GR:AW PC DELAYED - Feb 2006.

[warhawk]

emphasis mine

When they postpone it till February 2006, thus missing the X-Box launch in November, it's to their credit that they really want to improve the game, instead of launching a "needs to be regularly patched" version.

It will still need to be patched anyways. How often depends on many factors but whether it's released in November or Feb, or at all as I'm still skeptical, it's still going to need to be patched. I would expect, as no developer can forsee every possible configuration and also too murphy's law dictates that when you fix one thing you will break at least two others, there to be more than one patch put out. That is as long as UBI elects to support the product they publish.

Stout Hearts

|RE|Warhawk

[Dan]

oh boo hoo

[CrowmanUK]

You old cynic Warhawk, if the pc version is almost finished and we're just waiting on the xbox version it'll give them time to play the pc version and fix the bugs before its released. Or is that just me and my rose tinted glasses?

[Colin]

PC Format had this to say:

as we found out during some quality time with the preview code, Ghost Recon is nearing completion on the PC.

October was when this was done. Released in November Issue.

UBI Saying its not ready until Feb Yer and I earn £120.000 a year.

I dont like being lied too.

Colin

[warhawk]

You old cynic Warhawk, if the pc version is almost finished and we're just waiting on the xbox version it'll give them time to play the pc version and fix the bugs before its released. Or is that just me and my rose tinted glasses?

←

Now take off those glasses.

Stout Hearts

|RE|Warhawk

[GreyHaired]

Warhawk is right, no matter which game hits the market, patches are needed.

It'll also be the case when GR:AW is released in February; only the number or size of patches will be smaller.

This being said and following Colins post re the almost ready for release, I'd say that Ubi ows the pc gamers one since they cut us out of two Christmas seasons and the least they could do is give us something that

A: confirms that GR:AW will be released for PC and

B:gives us an idea of what 's to come

A demo combines those two points.

Of course with all necessary reservations for the final release etc.

Now some may say: "Yeah but UBI doesn't want to expose themselves to the competition".

I think they don't. Whatever is open source is open source and whatever can be patented, has been patented.

Off topic maybe but I know a company that produces salmon feed in a heavy competitive market and they patented one type of feed. Not because of the composition so competititors could copy the ingredients, no, because of the structure: It was a flake instead of a pellet ("pill").

Just to give you some idea how far producers go to safeguard their inventions.

Any argument from a game producer that "we are afraid to expose ourselves" is the capital lettered opposite of a cow. Starts with "B" by the way.

[BornToKill]

PC Format had this to say:

as we found out during some quality time with the preview code, Ghost Recon is nearing  completion on the PC.

October was when this was done. Released in November Issue.

UBI Saying its not ready until Feb Yer and I earn £120.000 a year.

I dont like being lied too.

Colin

←

'nearing' being the operative word, doesn't mean it's finished. doesn't mean that orignal release date will be met either.

Seems like everone round here wants it all.This feature changed, that feature changed and it all to be done by next week so we can still have it in our stockings when Father Christmas comes.

Reality Check, Father Christmas doesn't exist, nor do superhumans.Unforseen events do exist.

[ARDelta]

The best way to ferret out any bugs that would require a patch is to put out a demo or at least have extensive beta testing!

[warhawk]

@ARDelta

With all due respect I think they have had "enough" time to get it right. How many times do they have to hear the same requests? 10, 100, 1000, ........ 10,000? Reality check you say? The reality of the situation is this. UBI is known for promising, and promising and then not coming through. Or when they do, doing so only half heartedly. Note that I specifically said UBI. Not RSE or GRIN. Fact is that when you look at their history over the last few years UBI track record is not one the espouses confidence in many. RvS is one title. Look at everything surronding that title. Harpoon4 is another. Ironically, we have seen and are still seeing almost identicial "marketing schemes". The only difference between the two so far is the almost complete lack, I say almost because there might be some out that I haven't seen, of pc screen shots GR3 or the ill-fated GR2 for PC. With Harpoon4 they put out a ton of them. So those that think, "Oh if they just put out some PC Screenshots that will be proof enough" THINK AGAIN. Lastly we have the whole GR2 fiasco. And people call me a cynic? You bet your sweet (fill in the blank here).

Stout Hearts

|RE|Warhawk

[CR6]

Xbox 360 supposed to be launched in November, right?

So moneywise UBI would have done whatever they can to have the X-Box version ready for launch in November.

When they postpone it till February 2006, thus missing the X-Box launch in November, it's to their credit that they really want to improve the game, instead of launching a "needs to be regularly patched" version.

