24/8 release date Rickie sucks once again

[hach]

For the few of you'who have bothered to read my chain yanking post'you'll know that for over 2 weeks now EB.UK.COM have amended the release date from 17/8 to a later date first 28/8 and then 24/8.

As of yesterday ever branch i now phone say they had a memo in this morning confirming 24/8 rather than 17/8.

As i have previously posted i lost all respect for Mr Skinner(Not just a Web Monkey,more of a Monkey Spanker) after the second postponement.So this 3rd postponement even if only for 1 week comes as no suprise at all to me.

Please don't stick up for him as .COM have had this info for weeks and so has Mr Skinner'yet he still posted on Monday 13th that shipping date is 17th????

So 2 possibilities.

1)Mr Skinner is Shit at his job and does'nt even know the release dates'even if Certain game retailers do weeks in advance.

2)or he does know and is just a wanker and is still shit at his job'but likes being a sadist.

I am not bothered about the weeks delay as it's nothing after such a long time.I am bothered about the Bullshit that he posts'when it's so obvious that things won't happen when he says they will.(Not just this occasion'but the 2 prev release dates'he was still posting up to the last minute that the day we had was the day!!!!!!)

He does'nt even bother defending himself on these forums anymore'though i know he will pop his head in and read this thread.Though i know the peeps who play tourneys and get prizes etc'will still stick up for him too!

Nuff said!!!!

Apologies for language!!!!Gomen nasai!!!

Hach

[MagyarKhans Cham]

hi dearest hach, we live in a sad world...

his words of defense will be....

"I stopped posting on the forums, all the flaming and stuff. I dont feel that my comments were appreciated"

money makes the world go around. I am sure we in community are just an experimenting zoo full of apes. they aimed for a community like there is with quake and so, remember the 10 rooms into the first stw game vesrion, THAI, DUTCH SPANISH.... since we are small we are just neglected thats all.

we will overcome

[TosaInu]

Konnichiwa Hach san,

EB.UK.COM spreads some 'information' and you start flaming mr. Skinner? I'm not defending him here, but don't you think you run a bit too fast?




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Ja mata
Toda MizuTosaInu
Daimyo Takiyama Shi

http://www.takiyama.cjb.net

[hach]

TosaInu-san


You are judging me on this incident'i am judging Richie on 3 different ones.
I don't care about site of the week or Tenki Tournaments'but just want the game.
I think you will find my Info correct and the games shops certainly in my part of the UK without exception are now saying 24th.
This new dates been known for over 2 weeks by.EB.COM'but you think Richie did'nt know?

So yes i am flaming Mr Skinner as i would'nt let anyone lie to my face'so lying on the internet is not an exception.

My only consolation is the mental image in my head of Dreamtime/Creative boardroom meetings.The top guys anounce another postponement and Richie slaps his head and rushes to the toilet to be sick!!!!

"what will i say to the guys on the Dojo?????" he wonders

[MagyarKhans Cham]

it would suprise me if that came into his mind hach, but let him get the benefit of teh doubt.

remember tosa all the things that were promised, we could make a list of that: even unnecessarry things like teh tiem they updated a map about japan with teh 10 top clans/players on it. it run for a week than never updated, just like the news server. u know i can go on.

what i hate most is that they promise much more than they ever fullfill. if i do that to my boss or my costumers i would be jobless in a month.

do what u sau or just kepe your mouth shut. we are all being hyped and only if we stand strong we might perhaps turn some tide.

[hach]

Hi

Could'nt agree more Khan-Cham-san

It's not the delays that annoy me now'it's the way they let you know the day before you expect it that it's been delayed even when there are obvious clues(in this case EB.UK.COM)weeks before that date advising you that all is not well.

On all 3 release dates'we have all been worried that something is amiss'but Richie still posts up until the last minute that all is well and the release is ok for that date and then pulls the rug from under us.
And i don't care what you say

RICHIE KNOWS especially in this latest case.

Anyway i have no doubt that 24/8 will be the date and will have to bear the burden.
I only ever got into Shogun as i am a big Japan buff so this will probably be the end of my association with C.A/Dreamtime as i have no interest in Crusader.So good riddens!
Great Game'but bad marketing and customer service.

