First Look: The Development Team Video

[rastak]

Someone said we knew all Civ 5 vanilla civs few months before the release.

I found a civ v thread here dated Jul 7th 2010 (or thereabouts) which had all 18. The game released Sep 21st so at least 10 weeks before.

 

[TheMarshmallowBear]

I found a civ v thread here dated Jul 7th 2010 (or thereabouts) which had all 18. The game released Sep 21st so at least 10 weeks before.

So we're about a month ahead of that then.

 

[rastak]

So we're about a month ahead of that then.

I still can't figure out if that leader poster was intentional. I would say it's gotta be.

Very interesting way to reveal if that is true.

 

[TheMarshmallowBear]

I still can't figure out if that leader poster was intentional. I would say it's gotta be.

Very interesting way to reveal if that is true.

I'm pretty sure that NDAs are heavy, so they had to approve "we can show this, and this, we can't show that, not just yet"

So this was defeniately intentional.

I also don't think this was an accident, the leak didn't come from anybody but Firaxis itself, and they know we pillage every second and get as much out of it as we can find.

 

[Kouvb593kdnuewnd]

What if the picture put up are not the leaders or even in the game, they could have set up the known leaders as a decoy.

 

[SupremacyKing2]

I'm pretty sure that NDAs are heavy, so they had to approve "we can show this, and this, we can't show that, not just yet"

So this was defeniately intentional.

I also don't think this was an accident, the leak didn't come from anybody but Firaxis itself, and they know we pillage every second and get as much out of it as we can find.

I would agree however it is also possible that Firaxis underestimated just how really persistent and determined we are at pillaging screenshots for information. Whomever made the video may have dismissed the possibility that we would figure anything out from it based on the fact that it is blurry concept art in the background that is only on screen for a couple seconds. Heck, it is a "blink and you miss it" type situation so the video person may have missed it.

It is also possible that is concept art from earlier in the development cycle and some of the leaders have changed so Firaxis determined that even if we did glean any info from it, that it would not matter.

 

[TheMarshmallowBear]

I would agree however it is also possible that Firaxis underestimated just how really persistent and determined we are at pillaging screenshots for information. Whomever made the video may have dismissed the possibility that we would figure anything out from it based on the fact that it is blurry concept art in the background that is only on screen for a couple seconds. Heck, it is a "blink and you miss it" type situation so the video person may have missed it.

It is also possible that is concept art from earlier in the development cycle and some of the leaders have changed so Firaxis determined that even if we did glean any info from it, that it would not matter.

I'm pretty sure that both Ed and Dennis lurk these forums (HEY YOU TWO!) and I'm fairly sure their marketing department knows about how vicious we go through every video. They've commented on few occassions about it.

 

[zwei833]

He actually specifically mentioned it in one of the E3 interviews. I totally believe he and his staff read these and other forums.

But I really doubt that he would go to CFC. I think he just means their official 2K Civ forum.

 

[TheMarshmallowBear]

But I really doubt that he would go to CFC. I think he just means their official 2K Civ forum.

Dennis Shirk has posted on few occassions, including asking people for logs.

and Civ Fanatics, I believe, is the largest mod-fansite for Civilization franchise (I think.. )

 

[SupremacyKing2]

I'm pretty sure that both Ed and Dennis lurk these forums (HEY YOU TWO!) and I'm fairly sure their marketing department knows about how vicious we go through every video. They've commented on few occassions about it.

I know. I am just asking, is it possible that this one slipped past them?

 

[rastak]

I know. I am just asking, is it possible that this one slipped past them?

It's possible but they would have had to be REALLY careless. I watched the video, then froze it with each scene change to see if I could pick out anything on the walls, any hints. They were very careful to film the wall of sticky notes from an angle you couldn't read them. I took me less than 20 minutes to go through the 3 minutes.

I cannot imagine they'd have camera's in their facility and not go through it with stills to ensure nothing they didn't want shown was in there. Who knows what they already edited out.

 

[rastak]

You know where they might have gotten the idea? Before the release of BNW, civ fanatics found placeholders in steam achievements or something, right? I specifically recall people speculating on the civs based on the alphabetic order. Even Beach said during an interview he was amazed how hard everyone would dig for information and actually figure out the facts.

Hell, someone matched the exact color codes of the old flag of Venice. This very well might have been a little game on their part. If so, civ fanatics again delivered.

 

[SupremacyKing2]

I also wonder, if this reveal was not intentional, if it will alter their marketing plan. Will Firaxis reveal civs sooner since we already figured it out?

 

[rastak]

I also wonder, if this reveal was not intentional, if it will alter their marketing plan. Will Firaxis reveal civs sooner since we already figured it out?

Well, those are pretty blurry pictures and not all are for certain identified. Might be a fun contest of sorts as they reveal them one by one and are scratched off the bingo board.

edit: If it were unintentional I would guess they'd proceed as panned anyway. Not everyone reads civ fanatics forums, not by a long shot.

 

[Zaarin]

What if the picture put up are not the leaders or even in the game, they could have set up the known leaders as a decoy.

I hope so--some of their choices are abominable, if true.

 

[King Jason]

Well, the first left-field choice that ends up on a First Look video should pretty much confirm the list.

 

[moysturfurmer]

36 hours and 40 minutes until we find out then.

 

[TheMarshmallowBear]

36 hours and 40 minutes until we find out then.

Well.. no...... they still haven't given us a first look on China.

 

[AriochIV]

I'd be very surprised if this "leak" was intentional. The marketing folks probably scrubbed through the video and thought, "they'll never figure that out... you can't see anything."

If it wasn't for the fact that they happen to be in alphabetical order, I don't think we'd have been able to identify even half of them.

But as I said before, humans are pattern-recognition machines.

 

[moysturfurmer]

Well.. no...... they still haven't given us a first look on China.

Only 228 hours and 15 minutes to go then.**