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I'm Not a Basher
I'm just a kid with questions.
Given the proximity of the Darkfalls’ imminent ’08 release – Shouldn’t there be a bit more news, a few more official posts, some solid facts about gameplay, a FAQ that isn’t years old?
Almost 2 weeks ago they said they were going to an Electronic Sports Cup and posted some measly new screenshots. I don’t know what the hell EWSC is, but I know it doesn’t seem very news worthy – Especially considering that it isn’t until next month and the San Jose EWSC featured gaming gems like:
COUNTER-STRIKE
QUAKE
WARCRAFT 3
TRACKMANIA
COUNTER-STRIKE WOMEN
They say they are hosting a DF event, but DF isn’t even on the schedule
Moreover...
2008 ends in like 70 days. Given printing and distribution shouldn't the game go Gold in 50 days, give or take?
They set the 08 date, so I'm just wondering when they will start talking regularly and when they will start listing specifics.
...and maybe more importanly - Why they haven't yet.
If I'm reading right, as of 8/1/08 they don't have a publisher for N. America. While I know they don't technically need one, they need one. The game isnt listed at Ebgames either.
The whole thing just strikes me as odd. I'm not asking you to explain for them - I'm just saying it seems strange and from reading teh DF forums nobody really seems worried or curious about it.
Comments
Even i was baffled..Dont they have a beta to get going? Why in the world would they even think of going there?There were 2 great places they could a went..One was in Germany and the other was in Asia.This was a perfect time to show off there so called prize possession and expanded even more.Even "probably", could get a few investor to help with there game.I don't understand there logic or there reason.But my gut feeling on this,it don't look to good.
Some people rob you at gun point..Others will rob you at "Ball Point Pen"
here you go
There's also an announcement out about an ESWC international event we're organizing in Athens in October. We're partners with the ESWC and we've been promoting e-sports and hosting events in Greece for a few years. There will also be other tournaments, like the ESL Pro Series, a lot of gaming, and a Greek game developer conference. All this is happening during the Athens Digital Week. We're using this opportunity to host a Darkfall event and it's the reason we're taking the time to arrange all this. Details on this event will be posted when they become available.
so location Athens - makes sense becqause they are based in Greece
and this is the link www.eswc.com/document/30.html
and this is what there is being said about the developers on that page
About Aventurine SA:
Aventurine SA is an independent computer games developer located in Athens, Greece. The company is fueled by passion for gaming and game technologies, which motivates and guides all activities. Aventurine’s main project is Darkfall Online, a groundbreaking game launched in 2008. Darkfall is a massive multiplayer fantasy role playing game featuring a fun-oriented and real-time fast paced combat system, massive battles, clan warfare and empire building. Darkfall combines Role Playing, Action, and Strategy gameplay. In August 2008, Aventurine entered into a cooperation agreement with Audiovisual Enterprises SA to release Darkfall in 50 countries. Through our commitment to gaming and Greek online communities, Aventurine hosts the Electronic Sports World Cup in Greece since the 2006.
Press contact: Tasos Flambouras (info@aventurine.gr)
thanks for investegating and good luck
Eh, doesen't take more than a few hours to get everything done...takes awhile to get it prepared and all that but in truth...70days is alot of time to get all that...if you're in a hurry of course...which they are....so ya I'm almost positive it won't be sold at something as public at EBGames...this game seems like it's an 'Underground' kind of game...something much people won't pay much attention to...but anyways no point in worryin' I'm sure it'll be done before Christmas...even though I probably won't be buying....
you can try the game before you buy. aint that something nice
Eh? But at release their certainly won' be a free trial...right? If so I reserve one! Someone go buy it (Wherever it is being distrubited, maybe by the Government for all I nkow) and get me a key!
And if not I'm not waiting 2months, I think you guys can call that fair, you wait 8yrs I wait 2months...but no seriously I wont wait for somethign as long as 1week
yes you get a something like a 2 weeks trail if you like it you buy it. if not then dont. you dont need to pay money and see that you got the short end of the shaft like you sometimes do when buying games.
