Re: GameSpot Review Posted Online
 

Hmm, give anyone that pre-orders a game the option to help work out bugs before the official release. Let's see, that would make the beta testers actually alpha testers and early buyers actually beta testers who paid for the privledge.

That development model would be all kinds of cool!

Re: GameSpot Review Posted Online
 

Didn't GalCiv2 use that model? Looks like it worked out pretty well for them...

Re: GameSpot Review Posted Online
 

They no longer are in business. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

Re: GameSpot Review Posted Online
 

Zuh? Stardock is alive and well.

Re: GameSpot Review Posted Online
 

and recently started selling Space Rangers 2.

Good company Stardock. Brad's a dick to the community though. Muwhahahaha.

Re: GameSpot Review Posted Online
 

GT Interactive and Digital Reality are no longer in business. GT Interactive is part of Atari I think, but haven't seen a title from them in years.

EDIT:
My fault, I misread the post. I was thinking of Galatic Imperium 2 and not Galatic Civilizations 2. My bad.

Re: GameSpot Review Posted Online
 

I'll cut you, man! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: GameSpot Review Posted Online
 

Hey! Nice to see you around these parts! You know, I'm kinda curious how you and Aaron Hall think of each other... have you ever talked with him before? He's going to be appearing in an IRC chat session in a couple hours, you know... he might be pleasantly surprised to see a fellow game designer show up! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: GameSpot Review Posted Online
 

Well I'll be damned. Look who it is.

Re: GameSpot Review Posted Online
 

I logged on expecting to see dozens of posts telling me what an idiot I am for writing a review like that - glad to see that the fans of the game (and I am one of them) here are more mature than on most fan forums.

That was a tough review to write, and the policy at the places I write (CGW-which is now GFW, Gamespot, etc.) is to review the game out of the box. Which was version 1.0 They did allow me to mention the patch at the time (1.08.) I rewrote that thing 3 or 4 times trying to be completely fair and also such that people can make an informed decision. Some people will decide the depth is enough that they can put up with the bugs and trust the developer will eventually fix them. And you just can't give the game a higher score because the developer has always fixed them in the past - you have to review what you have on your PC, not what it could be.

I still have SEV on my system (along with Gal Civ II) and I'm looking forward to the mods, patches, etc. But I do think that developers ultimately kill themselves by releasing games too early. I don't believe the income from the early buyers can make up for the lost income from people who read negative reviews or posts on general gaming forums or even word of mouth.

FWIW

(Edit) - for the person who noted the incorrect caption, thanks for the heads up - it appears they mis-matched my captions with the wrong screens shots for all of them. I'll get them to change that.