Hach

[Kurando]

Ha! This time around the North Americans get the gold mine and the Euros get the shaft! Now you lot know why we were so upset when you got the original version of STW a month before we did!

In all honesty I hope you guys get the game as soon as possible, because it really sucks with only the same 10-15 people on the MI server day-in and day-out.

I agree that the marketing side of things is totally screwed up + I don't exactly blame you guys for being fed up, but all the same steady on the personal rancour, eh. If there are further delays with the European release I'm sure Richie and co. feel like crap for not delivering on time (yet again) + that being the case I can't see what it will accomplish to kick them when they are down. -In the meantime (until the game is released) if you want to vent go down to the local recycling exchange and bust some bottles + by the time you finnish smashing a few dozen you'll feel right a dodgers again; you've got K-man's personal guarantee on that!

[Satake]

Kurando as far as i know u guys got em both sooner... i remember trying to get my copy shipped from the US , but couldn't cuz i was in Europe.

[Satake]

Hahaha , I just noticed something funny. My comp shop always says "release date ...." when a game has yet to be released.. now it says with MI "Release date expected on ...." wheheheheh. go figure.

[Methabaron]

K-man is absolutely right as usual.

Go get drunk and forget about STW for a while or for ever if possible

It is amazing how i keep on posting around even after months of not playing STW anymore... I belive it has become personal I guess. Keep the hard line guys because that is the only way to get results.

I am still in awe before an industry that never gets punished when it does not deliver...

Try letters to editors of game's review magazines and other forums... the truth is that the online community is just but a small part of the STW market... most ppl will never read the forums and will be happy with the game as is... sigh

Metha

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"Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it's time to pause and reflect."

[hach]

Hi Kurando

You defo got the original before us.

I think you got it on the Monday and we got it 4 days later on the Friday.

Hach

[TosaInu]

Konnichiwa hach san,

I guess you missed my point: it isn't 17th yet. How can you be sure the the shopinfo is correct?

Yes, there happened a lot of things which I don't like and STW WE has a lot of things that could be done 'better'. But STW WE has also got a lot of improvements.

I'm very hard to please with computergames and while I wouldn't give WE 95% (for now) I must say that it's a good game (to give you an idea, I like the general idea of Age of Empire, but once I played it for 20 mins I deleted it, same goes for its successors. I play demos from games, when I like a game, I either buy it or I get an 'extended demo' to make sure I really like it before I buy it. I'm not short on cash but I buy only 3 games/year or less).

If you give the game a close look, you might get an idea why the making of this game took so long. Perhaps a bigger software company than CA/DT could make it faster, but we all know how wonderful Microsoft products are ;-).

You don't have to like this game and you should tell the world what you don't like if you feel the need. But this flaming only creates more distance between the developers and the gamers.

The communication between the community and the developers might not be optimal (I wonder if flaming posts contributed to that one) and you'll discover that many of your suggestions are not implemented in STW WE. But there are also a lot of suggestions which are implemented, so CA did listen!

What amazes me most is that the game, despite all the changes, actually works.


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Ja mata
Toda MizuTosaInu
Daimyo Takiyama Shi
http://www.takiyama.cjb.net

[This message has been edited by TosaInu (edited 08-16-2001).]

[This message has been edited by TosaInu (edited 08-16-2001).]

[hach]

Hi

Even Magyarskhan cham has posted now 24/8 for Holland in a seperate thread.

And i love the original game and know i will love the sequel.
It;s not those issues i am complaining about'but the issues of dissappointing the buying public far too late into the day when ample time can be given.

Hach

[Whitey]

OK - each time I got a 'final' release date I set aside a day or two to 'get into' the game, I just don't have that much spare time that I can do the same every week for the next three months!

The first delay was OK - 'documentation issues'

The second delay was just annoying but I put up with it

The third delay has no excuses...none...its not the waiting, I'm used to that now, its just the principle of the thing, it just makes me so...(can't be expressed without a good amount of C4)

[Pachinko]

I dont understand it...Here it is...The US and..the TAWAIN is there too (STW:WE).. HUUHH...No the UK are a game company (CA)..Right there. Now there delayed!!! WoW! That sucks.