I figured i do some searching ...Taken from Wiki...Notice the dates and what was being said.How can anyone really believe these people? Pay attention to the Beta starting..Back in 2005 then in 2006 in 2007 they said they have a FULLY functional AND Stable beta and 2008 Darkfall is now Feature-Complete..What is there next excuse for 2009?
In October 2002, Aventurine SA was founded in Greece, ostensibly to develop and commercialise Darkfall. The Razorwax team was integrated into Aventurine, and five other developers from Norway were hired into the company.[17] When the Razorwax team and the Aventurine team had their first meeting in Athens, a member of one of the teams joked that Razorwax should relocate from Norway to Greece due to the lower taxes and cost of living in Greece. Eventually, the two teams realised that this idea actually made very good business sense,[18] and by December 2002,[19] the relocation of Razorwax was finalised.
In September 2005, the signup for a closed clan beta began. The first Darkfall gameplay video was released on February 2006 [20].
Aventurine did not have a publicly playable version of Darkfall available at E3 2006, however various people were shown a standalone demonstration version of the game [21]. In June 2006, just after E3, the Darkfall team began releasing bi-weekly Questions and Answers through Warcry.
An announcement on July 11, 2006 stated that preparations were being made to begin beta [22]. An interview with the developers on August 25, 2006 indicated that Aventurine did not have a publisher for Darkfall, and were considering the possibility of self-publishing the game.[23]
On January 17, 2007, Aventurine announced that a fully functional and stable beta build is running on remote servers and that the game is being shown to prospective partners, distributors, publishers, technology providers, etc [24].
On January 30, 2007, Aventurine released a video containing about one minute of ingame footage, showing melee combat, mounts (including mounted combat), spellcasting and naval combat [25]. The developers have stated that the combat will be similar to that of Mount and Blade [26].
On May 31, 2007, Aventurine's 9th Developer Journal responded to some of the recent beta inquiries, and announced that their internal target date for beta was summer 2007 [27].
On August 2, 2007, Aventurine stated that although the game is technically ready for beta, beta will not start until negotiations with possible publishers are completed [28].
On September 13, 2007, updated public beta information added to Darkfalls forums stating "Solo player beta applications will be taken soon. Please watch the news forums" [29].
On February 22, 2008, they released a "location test video" depicting various player-crafted city locations in the game. "For today's update we put together a medley of location test videos, from in and around clan cities and racial outposts" [30].
On April 11, 2008, Associate Producer Tasos Flambouras announced Darkfall was now feature-complete.[31]
On May 9, 2008, a WarCry developer journal stated that "... launch date will be inside 2008, with the public beta preceding it by a few weeks. This is official and internally we're a lot more specific, but pending an announcement, we cannot say more at this time." [32]
On June 30, 2008, Aventurine confirmed they have signed with Greek company AudioVisual Enterprises to distribute Darkfall in Europe. [33] AudioVisual later made a stock market announcement to this effect.
On August 29, 2008, The official beta was announced as the final scene of a 17 minute gameplay video, which demonstrated numerous aspects of the game, such as small and large group PVP, including small and large group mounted combat, ship sailing and naval combat, magic and archery, and vehicular combat, creative use of in-game physics and magic, crafting, banking, 3 different PVE encounters demonstrating mob AI, and city building and sieging.
Some people rob you at gun point..Others will rob you at "Ball Point Pen"
There's no way Darkfall will come out this year. Three months to go and no beta yet. Nonsense.
they anounced beta yes and they started beta with paid beta testers. now again there is a beta anounced for 2008 ( probably starting oktober) and this is the final beta and its only ment to stress test the servers.
get your facts straight
Yeah I am a fan and all, but I've been let down 3 times earlier with DF beta promises. So I don't allow myself to be too excited until it actually happens.
Current October beta is just as vague as all the previous ones have been. They havent actually stated a actual date yet.
I do cross my fingers.
Khael[SUN]
SUN - peekayin since pong
Webdeveloper on:
http://www.guildofsun.com
http://www.bloodmonarchy.com
My personal opinion is that if they fail to start public beta and launch this year or at least start public beta and launch in early 2009 it will be disastrous for the company and it will be the final end of any chance Aventurine ever had of gaining mainstream credibility within the industry, the media and the gaming community.
