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Spore to Ship 'When It's Done' And Not Before
Citing the sheer potential of the title, EA executives John Riccitiello and Frank Gibeau stated in a conference call yesterday that Spore will not ship until it is finished. Next Generation reports: "'It's one of those breakthrough products that might come across the industry every three, five, seven years ... We could not be more bullish for the potential of the franchise as we are right now,' said Riccitiello. He said that he still expects the game to ship in the 'March, April, May' 2008 timeframe. However, Riccitiello said, 'We will make the choice of shipping a better game than an on-time game given the high potential for this franchise.'"
"Spore will ship when it is actually fun to play, instead of feeling like a session of tweaking a very complicated spreadsheet."
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
Coming soon the Duke Nukem forever and Spore Double Pack
I used to have a cool sig, back when I cared
I wonder where I've heard this here "We'll ship it when it's finished" rhetoric before?
As much as I hate waiting for that game, I'd rather have a good quality game that is late, than rushed-to-the-market crap that is so common.
Just don't make me downgrade to Vista, k?
Spore does, in fact, have the exact same official release date as Duke Nukem Forever... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_nukem_forever (check the release date)
Well, the delays for Spore are starting to get frustrating. On the other hand, after all these delays it better be a pretty freaking good game... which it won't be if they rush it to put an end to the delays.
Obviously no game is ever perfect, so it is up to the developers to decide the proper balance between time spent improving the game and delays before release.
That said, nobody wants another "Duke Nukem Forever." If you spend too much time on the whole "revolutionizing videogames" someone will take the lessons presented at all these talks Wright does and actually *finish* a game that heavily utilizes procedural generation or whatever before Spore comes out, and it won't be revolutionary anymore.
Does a line appended to your comment give your post meaning in and of itself, or only in relation to those without?
For example, from Epic, Blizzard, and a few others who are now the big names of the industry for it. It turns out that, surprise, more people buy a game which is finished and polished than something shoved out the door to meet an arbitrary deadline. Much as a couple of publishers still hope that if they believe the opposite really, really hard, it will somehow become reality.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
First thing I did after clicking "Read more..." was CTRL+F, "duke". I knew there would be results!
The AACS key is NOT 0xF606EEFD628B1CA427BEA93A9CA9773F
Not everyone likes it, but it is good for Apple. Just keep it under wraps. Let a few trickle leaks out that don't really tell you anything other then. . . a name (maybe) and that it will be way cool!
This works 2 fold. When it ships it catches all the competition and customers by storm, and if it doesn't ship, at least all the leaks created company hype.
Self proclaimed wannabe geek. You know how it is. Most of us who read this stuff probably fit in that category.
Everyone is always bitching about how many patches and bugs are in games, and now we've got someone who actually wants to build a great game and the SAME people are bitching.
Um... hypocrisy anyone?
If you can read this... 01110101 01110010 00100000 01100001 00100000 01100111 01100101 01100101 01101011
You talk like Daikatana was a generation ago...what did you just get out of diapers or something? Zork was a generation ago. Daikatana was just a few years ago.
Can we wait for it to come out before we post judgments on it? Sure there's a lot of hype, but maybe it'll be *Really* good.
I honestly think this has gone on long enough, with it being pushed back so far. I think the best think Spore can do is release a Beta of the *First* level, the Bacteria level. That'll whet the appetites of most people there, show it's not dead in the water. It'll also show off the nice customization features, like being able to modify your bacteria and such.
I want to play spore. I am happy that the person in charge of creativity for spore gets to take his time, and not be rushed. I'd rather wait a few months and have them happy with it. Good for them for making the right choice. It better be a kick ass game. I think it might be...
That's right. It's in the article. They refer to Spore as a franchise.
So what, Spore 2010, with updated rosters and some tiny new feature? Repeat formula next year?
Spore will ship when it will look complete enough to sell for a bunch of money. We can then release expansion packs and "item" packs every three months which introduce all new bugs on top of the original flaws that we never bothered to patch.
