game then what I have. I would rather have a this done right or not at all. I hope the people at Matrix don't look back and say we should have waited to do the Vista thing it would have been easier (faster). You people at Matrix ROCK

[klhbekool]

I can't wait to see and buy the finished product, I have a campaign in North Africa calling me

[Sequoia]

So has the selling price benn announced anywhere?

[bubbak]

I read $134.00, that should get a response[:'(][:'(][:'(]

[philsublime]

Who uses Vista anyway...

[jchastain]

ORIGINAL: philsublime

Who uses Vista anyway...

Some 20 million people if the sales numbers are accurate...

Vista Sales Link

[Valgua]

ORIGINAL: jchastain

Some 20 million people if the sales numbers are accurate...

Vista Sales Link

The numbers are certainly accurate but I still do not understand the advantages of Vista: it requires more memory, it has a lot of stability issues with older programs and first off all it is a *new* microsoft program and we all know that it takes at least a year for MS to fix all the major bugs in their operative systems. It was like that for Windows 95, 98 and XP. Why is Vista so cool? Fancy graphics?? I can appreciate nice graphics in a game but in an OS I don't see the point. I'll stick to Win XP untill I'll be forced to buy Vista. Given the fact that Crisis is not the game I dream of (I've read that it has nothing to do with panzers...) I think I'll survive for a long time [;)].

Filippo

[vadersson]

Vista isn't so bad.  So far for me it runs very stable.  I actaully like it better than XP for stability.  As an added bonus at least one of my old games that did not work under XP started working again.

Hmm, that reminds me.  Matrix should look into getting the rights to redo Final Liberation and Chaos Gate.  Both are turn based and set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe.  Some of the best war games I have ever played.  Both of then could use an update.  At least Final Liberation is working again on Vista.

See ya,
Duncan

[lancerunolfsson]

Well I think all the new units and scenarios could be really cool. and only needing one disk to play all the games (Ihope). Anyway it will come when it will come.