X3 - Its Release state - Egosoft - And us, the consumers!

[SteveMill]

I bet any money the games industry works like the book trade. The shops bear the risk, no sale or return. Once the publisher has sold them their units they've made their money and so couldn't give a toss if consumers are unhappy or games returned etc.

Bad reputation loses future sales? Nothing a few glossy ads to grease the palms of game magazines won't cure.

[keithrh12]

yeah but the book companys don't publish an unfinished book, unless they send you extra pages in the mail. Which is never going to happen.

[Submarine]

Every time I start X2 I see an antiquated intro screen that reminds me of X-Wing Alliance, ie 1999 technology, and I know that X3 still has the same screen, at which point I feel vindicated in my decision not to get X3.

X3 has amateurish qualities in the sense that it is obviously made for more reasons than money but also in the sense that it does not have high enough standards. As with the lion & antelope metaphor, the amateur does not usually reach the same standard as the professional, hence a professional production will eat an amateur production for breakfast, as it were. Egosoft get away with it for now because noone else is making a SP space sim.

[alphalvr]

x3 great game and it will get better, end of!!

its already been the best $ per hours played of any game i played so far.....except morrowind of course

[Rowgue]

The main problem with what you thoughtfully outlined there can be summed up in one simple sentence.

Many games have thier release dates pushed back repeatedly.

I've followed the projections of many games over the years that have been pushed back and pushed back and pushed back sometimes entailing a year or more of delay to the release date.

Ultimately it's still egg on Ego's face, they failed to realize soon enough that they would not be able to come close to meeting the deadline hence being able to avoid all the release time issues you highlited. If they were a little more realistic about what they could actually accomplish they would have been able to give fair warning and the printing companys, etc. would have had plenty of time to rebook those time slots for something else. It happens every day with lots of other games, why is this the only game in history that could not have been pushed back. And yes it even happens with small market developers.

And to all the people that keep suggesting that we get X2 since it's a great game that actually runs. Well us english speakers are out of luck since it's sold out in thier store. And for many people buying from Ebay is not an option for software as there's just too high a risk of recieving broken crap especially with software.

[Lhirondelle]

I am just really sick of more and more companies using the data gathered AFTER releasing a game to the public as how it runs on the broader spectrum of computers.

More and more games are being released with identified flaws that were ignored and the game was cut and shipped anyway.

We ( consumers) unfortunalty are quickly becoming the beta testers of the video game industry in general.

If a console game or system came out like this it would be recalled. Yet the PC industry as a whole is legally able to hum and hawww because " operating system and hardware enviroments are too varied and unstable" blah blah blah..

Its kinda funny but Im noticing the trend of PC gamers paying top dollar for a game that may or may not work the way it is supposed to according to the devoloper's recomended requirements. They participate in what could be called both playing the game and beta testing......

Weeks go by ( somtimes months in Egosoft's case) and the game is patched..tweaked, trimmed and streamlined.......then it gets released with no glitches, a little missing content, and a guarentee on a console system.

I'm glad that I as a consumer, pay money to do beta testing for a software company so that they can save a few $K in Research and devolopment and Quality Control, and at the same time generate quick revenue from my pocket. ( I mean the industry in general, not just EGO)

Then when everything works great they pump it out to the consolers for less then I paid, and they have the most stable software enviroment. Also you can return a crap game that doesnt work with a console, but with PC software it's always " point the finger time "

[Azzogat]

did you even read the first post from this thread ?

[Guysmiley]

Obviously not. I am a veteran of the original X:BTF, and I LOVED it. It was mind blowing, confusing, complicated and fun all at the same time. For the first few days I didn't even know about SETA... and I still had fun!

Let me tell a little story. Two weeks ago I bought Call of Duty 2 for $39 at Best Buy. Beat it in a weekend. It's a great game, to be sure, lots of scripted action sequences and 'cool stuff' that I had a heck of a time with.

After that weekend, I saw X3 on the shelves and it clicked that this was a sequel to X:BTF (I had no idea there even was an X2). Bought it for $39. I've been playing it every waking hour I'm not working since I got it, and I'm -just- getting started.

Part of as you say "point the finger time" is because people are dumb. Think on that for a moment. People buy cheap crappy RAM or motherboards, or don't wonder why their PC started making a buzzing noise because it stopped (gummed up fan anyone?).

People get spyware and viruses on their machines and don't have the knowhow to remove or repair them. This game pushes hardware to its limits and if you have a problem with your system, weird stuff can happen. Consoles are easy, hardware is fixed and to spec no matter what. One video subsystem. One CPU type. One input device.

So yeah there are some bugs. And it has a steep learning curve (nowhere near as bad as the original X though). But this is one heck of a game, and I think Egosoft has done a great job.

[Player.]

