Heroes of Stalingrad Release Date Announced

[-[SiN]-bswearer]

what if they don't know? what should they answer then?

after three + years of production and getting to alpha stage last august (at least when that was confirmed to the public) i have to believe they can tell whether or not the game will be done within the next 8 months

i look at the current status of everything and this is what i see: there's been nothing major since the "shakey cam" vids from 7 months ago. sure the last article by VE3D was nice, but seriously, it was a couple screens of one map and a slightly more indepth description of some things (countdown and campaign) that most people had already figured out the general ideas of those features. while nice, it really was nothing special. most people were expecting a real update to perhaps celebrate the 4 year launch of RO to retail. from what i saw, most people were hoping for maybe a release date, some video, announce beta has started, confirmation of tanks, or at least something at the level of those things and all that was given was the VE3D article (which was also a good week after the anniversary date). not saying it wasn't "good" but it was well below people's expectations.

i look at the RO:HOS forums and they're almost as dead as the RO:OST forums. within a couple weeks to a month of the initial announcement last may, the forums were booming. almost a year later and with no real signs of major progress, whatever hype there was has nearly vanished. i also look at KF which has supposedly been what's "delaying" HOS and the KF forums are looking pretty inactive. the numbers playing KF have dropped like 70% since december probably due to the lack of any real updates going on there.

point is, overall everything just seems too dismal right now. nothing major for KF, nothing major for HOS, just bordem and frustration for a lot of people. sure we all know there will eventually be huge announcements and tons of news, but many people are getting impatient after the months of complete silence that are only followed up with somewhat uninspiring "news".

nobody thinks that TW owes them anything. however a lot of people have pretty high expectations for a company that has built their reputation around community involvement and support. all many of us are looking for is a little more hype being put into the game to keep us all motivated.

 

[Major_Day]

Well put, sums up just about where we are right now, which is no further forward than when the shakycam came out 7 months ago. +1

 

[Yoshiro]

When the hype train is ready to depart the station, it will do so. As Ramm stated, that will be close to the beta stage.

 

[ButchCassidy]

I agree with Yoshi all will be revealed in time and it will be worth the wait..

 

[Floyd]

Geeesh.
Everyone's getting a little testy these days ...chill

I didn't intend to single out anyone in particular (I was just making a point). For me, its just that this same scenario has repeated ad nauseum since the first game forums opened and a developer (or its spokesman) made their first post.....
Imo, this community has always been a cut above the rest, and I thought perhaps these forums might have avoided some of the "speculation" ...



speculation:

• opinion based on incomplete information: a conclusion, theory, or opinion based on incomplete facts or information
• reasoning based on incomplete information: reasoning based on incomplete facts or information

Thats all I'm sayin'........

Being the engineer that I am, Private Who, more than likely I deduced quite matter of factly and very early in the evening that the hot cheerleader and her friends were clearly not going to be coming to this freshman's house for anything social. As such, I didn't spend much time anticipating. I just got on with the business of tending to the liquor cabinet....

 

[slavek]

"I Demand you release this game next week or else you will lose me as a customer and then you will regret it because I am obviously THE MOST important person in the world and as a result everyone should bend over backwards to please me or else I will cry, whine and ***** for minutes, hours, days and weeks until something happens even though it was going to happen anyways with or without me whining but I'm still going to whine because I'm a self centered troll living in my mom's dark dimly lit basement at the age of 40 but age is just another number so that point is mute but I'm still a childish basement dwelling troll that cries alot" *Sarcasm*

Not directed at anyone, just this forum thread made me remember the other game forums or other posts that have people acting like they are the center of the universe.

 

[Private Who?]

Being the engineer that I am, Private Who, more than likely I deduced quite matter of factly and very early in the evening that the hot cheerleader and her friends were clearly not going to be coming to this freshman's house for anything social. As such, I didn't spend much time anticipating. I just got on with the business of tending to the liquor cabinet....

HAH! Now THAT'S the way we roll! One bird in the hand right?

BTW...I'm a engineer as well. Design engineering, drafting, and CNC programming. Peace!

 

[hockeywarrior]

All of this is simply further proof that RO:HOS is already dead. I'm super serial guys. Super.

