I don't get it.

[Ant001]

Maybe I'm just not to bright but we were all kinda told ps:n would be "launching" in q1/q2 either that or smed just plainly lied.

Now with the agency becoming vapourware and MORE people being added to the PS team it has been pushed back? What am I missing here?

[wildcat140679]

Something regarding PS:N was said to be launched in Q1 early Q2, however, what is getting launched is unknown.

The game it self, I doubt it.
Beta? I doubt that one to.
The official webpage? ... This is the only one I believe would be plausible.

[Arkaiden]

They were launching The Agency in Q1/Q2... out of a canon.

[TRex]

Originally Posted by Ant001

Maybe I'm just not to bright but we were all kinda told ps:n would be "launching" in q1/q2 either that or smed just plainly lied.

Now with the agency becoming vapourware and MORE people being added to the PS team it has been pushed back? What am I missing here?

From what I read from his blog, and other sources , Smed never said anything would be launching in q1/q2 .

I dont have the link , but what was said in leyman terms is that you could expect an announcement of ''something official'' at end of q1/ early q2 2011.

He did say somewhere in his blog last year that they were working on a new title , called it planetside:next (just as a working title ) and that many existing ps players had emailed him about wanting to help with beta , and he said he would be willing to take subscribers up on the offer.

Later on last year he did howether state that soe were hopeing to release a new MMO around march , and it was a MMOFPS .

So, what has happened is that a lot of people did 2+2=5 , and translate this with chinese whispers to mean '' Planetside will be released in March , and if I subscibe back to original Planetside , I will be guaranteed Beta access''

So, you suddenly have a large influx of old players 'resubscribing' , then wondering ...if the game is launching in March ..wheres the Beta ? ...I don't get it !

I'm just waiting for an anouncement , not expecting any launch for a while ..maybe before Christmas 2011 if I'm lucky , and in the meantime trying to play Planetside when I have time and the inclination.

All things being equal maybe there will be announcement of a beta after the E3 show or something.. I dunno .. hence why I'm waiting for an official announcement .. and not just some blogging.

And even when there is a beta , I hope they don't just allow any tom, dick or harry with a sub to automatic enter it . Including me.

I want the next game to keep to the basic ideal of original ps : 3 factions / large battles / xp from kills / certifications ..and the premise that Battle rank gives you more options to play with but a lvl 1 can still turn around and kill a lvl 40. No equipment/level bullshit .

But , there are a myriad of pseudo fps and mmo's out there since PS was launched , and a lot of ideas that should be looked at to make the next PS a much more fulfilling game overall , much more than pacifying the die-hard original current playerbase /ex-subscribers. Including me . PS needs new blood . We need a mix of both .

There are people like Dvvid Leff with loads of ideas on his vindicator site , EvilPig and others with a great input into large and small scale outfit and many others that I feel need to be in beta . But likewise I think they should invite people who have never even heard of planetside to come along and with no prior expectations and rip it apart as to what is stupid and makes no sense and what is good about it.

[Ant001]

OMG someone else who doesnt read the facts.
" We have a very big launch coming in the month of March," Smedley said. "It's a big first person shooter franchise that we're really happy with."

As for why it's called Planetside Next, it appears that Smedley might have learned something from his signature franchise. "We don't have the official name for it. Planetside Next is kind of the working title," Smedley said. "We've learned some lessons with Everquest II , not one of the better moves that we've ever made. We should have called itEverQuest Something. Having Everquest I and II sit on the shelves at the same time, in hindsight, was probably not the the brightest of moves."

how hard is that to understand.

[Lonehunter]

Originally Posted by Ant001

Maybe I'm just not to bright but we were all kinda told ps:n would be "launching" in q1/q2

Originally Posted by Ant001

We have a very big launch coming in the month of March,

You kinda just proved the first statement wrong, the q2 part anyway

If you're just getting on the PS:N wagon I suggest forgetting about the game for a few months. Come back when SOE is paying more attention to the fanbase

[Firefly]

Something you should probably understand before you say, do or think anything else, ever again, with regards to video games, is this simple fact: video game release dates get pushed back. FREQUENTLY.

