new horizons

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[Mad_Fred]

Well, I have seen similar things with many many titles in the gaming genre.

This situation is actually pretty common. And the way that official announcements get hyped to the point where people assume that a scheduled date is the absolute, definate release date is bound to end up in dissapointment.

But this dissapointment is not something that VSTEP has caused. The potential customers have done this to themselves by taking speculations and estimates for facts.  They never gave a definate date. Lighthouse has a date on their website, and that should suffice as they are the publishers.

And we're also dealing with several different releases and two publishers that act independantly.
The Addon will be here when it's here, it's as simple as that...

It's always the same with these things..

If the planned date isn't reached, people moan and complain and demand answers. But if they had released it a week earlier and left in some bugs that could have been fixed, then people totally forget about the date and moan and complain about the bugs instead and say that "they should have taken longer, we could have waited a bit more for the bugs to be ironed out"

One way or the other, there's just no right way...

I've waited for so many titles or addons or patches over the years, and usually they run late..  It's nothing new. And if there is a definate statement to make, VSTEP will make it, I suspect.

Regards,
Fred

[Mad_Fred]

Further to MH1's suggestion, as you are obviously the man in charge of running Vstep, how come you don't sort everything out? Oh yes, and you must guarantee world peace and bring an immediate end to poverty.

I cannot help with the VSTEP related stuff, I'm just a keen volunteer taking the heat on the frontlines.. but world peace and an end to poverty are very high on my list indeed...   


Fred

[CaptainMike1]

I wasn't suggesting that Fred could sort it out, or that he ran VStep, simply suggesting that a respected global moderator of the Forum could pass on the general disappointment shown on the forum about the conflicting news about the release date!!

 

[Admiral-of-the-fleet]

And just to point out... i'm not moaning... or trying to start a world war just pointing out that whoever, Vstep, Lighthouse, need to try to set a date, stick by it and in the case of a delay inform people about it, as well as be consistant accross the board!!!



Either way... i know its coming at some point and it looks like it'll be worth the wait!

[ACR]

It's always the same with these things..

If the planned date isn't reached, people moan and complain and demand answers. But if they had released it a week earlier and left in some bugs that could have been fixed, then people totally forget about the date and moan and complain about the bugs instead and say that "they should have taken longer, we could have waited a bit more for the bugs to be ironed out"

Regards,
Fred

nice words fred, but you forget one very important issue. these people PAY for this product, and vstep lives from this payment.

i,m personally not that eager for NH, but i understand users who are.

and i would like to see if vstep is that relaxed like they now are when they publish it here and nobody hits the download button...

one other ponit is that there will be no more or less bugs if they had published it two days ago or in two weeks.

like the developer is minor interested if there are bugs or not, if the single user is happy or not -the single user is minor interested who is the publisher and what reasons are for a delay, he wants a good product in time for HIS money...

think a minute about it...

[tman]

i think right now i am more frustrated than i would be if vstep would set an estimated release date a long long time from now just so i know what is going on and i dont have to go to my computer excited and leave it disapointed. dont get me wrong i think this game is awsome i just want a little info so i know what is happening

[mvsmith]

and i would like to see if vstep is that relaxed like they now are when they publish it here and nobody hits the download button...

You must not have been reading the plethora of posts.
Or is it your belief that, after crying so loudly over a delay, when the download is available they will say “I really don’t want it”?

Why not threaten to hold your breath until you turn blue? That would really frighten VSTEP.

[Mad_Fred]

nice words fred, but you forget one very important issue. these people PAY for this product, and vstep lives from this payment.

So you payed for it in advance?  
You can buy it when it is done.. and untill then.. there is no product to pay for..

And the ownership of the main game does not make anyone here a special case with special rights to extra attention from the developers. We should be glad that there's such a nice forum here where there's direct contact with the developers at all so often, and even more, indirectly via the staff... A lot of game developers tell you nothing at all! There you only get a placeholder website with a rough date saying "coming next summer!"  or something. (Happens a whole lot!) And even then they don't manage to get it out before the Autumn kicks in. I have experienced this myself with quite a few titles. 

As an analogy..I got a new TV last year... it was supposed to be delivered to my house in one specific week, I even took the day off when they phoned me and told me "we'll definatly be there on wednesday", but they did not come untill a week after that due to "circumstances".. but I HAD allready payed for it..  hey.. these things happen.. everywhere.

And in the gaming industry, it is almost impossible to set a date while you are still developing something and then stick to it. And again, there was never a definate date stated or any guarantees made, so who's letting you down? no one.. no one said "it will be there, for sure!".  We hoped so.. they planned too.. we speculated.. but that's about it!

So everyone that is dissapointed, was really just not reading things clearly. Or do not have any knowledge perhaps on how these things go. As I said, I have seen so many things just like it over the years that I can say it is very common.