 

[IVIARSHALL]

SUPER SUPER SUPER SNOOPER

[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSSJfrOmR1A]YouTube - Terence Hill : Poliziotto Super Più ( Super Snooper ) Theme[/URL]

 

[-[SiN]-bswearer]

"I Demand you release this game next week or else you will lose me as a customer and then you will regret it because I am obviously THE MOST important person in the world and as a result everyone should bend over backwards to please me or else I will cry, whine and ***** for minutes, hours, days and weeks until something happens even though it was going to happen anyways with or without me whining but I'm still going to whine because I'm a self centered troll living in my mom's dark dimly lit basement at the age of 40 but age is just another number so that point is mute but I'm still a childish basement dwelling troll that cries alot" *Sarcasm*

although kinda funny, you've misconstrued and grossly exagerated the consensus of this thread and what people have posted....but it does appear you are trying to be sarcastic sooooo

nobody is really "crying, whinning, or *****ing".....people are simply pointing out aspects of poor customer relations and bad business. there is nothing wrong with posting observation and analysis of the current state of this game (and KF for that matter....TW in general). it has nothing to do with individuals believing that TW owes them anything or is obligated to post more news etc... it has to do with people realizing that this community (as in the TW community, RO, KF, HOS) is tanking due to the lack of anything meaningful being revealed. it's been 5 months for KF and 7 months for HOS. thing is, KF people got used to updates and patches every 2-3 months and saw how much TW was involved in building up the game. even before that with ROOST, people were used to this happening. personally speeking, the TW we've seen over the past 6 months is not the typical TW of old that many of us have come to love and support over the years.

when i say all this, i'm not trying to imply that TW doesn't care for their customers (as of course we know they do), but what i am trying to get people to understand is that a large majority of costumers can feel as though that is true when there is nothing but silence for such long periods of time. sure they're probably really busy working. sure they've only got 20 employees. sure they're a smaller company. we all know that! but that's no excuse for not making that extra effort hype up your products. i just don't see those efforts being made anymore. it's all talk of "the hype train will get going when it's ready". people grow tired of talk after half a year's time. they want to see it happen not just hear that it will. for me personally, i really don't mind because i know that one day HOS will eventually come out. my concern is that i see how quickly potential costumers new to TW have already moved on to something else because in the nearly year's time since the initial HOS announcement that "hype train" has never left the station.

like this thread for example.....in the time taken to make a "funny" april fools joke about the "release date" a more meaningful statement could have been made like "some big news coming up in two weeks guys!" or "boy can't wait til public beta in a month!" or at least something to get some real hype going. instead it was an attempt at a joke which just got more people annoyed with the fact that we can't even get any real news but instead get jokes

the typical reactions, like mine, were:

 

[Capt.Cool]

All of this is simply further proof that RO:HOS is already dead. I'm super serial guys. Super.

You mean serial or serious? or are u a serial killer?

 

[LemoN]

You mean serial or serious? or are u a serial killer?

Maybe he meant Cereal?

Mmmm breakfast cereals.

 

[Uurastaja]

I love the taste of super cerial in the morning. It taste's like...

 

[AsoBit]

it's been 5 months for KF and 7 months for HOS.

1 month for HOS

 

[Nimsky]

1 month for HOS

See, there's his problem, he totally missed the Voodoo Extreme preview.

 

[The Masta]

Maybe he meant Cereal?

Mmmm breakfast cereals.

a cereal killer?

 

[-[SiN]-bswearer]

1 month for HOS

please re-read my posts. like i already said, that article was really nothing special....a couple screenshots of one map, a slightly more indepth description of two gametypes and the confirmation of the fact that the April 2nd rumor was completely false (which we also already all knew). it was really nothing to jump for joy about, especially considering the occasion (RO retail 4 year anniversary) and the amount of time it had been since the only real update (back in august). the funny thing is the "biggest" info we've gotten wasn't even official but instead was from the "shakey cam" videos.

in one year's time all we've been shown is screenshots of 2 maps and mostly basic content we'd expect to be in the game like character skins, weapons, trees, boxes, traincars etc.....sure we got to see the mg bipod system, blind fire, "hud on demand" and some other little things, but again those were all from non-official sources. everything else has just been a lot of talk and that talk doesn't even confirm whether or not the game will have certain things like for example, tanks, public beta or tentative release date etc.

