So other companies don't announce Beta dates?

[Stardouser]

Originally Posted by Pride

EA tend to have a habit of releasing their "Betas" as almost complete games to double them up as a demo. However I wouldn't call them a demo as such as they do still make changes based on them, and they have a start and end date. Demos are usually finished.

To answer your question directly, yes I believe they did as I remember participating in them around the times quoted and I can't find contradictory information elsewhere. I also updated my list with 5 more games, admittedly Mass Effect is another one of those EA games which seemed to double as a demo, it even came bundled with a single player mission! I think they did use the multiplayer data to improve the final product though so I choose to include it.

Nice! One question...you only listed one CoD game, does this mean CoD's latest games have not been announcing their beta dates?

[Pride]

Originally Posted by Stardouser

Nice! One question...you only listed one CoD game, does this mean CoD's latest games have not been announcing their beta dates?

World at War is the only game that I recall Call of Duty doing a beta for in recent years, at least it was the only one I was personally involved in. The others have all been in-house to my knowledge. Hence the broken mess we get every year :P

[InternetZombie]

https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Valve_Time

Valve is the worst for releasing stuff. Hell they said we would have Half Life 2 Episode 3 by Christmas 2007... so you know there only late by 4 and a half years now...

PS2 is still being tested internally... If it takes them another year to work out all the kinks then so be it, I only want to play the very best game.

[LexTalionis]

man. a year from now your computer will be obsolete and nvidia will have a monopoly over all games. lol.

[The Degenatron]

Oooo, this is FUN! I've got some:

Team Fortess 2
Announced: 1998 / Released: October 10, 2007
9 Year Gap

Duke Nukem Forever
Announced: 1997 / Released: 2011
14 Year Gap

Black Mesa Source
Release Date Announced: Dec 2008 for "Sometime in 2009" / Still in Developement
-3 Year Gap

The point? Shit happens and only an idiot would make a guarantee when no reasonable time-frame can be predicted.

[Stardouser]

Are those beta announcement dates or just missed projected release dates?

[Pride]

Originally Posted by Stardouser

Are those beta announcement dates or just missed projected release dates?

Degenatrons quotes are expected release dates to actual release dates.

[Mastachief]

Originally Posted by Dart

In fact rather than calling out SOE, I'd like to publicly thank Matt, Tony, T-Ray and co for being so forthcoming and accessible with the fans.

^^^ THIS

All these impatient noobs waaaaaa'ing about "where is my beta" need to take a step back and realise just how lucky they are to have had the experience that SOE have provided so far. So many moaned "ps1 never got any marketing" or "i would have playing ps1 had i known it existed" SOE have gone far an above ANY AAA title developers I have ever seen with community interaction and listening to the current fanbase (See Killcam). I don't get how radarx/higby/tray haven't reached the end of their ropes by now with certain people.

So in essence stop being a bunch of entitled douches and wait like the rest of us, patiently so SOE get PS2 right from the get go.

We all want beta but moaning about it will only make the wait longer, go play some planetside

[Kurtz]

Originally Posted by Krawanan

But telling us 'in the next few weeks'.
And then making an annoucement again which says 'soon' 4 weeks later...

^this.

Don't confuse being disapointed with not being grateful.

I've said it many times, we wouldn't be continually disapointed if they hadn't said anything.

First Smed with "beta is closer than you think.." over a year ago.
Then Higby with "beta invites are going out over the next few weeks.." over a month ago.

No one expected a beta this soon until they basically told us it was....thus the disapointment.

[Tsunami]

Originally Posted by Shocktor

Two questions about this:
Also, what do 'most people' believe? You say it's going to be sooner... so what is the average of what most people believe? (just being a pain for being a pain's sake -- you don't have to answer the second question)

I think a pole would be inorder.

[basti]

Every game the same.

No date? People ask for it.
No answer? People get mad.
Soon/very soon/in the next few weeks? People ask for a date again
No date? People get mad.
Give date? Most are happy, some get mad "Why not sooner?"
Miss date? People go into ultra rage.


No matter what ya do, people get mad or ask for more. Best thing to do? Dont develop the game in the first place, thats the only way to not have people rage on forums.


That being said, i urge everyone to chill! You are making me mad. If you dont have a clue how this stuff works, then just wait and see. All of us cannot wait for beta, heck im having DREAMS about playing PS2. Yet, do you see me asking for a date? Nope. Why? Because I know that stuff simply needs time. A game doesnt appear if you set a date and let time pass. A game appears when its ready for it, or when you have to rush things for whatever reason, and no moment sooner.



Take your time SOE, Its better we wait than find ourselfs in a beta that constantly crashes on our machines, and that lacks critical features.

[EightEightEight]

Originally Posted by RadarX

Wish I could comment more on dates. I really do and we know how badly everyone is clamoring for this. As we've said Technical Beta will be first and very tiny just to make sure everything is working. It won't be a lengthy time period before we start bringing in folks in waves.

So I have a question and this seems like the thing that companies are doing these days.

Is this going to be a Beta, or is it going to be a glorified demo?

I have been doing beta testing since Star Craft Broodwar. That game was totally broken in beta we had to fill out a 3 paragraph summary at the end of our gameplay sessions or be removed from the beta and that was in addition to the beta ticket responses on issues. Now a days it seems like Beta is just a demo of the game for the select few to build hype and marketing. The reason I ask this is because you state that you need to make sure everything is working. Well in my beta knowledge that should be our job.

[Hamma]

Originally Posted by The Degenatron

Oooo, this is FUN! I've got some:

Team Fortess 2
Announced: 1998 / Released: October 10, 2007
9 Year Gap

Duke Nukem Forever
Announced: 1997 / Released: 2011
14 Year Gap

Black Mesa Source
Release Date Announced: Dec 2008 for "Sometime in 2009" / Still in Developement
-3 Year Gap

The point? Shit happens and only an idiot would make a guarantee when no reasonable time-frame can be predicted.

Glad someone here is making sense.

[basti]

I would guess its an actual beta, but not for a broken game.

SOE has plenty of QnA and other people who can make sure the game isnt completly broken. But what they absolutly cannot test is performance on different machines (there are rather strange setup out there) as well as actual gameplay and balance, as that stuff just needs loads of people. I expect quite some stuff to change during beta, but i dont expect the game to crash every x minutes.

[Stardouser]

Originally Posted by Hamma

Glad someone here is making sense.

Those were release dates, we're talking about beta announcements.

Now, if he can go back and show that those games actually got to the point where they announced a beta date and then the beta never came, that would be relevant. Although 3 games that didn't meet their announced beta dates against a bunch more that did, not sure that proves anything.