And people still get a developer and a publisher mixed up..  But I don't feel like getting into that again honestly.

As for the little info you seek, tman,... check the publisher's site.. that's as good a source as any. And as it says April 4th, I would suspect, that it could be a reasonable speculation, if we suggest that it might be a good guess to assume that this would be the release date. 

Again.. there is no delay as far as I see it, as there never was a bottom line guarantee about a date from VSTEP! That's how I understood the announcements and that's what we always spoke about on the forum..  And if we all got carried away and speculated/hoped too much, and if this has caused frustration and dissapointment then we have no one but ourselves to thank for that, really.

[Cobrattack]

I for one am eagerly awaiting the ability to buy New Horizons,, looking at this post:

http://www.shipsim.com/ShipSimForum/index.php/topic,5985.0.html

tells me that New Horizons has been finished and it's not VSTEP's fault that it keeps getting delayed.  According to that announcement the Dutch version at least was finished before March 4th since it was demonstrated during a public boating expo.  That tells me at least that VSTEP handed it over to the publishers and distributors to get it out to the stores.  Yes it would have been much more professional for one of them to do a formal public announcement saying why it's being delayed before people had already pre-ordered it and expected it to be available on a certain day.  Much less when that day moved twice!  Who knows maybe there was some accident while they were making the cd's or something.  Since the companies in question have chosen to not tell anyone then we'll probably never know.  I'm sure VSTEP doesn't want to make whoever is responsible for the delay look bad by making the announcement themselves and that's what comes with being a smaller developer without your own publishing company.  New Horizons will come out eventually at least we know it's actually finished and won't have another year to wait or anything like that.  Those of us in the states may have to wait a very long time to get it since there is no mention of when it will be available for download or available in the States.  I'm hoping they are only waiting for the Europe release before making it digitally available instead of waiting for months after that but we'll just have to wait and see.

[Jayshum]

I think some of us are forgetting though that New Horizons went 'Gold' on the 19th of March. That means that all that's left to do is to send it to certification, and get it burned to disc (well, many discs lol). So with that in mind, any disappointment should be aimed at the publisher (Lighthouse). This whole situation is very confusing though, as New Horizons is now available in Germany. So apart from the whole 'how come it's not in the UK then?', how is it on sale so quickly after going gold?

Just in case no one knows what 'going gold' means, it means that Vstep have completely finished the game (or add-on in this case), and they've sent it off to be age-rated, and to be printed/burned to disc.

[Tug Master]

When is it out

[budbud]

When is it out

... ? 

Maybe on March 28th or April 4th... or later, depending on the good willing of the publishers and other parameters I can't catch.

[mvsmith]

This whole situation is very confusing though, as New Horizons is now available in Germany. So apart from the whole 'how come it's not in the UK then?', how is it on sale so quickly after going gold?

The Germans are quicker. That’s the obvious answer. They were probably prepared to go as soon as they got the GM with printing and fab capacity, artwork, boxes, and logistics. They may have approved their GM ahead of Lighthouse.
There is another consideration concerning the release of the download: How would Lighthouse feel after spending a lot of money to produce and ship the DVDs with the hope of sales, if impatient prospective customers could save a week or two by downloading. VSTEP must be careful not to undercut its customers—the publishers.
Marty

[thassos]

I fail to see how anyone with a pre-order logged (and I am one of them) can possibly be in a position where there is no copy for him/her.  If it's pre-ordered it's reserved - mine is marked post free so I assume it will be delivered.  If your preorder involves a shop collection then surely it will be "put by" for you.

This thread has turned up all the traits of human behaviour (OK I accept that nobody has been murdered yet as far as I know) and one of the things it shows most clearly is the fact that we live in an I WANT, I WANT, I WANT society.

I'll try my best not to lengthen the thread any more - maybe best to stop "notification of post" I suppose

[ACR]

So you payed for it in advance?  
You can buy it when it is done.. and untill then.. there is no product to pay for..

i did not wrote people paid already for it.

i respect you are a allegiant defender of vstep whatever happens, but your argue with the delay due to development is of course not true. when this would be the case it would mean that the version to be released here is another one than the version now avialable in germany.

for me it would be easily possible to get the german one from gamesload since i,m german, but i did downloaded it there because on the one hand i have the english version of shipsim from here and on the other hand i have to wait for comments on the product if it is worth the payment, especially when i have read in the german forum some serious bugs in the newe features.

becuase of that i have to wait  like some non german users.

