(Shocking) News!!!!!

[DarkAnt]

Richard, thank you for hosting an SE5 forum. You've really helped the space empires community flourish. I hope the best for aaron and you and I hope that the best means aaron will come back to shrapnel.

[Tim Brooks]

Alneyan, sorry I misunderstood. This is a European thing, I know Ubisoft (that's a French Company, correct?) does this - they did it with Ghost Recon 2 here in the states - I think it lasted about 6 months or so before the repackaging and drop. I know Empire Interactive (British) did this over here with my title 101: The Airborne Invasion of Normandy. Most US publishers don't repackage with the price drop. Strategy First is Canadian, so I'm not sure how they handle this.

[NullAshton]

Small boxes are cooler.

[DarkAnt]

Ok, I'm going to be harsh here and I hope you read this Aaron. I may not be an expert on the industry, but as an avid gamer who's been playing games since I was two and a half, I'd like to think I know something about games. Aaron, Star Fury did not have industry competitive graphics and neither will Space Empires 5. You don't have the money to do it. Nowadays if you don't have huge amounts of advertising and awesome graphics your game will always be a niche game. I'm sorry, but that’s just the way it is. The average gamer is going to conclude that this is a stupid spread sheet game when he can't figure it out in the first five minutes. He's going to tell his friends what a bad game and all of this will land Space Empires 5 into the bargain bin and beyond in no time. You’re going to have to deal with hackers, script kiddies and just generally malicious people who's goal is to just hurt Space Empires 5. Aaron, if you're reading this I'd like to say what joy the space empires series has brought me and as a loyal fan, I feel I owe you my thoughts when I think you are making a big mistake. You got greedy, plain and simple. Stick with shrapnel, the real world is too harsh for good games with less than fantastic graphics. I hope for your personal success as you have shown me and the rest of Malfador's fan base nothing but respect.

[Combat Wombat]

I also posted my 2 cents as a respone directly to the blog post.

[Phoenix-D]

My last couple of comments were in the "if you can't say anything nice" vein.

My actual reaction is a gut "Oh [censored]" feeling. SE5 was a instant order before this; now I don't now. I know Shrapnel doesn't screw with their games to make them more mass-market; I DON'T know that about Strategy First, and I'm worried about that.

It almost invariably hurts the game and it almost never actually works.

Best of luck Aaron, and while I don't know the circumstances involved this feels like a mistake.

[thorfrog]

Hey have any of you ever heard of Galactic Civilizations? That is thru Strategy First as well and it was a great CIV3 in space game. I'm not worried. I can't wait for SE:V. Just make sure that what ever you do you do not cheese out like MMO3.

[RudyHuxtable]

Ahhh the march of change. I'm not about to liken this to Roman resistance to adopting Jesus as top dog, but I hope it won't take the gaming community 300 years to accept Aaron's departure for Strategy First.

I definitely understand where everyone is coming from. We love our game the way it is. We want Aaron to take what he's learned from the community and build it into SEV. Early indications are that this is already happening. From the list of intended features, I don't plan on getting married because she'll only leave me out of neglect. All the elements for a masterpiece of a 4X game are there. If anyone can make it, Aaron can. He's done it already with SEIV.

But let's try a glass half full approach for a moment:

"Aaron, moving SEV to Strategy First, revolutionizes the way 4X games are created, developed, and received by the general gaming community, and earns for SEV and SEVI a place on the shelf next to Rome: Total War, and Napoleon: Total War. He ends up knighted by the Queen, who has spent countless hours locked in conflict with the EEE and the Xiati. President Bush declares the release date of SEV a national holiday. Aaron creates world peace ala The Wyld Stallyns."

We don't know what input Strategy First is going to have, if any. It's entire possible they know gold when they see it and will give Aaron carte blanche. If not, then just don't buy it since you're sure it's going to be an abysmal failure simply because of its increased distribution or retail ambitions. Someone else will eventually retake the 4X throne if Aaron dethrones himself.

Now, really. Understand I'm a lover of Shrapnel like the rest of you. Interstellar Trader eats up coffee breaks, and my friend wants to burn my computer for the repeated beatings he's taken in Dominions. But for people to already be making judgment calls is a little premature. For all we know this could be the best thing to ever happen to the world. I'm telling you. Singing in the streets of Delhi. Wait and see.

[Nodachi]

Shocking? Yes, it is. As much as I love this game I think it is going to get murdered in the retail market. Games being released now are extremely graphic intensive. Take a look at the system requirements of popular games like Half Life 2. This is due to what drives the retail games market, younger gamers. Retail PC games have to compete with console systems so you can have the greatest gameplay in the world but if it don't look pretty and have tens of thousands of polys moving around on the screen, it won't sell. From what we've been shown of the game it can't compare.

Something else that worries me is that if the game doesn't do well how will that affect the series? If it bombs in the retail market could we be looking at the final chapter in the Space Empires saga? Isn't this game Aaron's primary income now?

[Renegade 13]

I read in the blog that Shrapnel will sell the current stores of SEIV and Starfury, but that's it...or at least that's the implication. After the stock here at Shrapnel is depleted, where will we be able to get SEIV and SF?? Will it even be possible?? Maybe I should buy my second copy now...