ORIGINAL: byron13
ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins
Look, I posted just a couple of weeks ago saying we were probably looking at a July release based on the timeline of the printed manuals. For the last two months there has been constant AAR activity from the test team here as well as about a quarter of the manual being posted as a free preview. This to you constitutes "zero to no buzz"? Wow.
I also gave a very narrow ballpark for the price (less than WITP but not by much). I also said that delays at this point would be weeks or days, not months.
When we're prepared to post a release date and final pricing, we will. All I will say now is that a July release is the date we are aiming for and we are currently working with the AE team on a release candidate. The manuals are on the boat and depending on when they arrive in our warehouses (which we'll know more about as time goes on) will allow us to know when the release date will be exactly (yes, we don't know for certain yet either).
The only way that we would miss July is if Customs decided for some reason to sit on the manuals for a few weeks. Nothing in the actual game development/release candidate/gold master process looks like it is going to need more time than that.
Oh and for the record, there are no "corporate types" at Matrix, at least in the way people usually intend that particular phrase to be taken as something other than a compliment. We are all wargamers and heavily engaged in the games we publish.
Regards,
- Erik
<grins at Erik's apparent naivete>
Erik, Erik. You've got it all wrong. Give us more credit. We're just . . . . negotiating. Kinda like the Iranians and the North Koreans. We whine enough and you give us something. Now, I shouldn't be giving our secrets away, but here's how it works:
Tomorrow someone designated by the collective will start a thread questioning whether the game really exists. Others that understand the process jump in with similar concerns and rumors of rumors (for the Commonwealth folk: rumours of rumours). Then somebody says, "If we could see the rest of the manual posted, THEN I would believe it isn't vaporware!" And to shut everyone up, Erik posts the rest of the manual. Simple.
Now it doesn't have to work this way. We can do the whole pointless build-up as called for in the script, or we can just cut to the chase and you can post the entire manual. But, of course, you can't give us
everything we've asked for, so you'll agree to meet us halfway and post another, say, quarter of the manual. And with the July 4th weekend coming up (that is a worldwide holiday, isn't it?) you'll be a hero posting it beforehand so we'll have an excuse to not go to the in-laws' bbq.
It's inevitable. Don't fight it. Just post it. And don't take us too seriously.
And for the English: you can have us back if you'll agree to take on our national debt. I'm ready to be a member of the Commonwealth; it sounds so . . . friendly. Being the Great Satan is getting old. But only if we can keep football. Real football. You know: American football. And you agree to call the other game soccer.