[Jayshum]

Thassos, I'm not sure who your post was aimed at, but I found your use of that comment a bit unnecessary for a ship-sim forum! I fully understand what you're going on about (Price of everything, Value of nothing applies to some degree as well), but I can't be angry at some young teenagers voicing their disappointment at their favourite game's DLC not coming out on time. I've read the whole thread, and haven't seen anyone moaning about not being able to get a copy when it releases. I have however seen people who are a bit disappointed, and are (if you'll excuse the pun!), letting off steam! If you find that annoys you, then I definitely would turn off post-notification.

[TerryRussell]

i did not wrote people paid already for it.

It certainly looked like it.

i respect you are a allegiant defender of vstep whatever happens, but your argue with the delay due to development is of course not true. when this would be the case it would mean that the version to be released here is another one than the version now avialable in germany.

I think that your behaviour towards Fred is absolutely despicable. There isn't an icon for the feeling I have about this, but have these:      

There is no "of course" about it. If you keep your fingers off that keyboard for a while and think about it, of course the German and English versions have separate development times and separate development paths. The words are different for one thing!

The publication of the NH is handled by different publishers in Germany and in English Language countries. Had you actually read and understood the things that people like mvsmith have said, above, you might have understood that.

And after all your attacks on Fred, who generously donates his time for free for the good of this forum, you then have the gall to say that you might not buy it anyway, because you've heard of some bugs!     

I suggest that you form a decent appology for Mad Fred and post that after you've phrased it properly. Attacks like yours will surely do nothing to encourage him to continue giving the free support that he does.

[Jayshum]

I will say, as a veteran of many forums, this is probably the nicest community I've yet seen.

[Muttzcuttz]

I've just read most of this thread and its pretty pathetic to be honest.
STOP WHINGING!!!!

I've placed my pre-order, and im looking forward to it. Id rather it be released when its ready rather than rushed out to meet a deadline.

And the mods on this forum are great and im sure they have better things to do on here than defend VSTEP all the time. 

Go and play multiplayer ship shim, go and have fun, and be excited and look forward to the new release coming out. Isnt that what its all about anyway... having fun?

Geez 

[TerryRussell]

I will say, as a veteran of many forums, this is probably the nicest community I've yet seen.

Usually it is. But a few people seem to have gone off the deep end, expecting a release to have happened on a date that wasn't promised. Because it's a holiday weekend, everything goes potty.

However, I do know that some free goodies are on the way, to make things sweet for everyone. Hopefully those will change the tone of this thread. 

I still think Fred is owed a massive appology, though. 

[ACR]

terry, my post as well my others were not offesive againt anybody. i cannot say how you understand that, i can only say how i meant it.

i personally think that your reply is a little offensive against me , but of course i can here be the same wrong like you in judging my posts.

beyond this i fully agree to jayshum that this here is a nice community and so i,m not interested in argue this here.

yes i have read the thread here and say it again and again: i,m not dissapointed for the release delay and it not important for me if NH will be released here tody, tomorrow or next month.

i just wanted to point out that on the one hand its expected that users stay qiet and wait without any information, on the other hand its expected that when the download link is here, all shall be happy and the server shall burn... some reliable information would be just nice when they want us all to buy it.

i also said it before and say it again: when NH seems to be good i will also buy it and it will be a pleasure to pay for this good work.

and one more time one more thing: i do not offence you, fred or anybody else! 

[TerryRussell]

Nice try, but YOU accused Fred of not speaking the truth. Don't try to put that back onto me. I find that to be ridiculous.

YOU should give Fred a proper appology. And YOU should do it now, instead of acting hurt.

If you find my saying that to be offensive, well perhaps you need to ajust your personality.

[ACR]

Nice try, but YOU accused Fred of not speaking the truth. Don't try to put that back onto me. I find that to be ridiculous.

YOU should give Fred a proper appology. And YOU should do it now, instead of acting hurt.

If you find my saying that to be offensive, well perhaps you need to ajust your personality.

i said this:

but your argue with the delay due to development is of course not true. when this would be the case it would mean that the version to be released here is another one than the version now avialable in germany.

when i,m wrong this means that the german gamesload version of NH is not the current one since the development continues and thats the reason for the delay, right?

i also said this :

and one more time one more thing: i do not offence you, fred or anybody else! 

so cool down and do not try to create an agressive athmosphere here with terms to me like "nice try" , "adjust your personality", "i find that ridicolous" ans much more in your last posts.

i am polite to you , try to be the same 

[Jayshum]

Just for the record guys, the version the Germans have IS the version we'll get. The game was announced to have gone Gold on March 19th. That means it's finished, done. Why the rest of us are having to wait for it is a mystery, but nothing to do with Vstep (in my opinion). This is, like one of the guys on here a couple of days ago said, infact something to do with the publishers. So if you feel like venting frustration at anyone (I personally wouldn't, as it's not going to help you get it sooner!), then it's Lighthouse Interactive.

[Shipaddict]

So that's what Gold means