Matrix Games Forums

ORIGINAL: Punisher

Check out this new video of HOS for the PC. Awesome!!

http://www.locknloadgame.com/forum1/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=822&whichpage=8

So I go to the above link and find this......

"The Administrator has turned off Registration for this forum. Only registered members are able to log in."

Is there another way in or has that forum become some secretive organization?

ORIGINAL: J P Falcon
Is there another way in or has that forum become some secretive organization?

Direct link to the video :

http://www.locknloadgame.com/hos/firefight.wmv

Greetz,

Eddy Sterckx

Two more vids of game play:

http://www.locknloadgame.com/hos/melee.wmv

http://www.locknloadgame.com/hos/armor.wmv

Looking impressive!
 
Is there anyway to slow things down a bit, in the game. My poor old,slow brain couldn't keep up.

That's gonna be a good game.  [:)]

The sounds are impressive for a hex game. I sort of feel disappointed that my view to the counters seems so far away as to not really see the Niko artwork all that well, troop counters look 5/8" x 5/8" or so.

oh my f-ing lordy lord!

this looks sooo f-ing awesome, i cant wait to get me hands on this. i mean...screw all those eye candy click fest games out there!

thx for posting the links...see thats all we need; some updates here and there...thats all.

laters,

himmelstoss

ORIGINAL: Hentzau

The sounds are impressive for a hex game. I sort of feel disappointed that my view to the counters seems so far away as to not really see the Niko artwork all that well, troop counters look 5/8" x 5/8" or so.

The sounds are actually stub sounds from SPWAW, they are in the process of beeing redone to some more modern sound quality [;)]

Don't worry about the counter size, they are big enough when you actually see it on your monitor. Remeber, these are compressed and downsized video captures.

Hi Marc,

Will we see a demo before the games release at Origins in June?

thanks!

Turning into a must buy!

Hee hee, I see people go from "I'm done" to "Must buy," which is evidence of the high production values in the vids. I do want to know, and I will probably be lynched here, there is going to be a (decent) AI player for those of us afraid of human interaction?

SoM

Any new Video's to hold us over untill the release in June?

Thanks!

It is unfortunate that Matrix and Lock 'n Load are bungling the PR of this project as badly as they are. Lock 'n Load locked out their forum once again to non-members and isn't allowing any new subscribers (another wonderful PR move!), so I cannot trace when this game was first announced and provide more quotes. However looking back at this particular thread, I found several worth mentioning.

1.) Back on 2/2/2006, markhwalker posted that "with luck [Heroes of Stalingrad] will be out this year, but I'm not promising a release date." (Note, that was two and a half years ago.)

2.) Back on 5/4/2006, markhwalker said "I doubt it will be out this summer." (Not that "it won't be", but "I doubt it will be".)

3.) Back on 7/6/2007, Marc von Martial said "In fact Mark, Tom and me did some work on HOS here at the Origins Convention and Mark is demoing the game to the press and attendends." And later that day, Marc von Martial responded to Punisher's inquiry about what date they would be giving for a release of the demo/game by saying "Can't give one, that would be up to the Mark with a "K". I would say he can tell more after Origins. One thing is for sure, it will take some more time since Mark came up with a pretty nice idea that will take more time to implement though. He also plans for more scenarios then formerly planned, which is a good thing."

4.) Back on 11/28/2007, Marc replied to an inquiry if the game would be released by Christmas by saying "No it is not going to be Christmas".

Seven months ago, Marc von Martial, took offense to this game being called "vaporware". I personally do not believe this game is vaporware; however I do think it is fair in retrospect to say that Matrix and Lock 'n Load have been somewhat disingenuous in their responses by, at times, explicitly vastly underestimating the release date of the game and by, at times, implicitly not saying the release is as far off as they must have recognized at the time. It is understandable for setbacks to occur, however Mark set expectations back in February of 2006 that the game might be released in 2006. I do not recall ever seeing a significant post suggesting the project had a major setback that would forestall it for another year or two. As such, over the last two years, expectations have been set and have continued to be set that the game could be released within a few months time.

The game looks fantastic and the people venting frustation, including myself, will likely purchase it nonetheless. However it creates a fair amount of unnecessary ill will to intentionally or unintentionally string your fanbase along rather than provide us with a reasonable expectation of when the game is likely to be released and then keep us informed of updates and/or setbacks. We appreciate the efforts you are making on this game - the concepts for the game and what we have seen of it look fantastic. We just request a realistic expectation of when this will be released and better feedback on the progress and setbacks along the way.

Thank you and best regards,
Bill

ORIGINAL: Marc von Martial

Okay, sorry if anybody got offended by the "Jesus" quote. It is not a swear word / phrase in my book but I understand that different folks have different opinions and fellings on that. So sorry again it was not intentional.

I think his remark may show what kind of responses we will get if and when this game would be released if we find bugs or problems that need to be resolved!

