Beyond The Sword is Coming!

[nauticus]

Hi all,
I ordered something (a promise?) from Amazon today. But, my ship date says August 10-19, not July 27 like gfeier. Oh well, I'm sure it can change, or will change, and I've waited long enough that a bit more waiting won't hurt. Like the collective wisdom here advises: don't put much in amazon dates.

 

[gfeier]

Hi all,
I ordered something (a promise?) from Amazon today. But, my ship date says August 10-19, not July 27 like gfeier. Oh well, I'm sure it can change, or will change, and I've waited long enough that a bit more waiting won't hurt. Like the collective wisdom here advises: don't put much in amazon dates.

I'm sure my ship date will be changed to something like yours once the 27th rolls around. They usually wait until the last minute. My original ship date was June 15th, so this has been going on for a while.

 

[AlanH]

From Amazon UK today:

Dear Customer,

Greetings from Amazon.co.uk.

We regret to inform you that your order will take longer to fulfill than originally estimated. Our supplier has notified us that there is a delay obtaining stock for the following items you ordered on July 10 2009.

"Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword Expansion (Mac CD)"
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002BWQ05Y

We are awaiting a revised estimate from our supplier, and will email you as soon as we receive this information.
...

Surprise, surprise!

 

[dojoboy]

From Amazon UK today:


Surprise, surprise!

I don't know what to say ~ tried typing something three times but couldn't get it out. I'm just flabbergasted by the processing failures from a PR angle on this title.

 

[scriblerus]

To be fair, Aspyr have never yet published a date, afaik. That they may be waiting until it launches, rather than preannouncing, is arguably another matter. Either they are treating their market like captives who should be grateful for what they are doing for us (hmmmm......maybe they are right) or they don't want to publicise a date at the risk of bumping it repeatedly - which has happened on, let me see, just about every software release I've ever waited for (and most of the ones that actually hit their due date clearly did so because marketing insisted, even though the product was still horribly buggy and needed more work).

If we get a first-class product in the not too distant future (we're already 2 years after the PC version, after all) I don't think they will have behaved too badly.

If Amazon got their date from Aspyr, then Aspyr are at fault, of course. But Amazon may just have made it up - or even had a blip when putting the page up....wasn't the PC BTS European release on 20 July 2007....someone prepping the page using the PC version copy sees that date, thinks there's an obvious typo, changes the 7 to 9 and voila........
history as cockup not conspiracy yet again.

 

[Beamup]

I don't know what to say ~ tried typing something three times but couldn't get it out. I'm just flabbergasted by the processing failures from a PR angle on this title.

What failures? Amazon makes dates up all the time. Not a single thing Aspyr can do about it, presuming they're not in a position to tell Amazon a real, firm, date (which they apparently are not, judging from Brad's posts).

 

[dojoboy]

What failures? Amazon makes dates up all the time. Not a single thing Aspyr can do about it, presuming they're not in a position to tell Amazon a real, firm, date (which they apparently are not, judging from Brad's posts).

Well, a couple things were on my mind when I wrote that:

(1) Aspyr does to press releases for their games, however, this one seems to be an anomaly in that the due date is so near. I would think a press release at this point should have been made.

(2) Amazon, or any other retailer, has to get the information they've posted to date from some place. I would assume that place is Aspyr. The fact there is so little up to date communication leads me to label it a processing failure.

 

[Beamup]

(1) Aspyr does to press releases for their games, however, this one seems to be an anomaly in that the due date is so near. I would think a press release at this point should have been made.

Perhaps, but we shouldn't jump to conclusions. There may be contractual issues preventing it, for instance.

(2) Amazon, or any other retailer, has to get the information they've posted to date from some place. I would assume that place is Aspyr. The fact there is so little up to date communication leads me to label it a processing failure.

You would assume wrongly, I think. Amazon makes dates up routinely. So while they do get them from some place, said place is often somebody's nether regions.