while people like myself who've been around for a while will ultimately trust TW that all the "talk" will eventually become a reality, the problem is that nothing's really been done to draw in and keep new people around for HOS. sure once the 'hype train leaves the station" more people will take a look at it, but a year's worth of marketing has already been lost because during that time new people heard of the game, saw it was in production, were willing to take a look at it, and all they've seen during that time span was a couple screenshots and a brief unofficial demo video. if i were in their shoes, i'd be completely turned off by the lack of any real progress being shown. luckily for me i'm not them, but from my perspective it annoys me that this community could have already lost potential customers because there was not enough motivation to keep them around interested.

while i'm not a huge fan of the "big boys" of the industry like Activision, EA, etc... i can at least respect the fact that they have great marketing strategies. they pump tons of effort into their games throughout the entire production and pre-release and generate massive hype amongst the public over extended periods of time. screenshots, videos, demos etc... even if not the "clean, final cut versions" of the content, it's still content. people want to see progress, they want to see glimpses into the game's development and they want to feel like they're engaged in that process. imo thus far, this has not happened with HOS and it really needs to in order to take this game and TW up to the next level where they deserve to be.

/rant........for now

 

[Kashash]

I might be wrong but I believe with newer technology evoking all the time, thus better game engines etc. it comes for the price of much more time consuming work on game development. Some people need to go out little bit and find something like a hobby, maybe exercise little bit or some occupation and this 1 or 2 or even if it was 3 years would be no time at all. Unless you have a cancer and you dying soon, I mean COME ON life is not only about games and this waiting will do even more good than bad for you - it creates more and more cravings for this great game and just imagine feeling when finally released... I think I'm gonna get heart attack (providing it's good and it's got tanks) So stop worrying about it and be happy that this game is tempting you so much that makes you can't wait.

 

[CopperHead]

I agree that there is more to life than video games, but 3 years... Holy cow manure man... You guys enjoy bashing on Bswearer, all he wants is a little communication. I also would not mind SOMETHING, for instance, it would be neat, and thoughtful for the developers to say, "Yeah, it looks like our original estimated delivery date was a little off, might be a few more months. "


At this point, anything would be better than the current PR scheme. Just one update per month would be sweet.

 

[Yoshiro]

while i'm not a huge fan of the "big boys" of the industry like Activision, EA, etc... i can at least respect the fact that they have great marketing strategies. they pump tons of effort into their games throughout the entire production and pre-release and generate massive hype amongst the public over extended periods of time. screen shots, videos, demos etc... even if not the "clean, final cut versions" of the content, it's still content. people want to see progress, they want to see glimpses into the game's development and they want to feel like they're engaged in that process. imo thus far, this has not happened with HOS and it really needs to in order to take this game and TW up to the next level where they deserve to be.

/rant........for now

No, they don't. You see exactly what they want you to see, and they spend millions on their marketing, in fact they have often spent more on advertising then what they have put into the game.

And you very rarely if ever see shots of alpha material until after the game is released.

I agree that there is more to life than video games, but 3 years... Holy cow manure man... You guys enjoy bashing on Bswearer, all he wants is a little communication. I also would not mind SOMETHING, for instance, it would be neat, and thoughtful for the developers to say, "Yeah, it looks like our original estimated delivery date was a little off, might be a few more months. "


At this point, anything would be better than the current PR scheme. Just one update per month would be sweet.

And this is where I bring back my "reading is fun" quote". You can find posts by Tripwire stating exactly what is going on. I know I have made several on the subject. Summations of those points. Tripwire has a patch planned/in production for KF. It will include balancing. It is currently on the back burner while the majority of the team is working on a Heroes milestone, along with something else that should be announced soon (most of you should have figured that one out by now).

As to your specific example, ok here we go:

Yeah, it looks like our original estimated delivery date was a little off, might be a few more months.

But this is a lie, as there has been nor original estimate from Tripwire at this point in time.

You guys need to realize that when things are in a state ready to be shown, they are being shown! With the announcement, there was the first map, which was at the time was the only map ready to be shown. With the recent preview by Voodoo, you once again got a new map (again the next map in a stage ready to be shown), as well as several hard details on how game modes will function. Does that mean those are the only 2 maps? No, it doesn't. It just means the rest are not fitting to be shown, and might disappear off the map list the next day at the whim of the team if it is deemed unfun, unworkable, or any other variety of reasons.

As things are cemented down, Tripwire is making an effort to talk about them and show them. But things are going to continue to remain "sketchy" at best until the game reaches the beta stage.