←

Exactly. Ubi would NOT delay the game because of marketing or financial reasons. The only likely reasons are technical ones - and to their credit Ubi is giving the game more time to make sure they don't release a beta version of the game.

The press release with Ubi "pleased" about announcing the delay cracks me up cuz you know their bottom line will be smarting from missing out on a pre-Christmas release

However, a good quality game will make money no matter what time of year it is released (think WoW, HL2 etc.)

I personally am happy to hear about the delay too. Any extra time to make the game better is fine in my book. Can you imagine what R6 Lockdown for the console would have been like if they didn't get the extra time ...

And Rocky is right (in the console counterpart of this thread) that GRIN getting suggestions a 1-2 months before the game is due to be released would almost be impossible to implement - in fact, the game would need to go gold master within a few weeks for it to make the original Nov date. Now there is a chance that community suggestions can make it into the game.

So Early 2006 looks to see a bumper crop of titles for fans of Clancy games on the PC: Lockdown, Splinter Cell 4 and now GR3. I don't mind delays, but I'd be pretty upset if they pull another GR2 PC on us

[WhiteKnight77]

I think LD for PC will go the way of GR2, as even after the 6 month delay to tweak the game for consoles, it is still junk and buggy with many glitches. With the gameplay issues that no one likes, LD sure looks like GR2 for PC all over again as fans of the series are again saying they want one thing and are not or at least do not seem to be getting it.

[SteelHack]

And Rocky is right (in the console counterpart of this thread) that GRIN getting suggestions a 1-2 months before the game is due to be released would almost be impossible to implement - in fact, the game would need to go gold master within a few weeks for it to make the original Nov date. Now there is a chance that community suggestions can make it into the game.

←

Maybe the problem is they should be looking to what the fans want...sooner than 2 months away from the release date.

I have been coming to this forum for a long time...not sure I have read any "New" suggestions in that time.... Seems to me..the fans started saying what they wanted right after GR1...then again after DS..and IT....then the whole time leading up to GR2...now here we are again...and I dont think what the fans have been crying for has changed a bit.

HACK

[RatoN]

And we still don’t know what’s going on.

The most basic correct pr thing to do would be to release an official statement for the PC version of graw, at least.

or, allow grin to talk, would be even better.

All of us are ready to take the truth what ever it might be. Not knowing is bothering me.

- What cause the delay of graw pc?

- Should we keep making suggestions?

- Is it our comments that contributed to the delay or no?

If they keep this silence WK is Stockholm bound

[Crimson]

This would pretty much assure us a beta, right? One would like to think anyhow.

[NYR_32]

The developers at RSE and GRIN do know what we want. There is group of Red Storm folks with forum accounts, Bo fom GRIN has one too, and tons of them lurk everyday. If take a look at some of the features that have gotten in GR2 and GR:AW you can find these things suggested on this very forum. The issue in all this isn't that the developers are clueless about what we want.

You know someone once told me that if they could, they would make the most awesome game ever, but only 5,000 people would buy it.

So thinking logically, if a company can't make their investment back, why bother? Thats the problem in all of this, there are people calling the shots based on market research. "What sells? Hmmm and what sells big? Hmmm, well this style of game does better than what we just put out. So, ok, lets do this!"

The issue is their are people making descions beyond the dev teams control, which forces the devs to take these franchises in a certain direction.

My hope is that UBI lets RSE do something awesome with Lockdown PC (true succesor to Rouge Spear anyone?), it sells well, and is recieved well by the fans. And maybe that will filter back down to the console market.

Or....a certain someone around here comes up with something that gives UBI a run for their money, thus forcing them to let RSE go nuts.

Competiton always makes for some great results.

[CR6]

My hope is that UBI lets RSE do something awesome with Lockdown PC (true succesor to Rouge Spear anyone?), it sells well, and is recieved well by the fans.  And maybe that will filter back down to the console market.

←

I agree, in fact I think that Lockdown PC will not just be the true successor of Rogue Spear, but in a way, also the successor to Ghost Recon 1 PC (or as close as we may ever get to it since the cancellation of GR2 PC).

Although Ubi Montreal did a fine job with Rainbow Six 3 on the Unreal engine, I know many of you agree it never had the same "feel" as Red Storm's Rainbow Six 1/Rogue Spear. Although I am getting more excited and impressed about GRAW PC, it will be difficult to replicate the "feel" of Red Storm's GR1 PC engine.

