Gamerswithjobs pre-view, claims "beta" demo next week.

Quellist

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http://www.gamerswithjobs.com/node/108288

Battlefront.com was kind enough to provide GWJ with a preview build for this article. At the moment they are running a pre-order for the PC and Mac version. Next week I'm told there will be a playable beta demo. You can also download the manual, which is in the style of US Army field manuals. I would also recommend downloading vintage FMs to enhance your play.

GWJ misinformed or BFC desperate to get something out before PCO? :)
 

Quellist

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It implies a demo of a game that is still in beta, i.e. it would be somewhat unpolished and it might even have some serious bugs.
I assume it would be public, i.e. for everyone since he doesn't say anything to indicate otherwise. Then again, it might be another
"win" for the BFC PR department ;)
 

Elvis

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It implies a demo of a game that is still in beta, i.e. it would be somewhat unpolished and it might even have some serious bugs.
I assume it would be public, i.e. for everyone since he doesn't say anything to indicate otherwise. Then again, it might be another
"win" for the BFC PR department ;)
Why would you assume it would be public? The last beta anything BFC released to teh public was in 1999 and they have never given any indication that they plan on doing so anytime soon. Plus Steve always said that releasing the public beta demo delayed the release of CMBO by months.

And in what way would it be "another "win" for the BFC PR department ;)"
 

Michael Dorosh

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GWJ misinformed or BFC desperate to get something out before PCO? :)
I have to seriously doubt that PCO is even on the radar at BFC. There has been no public mention of the game there, and even when the first two releases were at their height of popularity, how many people did the official forums draw? 20?

Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of Panzer Command and have volunteered for the beta test team because I think it will be a viable alternative to the new CMX2 game engine for those who enjoyed the "abstract" model of CMX1. But PzC:O is going to be a free download - and certainly no threat to BFC.

Does anyone seriously believe anyone - least of all BFC - would see it as a threat?

It's a ridiculous notion. I plan on owning both games and hope that I will enjoy both of them. I also hope both game series continue to flourish.

It's laughable to think that BFC is worried in the least - or even watching what Matrix is doing - unless you have evidence to present to the contrary?
 
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Quellist

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Why would you assume it would be public? The last beta anything BFC released to teh public was in 1999 and they have never given any indication that they plan on doing so anytime soon. Plus Steve always said that releasing the public beta demo delayed the release of CMBO by months.
Because demos implies public, or semi public i.e. for those who have pre-ordered, but omitting the part about needing to pre-order to get to play the demo
might annoy some potential customers, thus it would be a "win". Or do you mean that we should read it as that the beta will become playable for the first time next week?
Then we might have to start a new round of release day guesses...
 

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It's laughable to think that BFC is worried in the least - or even watching what Matrix is doing - unless you have evidence to present to the contrary?
The are competing in the same space and games earlier published by BFC are now with matrix, so I think you can safely assume that they are watching each other.

As for evidence, if they actually do release a beta demo, which I do doubt, that might at least be a indication of something. As for evidence, do you have any that proves anything else?
 

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Because demos implies public, or semi public i.e. for those who have pre-ordered, but omitting the part about needing to pre-order to get to play the demo
might annoy some potential customers, thus it would be a "win". Or do you mean that we should read it as that the beta will become playable for the first time next week?
Then we might have to start a new round of release day guesses...
Demos does imply public. Beta implies non-public. Are you really saying you read this guys quote and what you got out of it is that next week there will be a beta demo for all people who preordered?

II should probably help you out a bit and take a step or two back. For all versions of released games from BFC there are beta versions. These are used by testers to look for bus, run through the paces, find errors etc.. when a demo of a game is being made for release there are versions of that that are betas as well. You would admit that it would be foolish to make a demo and not it tested before releasing to the public, wouldn't you? These things are called" beta demos".
 

Michael Dorosh

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The are competing in the same space and games earlier published by BFC are now with matrix, so I think you can safely assume that they are watching each other.
I plan on buying both games, so they're not competing for a thing where I am concerned (PzC:O is a free download but will have a boxed goods version - I plan to buy the box cuz I like boxes). There are so few tactical games out there, I think many feel the same way. Others will feel the games are sufficiently unlike each other that they will want one or the other - that's not competition either.

I'm not seeing it, personally, but perhaps that's the problem - it is certainly open to a wider interpretation than either of us would be able to "prove". Again, if you have solid evidence - such as BFC announcing that they intented to go head to head with Matrix - it would be of interest. I just don't get that sense. Their product is Normandy, Panzer Command is Eastern Front. Had Steve decided to release Combat Mission: Winter Storm out of the blue, I might be persuaded.
 

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Demos does imply public. Beta implies non-public. Are you really saying you read this guys quote and what you got out of it is that next week there will be a beta demo for all people who preordered?
No, my interpretation was that he said that next week there would be some sort of demo for the general public. Plenty of public betas out there in gamespace, enough to at least cloud the issue to what he meant.

