CCR, delays happen all the time. to everyone. As RC points out, the fact that they pushed Zelda, Metroid and apparently Mario Galaxy all in the same year is not too damn bad. And the first year schedule you laid out is also par for the course for all companies (pretty much) when it comes to new consoles. Not sure where all the rage is coming from.
Also: some first gameplay footage, including Sonic <object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=8,0,0,0" width="420" height="405" id="gamevideos6" align="middle"><param name="quality" value="high"><param name="play" value="true"><param name="loop" value="true"><param name="scale" value="showall"><param name="wmode" value="window"><param name="devicefont" value="false"><param name="bgcolor" value="#000000"><param name="menu" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="sameDomain"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="salign" value=""><param name="movie" value="http://gamevideos.com:80/swf/gamevideos11.swf?embedded=1&fullscreen=1&autoplay=0&src=http://gamevideos.com:80/video/videoListXML%3Fid%3D15372%26ordinal%3D1192145921385%26adPlay%3Dfalse" /><param name="quality" value="high" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#000000" /> <embed src="http://gamevideos.com:80/swf/gamevideos11.swf?embedded=1&fullscreen=1&autoplay=0&src=http://gamevideos.com:80/video/videoListXML%3Fid%3D15372%26ordinal%3D1192145921385%26adPlay%3Dfalse" quality="high" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" play="true" loop="true" scale="showall" wmode="window" devicefont="false" id="gamevideos6" bgcolor="#000000" name="gamevideos6" menu="true" allowscriptaccess="sameDomain" allowFullScreen="true" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" align="middle" height="405" width="420"/></object> <object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=8,0,0,0" width="420" height="405" id="gamevideos6" align="middle"><param name="quality" value="high"><param name="play" value="true"><param name="loop" value="true"><param name="scale" value="showall"><param name="wmode" value="window"><param name="devicefont" value="false"><param name="bgcolor" value="#000000"><param name="menu" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="sameDomain"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="salign" value=""><param name="movie" value="http://gamevideos.com:80/swf/gamevideos11.swf?embedded=1&fullscreen=1&autoplay=0&src=http://gamevideos.com:80/video/videoListXML%3Fid%3D15373%26ordinal%3D1192146122493%26adPlay%3Dfalse" /><param name="quality" value="high" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#000000" /> <embed src="http://gamevideos.com:80/swf/gamevideos11.swf?embedded=1&fullscreen=1&autoplay=0&src=http://gamevideos.com:80/video/videoListXML%3Fid%3D15373%26ordinal%3D1192146122493%26adPlay%3Dfalse" quality="high" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" play="true" loop="true" scale="showall" wmode="window" devicefont="false" id="gamevideos6" bgcolor="#000000" name="gamevideos6" menu="true" allowscriptaccess="sameDomain" allowFullScreen="true" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" align="middle" height="405" width="420"/></object>
So is it just me or do the levels look like a huge step backwards? The two in those videos are pretty much identical, and look similar to the ones in other videos.
The rage is coming from about a decade now of the worst delays in the industry and horrible third party support. I love the new technology in the remotes, but how many games even use them well after an entire year of the system's life? The ONLY games I can think of that I wouldn't sacrifice Wii control for better graphics/online support are Wii Sports and Metroid. Beyond that, nothing but gimmicks and dodgey gameplay thus far in every other game I've played. Even SSBrawl won't need the new technology. You may not feel those are issues for yourself, but I don't see how you can argue that they aren't legitimate for some people, and reason enough to choose another system.
Yeah, but you of all people should know it happens more with N than with most devs. And I remember not too long before the wii was going to launch a lot of people were hyped(you included) for a bunch of games that they thought were going to come out on launch or very near launch(within a quarter or two perhaps). Metroid, Galaxy, SSB, paper mario, kart, strikers, etc. And surely more games would follow from then. Hasn't exactly panned out that way. Not that I care, wii will get their games now with the numbers they got. But the early adopters pretty much always get ****ed over, and it still kinda holds true now imo. btw I got a ds recently and it's pretty badass. Upgraded from an old gba and now I can actually see the games. Still don't have a ds game yet though, refuse to get one til I finish ff6 and freaking advance tactics 2(that last map is a b****).
I can agree with the previous lack of third party support. I don't see the 'worst delays in the industry' at all. I play on many different systems...delays are a fact of life in gaming. I disagree with the 'more than most devs'. You must also have me confused with someone else. I was well aware that those games were planned for the system. But I was never under the illusion that they were launch titles. In fact, I don't think Mario Kart has even been so much as announced until yesterday, even though we were to expect it. And early adopters of any system always get ****ed over. That, too, is a mainstay of gaming.
