Long time lurker, first time poster

[kendo65]

Oleg:

"This now will depending of publisher... and our fast woks over the bugs.
Bugs are present. The product is probably the most serious in industry in programming of features, internals, etc...
So I can't tell exact date right now. But we are close, very close in our works of final release version... We need to polish all the coming in final release features. I personally wouldn't release the product that have serious bugs that was known."

This is what we have folks. Oleg nailed it down regarding exactly where in the development cycle they are.

Unfortunately, he left a big enough ? about the time needed for bug-fixing, 'polishing', and publisher issues that no-one has felt compelled to diverge from their previous positions.

The pessimists are still pessimistic and vice versa. The argument goes on.

As a paid up member of the optimist camp, my first reaction to the posting on Friday was to expect that we'd have it for Christmas. I would still ask the pessimists to ponder on that quote:

"we are close, very close in our works of final release version..."

but I know what their answer will be.

I'm with Chivas regarding advertising / lead time etc. I don't think it will need 6 months.

But, like I said before this is all guesswork. We're all whistling in the dark and picking the bits of info that confirm our own prejudices.

[kendo65]

Originally Posted by Tree_UK

...
Think about it people, do you really think Oleg who has spent over 6 years developing this game will release it with no marketing? No magazine reviews, no video footage in DX 11 or 10, no sound previews, no system specs and no dedicated website, what Publishing company would buy into that self destructive stratergy. Oleg has said that this game is going to be incredible, im certain that if he truly believe it is then he will get all the hype it deserves from whatever media possible before its release. Also Oleg has stated that work on a dedicated website was currently in progress, so when we see it we will know we are on the final leg.

Does anyone here remember what the situation was with il2's release? How did they handle that? (Before my time)

[Chivas]

It was advertised thru magazines and gaming websites. These days there are more TV programs for gaming addicts so there could be a for tv coverage.

[Blackdog_kt]

It was very low key compared to titles of other genres, just like most simulators are.
Heck, i picked up Microprose's European Air War (my main WWII sim before IL-2 and among the best of its time) because i happened to see it on a shop window by chance one evening, as i was strolling down an avenue to meet some friends for a couple of beers.
Same for Red Baron II, i made a habit of going to one of the big bookshop/software retailers in town every couple of months to check for new simulators and i saw the box among Falcon4 and several Jane's titles about jets, i had no idea a Red Baron II was even being developed up to that point.

Your mileage may vary of course, as my past experiences date back to a time where internet connections where not all that common here in Greece. So, i don't know if any widespread promotion was done for RB2 and EAW online.

However, by the time IL-2 appeared i had an internet connection (dial-up at that time and usually borrowed/shared between 2-3 people). The way i remember it is that i stumbled on it by surfing websites like simhq.com and combatsim.com. Again, i didn't see a massive promotion campaign even though i was able to go on the internet and look for it.

Of course things have evolved since then, but assuming that each gaming genre has gained roughly the same amount of points on the "promotion scale", the relatice distances between them would remain the same.

What that means in plain English is that in the current age i don't expect to stumble upon SoW by chance anymore, i'm sure i'll see something about it on the internet. However, i don't expect a 6 month pre-release marketing campaign for SoW like we see for titles like Starcraft 2 either.

Most of the people who are interested in it already know about it, some people will learn about it through word of mouth (i'm talking the ears off of a couple of my buddies trying to get them interested in it) and the rest will find out a couple of months past release when they will be browsing gamespot for the latest mainstream title and happen to come across a SoW review.

[d165w3ll]

Originally Posted by KOM.Nausicaa

Vectorforfood,

I'll try to answer this. I am not affiliated with Oleg or team in any way, but I have some experience in game and entertainment industry. There are some 3 or 4 reasons, IMO, which can explain the 'long' development time (long, if you count since first announcement in 2004):...

A very good response that covers a lot of ground. Some of the 'angries' above take note. You cannot win an argument by bluster and shouting. A cool presentation of data does the trick.