NEW! Civ 3 release date: 10/5/2004... Say what?!?!

[jpinard]

OK, was going through EBGames release dates, and came across this: http://www.ebgames.com/ebx/product/242986.asp

Sid Meier's Civ 3 to be released on October 5, 2004 of this year.

OK, so what does this mean? A new un-announced expansion? Typo, and it's actually Civ 4? What do you think?

 

[Chieftess]

Must be a typo. Look at the Genre.

It's probably an expected release date of Civ4 though... (or Pirates 2)

EDIT: I did write a "review" notifying that Civ3 is a 3 year old game, and not an RPG.

 

[Zenon_pt]

Maybe it's Pirates!!!
I don't know!

 

[jpinard]

Wow, I didn't konw Civ 4 was slated for this year?! That's only 6 months away...

 

[Padma]

I would expect Civ4 to be released about that time *next* year....

 

[slothman]

I don't think Civ4 would even come out in 2005. Maybe 2006. It's probably a typo though.

 

[Turner]

Maybe they're going for a Civ3 'gold' type game, with VC3 and Conquests in one.

 

[Padma]

They already have Civ3 Gold (Civ3 + PTW). Maybe a *Platinum* release?

 

[HamaticBabylon]

Wow, what would a civ3 *Platinum* include padma?

 

[Chieftess]

I emailed our favorite Sales Manager, Jeff Atari to answer this riddle.

 

[Gengis Khan]

Most likely a placeholder for Pirates. They [probabaly havn't come up with Cover art or if it's going to be Pirates! 2, Pirates 2!, PiratesII!, Pirates 2 or what. Hence the RPG genre.

 

[Jeff_ATARI]

Originally posted by Chieftess
I emailed our favorite Sales Manager, Jeff Atari to answer this riddle.

Ummmm... I'm going to conveniently ignore the question for the moment, and answer it within a few weeks.

What I will say is... don't get too excited about it. It is NOT the release date for Sid Meier's Pirates!. It is NOT a new Civ 3 expansion nor anything that the Civ 3 fan community would want to jump up and down about.

For those of you who wrangle your way into E3, stop by and say hello at Microsoft's Gaming for Windows booth (I believe it's South Hall #968), where Barry_FIRAXIS and I will be publicly demoing the latest build of Pirates!

Best,
Jeff Foley
Sr. Brand Manager
Atari

P.S. "Sales manager"? Heh. I've been called a producer, a developer, and a PR manager, and now a sales guy. (And at some point I've been each of those, I think.) These days my feet are firmly planted in marketing...

 

[Gengis Khan]

Originally posted by Jeff_ATARI
Ummmm... I'm going to conveniently ignore the question for the moment, and answer it within a few weeks.

With answers like that you should go into politics next, you've clearly already got some practice.

 

[Jeff_ATARI]

Originally posted by Gengis Khan
With answers like that you should go into politics next, you've clearly already got some practice.

I can neither confirm nor deny any announcement about my candidacy.

Actually, marketing has way too many parallels with politics for my taste. Consider this:

- First you appeal to your fan base who already plan to "vote" for your game by buying it.
- Then you broaden your advertising message to reach the "undecided voters" who aren't sure if they'll pick it up.
- Finally you appeal to the masses with the most basic communications designed to get your message across to casual fans who weren't really planning on voting but decide to anyways.

Hopefully, the parallels end there. I'd like to think that I've kept all of my campaign promises.

Best,
Jeff Foley
Atari

 

[Gengis Khan]

Considering you're the only Atari/Firaxis person I can ever recal posting here & letting us know stuff, I think you'd be safely guarenteed another term.

[edit- I must admit that your assurance that it's nothing we'd be intrested in, makes me even more curious. Curse your foul marketing schemes!!]

 

[Chieftess]

Nah, it's nothing to see. Moving along.

 

[Gengis Khan]

Curse you CT and your insider information as well!

 

[jpinard]

Well, even if it's boring, my curiousity is quite high! Just for fun, I'll be following that release date to see what "exactly" it turns out to be.