I tend to agree with CK and CCR regarding Nintendo's delays. The actual facts and numbers might paint a different picture, although I'm not really in the mood to research this. It probably doesn't help that Nintendo always seems to set a firm date, but never really attempts to meet it. Super Mario Galaxy was "definitely" going to be released within six months after launch (and that's if it wasn't available at launch). Metroid Prime 3 was going to be a launch title for sure. Maybe other developers aim for certain dates and miss it, but they probably don't mislead gamers into thinking that they were definitely going to hit that date. Given that, I'm sure there were plenty of people thinking that certain games would be releasing sooner than they ended up releasing (don't recall if you were one of them). And Mario Kart Wii was shown off at E3 earlier this year (almost 100% sure about this). I think that was the official unveiling for the game (first video and details), although there might have been something even a little before that (can't remember).
You might be right about mario kart, but was there an actual release date set? I don't remember ever seeing one. Other than that, I don't really think Nintendo is any better or worse than anyone else when it comes to delays. They all do it; perhaps because of the high profile of Nintendo's first party stuff - or how it is generally anticpated - that it might seem that way, but I know I've had plenty of other games I was looking for (that wasn't on a Nintendo system) pushed back. And if you're trying to argue that Nintendo purposely 'misleads' people while the other developers just miss their target.....yeah, we're going to have to go ahead and agree to disagree there.
No definite date was given at E3, Reggie just said that you can expect it in the first quarter of "next year."
So any guesses as to remaining newcomers? I think Lil Mac or another Punch Out! character might make it since they've finally given Kid Icarus some love. Also wouldn't be too surprised to see Bonk in it given the push TG16 games have gotten on Virtual Console. I'm really hoping they give Sonic a retro 16 bit era stage like they did for Yoshi.
Sony's not responsible for the development of those games. I don't recall how hard they pushed the fact that those games would be out in 2007, but they were just going by what Konami and Epic/Midway told them (IOW, those companies were doing the "misleading"). It always seemed like the release date for MGS4 was a little unclear though (see E3 2K6 trailer); didn't really follow the UT3 release schedule, although Epic seemed pretty sure at one point that it would release in November on the PS3 and PC. If you wanted a better comparison involving Sony, it would have to be something like Home...although that's not really a good comparison either.
Well the point of my post was that other companies do the delays the same way Nintendo does them. Wether that be Sony or Konami. And come on now, you can't honestly believe Sony has no say about when MGS4 releases. That is one of their big titles, and yes it was promised in 07. I'm sure they are working with Konami to try to figure out a date. In fact, I believe it was even in one of the earlier MGS4 trailers where they wrote "2007" and then in a newer trailer, they crossed out the 7 and wrote "2008."
Whether or not it is a big title, the game is still a third-party game for PS3, and not a 1st or 2nd party game (which would involve Sony publishing the game directly). Sony doesn't really have much power in setting a release date, and in fact, Konami might even prefer waiting a little more just so that the userbase would grow (although with a game like MGS4, there's not much point in doing that). I'm sure they have a great relationship, but it still not nearly the same as a 1st/2nd party partnership. They can't just tell Konami (or perhaps Kojima Productions to be more specific) to release the game on a date that they picked themselves. Unless all parties were fine with that date of course. If it worked like that, Sony probably would have asked Square-Enix to release 1-2 FF games already (actually makes more sense in this case given that Sony actually owns part of SE). You referred to two different trailers in your post, but it was actually the same trailer (which I referred to in my post). The E3 2K6 trailer for MGS4 (the 2nd public trailer for the game) was the first to reveal any sort of release date ("2008" changed to "2007" at the end...started off with "2006" actually). Shortly after the debut of this trailer, Konami clarified that it would mostly likely be a late 2007 release at the earliest, although it would still be released within the FY (ending March 08). They kind of stayed quiet about the release date IIRC, until this last E3 when they mentioned it would be released in "Early 2008." This is what I can remember of it all, at least from the official stuff we got from Konami; I don't really know offhand how Sony reps treated the situation (I'm sure they acted like it was a 2007 release,although I'm not sure if they really pushed it at major events....I think they just liked making it clear that MGS4 was a PS3 exclusive). I'm not really going to discuss the delay stuff anymore since we'd mostly be arguing about semantics. For example, we have Nintendo giving a specific date (December 3rd IIRC) for SSBB just a few months ago vs Konami stating a 2007 release for MGS4 in 2006 (and later clarifying that this might be a best case scenario). Both were 2007 titles that got delayed to 2008, but I personally think they were not handled in quite the same way. I'm sure we'd just end up arguing about how different developers reveal release dates for their games (EX: "___ will definitely be released in 6 months" vs "We plan on releasing ____ this holiday season").
I might... I just don't want to look like the biggest dork among dorks if I get denied for not having reserved a copy.