I'm sorry but I think you are pushing this a bit to the extreme. Again I'm sorry if I offended anybody. You all know, especially if you are long time forum members and customers that Matrix Games, and that includes everybody of this company, is a very helpfull and responsive company. I think our record for supporting games and especially supporting games over a long time is unmatched in this industry. So please don't get upset and twist our record by one single remark that upset you.

We talk open here, so please also grant us developers the right to talk open, we swallow down a lot of flak and uncalled responses also from the customer and client side, but we do not flip out about them in 99.99% of the cases.

However, in this particular case, Mark (the Walker one) and I have repeatably stated that we are working hard on the game and updates will come. People tend to quickly come up with the vaporware comment when they do not see new screenshots or updates every month. And I can tell you, there is nothing more insulting to a developer then this stupid "vaporware" comments when all he is doing is working hard on it.

Updates will come when we feel we have something new and nice to show apart from the already released screenshots.
If you feel that another pack of screenshots will put back your faith that this game is alive and kicking then I can certainly check if Mark wants to put out a new batch right now.

On a sidenote, you can always hop over to Mark Walkers website ( www.locknloadgame.com ) and drop a note in his forums too. It is recommended to stop by anyway as he has a lot of very interesting games up there.

Vilhjamr, very well written! unfortunately do we know that they don't give a damn. They know we will buy it anyhow if it ever gets to that point.[8|]

regards,

himmelstoss

Himmelstoss i can see you joined back in 2003. You should know by now that Matrixgames is notorius for taking on way to many projects etc.

But then again its not like we have that many others to turn to for wargames. I agree its annoying as hell, i would like that matrix didnt announce games untill they knew they could finish em. But ofc many of these games are 1 man projects done in spare time i reckon. So all we can really do is watch and hope.

I think we all wish that Matrix could communicate a bit more clear and would learn to be more realistic about realease dates and project progress. Basicly just take anything Matrix says and add 1-3 years to that [:D]

What I got out of Lock-n-Load was there site had been hacked and the forums were the point of entry.  So no new registrations.  Believe it or don't believe it, your choice.

ORIGINAL: Awac835

Himmelstoss i can see you joined back in 2003. You should know by now that Matrixgames is notorius for taking on way to many projects etc...
....... Basicly just take anything Matrix says and add 1-3 years to that [:D]

Yeah Awac835 you are right i know. its just that i wish that more folks would speak up about stuff like that, as for sure not saying anything is not doing anything either. at least this way they might get enough annoyed so they don't have it all that easy. i mean i remember the USA being a country that was actually giving a big damn about customer service, and i mean that in all other areas of biz as well (guess that was in the late 1970's and up to the mid 1980's...i know i am old). anyhow i know i am writing to blind eyes here, but i will never let that go through without plenty of comments where ever i can...just like my motto reads: "Tell it like you think it is!"

imme weiter!

Himmelstoss

Two weeks later and still no further info. Lock 'N Load webpage for HOS still says "Heroes of Stalingrad for Windows PC will soon be available for pre-order. Keep checking back for the demo. Out soon!" Their webpage has been saying that for how many months now, or should I say years now? Isn't it deceptive to say "will soon be available for pre-order", "keep checking back for the demo" and "out soon" if NOT ONE OF THOSE THINGS IS TRUE?

Matrix is similarly culpable for reasons stated in my previous post. The first post in this thread on Matrix' site is dated 1/26/2006. Expectations were set back then that the game had a chance of being released by the end of 2006. At any given point in time since that original post, neither LNL nor Matrix has provided any feedback to suggest the game was more than just a couple of months away from being released. Matrix released some screen shots and videos early this summer, once again implying that the game's release might not be far off. However, it is now fall 2008 and neither Matrix nor LNL has provided us with any idea of when this game will be released; it could still be many years away.

It is beginning to look like this game might be vaporware after all or so low on the two companies' priorities that it just is not worth following. LNL doesn't bother to fix the blatant inaccuracies that have been on their website for months (about a demo and "out soon!") while Matrix has a history of "not" saying the game's release is as far off as they must obviously have known. This has been going on for a couple of years now, not just a few months. The lack of concern about their fanbase also gives strong credence to this game having been given a very low priority.

This will be my last post on this because I am tired of being strung along by both companies. The game looked great and I was very excited about it, but obviously neither LNL and Matrix care about or respect their fans enough to provide them with decent information about this game's future. Following this game has been frustrating and obviously quite pointless. This game might be released tomorrow or it could be released in 2010. At this point no one has even the faintest clue; and personally I no longer care. I really don't know what LNL and Matrix were thinking when they announced the production of this game back in 2005, suggested it could be released in 2006, and then strung their fanbase along for over two and a half years after that with hints that it could be released shortly. I definitely will remember this experience when I hear of any other games "in development" by either company.

Over and out,
Bill

PS: That sound you hear is me deleting all of my URL links I have regarding HOS.

PS: That sound you hear is me deleting all of my URL links I have regarding HOS.

Nope, that's the sound of the dummy hitting the floor [:D]

cheers