You know whats funny is...ALL the people will get the game. It doesnt matter. Its such good game! The EA knows that.

Plus the USA is a big place and all the money. So the US is first... I think it is sick.

Pachinko

[Jon]

Right on Hach! We have every right to be peeved, one week's delay is nothing, but it is the principle of the delay which stinks.

[Anssi Hakkinen]

I am very disappointed.

And you know what? NOT in the lack of information from totalwar.com or Mr. Richie Skinner personally. NOT in the possibility that the expansion's European release will be delayed, even if the possibility is realized. That just implies phenomenally bad resource management from EA, but we're used to that. At least it implies the developers have had enough time to do their jobs, if EA can afford having the complete games rotting in the storehouses this long. I am not surprised, and therefore I am not disappointed.

I am disappointed in hach-san and... not even the content, but the form of his rant. Quote Apologies for language!!!![/QUOTE]I would accept this apology, but I have every reason to believe you didn't mean it.

I don't play in tourneys or get prizes. I just happen to be invested with the responsibility to at least keep half an eye on what goes on here. And had I been here when you posted ...that... I would have deleted the whole thread in a heartbeat. But I wasn't, we live in different time zones, I have school now, and so on. I'm sorry.

But my failure to be more dedicated to my duty does not justify your failure to pay even the slightest heed to the Dojo's rules, honorable code of conduct, or even basic manners. The post that started this thread, may it be damned forever, is the second most dishonorable post ever made at this forum.

I doubt Mr. Skinner intentionally lies to us - he is, after all, the messenger, not the Doctor Evil responsible for all the adversities the STW community has ever faced. While it's true that DreamTime Interactive should be more open in its public relations policy if they intend to gain our respect, they have no requirement to be. And even if the entire staff of DT consisted of demons, that still does not give you the right to post that kind of filth.

If I was in a worse mood, I would have deleted everything in that post. Initially I intended to, but reconsidered. I've decided to give you the benefit of the doubt. As was the case long ago with a similar incident involving Methabaron-san, I *sort of* understand your disappointment in yet another delay of something you've been waiting for for a long time. So I'll let is slide, just this one time, again. But please, please don't ever do it again.

Sorry about this rant, people. I beg of you to understand that I'm not trying to be protective of the DT crowd or the Shôgun any more than anyone else. But we aspire to be a peaceful forum. Or I thought we did. This sort of thing just doesn't belong on such a forum. This is not my forum, and I don't claim to wield supreme uber authority on it. But if we intend to engage in peaceful discussion here, it means leaving the flames by the door as you enter. We can be either a peaceful forum for S/CTW discussion or a forum where people post their outbursts against the developers, DT, EA and whoever they please, but not both. And I know very well which type of forum I want to administrate and which I don't.

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"It is my sole wish to serve the Emperor as His shield. I will not spare my life or honor."
- Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, composed on December 6, 1941

[This message has been edited by Anssi Hakkinen (edited 08-16-2001).]

help, somebody help me decide whether i should just laugh or go ahead and cry ???

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I'm a man... I can change... If I have to...
...I guess...

[DantepX]

I'm not active in this community but I check out the forum once in a while to check it out, pretty nice forum you got here.

Well, anyways I believe EA or CT or whoever is in charge told me LAST SUMMER after the release they would release a patch to remove the hojo horde problem, stop the comp from cheating, and more stuff, I forget the details. Well come December "patch 1.3 to be RELEASED SOON". And now I find out in August I have to buy an expansion to get the patch? Please, I'm sick of this bull. If they think I'm spending money for stuff promised for free... Don't understand how thet get away with it. Maybe I'm just dreaming all this 1.3 patch stuff, correct me if this is the case.

[hach]

As is everyone on this forum Anssi-san you are entitled to your opinion as am i.
Feel free to delete this thread and i am sorry to have dissapointed you and my language in the initial post'but i make no apology for my opinion of Mr Skinner.

Richie has consistently let us all down regarding release dates.Not just 3 times on The Warlord/Mongol Invasion'but on the Original Game'and the original Dojo where i was a long term member and also the first person on the Dojo from the UK to install.
So i have been aware of Mr Skinners performance in his job since day 1 and long before most people on this current forum.
The only things he gets right is something that has been organised by the org or another site.

