Everybody grab a shovel...

Mad Max RW · Post by **Mad Max RW** » Thu Oct 28, 2004 11:54 pm

[Game -> Update]

...Because you'll need something to dig yourself out of the horse shit <A HREF="http://thq.com/" target=_blank>THQ</a> dumped on us to explain the <A HREF="http://www.stalker-game.com/" target=_blank>S.T.A.L.K.E.R.</a> delay. Courtesy of Max Steller, online content manager of <A HREF="http://thq.de/" target=_blank>THQ.de</a>:<blockquote>ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…â€œThe release of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. was postponed from Q1/2005 to May so that GSC has enough time to test the complex game world and all of its facets. The dynamic life simulation system has become better than the developers expected. Unfortunately, this also results in that the investment of time into the testing has become more extensive than initially planned. As far as I was told today, the implementation of the features has been completed all in all. (The game is, so to speak, ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…â€œfinishedÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬?.) What is being done now is optimization of the code, thus the game will run as we want it to. The dynamic life simulation system can, however, only complexly be tested as every situation differs from the precedent and nothing hardly happens exactly the same way as it did before. What on the one hand guarantees a high value of re-playability, makes the completion of the game very time-consuming on the other.
 
 Simply put: The developers have to play through S.T.A.L.K.E.R. again and again and examine how the other stalkers and creatures react and how this influences the whole course of the game. I am glad that THQ does not release the title under time pressure, but offers the necessary time that the development requires, so that GSC can live up to the high expectations.
 
 An official press-release will probably pop up tomorrow. Yet, I hope that this very first estimation helps you out.ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬?</blockquote>So in short, the game is done and is so damn good it needs another year of testing. Interesting enough, the proposed beta test was also delayed.
 Spotted at: <A HREF="http://stalker.myexp.de/en/index.php?si ... on-Lost</a>

SDMVersion3 · Post by **SDMVersion3** » Fri Oct 29, 2004 12:03 am

Shit, thought we were burying Interplay.

(again)

But man, that is some rancid propoganda.

Mad Max RW · Post by **Mad Max RW** » Fri Oct 29, 2004 12:06 am

The most logical explanation buried beneath the spin is their amazing life simulating AI system dealy doesn't work at all. They can't pull it off and never will.

S4ur0n27 · Post by **S4ur0n27** » Fri Oct 29, 2004 12:08 am

Maybe they hired Steve.

At least they have screenshots, anyway.

T-900 · Post by **T-900** » Fri Oct 29, 2004 4:58 am

I'm thinking more the writer of that release was given five minutes to come up with a vaguely plausible excuse for them holding it back for business reasons (until a long time after the release of halflife two for example)...

It's a pathetic excuse, that makes no sense.

Testing is no doubt what they will use their additional time for, and testing is never a bad thing... but that's not the reason for the delay.

Another possibility is that the game simply isn't near finished, though i doubt that...

On another note, this would be a good time to pelt the developers with angry demands and polite requests for Co-operative play to be implemented somehow.

Sovy Kurosei · Post by **Sovy Kurosei** » Fri Oct 29, 2004 10:19 am

Why is the beta test held back, if all the game needs is testing?

Yeah, grade, triple-freaking-A bullshit here.