With one call to my local Gamestop, I discovered that Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders was delayed until November 16th.

This is a game I have waited for since I last played Dragon Force on my Sega Saturn.

Let' s see...Pure Pinball, Doom 3, Kingdom Under Fire, and Halo 2...quite a list of delayed games...

Delayed releases frustrate me to extremes at times, but I also know that the developers sometimes need extra time to work bugs out or refine their product prior to release.

This year seems to have had more than its share of delayed releases...are there that many problems with the games? Or, are developers just trying to make things just right?

it makes me so pissed off

Yea i hate delayed games. Especially when delayed games are delayed forever just to find out that they quit making them such as Earthbound for the N64. It was a game in the making quite a few years ago that they just couldnt get right so they quit. I know they delay games for bugs and glitch reasons but why can' t they just set a far off date and then change to and earlier date. That way people would be even more excited to know that they will get the game at an earlier time than they thought.

What bothers me more is when the developer hypes a highly-anticipated game to the point where gamers are in a frenzy, and then announce that it has been delayed...

That' s when frustration reaches a new high...

But after you calm down, you realize that most delays of this nature are good for the game' s end-result...the final game has added modes, playable characters, or weapons...you know the stuff that makes these games awesome!!!

Delays are a part of gaming. The hyped games are generally supposed to be great, and expectations are high. Both the publisher and developer know they have to deliver...failures are not treated kindly in this industry. It' s to be expected, and for top-line titles, I never trust the first date I see (or even the first two or three).

However, it can go too far. This year has seen the releases of two games that had release dates as early as 2001: DOOM 3 and Fable. Fable, first called " Project Ego," was said to be out within the first six months of the Xbox launch. Before it finally comes out this week, it will have gone through no less than SEVEN publicly stated release dates. DOOM 3 had even more than that. Also, Ninja Gaiden, which came out early this year, had been scheduled for a 2002 holiday release...they weren' t even close.

Delays are to be expected, but when they start out-right lying to gamers and posting up impossible dates, and we find two and even three-year delays...that' s entirely unacceptable, as far as I' m concerned.

What' s even worst is when an anticipated game that gets delayed for over a year finally comes out and it' s complete $hitte..

CY GIRLS comes to mind.

and from what I' ve been told recently, HeadHunter: Redemption is turning out to be another pile of flaming stink much the same way CY GIRLS was. You' re bombarded with puzzle after puzzle after puzzle.

How Does It Make You Feel When A Highly Anticipated Game Is Delayed?

I feel sad. I curl up into a ball on the floor and ask, " lord why me?" But he never answers. Then I get lonely. So very lonely. And cold. I want to cry, but without tears. And I start to see the world as a hateful place filled with motherless bastards. And liars! Drunk lying bastards! AND I HATE THEM ALL! HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE!!!

But then I eat a cookie.

And the sunshine comes back again.

lotusson,

Maybe the reason why you do not get an answer is because SHE does not like being referred to as HE (God, that is). You never know...rules for Gods are sure to be different than for us peons.

You know women don' t like being called, or referred to as, men and/or a male designation. Just like men do not like it when they are referred to as a woman and/or female designation...for men it comes out as the man is weak.

I' m not so bothered nowadays, I' ll be pee' d off but get over it and wait again.

I remember the agonizing wait for Burning Rangers for the Saturn though. It was delayed about 4 times in 4 months. It was due out April 1998 I think. Come the date in April I was told May. Come May it was June. I went on Holiday to Spain in June and game my friend money to go buy the game. Went to his house the day after coming back and he said it was delayed till July. By this point I didn' t believe it was going to be out in July and phoned Electronic Boutique who said they didn' t have it and to try the week after. Almost in physical pain I desperately phoned several other places finally stopping at a large electrical store in the UK called Dixons. To my utter amazement they said they had the game in. I dived on a bus to Dixons and found not only that they had it but it was a fiver cheaper than I was expecting. Huzzah!

Not a bad game it was either.

I just read a post at another forum comparing movie releases to videogame releases.

Both movies and games suffer from delays (games more so of course).

But when was the last time a movie was delayed the day it was supposed to premiere?

I' m talking about the recently (supposed) to be released GGX2 for the X-Box. It was to be on store shelves today only for a nation of gamers to learn that it' s shipping a week later.

And lets not even get into the vast amount of delays Fable saw before completion.

What I' m basically getting at is that there' s a line between the inevitability of delays... and developers flat out lying to customers.

Really, developers should be a little bit more cautious when announcing release dates. If you only " think" you can make a release date, don' t bother telling us. Wait until you have a complete timeline of when you can realistically finish and then fill us in.

But telling us release date after release date, or even delaying a game on the day it was to ship it really annoying. Anticipated title or not, sometimes developers do take delays too far.

lotusson,

Maybe the reason why you do not get an answer is because SHE does not like being referred to as HE (God, that is). You never know...rules for Gods are sure to be different than for us peons.

You know women don' t like being called, or referred to as, men and/or a male designation. Just like men do not like it when they are referred to as a woman and/or female designation...for men it comes out as the man is weak.

I can' t tell if you' re joking or being serious.

You guys don' t know a bit of what I feel . Starcraft: Ghost delayed from October, 2003 to February 2005. WHAT A DELAY!!!!

lotusson,

It' s a joke...but it could also be true...

All we know for certain is that Jesus ate pork and liked to dance the salsa.

What I' m basically getting at is that there' s a line between the inevitability of delays... and developers flat out lying to customers.

Really, developers should be a little bit more cautious when announcing release dates. If you only " think" you can make a release date, don' t bother telling us. Wait until you have a complete timeline of when you can realistically finish and then fill us in.

But telling us release date after release date, or even delaying a game on the day it was to ship it really annoying. Anticipated title or not, sometimes developers do take delays too far.

I couldn' t agree more.

Amen to you, lotusson!

Amen...

it makes me get this feeling of dredd... that i might not make it in life to see this game. people die everyday. and if i died before halo 2, i would cry so hard on my way to heaven. it would rain for a year.

I am sure that Heaven has the best games ever...especially anything from the " Halo" series (get it? ...Heaven ...Halo...never mind!)...and the good thing is that you won' t have delays or waiting periods, ' cause time isn' t an issue once you' re in Heaven.

Don' t worry, you won' t get that lucky...you' ll be here with the rest of us waiting for November 9th, 2004.

hey that gives me the idea of a new topic!! what games will heaven have or will you be the charechter in heaven?!?! like i am master chief!!! running around slapping flood with my shotty!!!

When a game gets delayed it makes me want it even more.

I dont mind waiting longer for a highly anticipated game cos i know that the delevepors need more time to fix all the problems with the game.

What I do mind however is when a highly anticipated game is just totally crap. Tomb Raider: The Angel Of Darkness is the best example of this because despite all the delays the the game turned out to be total rubbish.