"He who can destroy a thing, controls a thing." --Paul Atreides, Dune
I'd much, MUCH rather have a good, complete game than an incomplete one that has been rushed because the players are impatient. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is a prime example of how bad things can get when corners are cut to release a game sooner.
GAAH! MY PRINTER IS ON FIRE!!! PUT IT OUT! PUT IT OUT!
Awwww. When I first saw "Spore to Ship..." I was thinking the endgame now involved evolving your planetary ecosystem into a giant interstellar spacecraft. (Sort of like the ships in Octavia Butler's Xenogenesis books.)
For those of you who just can't wait, Will Wright will be giving a Spore demo at his Stupid Fun Club studio in Berkeley on Friday, August 10th as part of a benefit party for Bill Pullman's new play. The tickets are expensive ($250), but all proceeds go to benefit the Magic Theatre. Besides Will and Bill, Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart and Bill Nye the Science Guy are also expected to attend. The invitation says that Will will demo Spore at the party! For more info: http://www.magictheatre.org/season0708/sfcparty.sh tml
After the success of The Sims, you can be sure EA/Maxis is looking for every new game they release to be the start of another long and extremely lucrative series of expansion packs. I worked at Maxis a few years ago, and The Sims expansion packs were hands down the biggest profit generators across the entire company (and possibly across all of EA). I have no doubt at all they are planning for another endless expansion pack bonanza with Spore.
I read Usenet for the articles.
When was the last time that a game shipped and it was actually done? (I'm looking at you, Halo 2 and KOTOR 2. Don't laugh, Civ IV... what patch number are you on right now?)
I mean in general I support the idea of releasing a game when it is actually complete and not at some arbitrary deadline. I am not at all a fan of getting a game that is effectively beta and having to wait for a few patches to even make it playable (like, say Ultima 9). On the other hand, this is often a sign that "when it is done" may be "never". While development is certainly something that has unexpected delays and so on, when there is no ability to provide a timetable, that's worrying. It can be indicative that there's no clear idea of what is going on or a lack of direction or a staff that lacks the ability to do what is asked of them. I mean you'd great rather nervous if you were having a house built and you asked the foreman when it'd be done and they said "When it's finished, I can't give you a timetable." You'd be worried, and rightfully so. While he can't tell you the precise day it'll be done, you should at least be able to get a ballpark figure.
So I really hope it rules, and I hope this just means it'll be given the time it needs, but I worry this is signs that it may never actually happen.
I thought the title of the article was referring to the state of game development, and that they hadn't even got the space ship part done. I figured that meant Mankind would reach the stars before Spore did.
Edith Keeler Must Die
Most games must be done start to finish within 2 years. If you write a game and it takes 5 years, then the game is usually obsolete by the time it comes out. The longer the development cycle, the more difficult it is to target the hardware that will be available when you ship the game. And as the code base grows in complexity it becomes harder to maintain, test, fix bugs, etc. I think too many people say "Will Wright knows what he is doing!" and conclude everything will work out. But history shows that when a game is ambitious, overhyped, and delayed multiple times -- that the odds are not good.
I really hope Spore works out. But I think they may have become subject to high expectations and scope creep.
A delayed game is eventually good, a bad game is bad forever. - Shigeru Miyamoto
There are 01 kinds of cars in the world. The General Lee, and everything else.
Agreed, hype has zero influence on whether a game is good or not. All it influences is sales. Unless you can only enjoy games other people don't buy, it shouldn't matter how hyped the game is.
Thunderclone: ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE! ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE!
You know, the people who are complaining are the ones who really, really want to play the game. Me? Maybe it'll be fun, maybe it won't, but I'm not dying to get the chance to play it. If it comes out in one year or ten years, I'm sure it'll be up to Will Wright's usual brilliance. Or if there isn't, there's always The Sims 3039. :)
"Generation" has a different meaning in the video game culture.
Please, for the good of Humanity, vote Obama.