I wonder if reviving topics is allowed

[Hob Anagerik]

I think there should be a law passed that if a company releases a piece of software, not just games, that has advertised features on the box or other marketing material that do not work at release date, they should be forced to include an addendum that CLEARLY states what features do not work, and any other identified problems that they are working on. If Egosoft had done this it would have probably made half the posts on this forum within a week or two of release redundant and we, the public, would have been better informed. All it has to be is a piece of paper with a list, nothing fancy.

Actually, after a quick inspection of the back of the case it says there are over 200 ships fully modifiable. 200? That can't be right can it. Looking at the Excel spreadsheet by pccenter it lists on the 'Where can buy ships' tab that there are 110 and this is including multiple variants of TS ships as well. Even if we include the Terran ships that is nowhere near 200+? ASA anyone?

[Deleted User]

...if a company releases a piece of software that has advertised features on the box, or other marketing material that do not work at release date...

then there should be some sort of outcry (*) which may change the publics' perceptions of the perpetrator.

Any one would like to put a price on a public humiliation?


(*) Government controls the media, media controls the mind.

[Hob Anagerik]

Some software comapanies do include addendums, last minute changes that could make it to the printers for instance. If the companies in question are working on patches to known problems then they really have no excuse for no including a short list of known problems that are being worked on. Either that or I think the public needs to take a stand and make a case to the Advertising Standards Authority.

Even if the cases failed it would highlight that the buying public are not happy about buying incomplete products and the last thing publishers want is bad press. If enough people did this I'm sure things would eventually change.

[Deleted User]

the last thing publishers want is bad press

BINGO!


...and authors, and puppet masters, and developers...etc:

Drag one down and you'll have collateral damage on the others. Pretty simple how its going to work!

[Horsewhisperer]

After the initial hype surrounding the release of X3, it became apparent that it was released in an incomplete form. A browse through the forums made this obvious.

There were glitches, CTD's, and even the story line was not complete in the first CD release.

I, like anyone else, do not appreciate forking out A$100 for an incomplete, bug ridden title.

But, it must be remembered that most Software released today has SUPPORT. And support goes a lot further than just a help forum. It involves a community (Especially in a title such as this one, as it has a history with the earlier X-Series games). Wherever there is a community, and especially a games developer that encourages this, there is always the likelyhood that most, if not all of the problems will be worked out (just take a look at the falcon 4 flight sim community, to get an excellent example of this).

I have many games titles now, collected over more than 12 years (believe me, I simply don't have the time to play them all). The games that I always end up gravitating to, have the strongest communities. The X fan community is getting up there with the best of them and looks to be improving.

So although I was new to the X-Series, I knew that x3's time would eventually come (gratefully it only took a couple of months until the reasonably stable 1.3 patch came out). I wisely held off purchase until that happened.

I must still take my hat off to all those who jumped in the deep end early on though. Without your frustrations (and you willingness to air them constructively on forums such as this one), the take up of this excellent title (which is sure to get better), would have been nowhere near as good as it has been.

Cheers

[Griefheart]

Necromancy I say!

[apricotslice]

Interesting, I hadnt seen this post before. (I only read the OP, nothing further).

For those who do not mind, I'd like to add a somewhat spiritual add-on.

Everyone who reacted badly to the bugs and problems of X3, has issues and life lessons to do with this. X3 is just the latest way of manifesting these issues. The problems exist to make you look at how you react to them, and change this for the better.

I dealt with a lot of my karma and issues some time ago. I wasnt able to get a copy of X3 until after the 1.3 patch was out, so I missed all the initial problems. Why ? Because I didnt need them.

Everyone can read my reactions to starting X3, and those reactions led me to lessons about perseverring and invalid expectations.

Remember : What happens to you is not as important as how you react to it.

Your reaction determines if it will happen again or not.

Everyone who reacted extremely badly to problems with X3 will inevitably be drawn to another new game that gives them a worse problem.

Problems are there to learn from. Even if the lesson isnt obvious, they are not excuses to slander other people and call them names and use bad language, they are there to stop you in your tracks, say whats wrong with me, and to heal yourself of a behaviour that only brings you more of the crap you dislike so much.

It only ends when you no longer need it.

I feel for Egosoft, but the way X3 was implemented, is like a psg becuase the effects are so wide. They have lessons to learn from the way they did things and choices they made that generated so much bad energy in the forum, and yet they are have been used to confront each of us with lessons we needed to learn.

Do yourselves a favour and before you say "Why cant Egosoft get it right", ask yourself why you are reacting to it so badly and what you need to to do to change yourself so Egosoft can get it right.

You cant change Egosoft.

You can only change yourself.

[spaceweedaddict]

Holy rubish! this is still going?

[Electric_Kola]

It appears so yes, never bothered reading this thread in the first place, not really sure why its been dug up either.

Oh well

[mrbadger]

good god, how old is this thread?

[Xaffax]

Yeah well.... let's just hope they will release the other half of the game.