I just don't get it??
You all seem to defend him'because you know he's your only contact apart from Target and you would'nt want to lose that would you??
I am only into Totalwar for Shogun and Crusaders means nothing to me so further contact and i'm sure Bad Customer services and Web management from Richie will not be a problem.Of course people who are interested will forgive him anything and hope he throws them an info bone soon!!!!

For christ sake wake up and smell the coffee.
He's a manager in the company thats making the game.He's kept informed fully of developments and release dates so he can post
good news(which is usally proved to be false later)asap.
Electronic Boutique changed their dates from 17/8 to 24/8 over 2 weeks ago and they are not fortune tellers'they were informed of this by someone at creative/dreamtime.


But Richie Did'nt know?????
Come on!!!!!!!!!!
On the 2 previous occasions of being let down suspicions were raised days or even weeks before that somethings wrong'so if we think somethings wrong then surely the game manufacturers now somethings wrong before us'but he'll happily post that the dates nearly here etc etc.
Even 3 days ago he posted shipping date 17/8.

So i don't apologise for the names i called him'as thats how i feel about him.
Apologise for the language.
Call it filth if you want'but it's just honest talk where i come from and i do not insult my fellow Dojo members.

Delete this thread'do whatever you feel needs done.

Hach

[Leon]

The vibe I'm getting from the developers is that WE was just a small project to get money to fund work on Crusaders. Even now, it seems all of their attention is focused on Crusaders and not on fixing Shogun. The expansion took zero steps forward and a couple of steps sideways. I don't know what kind of game I'm playing anymore. What is the Total War series about? Realism or fantasy? This one seemed to move a little towards fantasy. I think they need to refocus on what Total War is all about.

I think I'm done with the Total War series. I don't trust the product this studio produces. It would do them good to look towards studios like Ensemble and Blizzard - studios who consistently put out excellent solid games and good support.

[Jon]

Sorry Anssi, but I am with Hach on this. Of course a peaceful and serene forum would be ideal, but this is no perfect world. We, as consumers have every right to vent our feelings about affairs. I do agree with you that no criticism should degenerate into a rant, but surely any constructive form of criticism is productive.

[JAG]

hach i agree 110% with u. . . . he has done this too many times. . . the thing that gets me is that he must have known about the delay but still only 3 days ago he posted that it was on for the 17th! grrrrrrr makes me mad! . . . can't believe he would do something like that and that it personnaly down to him!!!

anssi i get what ur going on about and i think hach was a bit too strong with his words but don't delete the thread maybe edit out some words but do we not have the right to post threads like this which give our opinions????? is that not y we r here to post our opinions on things etc!??! tell me if i am wrong on this!

i am really @##$$%@$ with this news arrrrrrr

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Watch out for that. . . . . Dam too late!. . . the story of my life!

WarlordWarrior

[hach]

Thanx for your support guys and being able to see the obvious and not just taking it because "they make it and we want it".

Jag that sounds like a good idea!!!
Anssi if possible please delete my swear words'but leave the thread intact.

Hach

[Anssi Hakkinen]

I'm not going to bother with deleting anything at this point, unless someone wants me to. (Especially as deleting the swear words would mean making half the post vanish.) The people with small children have deserted the Dojo long ago anyway. I'm just asking that you refrain from doing this again.

Certainly, it is frustrating to wait for something so eagerly and then be let down again and again. I understand that. But I would have thought you had learned something from the previous times... It just seems like the rants are always the same. Blind expressions of rage may feel good on an impulse, but they never do anyone any good in the long run. As Jon-san said, constructive criticism is always welcome, but such incessant personal attacks as this here can hardly be called constructive.

At this point I switch the discipline officer mode off - the following is an attempt at constructive conversation / criticism.