Don't get me wrong ... I'm rooting for GRIN and I'm sure they will do great job and make a game to get excited about and get behind.

And although Lockdown PC's single player gameplay may be much different than previous versions (i.e. if they only allow the player to play as Ding Chavez or Dieter Weber), there's no reason why Lockdown multiplayer wouldn't be as good or better than GR1's (besides the fact of the R6 franchise's CQB emphasis). That "feel" may finally be back, with all the new-gen eye candy and gameplay.

After SWAT 4's initial cancellation, Vivendi realized that PC fans wouldn't be happy with a port of SWAT: Urban Justice and allowed Irrational to take the second run at SWAT 4. Irrational listened to the fans and the result was a critical success as well as decent sales. Hope Ubi learns from this and lets Red Storm do what it does best for the PC version of Lockdown.

[Cruusher_AS]

I'm not suprised really. I'll grow a few more gray hairs waiting but, what the heck.

[BigBrotherCares]

There are 2 reasons i would understand that would delay this GRAW release.

1. Perhaps they have finaly decided to implement an Anti-cheat and need more time for it's release. Who knows they will use PB or some new one. Don't even know if they have implemented it by now or not, i havnt' been following the developments updates.

2. The game is unfinished and they are late on shedule.

Other then that it does not make sense to me, delaying it's release to meet the XB360 launch is just a commercial move imo.

GR was in the first place a PC title and they should please that community in the first place. Without GR PC there would not even be an xbox title.

Now since XBoX is a product that goes very well on the market i guess they want to make sure that they will sell as much copies if not even more with the xbox community as for the pc community.

Imagine the pc version comes out and people say it's not what they expected and sells don't work, chances are that if they only release the xbox version 3 months later, the sells will not meet their own expectations either.

Why imo it's a better commercial move to launch it all together and so the one community doesn't have an impact on the other. Actually, when u think of it, isn't it what happened with the supposed GR2 release for PC but it was just the way around and xbox came out first?

Oh well, guess we'll have to wait on our candy a bit longer as usual

[San]

[APEX]

i will take a box of kleenex around for colin and confiscate his alcahol im sure the kids will be fine as for gr3 well grin are working hard to give us the game we want if it takes a bit longer np, the kids may get something for xmass now instead of me spending all my money on a new pc and game i hope they like the box of fruit santa brings them.

[[WOLF]Lizard]

I'm in agreemant with NYR ... Someone needs to hit the shelves with a good tactical competitor ... Before GR3 gets released ... Turn some heads, open some eyes, and frighten some executives.

With that said, I'm off to play World of Warcraft.

I highly suggest to all while waiting, that you try another genre of game. You might be surprised. I was ...

Edited October 9, 2005 by [WOLF]Lizard

[Snowy]

Lizard,Oct 9 2005, 02:57 PM]

Someone needs to hit the shelves with a good tactical competitor ... Before GR3 gets released ...

←

thats not gonna happen, 4 months is no time frame to build a decent rival to GR3, unless a development team has kept a game damn quiet its just not gonna happen.....

but we do need competition in the market, someone to look at GR, take away the root values that made it a success, build on them and give us something different......

[KRP 56]

Drum Roll. Straight from the desk of UBI CEO Dippy Bozo. GRAW for PC delayed until Feb.2006. November = Silence December = Silence January = Silence February = Silence March = Silence Tons of speculation abounds. April = GRAW for PC has been canceled for PC gamers benefit as GR4 is right around the corner. I can wait but this PC gamer leg pulling is getting pretty old. This doesn't tear me up near as much as the GR2 soap opera. But it's trying very hard! Keep coding away GRIN and please dump those red diamonds.

[GreyHaired]

OT: the guys at AlphaSquad solved the red diamonds ages ago. Just activate their mod and you'll never know what hit you. LOL.

[=warcloud=]

What is bothering me about all this is not Ubi's pushing back of GR3...its their obvious disregard where PC Gamers are involved...Ghost Recon came out when?  2001?  RavenShield in 03?  They have not given the PC community a game of this genre in close to 3 years.  Splinter Cell is a fun game...but IMO its not even close to its squad based brethren.

Yet the console arena is given more games virtually every year...GR2...GR2SS....BlackOps.....Lockdown....

and the PC community is given delays and cancellations.

HACK

←

I once read an article over at gamershell.com gh3d.com the title was "Is PC Gaming dead allready"? or something like that... anywayz it was pointing to the fact that developing games for the consoles was easier and more profitable, yes a very lucrative market for XBOX, PS2, etc.