Pure speculation

[Badger]

I'm surprised I haven't seen any speculation on this point, so let me throw this out for what it's worth (which probably isn't that much). Wouldn't Macworld be the ideal time to announce the development (and, I dare to hope, even a target shipping date) for Mac PTW? I would think releasing the editor in conjunction with that announcement would represent a "strike while the iron's hot" kind of opportunity -- Macworld being the biggest free Apple PR event of the year, after all. What does anyone think?

Now...just because it makes sense doesn't mean it'll happen. But we can hope.

 

[ejday]

Originally posted by Badger
I'm surprised I haven't seen any speculation on this point, so let me throw this out for what it's worth (which probably isn't that much). Wouldn't Macworld be the ideal time to announce the development (and, I dare to hope, even a target shipping date) for Mac PTW?

You are absolutely right. This would be a fantastic window of opportunity. Unfortunately, I don't believe the Macsoft schedule works in the calendar of man.

Who knows. I hope I'm wrong.

 

[Beamup]

Originally posted by Badger
I would think releasing the editor in conjunction with that announcement would represent a "strike while the iron's hot" kind of opportunity

I would strongly disagree with this. I'd say that announcing PTW in conjunction with the release of the editor would be a very bad idea for MacSoft. At this point, the LAST thing they would want to do is call any attention to the editor - since perforce that would entail calling attention to the fact that the editor is a year late. Of course, that might well mean that the release of the editor would be delayed until well after the announcement of PTW. Cheery thought, isn't it?

 

[Brad Oliver]

Originally posted by Beamup
At this point, the LAST thing they would want to do is call any attention to the editor - since perforce that would entail calling attention to the fact that the editor is a year late.

Don't be so dramatic. You either care about the editor at this point or you don't. If you don't, it won't matter when it gets released (and it might be a nice bonus). If you do care, you already know how long it has been.

Look at it another way: the 1.21f editor is only 6 months late compared to the PC editor. That's about the length of time that Mac Civ3 shipped after the PC version.

 

[Beamup]

Originally posted by Brad Oliver
Don't be so dramatic. You either care about the editor at this point or you don't. If you don't, it won't matter when it gets released (and it might be a nice bonus). If you do care, you already know how long it has been.

At this point, true. But what would be my concern (if I were in the position of making the decision) is this. News coverage of the editor release (e.g. at MacGamer or IMG) will potentially include comments on the timeframe. If these stories are linked to the stories about the PTW announcement, people who currently don't know or care about the editor would have the first time they heard about PTW linked to the delay between the game and the editor. It seems to me that would not be the best way to convince them to buy. It's possible that my thinking is overly paranoid, but as far as I can tell it's a plausible scenario. So, since when I was thinking about "If I were in charge, what would I do to sell the most copies of PTW?" this was what came to mind, I posted it.
One could say that even if someone doesn't care about the editor now, that doesn't mean that coverage of it won't influence their perspective on PTW.
It's certainly true that those of us who do currently care about the editor won't be affected one way or the other, but people who are active posters here (including myself) are probably almost guaranteed sales anyway, so how people like us will be affected (or not) is irrelevant.

Originally posted by Brad Oliver
Look at it another way: the 1.21f editor is only 6 months late compared to the PC editor. That's about the length of time that Mac Civ3 shipped after the PC version.

Hmm, good point. If one looks at it as the timeframe for the 1.21f editor, it sounds better than if one looks at it as the timeframe for the first editor. Unfortunately the latter is also a legitimate way of looking at it.

But, those numbers don't seem quite right - according to the records in the Info Center, Windows 1.21f was released on April 18, 2002 - call it 8 months ago. And the initial Windows release was October 30, 2001. Ours was January 7, 2002 - just over 2 months later. Not really the same at all. One could, however, still look at it as the average of the two being just 5 months.

 

[Brad Oliver]

Originally posted by Beamup
If these stories are linked to the stories about the PTW announcement, people who currently don't know or care about the editor would have the first time they heard about PTW linked to the delay between the game and the editor. It seems to me that would not be the best way to convince them to buy.

I'm not entirely sure that the Mac gaming news press will play up the long development time on the Civ3 editor, given that its absence didn't rate in any of the existing Mac reviews. They're generally pretty kind to Mac houses as compared to their PC counterparts. In the grand scheme of Mac gaming, an editor shipping at all is generally positive news, given how few make it through the porting process.

I'd also argue that MacSoft probably has bigger marketing problems to worry about with PTW, not the least of which include some of the pretty savage reviews it has been getting on the PC side. In that light, a delayed Mac port of anything PTW related at this point might actually be viewed as a good thing, as it implies the possiblity for more QA and possibly another patch in the interim.

 

[Sid]

I think that we should be grateful when we do get the Editor. I note that MacSoft will not be providing the Toolset when Neverwinter Nights makes it to the Mac. [Not sure whether the link below will be clickable, but you know how to cut and paste] Yep, Al Schilling's still there.

http://www.insidemacgames.com/news/story.php?ArticleID=6834

For me, this represents a new criteria for my future purchasing. I know it's an old saw of mine, but I have been disappointed with MacSoft's customer service to the extent that I'll be buying 'Dungeon Siege' rather than 'Neverwinter Nights', and I may just give Masters of Orion 3 a miss as well. When Aspyr, Blizzard and MacPlay keep doing the right thing, why pay for bad service?

I still continue to play Civ3 and marvel at the game's ability to enviegle my interest; I just wish another games company had the franchise.