The fanatical followers will obviously continue to support them whatever they do, as they always have, or the ones that lose the faith will just be replaced by new converts, as they have been over the last 7 years.
But they will finally be condemned to be a tiny marginalized community indefinitely , the majority of the gamming community and the gaming industry and its media already consider Darkfall and Aventurine a joke or regard it as inconsequential or disreputable, they have this one last big chance to prove all the nay Sayers and skeptics wrong.
I’ve been following the game quite closely since the 2001 announcement and they have failed to meet many vague and ambiguous as well unequivocal previous beta and launch dates as well as numerous other types of schedules for updates or information releases over the years.
But this time its different in my opinion because of a combination of many factors including
the new pre launch promotional video says “coming 2008”
Tasos has officially announced they are launching “within the year”
he has repeatedly assured us they have encountered no serious problems so far
he has stated that Darkfall is feature complete and is currently in internal beta testing using “professional” testers
that Darkfall public beta will be short and fun to play and will be an opportunity for everyone to test the game for free before buying it
They said they would not announce another release date until they could meet it
they said they would only release the game when it was ready
they said they would not make any compromises to their “vision” for the game
Aventurine have started a 3rd beta sign up with only 3 months left to launch
Aventurine have an agreement with AVE to publish/distribute Darkfall in 50 countries
they have an agreement with GNi to launch Darkfall using their hosting services
They are co hosting the Greek ESWC and are going to demonstrate or showcase Darkfall publicly at the event.
So in my opinion this is it, after 7 years of promises and claims they are going to be finally totally vindicated over they next 3 months or they are going to be revealed to be something else entirely.
I still personally think all things considered this will probably be just another in a long line of catastrophic failures by an inexperienced small over ambitious developers or at best might be a mediocre disappointment that will oinly maintain a small following.
But according to the developers its only 3 more months left till we find out the truth, In my opinion I don’t see the point of arguing about it anymore when we are so close to actually seeing and playing Darkfall for ourselves, or not of course depending on whether or not the developers are up to their old tricks or not.
This is the first logical thread I have read on this game. The big questions is "where is the game?" Pretty pictures and a lot of talk but no game. No publisher, nothing but lots of talk and what looked to be a pre-rendered video and lots of fanboi's trying to "fix" the hype meter.
they have a publisher
any game that is not out yet is about pretty pictures and lots of talk.
and what one movie is to you are several movies over the years.
and about that damn hype meter if you think that people that are fan of darkfall are the only one doing it means you are very naieve.
Polarization I agree, they seem to be less vague this time. Other beta dates were given just in their monthly community updates. This time they have actually issued press releases with some vague dates. And the ending of the video says 2008 as you point out.
Thats why my inner naive self believes it will happen this time.
But I would still like an official date for beta and release on a prominent spot on their website.
After having been the laughing stock of my whole guild at least two times because I told them DF would definitely be released (think it was in 2005 and 2006), I tend to be abit wary.
Khael[SUN]
SUN - peekayin since pong
Webdeveloper on:
http://www.guildofsun.com
http://www.bloodmonarchy.com
They have a publisher...but the publisher has never done software video games before. They usually restribute VHS/DVD movies in the greek language
http://www.imdb.com/company/co0006126/
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
Enigma, they already have a huge following - 120k on forums, and this is just the spearhead.
Word of mouth marketing has really worked out well for them here. Simply becuase there really is a huge market for this "niche" game. I personally think this "niche" will become quite big in the coming years, but thats a whole other story.
They are going to make a trial game where you can try out the game before buying it. Quite unusual for a new game being released. Or maybe they just mean a public beta- when they say everyone will have a chance to play the game before buying. They are simply so confident that the game will speak for itself
I love em for it.
But other than that I am sure they will start appearing in articles on main game websites/magazines, once beta starts.
Khael[SUN]
SUN - peekayin since pong
Webdeveloper on:
http://www.guildofsun.com
http://www.bloodmonarchy.com
I dont mean to sound "mean" when I say this but when you stat 120,000 I just don't believe it. The reason why I say this is because of the sheer number of people on the darkfall forums here at mmorpg.com that has created multiple accounts to hype up and down various games and forumfall are literally the worse gaming forum I have seen in awhile in terms to rudeness and lack of respect of other people.