When they don't get pushed back, for example your Overlord is a giant fucking leech on a leaky tit - like with Electronic Arts, bad things tend to happen to your game if you aren't ready yet. I could wax nostalgic about my time with Mythic-turned-EA-Mythic-turned-Bioware-Mythic, but I'm sure you know all about the hype surrounding Warhammer Age of Reckoning and its subsequent failure to perform as expected.

Now, whilst I'm sure SOE isn't nearly as bad as EA and can reasonably figure out what constitutes a shitty game and/or what happens when you make dumb decisions - for example, Everquest 2 and Planetside (you can all figure out what dumb decisions were made there) - I do think SOE has a bit of a problem with their approach to marketing. It's sad when player-run "Grass Roots Marketing" does more for the game than SOE's marketing department ever did.

And also, Smedley probably jumped the gun on his "launch in March". Q1/Q2 is just vague enough, but saying they were doing something big in March put them on a 31-day window.

[Aractain]

Ironically enough most of EQ2s bad decisions were made long before release while nearly all of Planetsides were after.

EQ2 actually had a long and systematic WoWification some of which was a straight up copy and past job. That was one of thier best moves. Still has the best housing system in an MMO i've seen so far though.

[TRex]

Originally Posted by Ant001

OMG someone else who doesnt read the facts.
" We have a very big launch coming in the month of March," Smedley said. "It's a big first person shooter franchise that we're really happy with."

As for why it's called Planetside Next, it appears that Smedley might have learned something from his signature franchise. "We don't have the official name for it. Planetside Next is kind of the working title," Smedley said. "We've learned some lessons with Everquest II , not one of the better moves that we've ever made. We should have called itEverQuest Something. Having Everquest I and II sit on the shelves at the same time, in hindsight, was probably not the the brightest of moves."

how hard is that to understand.

I understand where you are coming from , when different quotes given at different times are put together the statement does sound logical that they are the 'facts'. That's my point , it's all snippits and various blog posts with nothing official from soe directly , just lip service from smedley . We even recieved some artwork on this site to suggest its not just vapourware .
In all honesty , Smedley contradicted himself by first saying ''We have a big launch coming at the end of march 2011'' last October I think it was , then in January/February saying '' We expect to announce something at end q1/earlyq2''. Both can be assumed to be the same thing , but again, nothing official.
I've been following any news on Planetside for ages , and other than a few blog posts and quotes , I've read nothing that can be described as a semi-detailed interview with anyone from soe , Smedley included.

[Hamma]

I am honestly happy to hear it's going to be delayed a bit. The entire thing was very odd on the timeline that it was supposedly on.

[Ant001]

Originally Posted by Firefly

Something you should probably understand before you say, do or think anything else, ever again, with regards to video games, is this simple fact: video game release dates get pushed back. FREQUENTLY.

When they don't get pushed back, for example your Overlord is a giant fucking leech on a leaky tit - like with Electronic Arts, bad things tend to happen to your game if you aren't ready yet. I could wax nostalgic about my time with Mythic-turned-EA-Mythic-turned-Bioware-Mythic, but I'm sure you know all about the hype surrounding Warhammer Age of Reckoning and its subsequent failure to perform as expected.

Now, whilst I'm sure SOE isn't nearly as bad as EA and can reasonably figure out what constitutes a shitty game and/or what happens when you make dumb decisions - for example, Everquest 2 and Planetside (you can all figure out what dumb decisions were made there) - I do think SOE has a bit of a problem with their approach to marketing. It's sad when player-run "Grass Roots Marketing" does more for the game than SOE's marketing department ever did.

And also, Smedley probably jumped the gun on his "launch in March". Q1/Q2 is just vague enough, but saying they were doing something big in March put them on a 31-day window.

I appreciate what you say. I understand you believe anything said is basicaly BS, but I tend to take things at face value and what is said should be truths and not blatant fucking lies. Any company that does bussiness this way deserves to go into the toilet and never trade again. But It's only my opinion and so doesn't count for much.

[DviddLeff]

I did initially hope that "launch" in March meant release, but as time went by and we had still no real information, let alone an official announcement and the games name even, my hope faded.

Even so, I am disappointed that we are now in April still with nothing, even with the troubles at SOE recently.