As far as I've been able to tell, the Shôgun is not a "manager in the company that's making the game". His title may be manager, but what I've seen in my soon-to-be-a-year of observing www.totalwar.com has constantly reinforced my impression that he is not a bigwig. He has no subordinates, and his functions in "web marketing" seem to primarily consist of webmastering the Community Site - and several other sites as well! And secondly, he doesn't work "in the company that's making the game", he works in a company (DreamTime Interactive) that acts as a channel between the company that's making the game (Creative Assembly), the company that's responsible for the sale of the game (Electronic Arts), and us (the community). He is in no way directly involved in the making of the game, and any information he receives on it passes through several hands before reaching him. Actually, it's perfectly possible the "press releases" are prewritten for him.

Nobody here KNOWS Mr. Richie Skinner is a liar. Granted, I don't KNOW he's not either - it could be he is in on some plot to conceal the truth from us - but I think it is far more likely that the information link between him and the developers is much more tenuous than that between the developers and EA (which is responsible for keeping the retail stores informed).

In fact, what would be the point in lying to us, anyway? To enrage us so we won't buy the game? To raise false hopes they certainly know are going to be dashed anyway? There is a universe of difference between being lax about informing the community about things (of which the corporations are often guilty) and deliberate conspiracies to deceive us.

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"It is my sole wish to serve the Emperor as His shield. I will not spare my life or honor."
- Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, composed on December 6, 1941

[hach]

I tell you what guys!!!
Lots of what Anssi said made sense there and made me see Richie in a possible new light.
I am still very suspicious though and wonder how EB.UK.COM can have the correct date 2 weeks before the person who is our main point of info.

I have already apologised for swearing'and promise it won't happen again.
If i am shown to be incorrect in how much info Richie gets then i will certainly also e mail him a heartfelt apology.

In future i will make this agreement.

If you all keep an open mind'and consider that Richie may know about the delays and is not the innocent.

Then i in turn will keep an open mind and assume that he is an innocent and is not party to the delays and as Anssi states is just a small cog in a bigger machine.

I await the next honour posting.

Hach

[The Daimyo]

Geez, that only took 10,000 words to arrive at.

If you all want to point fingers and name call,I advise you figure out the chain of command and how things work in these companies first.

It's to my understanding that CA and DT have nothing much to do with the game's distribution at this point. They do not handle Advertising, Sales, Tech Support, and they definitly have no control over where and when their production is made available after they send off the final copy to be put into production and shipped out.

Electronic Arts has their name all over this one, lock, stock, and barrel.

I for one have no idea why the game's not been delivered to England, Ireland, Scotland, or any other land where the majority of the language spoken is English.
Heck even the manual we (USA'ers) got for WL edition here is full of England's version of English. Like Armour rather than Armor, and so on. No real comprehensible difference, and with that no good reason for the delay from our standpoint.

Now, I am hoping to get some answers back from Richie and the CA/DT gangs in the next few days - concerning everything. When and if I get all of those questions and issues addressed by him and the other people it concerns I will let you all know.

Perhaps that letter I wrote him will make a difference and we'll see a few positive changes from up there on the hill.
Perhaps not, who knows what's on their mind, we sure don't!

Fighting about their company policies and such won't help matters. If we want them to be a part of this we need to hit it from a different angle.
Simmer Down!



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The Daimyo
Miaowara "Kakizaki" Tomokato
@ http://www.planettotalwar.com

[Swoosh So]

Btw eb say itll be in the stores tomorrow, so ..............

Swoooosh

[JAG]

yehaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

sorry

*compose urself*

*gets a damp cloth*

*whipes face*

*cough*

thnx for that news swoosh i am most pleased

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Watch out for that. . . . . Dam too late!. . . the story of my life!

WarlordWarrior

I hope Mini doesn't mind but I'm borrowing this:

"I emailed ea and they responded, they said they have yet to enter all the cdkeys in there server (thats why we get that error and cant get online) they said just keep trying day by day and they hope to have ALL the cdkeys in byt the end of Augest..."

That's from a post Mini made at our site - it pretty much means we have to wait. But this doesn't tie in with what everyone else here is saying about the cdkey's being faulty and the game's being returned.

If EA are saying this, why would EB say they were being retunred? I'm declined to trust EB, EA are - ermmm - well nevermind I'll keep the peace and not swear.

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TigerSoul Ii

Set your soul in the arms of Buddha. May you rest in the heart of Havanna.