KiwiJoe Posted May 4, 2000 Share Posted May 4, 2000 Just a quick coment... Why can't I find even a small mention of CM on any of the major PC gaming web sites... Avault, Gamespot, Game-Over, no one seems to have heard of the game. I myself only found out about it from a post on a wargaming forum. Your marketing boys better get a beta demo over to some of these sites and get some publicity going. Then I can have plenty of players to beat when it's released Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Big Time Software Posted May 4, 2000 Share Posted May 4, 2000 Many of these sites did (or still do) have a copy of the Beta Demo. But the sites themselves are generally not interested in Combat Mission, or any wargame for that matter. They make their money off of advertising, and that means they only pay close attention to the games that will bring in huge crowds. But don't worry. We can assure you that there will be plenty of people to kick your ass after the game is released. Or will it be the other way around? Steve BTW, there is a strong Kiwi presence on this BBS. They would say even more so than the Aussies Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Fox Posted May 4, 2000 Share Posted May 4, 2000 There's a strong Kiwi presence here too, phew ------------------ "Heaven sent and hell bent Over the mountain tops we go Just like all the other GI Joes EE-AY-EE-AY adios!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest PeterNZ Posted May 4, 2000 Share Posted May 4, 2000 Kiwi's unite!! Although.. in two Weeks, i'll be in London! PeterNZ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apocalypse2000 Posted May 4, 2000 Share Posted May 4, 2000 Good question Kiwi. I am a big wargame fan and Just hapened across this game. I am impressed with its potential of course but your right!1 The sales people better get on the ball and kick this thing off. If this will be the best wargame ever why not build on that statement with a tv commercial or something. I sese now is the time because wargames are coming back i can sense it!11 And why no mention of release dates anywhere/ Ummm can someone tell me if it is coming out anytime soon?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miyamoto Musashi Posted May 4, 2000 Share Posted May 4, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Apocalypse2000: The sales people better get on the ball and kick this thing off. If this will be the best wargame ever why not build on that statement with a tv commercial or something. And why no mention of release dates anywhere/ Ummm can someone tell me if it is coming out anytime soon??<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> LOL... a TV commercial?!? It seems that that would be the last thing on Steve and Charles' minds right now. Commercial advertising costs money... even ads in print mags cost a good chunk of cash for anything substantial (i.e. something that people will see without having to throw their glasses on to read it), although I could picture CM in a print ad much more easily than I could picture it in a TV spot. As for a release date, CM is coming in late May, the gold demo's coming in mid May, and this is just as set in stone as you need (as opposed to a firm release date, say, May 27th or something). Most of the people on this board have been waiting for months and months for this game, not weeks or days, so be patient. BTW, if you didn't know the release "date," I'm assuming you haven't seen the CM intro/preview movie yet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterk Posted May 4, 2000 Share Posted May 4, 2000 > be the best wargame ever why not build on > that statement with a tv commercial or > something Sad but true - small companies can rarely afford anything but the smallest amount of mass-market advertising. I wrote a small hockey game about 5 years ago and almost had a heart-attack when I found out how much the big magazines charged for space (something like 7000$ for the smallest miniscule square on the least visited page). Word of mouth (big mouths! ) is still the best! The game's coming out in about 2-3 weeks Apocalypse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Posted May 4, 2000 Share Posted May 4, 2000 A shame that the good games and wargames in particular are made by small companies that cannot afford to go public as widely as they would, should or even deserved. Advertising costs so much. It's a petty for us players because otherwise I'm sure we would have heard more about good games made by small companies. Not always those *hit games made by Microsoft for instance. What's tragic and sad is that the site you mention, Gamespot, Avault, Game-over etc are only intersted in money making (somehow it's understandable you have to pay the rent). I'm sure their getting more than even. It's a shame they don't sponsor small companies like BTS for instance. Money, money, money that's all they care for. If you are potentially able to bring them a lot of money, they will agree to look down to your project but otherwise go to hell ! That's the truth, the drama of this world. A Cree Indian prophecy said : Only when the last tree will be cut down Only when the last river will be poisonned Only then will you find out that money cannot be eaten. (I know I'm missing a verse but I did it from memory. But you guys got the point) Well I feel better now that I could spill that rage out of me. BTS continue your independant work. Your way is the right one. Who cares about the costs and the final price of the game. I'll pay for your independance that's for sure. See ya 'round guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apocalypse2000 Posted May 4, 2000 Share Posted May 4, 2000 ZWell thanks for clearing that all up i have a better idea of things now. I didnt realize you all have been waiting so long as i just found out about this game? The other issue i have is when i called around to stores for example electronics boutique. They never even heard of this game let alone a release date? Why? Ok well i look forward to a game! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterk Posted May 4, 2000 Share Posted May 4, 2000 Hi Apocalypse, It sounds like you don't know about the Battlefront Manifesto yet. Go to the top of he battlefront web-site and there's a link to a great letter that explains how they work and why. To make a long story short CM is only available via direct order from Battlefront - so you probably won't see it any stores. p. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Posted May 4, 2000 Share Posted May 4, 2000 About the Cree Indian prophecy I wrote earlier here it is complete : Only after the last tree Has been cut down Only after the last river Has been poisoned Only after the last fish Has been caught Only then will you find That money cannnot be eaten Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Blacksilver Posted May 4, 2000 Share Posted May 4, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Big Time Software: They make their money off of advertising, and that means they only pay close attention to the games that will bring in huge crowds. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> And why shouldn't CM be one of those? This is exactly the game I have been waiting for since I was loading text adventures from cassette tape into a TRS-80. Perhaps I suffer from the shock of how many (potentially billable) hours I've spent playing Reisberg, but I think CM has the potential to breakout of the "niche within a niche" mold, and to attract a spectrum of gamers from those who think of Rainbow Six and Medal of Honor as "wargames" to hardcore grognards who actually care about the camouflage pattern used by Polish paratroopers in 1944. Peterk is right -- CM is going to have to break by word of mouth. BTS certainly doesn't have the time and (probably) doesn't have the capital to do it. Iggi suggested in another thread, and I concur, that we converts should be spreading the word aggressively. An independent music mailing list I belonged to had the right idea: With a coordinated, cooperative assault, the list got its members' songs charted on MP3.com. Once they charted, downloads mushroomed as people linked from the chart. The members of this forum (who, after all, have managed 43,000 posts on 4100 topics for an unreleased game) can do the same thing for CM and BTS. Once the Gold Demo comes out, let's designate a grassroots marketing activity of the day or week or whatever. Let's get CM previewed and reviewed on Gamespot, and the Intro movie run on Gamespot TV, just from the sheer volume of noise we make. After all, we have to make Steve and Charles rich enough that they will continue churning out CM sequels until they come to their senses and do a PACIFIC CAMPAIGN CM. ------------------ Blacksilver <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>History is a vast early warning system. -Norman Cousins<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miyamoto Musashi Posted May 4, 2000 Share Posted May 4, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Blacksilver: The members of this forum (who, after all, have managed 43,000 posts on 4100 topics for an unreleased game) can do the same thing for CM and BTS. Once the Gold Demo comes out, let's designate a grassroots marketing activity of the day or week or whatever. Let's get CM previewed and reviewed on Gamespot, and the Intro movie run on Gamespot TV, just from the sheer volume of noise we make. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Howard Johnson is right! I myself would be totally in favor of at least making an attempt to rock the gaming boat. It would be something surreal, however, to see any mention of CM on Dreamcast TV (also known as Gamespot TV in some circles). But I do think that CM has just as much right to be reviewed on the big boys' sites as any other game that comes out (most of which can't hold a candle to CM). So here's one vote in favor of making a public assault on the establishment Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Big Time Software Posted May 4, 2000 Share Posted May 4, 2000 Blacksilver: <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>And why shouldn't CM be one of those? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> It should be, but the old saying "it takes money to make money" is really true here. If we had about a half a million dollars, we could get coverage everywhere and sell maybe as many as 200,000 copies in retail. But we don't have that kind of money, and we aren't in retail because of it, so the numbers of CM players will be small. It is sad, really, but such is reality. Fortunately, we understand this very well. Our business model is built around spending money that is inline with sales. Fortunately, the best form of advertising is free. And that is word of mouth Once CM is out there will be a lot of talk, and we expect that the Apocalypse2000s that didn't find us before the release will find us after. And since nobody can kick our product off the shelf and into the discount bin, after is just as good for us as before Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Germanboy Posted May 5, 2000 Share Posted May 5, 2000 Steve, will you make the Gold demo available at places like happypuppy.com? I could not find the beta there. I for one regularly checked it for new strategy stuff before I came across CM. Now that I have seen the light, I no longer veer off the righteous path, obviously ------------------ Andreas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ol' Blood & Guts Posted May 5, 2000 Share