[Firefly]

Originally Posted by Ant001

I appreciate what you say. I understand you believe anything said is basicaly BS, but I tend to take things at face value and what is said should be truths and not blatant fucking lies. Any company that does bussiness this way deserves to go into the toilet and never trade again. But It's only my opinion and so doesn't count for much.

I agree with everything except the first part of the second sentence.

I do not believe anything said is basically BS. To put a finer point on it, I also do not believe that what Smedley said is BS, either. I also do not think that Smedley blatantly lied.

I think he did what most developer HMFICs do: they allude to a kick-ass game and give a tentative time-frame. Then as they know more about that timeframe, they find ways of adjusting without saying "oops". It's not until they get into the near-final run that they start discussing push-backs. Smedley's not sitting at his desk entering lines of code. He's managing a multi-game company and taking reports from his direct-reports. Smedley is the CEO of SOE, which as you know just tanked a few studios, a game, and a bunch of employees. That's an incredibly time-consuming and emotionally-draining sequences of events, and things like that which don't even affect Planetside:Next negatively can do serious delays. This isn't an overnight process, either - layoffs and studio closures are festering sores that simmer for an entire quarter, sometimes. Then you know it's coming and it's time to take action, so you have to stop what you're doing and work on that.

I echo what TRex said a few posts ago, namely:

In all honesty , Smedley contradicted himself by first saying ''We have a big launch coming at the end of march 2011'' last October I think it was , then in January/February saying '' We expect to announce something at end q1/earlyq2''. Both can be assumed to be the same thing , but again, nothing official.

I wouldn't call that contradicting himself. I call that putting out a timeline and then adjusting. If the times are correct according to TRex, then basically what you have is generic lead-dev lingo:

1) Initial target for releasing SOMETHING (not specific) was in March 2011, which has now passed.
2) This was adjusted to Q1/Q2. Q1/Q2 is still here.
3) Another SOE official has come out and said "PS:Next is coming". This now makes three SOE employees plus the China-market honcho who have confirmed PS:N is inbound. Let's not forget that funny fake-dwarf lady with the fake Miss Cleo accent. I don't know who or what that was, so I can't call that an SOE employee.

I get that people are wondering what happened to March. THAT is precisely why I, and others like me, have been diligently trolling the shit out of people who are out there passing around the term "Launching Planetside in March". Again, nobody ever said they were launching Planetside in March. We've been through that in fifty posts in this thread and other threads.

It's ambiguous enough to lead you on and make your mind's Gestalt fill in the blanks... but stops short of giving you specifics. Especially when you consider what the community chick "Brasse" said, about this being highly classified. I liken this to what my grandfather used to call "The Porch Pussy". That's the little girl that sits on the porch wearing her pretty dress with no panties, flashing the beaver to any boy that walks by, and then runs into the house when they come up to say hello.

BOTTOM LINE:
I believe that Planetside:Next is coming. I believe they want to release it within the next two months. I believe this will probably get pushed back at least once. I believe what Wang Chung from The9.com said, about the game basically being done. The signs all point to PS:N coming very soon.

[Miir]

I'm in a bit of unique situation. I had a really close relationship with SOE back when Malvision was pumping out movies for Planetside.

I can honestly say that everyone I dealt with SOE was great. They were by far my best experience with a developer and I had a chance to deal with a few over the years. The original PS dev team was very supportive to our movies as well as SOE marketing. Some of the dev team actually helped out in our productions and eventually they went as far as giving me dev powers on the test server to help speed things up for us.

If I was to guess where they went wrong it was focusing all their money on other IP's like SWG and EQ2. I guess I would have made a similar decision if I had control of the money. Why not invest in IP's that have been successful in the past?

So this time around I hope they stay true to that and realize the full potential of Planetside IP and stick with it.

I don't care how long it takes. Actually I'd prefer they don't give us any more dates. Just take your time and make an awesome game.

Put some of DviddLeff ideas into the new game and give me a game with a couple hundred people fighting with no lag and you can have my money.

[DviddLeff]

That's it really, we just want PS2 to be successful.

Sure we are desperate to play it, but if it fails at release that will be worse than having to wait months, even years for a quality product.