How do I know 120,000 of those people you speak of are different, individual people? Because here, I see one darkfall fan with about two alts attached to them. (not all darkfall fans do this...but a very large considerable number do it).
I dont wish ill on any game, but I have to be criticial about 120,000.
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
http://forums.darkfallonline.com/
Look at the bottom:
Threads: 68,650, Posts: 1,712,745, Members: 122,199
Why would anyone register twice on their forums? Ive watched that number grow steadily over the years, and from around 55k to 120k this last month. I think its quite representative.
Khael[SUN]
SUN - peekayin since pong
Webdeveloper on:
http://www.guildofsun.com
http://www.bloodmonarchy.com
I agree with Polarization.
To have more chances of been selected for beta. No one really knows what kind of beta it will be. So no one knows if it will be a public one (by public I mean that anyone can download the client and try it). Which will make some people to create more than one account.
Personally, I just hope for an open beta (by open I mean a beta that is not public but it doesnt have NDA). This will allow us to know about the game without depending on leaks.
Another reason can be just to have alt accounts for the discussions. Very common in many forums.
Other people may had forget their old accounts. I was lucky and remembered mine but if I wouldnt remember, I would create a new one. I left DFO's official forum looong ago and only went back to register to the beta. There are many people that left that forums ages ago for several reasons so some of them may not remember their accounts or not have the emails associated or whatever.
Anyway, I do believe DFO has more or less 120k interested people in this moment.
EDIT: I just thought of another possible reason... if they make a public beta, you can have multiple accounts. As you know 1 char per account so having more than 1 account will give you and edge or, at least, let you have more options, like trying several races.
theyve said if they catch people trying to sign up twice they will guarantee you will not get beta. But ok some might not know that.
I believe that number to be quite acurate. And this is only the nerds/rapid fanboys that bother to read/post on boards etc. Every fanboy will get 1-2 friends to buy the game once it releases, unless beta is a disaster.
Thats why my guestimate is around 150-250k subs the first month.
Khael[SUN]
SUN - peekayin since pong
Webdeveloper on:
http://www.guildofsun.com
http://www.bloodmonarchy.com
According to Tasos, This game has been feature full and in internal beta since April 11, 2008. That's 5 months of beta so far, being tested by professionals. No major problems reported, and they are still seemingly right on schedule this time. I like how Tasos & Adventurine have conducted themselves in the past months. They are learning from their mistakes, and won't be makming any unwarrented statements about release dates. I want DFO to release as much as anyone else, but I'd rather them give us the closed beta date when they know it's ready. Anymore letdowns, and DFO will lose many fanboys. We all saw the launch of AoC... A unsuccessfull launch can seriously tarnish a game.
Darkfall will be right on schedule this time imo. I'm expecting the closed beta date to be released September 30th, and beta to start in the late end of october. They've stated beta will be short and sweet, and if everything goes smooth in beta, we'll be seeing this games release in 08 like planned ^^.
The reason you don't see Darkfall in Gamestop, or any other stores, simply because this sort of "niche" game doesn't appeal to the mainstream gamers. If it's not the same old WoW/WAR/EQ game, why take the chances of advertising it in your store. Once beta is announced, and officially starts, you can bet this game will find it's way into the mainstream market. Adventurine isn't really advertising the game, and I like it that way. Give it six more months, and you'll see Darkfall's Poster replacing WoWLK's. ---IMO---
I have no idea how it works. But isn't it possible with the dxdiag upload to prevent alt. accounts to be selected?
______________________________
The Sceptics, yes they're special but we've need them to.. I guess.
And if they're put more effort MMORPG.com can create a 'Team Sceptic'
and send them to the Special Olympus.
That never stoped people from exploting, cheating, etc.
I do think that the scums are a minority so, as I said, I do think they have more or less 120k interested people.
By scums I mean the people that will brake the rules (create alt account, register more than once, etc, etc, etc...).
This is one of the biggest online gameshops in Sweden. But I'm not saying you're wrong cause you're right
______________________________
The Sceptics, yes they're special but we've need them to.. I guess.
And if they're put more effort MMORPG.com can create a 'Team Sceptic'
and send them to the Special Olympus.