Civ IV to ship before Halloween!?!

[ForbiddenPalace]

This is certanly a good news but does not really matter for me. I cannot really play the game until Christmas holiday due to school work.

 

[GaryWins]

and in doing so they they will be able to fix any bugs with patches

I have a cable connection so a patch takes about 2 secs to download not that much of a hassle

Has anyone found a place to preorder it yet?

looked on amozon.com nothing but the strategy guide

Here you go,

LINK

 

[strhopper]

Thank you GaryWins

 

[TyranusBonehead]

Hmmm, could be a belated birthday gift and not a Christmas gift! I'd love to get it around Halloween (OK, I'd love to get it now, but oh well).

I agree with the comments here, I certainly hope they are not rushing it, but are satisfied with the product and willing to put it out earlier.

I'll only believe it when it's running on my computer. Woohoo Civ IV!

 

[Commander Bello]

[..]I just noticed in the couple of months past, everyone assumed there was no way they would get it done on time, and would be late, boo, hoo, etc...

Straight away when it's being sent in this quarter, the immediate assumption is that they aren't going to find all of the bugs they would have found in the last 2 weeks.

Both seems to be a valid assumption.

 

[Commander Bello]

alot of crying going on .............. just cant make anyone happy anymore always negative

Now who wouldnt agree with this quote

All i can say is that im happy, This might have been the plan from the begining to release before november, get it out early, i think they are ready to ship. All of us will be the true testers we will find any bugs still left. After all if they had came to you and said that they wanted you to be a Beta tester everyone would have drooled at the idea!! So think of this as a early release for us to test and report any bugs, they will be fixing any major bugs found right away on a new game and we get to play the game sooner its a win-win Situation.

EDIT: I'll pay $50 to be a Beta tester any day!........

Yeah I thought so............it says it all doesnt it

May I volunteer in not agreeing with this most stupid statement?

I understand that certain people either have stopped or - more probable - have never started thinking, but crying out in excitement over the idea of becoming a post-release gamma-tester and to pay for it... well, the statement stands for itself....

 

[holy king]

has anyone a clue how much later the european version of a game ships on average?
at least the british one?

 

[nicae]

if their fiscal year ends oct. 31, and the game will be released something like 3 days before... oh yeah, civ4 will REALLY increase their stock price

 

[Drakan]

has anyone a clue how much later the european version of a game ships on average?
at least the british one?

Whaaaa ?? are you implying that the release date for the UK is different from that in the USA ?

I've preordered at Amazon UK my C4 copy already... :suicide:

 

[Drakan]

if their fiscal year ends oct. 31, and the game will be released something like 3 days before... oh yeah, civ4 will REALLY increase their stock price

Not so, but don't forget that investment funds reshuffle their portfolios around December.

And guess whose stock they'll be selling (driving down the price and ergo the stockoptions of prominent executives at T2) If the economical forecasts are bleak ? Buying and selling stocks is not all about numbers, a large percentage of the price variation is driven by underlying psicological reasons (real or not), believe or not. Money is coward and dislikes risks.

I have no doubt the underlying reason for moving ahead the release date is economic.

Darn hot cofee mod.

 

[Stilgar08]

Stilgar08, Firaxis is developing Civ4 (and they did Civ3). The programming and the coding are all done there. The job of Take Two (2K really) is to publish the game. They aren't in the programming process.

I know, but Take2 announced the earlier release date (which is GOOD news, BTW ) and people here start whining, cause they are afraid, take2 is pushing Firaxis due to money-porblems in theis fiscal year (ending 31st oct. for them). Because of THAT the pessimists are afraid of a bug-civIV vanilla (so to say...)

There wouldn't be need for Firaxis to put time-pressure on themselves anyway... And I wanted to point out that there's no need for take2 to push Firaxis as well...

Whaaaa ?? are you implying that the release date for the UK is different from that in the USA ?

I've preordered at Amazon UK my C4 copy already...

Ah, those english! What about the german civ4-version???

 

[Vael]

Not so, but don't forget that investment funds reshuffle their portfolios around December.

And guess whose stock they'll be selling (driving down the price and ergo the stockoptions of prominent executives at T2) If the forecasts are bleak ?

I have no doubt the underlying reason for moving ahead the release date is economic.

Darn hot cofee mod.