Posted May 5, 2000 Well I'll add my $.03 here. I found CM through the little advertisement banners on the internet (probably while browsing on TGN for something else). I first ran upon it sometime last summer about the time Talonsoft's Hidden & Dangerous came out. At that time I thought the graphics were a bit silly compared to H&D's graphics, so I dismissed CM. Then I found it again early this January, obviously after the Beta Demo was out, and I downloaded it for the hell of it. Read the Manifesto, agreed with it wholeheartidly. And the rest is history. Needless to say I loved the Demo and became a true believer! Then I signed up on the Forum--originally as Wehrmacht, but after the Forum crash in late January, I had to re-register as my ever-lasting assholic name of Ol' Blood & Guts. To newcomers, the truth of the matter is that this game has been in development for about THREE years. You should have seen one of the pre-alpha pictures of what the graphics looked like back then. We're talkin' blocky green triangles for trees! Here check out this thread for the very picture I'm talking about... http://www.battlefront.com/discuss/Forum1/HTML/003662.html ------------------ "Why don't we say that we took this one chance, and fought!" "Stupid humans. Hahahahahahaha!" --from the film Battlefield Earth [This message has been edited by Ol' Blood & Guts (edited 05-04-2000).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Username Posted May 5, 2000 Share Posted May 5, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Ol' Blood & Guts: Here check out this thread for the very picture I'm talking about... http://www.battlefront.com/discuss/Forum1/HTML/003662.html <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Thos trees are from 'South Park' arent they? Lewis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lorak Posted May 5, 2000 Share Posted May 5, 2000 Blood and Guts.. "Don't call me rat brain. My name is Jonnie." Lorak ------------------ http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/combatmissionclub Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ol' Blood & Guts Posted May 5, 2000 Share Posted May 5, 2000 Lorak, Huhh?? As kind of a experiment/joke, I called my local EB tonight and asked the poor girl if they've heard anything about CM. They hadn't heard of it. But that doesn't surprise me, they're known to NEVER surf the net for any outside information on games. They only know what's on their little EB network computer. ------------------ "Why don't we say that we took this one chance, and fought!" "Stupid humans. Hahahahahahaha!" --from the film Battlefield Earth [This message has been edited by Ol' Blood & Guts (edited 05-04-2000).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lorak Posted May 5, 2000 Share Posted May 5, 2000 Sorry blood and guts. It was from the book Battlefield Earth (reading it now). I should have figured they would cut out a lot of the good stuff. Hollywood.......sheesh Lorak ------------------ http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/combatmissionclub Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Blacksilver Posted May 5, 2000 Share Posted May 5, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Big Time Software: But we don't have that kind of money, and we aren't in retail because of it, so the numbers of CM players will be small. It is sad, really, but such is reality.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> I applaud your business model, really. I do a lot of work in the independent music business, so I understand the difficulties of marketing, promotion and distribution with limited resources. One way we ameliorate those difficulties is through aggressive street promotion. This forum demonstrates, IMHO, that you have a potential guerrilla PR army right here to help you get a buzz going. With a little direction, even a small number of enthusiastic (and persistent) people can make an impact. I say use us. Shamelessly. ------------------ Blacksilver <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>History is a vast early warning system. -Norman Cousins<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Big Time Software Posted May 5, 2000 Share Posted May 5, 2000 Don't worry about that Blacksilver What we are waiting for is the release of CM. We think we have done just about all we can for prerelease stuff. I mean, realistically. But after the game gets out things will be different. Lots of places will take notice of the game and what it has to offer. The Beta Demo did pretty well getting around to other sites (I thought HappyPuppy had it?), but the Gold Demo will likely wind up in more places as time goes on. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miyamoto Musashi Posted May 5, 2000 Share Posted May 5, 2000 Boy, Steve's been posting a lot of messages/replies lately... definitely a sign that the worst of his work must be over Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Germanboy Posted May 5, 2000 Share Posted May 5, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Big Time Software: I thought HappyPuppy had it?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> I could not find it in either Mac or Windoze sections at Happypuppy.com. But! I found it at download.com, (think that's where I found it originally) and they have a new feature called 'Submit your opinion', which is what I did, and I hope a lot of others here on the board will as well. Word of mouth and all that. ------------------ Andreas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ol' Blood & Guts Posted May 5, 2000 Share Posted May 5, 2000 Hey Germanboy, I just wrote a pretty good review IMHO over at download.com. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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