Strategy First acquires Malfador Machinations

[Dizzy]

my biggest fear is with mainstream appeal. The publishers want to get the biggest bang for their buck and will broaden the scope of the game to include mainstream users at the expense of anything and everything.

If its a one shot deal, as I surmise it is, I mean how much more polish can you put on the 5th installement of SE, then the publishers wont be concerned with a followup product and thus any support or follow on or add on or support features may be severely lacking, not to mention them possibly recoding much of it so the game isnt easily copied, ported, modded or otherwise so they protect their copyrighted material for any related future release.

Mainstream appeal is the kiss of death for hardcore players used to features and gameplay that allow us to easily mod and enjoy the depth of the game. I'm pessimistic.