Yeah, they definitely tried to push it into this fiscal year so that it makes their situation look better. Looks like Firaxis and Civ fans will be the one to pay their price.

 

[Vael]

I know, but Take2 announced the earlier release date (which is GOOD news, BTW ) and people here start whining, cause they are afraid, take2 is pushing Firaxis due to money-porblems in theis fiscal year (ending 31st oct. for them). Because of THAT the pessimists are afraid of a bug-civIV vanilla (so to say...)

There wouldn't be need for Firaxis to put time-pressure on themselves anyway... And I wanted to point out that there's no need for take2 to push Firaxis as well...

You don't think losing 30 million dollars is a reason to push a game ahead?

 

[Drakan]

I'd say there's a direct correlation Stilgar. Funny how both news came out the same day, huh ?

I'm not a pessimist Stilgar, I'm realistic. Two weeks might not seem alot to you, but it is for the people who have to stay awake all night at Firaxis polishing-up the game ahead of schedule. Where are they getting the extra time (unpaid) from ?.

I live in Spain, but I bet my ass they are working overnight into the wee hours of dawn with little sleep.

Plus the bad taste of C3C flaws are still in my mouth, namely broken AI Armies.

 

[Stilgar08]

May I volunteer in not agreeing with this most stupid statement?

I understand that certain people either have stopped or - more probable - have never started thinking, but crying out in excitement over the idea of becoming a post-release gamma-tester and to pay for it... well, the statement stands for itself....

Why don't you just wait until Civ4 complete comes out with all patches included!?? This way you wouldn't have any hassle! Personally I'm welcoming the prescheduled date. Everyday with civ4 in my hands is a good day!

Don't get me wrong, Commander Bello: I completely accept your point of view, but it's not like someone forces you to get the game on the release-date!

 

[Drakan]

I've preordered mine ... and i thought I was getting it in December.

Anyways, I would still buy it the offcial release date.

It's just the quality that worries me.

 

[Leprechaune]

May I volunteer in not agreeing with this most stupid statement?

I understand that certain people either have stopped or - more probable - have never started thinking, but crying out in excitement over the idea of becoming a post-release gamma-tester and to pay for it... well, the statement stands for itself....

You are absolutely right! and also absolutely WRONG!

First we'll use SWG as an example of a game released in it's beta form... It sucked in SO many ways and everyone knew it! Still the fans jumped into it's release and then when their subscriptions ran out, didn't renew. Thus SWG has something like 6-8 servers and WoW has a couple hundred!

Second we need to all realize that Civ4 is NOT a subscription game! So when you buy a buggy version you'll get the fixed version at the same time you would have if they kept it "in-shop" for another two pollishing weeks... AND you paid the same price... AND you got to play it ahead of time... AND there's NOTHING negative about an early release provided the development team is committed to repairing anything that comes up post release!

Infact the sooner they get it out the sooner bugs will be found and dealt with before the development team is disolved!

I'll be handing out free diapers to anyone who want's to act like they need them.

 

[CTH]

The only problem to that we, the costumers, should find the bugs is that the gmae might get bad rewievs and therfore sell less... But I agree, give us cIV today =)

 

[Stilgar08]

You don't think losing 30 million dollars is a reason to push a game ahead?

In an earlier post I quoted the gamespot article (too lazy to quote myself here...) in which it's stated that they anticipated around 40sth. millions of losses due to hot coffee... So it's good news for them, they only loose 28 million...
It was stated as well that they are planning on having profits this fiscal year....

I had the impression they were only mentioning this prescheduled release date as a sidenote not as a headline to maybe calm down worried investors, which your assumptions would imply...

And on the danger to expose myself to the critic of being unhelpful and stubborn: No one is forced getting the game on the release date! Do as I originally planned and wait for bug-reports in this very forum, compare them to fixes made in patches and when you are pleased with that, buy the game... By that time I will have played a few dozens games and be fine. If I'm right... If you are right, I will cry and complain that they should have released it later!!!
I can't help it: I'm going to buy it the day it comes out here! I'm an civ-addict! And that's allright for me!!!

 

[Drakan]

I'll be handing out free diapers to anyone who want's to act like they need them.

Har har har, very amusing.

All I'm saying is that i'd be willing to wait somewhat longer, that's all.

Of course we'll have a patch that solves most issues sooner or later. But planning ahead properly avoids problems. And that's something Civ has taught me in all these years.