 

[AlanH]

You would assume wrongly, I think. Amazon makes dates up routinely. So while they do get them from some place, said place is often somebody's nether regions.

Absolutely! Brad has said as much several times in this forum, and that was why I was totally unsurprised to receive receive Amazon's message.

 

[gfeier]

It's interesting to note that the PC version of BtS came out on July 23, 2007. You don't suppose... naaah.

 

[dojoboy]

Absolutely! Brad has said as much several times in this forum, and that was why I was totally unsurprised to receive receive Amazon's message.

I wasn't addressing the issue it wasn't ready when Amazon had it listed. I'm aware of how Amazon handles release dates. I'm not surprised either. I was commenting on the process and the "confusion" generated by the lack of acceptable PR standards.

 

[AlanH]

It's interesting to note that the PC version of BtS came out on July 23, 2007. You don't suppose... naaah.

Nah! Aspyr probably sent out a message to their retailers forecasting a release date "late July earliest", and Amazon have started taking pre-orders on the strength of guessed dates since then. The fact that Play.com have a July 31 date simply means they are a bit more conservative in guessing when "late July" is.

 

[Joey Numbaz]

I have Amazon Prime and paid the extra $4 for overnight shipping.

I haven't received a notice that it's been shipped yet, but my DELIVERY (not ship) date is still, as of 3 minutes ago, listed as July 22. We'll see.

 

[Joey Numbaz]

Also, I ordered July 14. Not sure if that put me higher in the queue with limited stock? I'll still be shocked if I'm playing it on my Mac tomorrow night . . .

 

[Beamup]

I'm not surprised either. I was commenting on the process and the "confusion" generated by the lack of acceptable PR standards.

Given how many parties are involved in this sort of thing, I'm not willing to blame Aspyr for not putting out press releases without more information. Would it have been better for there to have been one? I'll definitely agree with that. Does it demonstrate a "lack of acceptable standards?" We don't know enough to judge, IMO.

 

[scriblerus]

The real question is whether the release is going according to plan, or they have hit a snag.
I wonder whether Aspyr's determined silence and - remember? - withdrawal of the product page from their website means they know there is still an encoding problem.
I can't see how any stage of manufacturing after that (mastering, duplication, print, packing,etc) would not have a predictable time-span.
Anyone who knows more about the process than I do out there with a better idea?

 

[Brad Oliver]

That they may be waiting until it launches, rather than preannouncing, is arguably another matter.

We're still waiting to get permission from the PC publisher to send out the press release, last I heard. I've joked that you'll see it on store shelves before our press release goes out, and perhaps that'll be true - and a shame.

 

[Brad Oliver]

Anyone who knows more about the process than I do out there with a better idea?

Yes, as an Aspyr employee, I do. The game is as I stated before: approved and sent to manufacturing (or possibly on the way to stores). The press release is waiting on approval, as is posting the info on our website.

Beyond that, the 3.19 patch is getting ready to go into testing. We may have that ready by the time you all have your hands on BtS, but more likely it'll lag a week or two. Since I don't know a) the exact date the game will hit shelves and b) the exact date our QA will deem 3.19 bug-free, do not automatically assume the most optimistic interpretation.

 

[benjamintm]

Yes, as an Aspyr employee, I do.

I have to ask. You've worked on Civ3 and 4 and I assume BTS. After all these years of seeing the game over and over again, are you completely burned out on the game at the end of the day? . Then again, you are one the civfanatics forum.

Ben

 

[scriblerus]

Yes, as an Aspyr employee, I do. The game is as I stated before: approved and sent to manufacturing (or possibly on the way to stores). The press release is waiting on approval, as is posting the info on our website.

Hurrah!
and thanks for being the only fount of wisdom out there......
I'd taken your previous post about the state of the release as deliberately non-committal, and am very glad for confirmation that the software is signed off.


War can so easily be gilt with romance and heroism and solemn national duty and patriotism and the like by persons whose superficial literary and oratorical talent covers an abyss of Godforsaken folly - G B Shaw