...
when a demo of a game is being made for release there are versions of that that are betas as well. You would admit that it would be foolish to make a demo and not it tested before releasing to the public, wouldn't you? These things are called" beta demos".
I'm fairly sure that is not how the terminology is used in general although if you say that is the way things are labeled at BFC I would have to bow to your inside knowledge of those issues and concede that it might be the source of my confusion.
 

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No, my interpretation was that he said that next week there would be some sort of demo for the general public. Plenty of public betas out there in gamespace, enough to at least cloud the issue to what he meant.
There certainly are public beta verisins of many kinds of software...not just games. I suppose people unfamiliar with BFC may misunderstand that there might be one released to the public. In which case a response like the one BlitzCunuck had is a more reasonable and less kneejerk reaction than yours.


I'm fairly sure that is not how the terminology is used in general although if you say that is the way things are labeled at BFC I would have to bow to your inside knowledge of those issues and concede that it might be the source of my confusion.
Maybe MR and J2D can tell you what PC:O called the intial test verisions of the demo they are going to release. I am only familiar with BFC terminology.
 

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Now that i understand what a beta demo is, i can't see BFC releasing something like that to the public. Which makes what the guy from GWJ said kinda confusing......why announce the upcoming release of any demo if it wasn't going to be available to the public?
 

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I plan on buying both games, so they're not competing for a thing where I am concerned (PzC:O is a free download but will have a boxed goods version - I plan to buy the box cuz I like boxes). There are so few tactical games out there, I think many feel the same way. Others will feel the games are sufficiently unlike each other that they will want one or the other - that's not competition either.
While that is likely to be true for the grogs, semi grogs and perhaps even enthusiastic wargamers in general. I do think that a fair share of players that like deepish games in general, but aren't grogs per se might go with just one of them.
Me and my buddies went with all the CMx1 games, but, so far we haven't been interested
in anything else in the genre. Hopefully PC:O can change that.

I'm not seeing it, personally, but perhaps that's the problem - it is certainly open to a wider interpretation than either of us would be able to "prove". Again, if you have solid evidence - such as BFC announcing that they intented to go head to head with Matrix - it would be of interest. I just don't get that sense. Their product is Normandy, Panzer Command is Eastern Front. Had Steve decided to release Combat Mission: Winter Storm out of the blue, I might be persuaded.
No, no evidence. And I tend to agree with you. Only bad or non appreciated design decisions can threaten BFC in their current space. I just thought that the beta demo sounded close to what MR where saying about BFC and PC:O earlier and went with that :)
 

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Wasn't CMBO called a public beta...I would doubt it being true because CMSF has been out for four years and CMBN isn't THAT much different.
 

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Now that i understand what a beta demo is, i can't see BFC releasing something like that to the public. Which makes what the guy from GWJ said kinda confusing......why announce the upcoming release of any demo if it wasn't going to be available to the public?
When I read the quote here is what I pictured.... He got the game (judging from the amount it looks like he has played maybe last week or the week before) and in the email or whatever was a description of the history of "the story so far" and in it was a comment like "and next week we will have the beta demo ready for testing" or something like that. Why he shared that? No idea other than to maybe tell the story of how things were progressing.



Wasn't CMBO called a public beta...I would doubt it being true because CMSF has been out for four years and CMBN isn't THAT much different.
Yes. The CMBO Public Beta was released in October or November 1999. The official demo came out in June 2000. I doubt they would ever do it again. Coupled with, as you point out, the fact that the basic engine is the same as CMSF I don't see why they would. Anyone who hasn't played CMSF can and, while it won't give you the same "feel" as CMBN, it will answer some questions regarding UI and overall differences from CMx1.
 

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He maybe should have said "the test team will be getting a playable beta demo next week".

But I do like the idea of releasing a public demo and calling it beta. So that you can dismiss any glitches.
 

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He maybe should have said "the test team will be getting a playable beta demo next week".

But I do like the idea of releasing a public demo and calling it beta. So that you can dismiss any glitches.
Yes.

And the more I thought about it the more I liked it. If pre-order people got a beta demo do you think that would get more pre-orders than the metal box? HHmmm...... Think about it. Crazy? Like a fox.

So, what do/did you refer to your testing verision of the PC:O demo as? As I mentioned with BFC it is called a "beta demo".
 

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In the PCO forum here I said that the latest version of the demo was ready for the testers. Usually the file is named a beta until the RC, Release Candidate is made. I could have said that a beta of the demo is ready or sumfink but I didn't know we would be having this discussion.
 

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Also it would be a big deal if the pre order people got to download the demo before everyone else but policing that would be a nightmare for a small company like BFC.
 
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