I'd like to get back into Eve-O again when I find the time. In no other game have I truly learned the power of leadership on such a visceral level. Even working with just 2 other guys requires someone to step up and take their leadership skills to a whole other level. Ten & higher puts you in a whole other league of understanding. 50+ it gets even wilder. Training and processes, reconnaissance, pre-combat calculations and planning, combat orders, Feints and parries, laying traps, avoiding traps, tricking your enemies, delegating responsibility, taking responsibility... it's wild fun.
;)
Anyone who plays eve-o and has stayed in Empire thus far, get your jump clones up to date, hop into a non-implanted one, trick out a cheap rifter or a stabber and go start shooting at people in 0.0. Start teaming up with people, and take recon positions whenever possible. Then try leading small ops. Within a month you'll be having so much fun that the 'spreadsheet life' of Empire will make you feel like a fool for ever enjoying it
- DaftShadow
i meant my original statement as a joke. i've done my share of space marauding! we're looking into upsizing our corporation and setting up shop in 0.0 space. high stakes. high rewards.
You constantly struggle for self improvement - and it shows.
Hooray for bad Engrish on fortune cookies
In cases like this the case is simple.
if the publisher is blizzard
wait for a high quality game
else
the product is vapor ware
I find being offended by me offensive.
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/05/12/
:)
Maybe Spore would be on time if he'd stop wasting all this time at parties and benefits!
Gee, where have i heard this rhetoric before? I guess
these guys are taking pointers from 3D realms.
I guess we can chalk up another one in the DNF category.
Too bad, I had such high hopes for Sporeage!
White _technically_ it may be true, it's IMHO a highly mis-leading statement. About 90% of the devs don't "meet the deadline" in that the game is anywhere _near_ finished, tested and balanced. They "meet the deadline" only in that the publisher forces them to shovel it out the door at that date, ready or not. Usually the latter.
Plus, "meeting the deadline" is already stretching the term a bit, when the average game will need major debugging and rebalancing for the next 6 month or so. And I don't mean just cosmetic tweaks, but in a few cases even getting the features advertised. I'm sorry, but in almost any other kind of project it wouldn't be called "meeting the deadline", but "needing a 6 month extension to finish it."
Not to mention that half of them, at the end of all that patching, are still nowhere near finished. I can think of several that ended up with worse bugs than they were released with. Or where they said they fixed the same bug in 7 patches straight, and it still didn't work.
Plus, frankly, half of what counts as "meeting the deadline" at least in the PC games segment would be called a failed project almost anywhere else. If even an e-commerce site worked as unreliably and unpredictably as half the games at launch, the company running that site might even face civil or criminal prosecution, not just lost sales. And I'm not even getting into what would happen in domains like banking or insurance.
Heck, I can think of at least one game which, as shipped, threw a script syntax error right when trying to start the main campaign. Nothing blamable on the user's configuration or drivers or whatever: a script syntax error. That thing couldn't run on _any_ computer. Can you really imagine many domains where that would even get a productive deployment? Much less be called "meeting the deadline".
However, in the games segment we've been trained like Pavlov's dog to that it's ok to buy crap if you're promised that it will be patched later. Maybe.
Most of the smaller studios will go broke and die after one game or two, so IMHO that's hardly an indication of their great management skills.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
So even with whips, EA is unable to make their devs work past the 100 hour/week mark. For shame...
> Everyone is always bitching about how many patches and bugs are in games,
> and now we've got someone who actually wants to build a great game
We are just all pessimists who believe that no matter how much that someone wants to build a great game, it will have lots of patches and bugs anyway.
Are you saying that because you believe it, or because you're trying to lure easy prey/cannon foder within shooting distance ?
Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.
I usually buy out the inventory of anyone undercutting my prices. ;-)
Fine, try that with my stuff someday. I'll notice a market that will accept lots of goods and produce more
Of course, I try to find markets that have been neglected by the suppliers in the first place. That's where the best profits are. So it might take a while until we run into each other as competition...
C - the footgun of programming languages
That's probably the reason. If WoW's population is full of psychopaths, I can only wonder how bad EVE must be (based on what I've read).
He's being serious. EVE is big enough that I would never imagine actually meeting a person on slashdot who got a tip from me.