Game status

[Waaarg]

Will all the speculation and anticipation going on, (checked hourly until new info was posted), what is the status of the game? Gold, or Pre-retail beta?

For those that don't know what I am talking about there is a lead time from when the developers have a retail ready game (Gold), to get them on store shelves or in this case in the mail.

There was mention of the manual still being worked on, which would indicate we still are in beta. IIRC battlefront has announced gold status before, and I haven't been able to find any announcements anywhere.

Anyhow, any update would be appreciated.

[ChrisND]

They've always announced Gold status IIRC.

So until you hear then...

[gibsonm]

Yes, I certainly HAVEN'T seen any announcement about having gone to Gold (or even FC yet).

Hence my doubts about people expecting to see it "within a week", etc.

[Waaarg]

Aye, if they announced gold within a day or two... MAYBE we would eee it within the estimates posted by BF (2nd week of may), but that doesn't seem likely. IMHO last half of may is being optimistic.

[dan/california]

I think they would begin digital sales/downloads while disk were being stamped. So if the installer can be worked on while the game is in final testing it could be a short trip from gold status to that magic email.

[MikeyD]

The process is not that they finish the project then do a couple weeks of administrative work then release. Its polish-polish-polish the game 'til it shines right up until the very last moment. Counting on my fingers, I guess I've survived seven game/module released over the years (wow!) and I must say this one is going very smoothly. No playing emergency catch-up finishing art or scenarios. No panicking putting out unexpected fires. As near as I can tell they're just about exactly where they want to be.

[Lt Belenko]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_release_life_cycle

[DaveyJJ]

Aye, if they announced gold within a day or two... MAYBE we would eee it within the estimates posted by BF (2nd week of may), but that doesn't seem likely. IMHO last half of may is being optimistic.

It's still 8-15 days from the notice on the 20th saying 2-3 weeks.

Assume that the SteelBook box is done long ago (no reason the details would change much on that), so given what I know about the print and media business, fulfillment on a DVD run on the scale BF is doing (small compared to some runs I've ordered for clients) might take only 3 days or so to finish, then packing and distribution to BF, then packing for clients to fulfill orders.

Given a 15 day window, that's more than enough time to go GM, send burnable master EXE and app image to the manufacturer, burn and silkscreen the one side (the later possibly done already), get them to BF and mailed (assuming they're not using a mail order fulfillment place or direct mail from the printers after sending their customer list over).

I'm assuming the rule book is all done if Martin's getting it prepped for online, but even that's a small print run (offset or digital) including trim and perfect binding.

8-15 days easy if they are ready.