I think the whole thing with Conviction getting delayed again was only because the big wigs (not the devs) want all profits from it to come in their 2010-2011 fiscal year which starts April 1st 2010.

All in all I think in this case the delay is going to hurt sales of the game as I think there is just less interest in it now. So I think really stupid decision if they delayed it only for the reason I believe.

Games in general though I think it is a situational thing. For example take the situation of the Mortal Kombat team from Midway. Except for the last MK game (MK vs DC) just cuz I don’t think it should of even been made, the past couple MK games (MK: Shaolin Monks, Armageddon) were simply rushed out the door. Now in this situation it was Midway pushing these games out, where really they should of been delayed and worked on 6-12 months more. So in this case I believe the MK franchise would be in a lot better shape and better received if they did delay the games and spent more time on them making them just complete. Overall they just didnt feel even 100% finished like they shouldn’t of been ‘Gold’ versions… Midway was in money crisis though and for the most part it was MK keeping it afloat therefor the reason why they were having the MK team push a MK game out yearly for a while.

K a more non-specific example…. Take the situation of whatever game that has already been delayed multiple times…. Pretty much I believe you can delay a game twice without really hurting yourself. But never should there be a third time should you have to announce a delayment. If that ends up being the case for any one then in my opinion it is because they set a release date, or release window when they just shouldnt of. And really I think deadlines are bad for Devs, so I dont know why devs would want to set a public deadline by announce a release date, and then gotta delay it because you just couldnt get it all done in time and now you’re stressed and feel all pressured and even more so cuz now you delayed a product that people are ready and waiting for….

Look…. STOP announcing games years ahead of schedule. Dont even bother till you have SOME THING to show. And when you do announce do say the hopeful release date or even the year unless you know 100% sure it will be done by then unless some weird thing happens that excuses the delay, or you just die, either way….

Splinter Cell is a fairly long-running franchise now, and Ubisoft doesn’t want to release a game that will tarnish that reputation and destroy the series. So naturally, they’re going to take the “when it’s done, it’s done” approach. The problem is with how they executed this. They have been feeding us gameplay footage, trailers, and release dates for well over a year and nobody has actually played the game yet. I haven’t played any of the SC games, but I imagine that would be enough for even the most hardcore fan to be at least a little nervous about buying Conviction. However, it’s a proven franchise and a lot of people will still be on board. Sales will likely be lower than what Ubisoft would like to see, but they have only themselves to blame for not getting their act together sooner.

Alpha Protocol is a different story ENTIRELY. Although Obsidian (the dev) has a pretty good track record with making sequels (KOTOR 2), I have never heard of them releasing an original IP that did well. Also, take into account that the game is being published by Sega and you aren’t looking at a recipe for success (in my opinion, at least). The fact that it’s a new IP means that nobody has any pre-existing loyalty towards the franchise, and can easily be disuaded from buying in. What may seem like “taking the time to get it right” in a proven franchise can quickly appear to be “scrambling to pick up the pieces” for a new IP. I think that for this game the situation is going from “how good is the game?” to “who cares enough to find out?”. I’ll use myself as the example. When I first heard about Alpha Protocol, I was pumped. I like RPG’s and the idea of a steal-action RPG was fresh and enticing. Now, it’s been close to a year since the game was announced and I have so many other games to play (FFIII, GoW III, and so on) that it’s hard not to just sweep Alpha Protocol under the rug for showing signs of weakness.

Just something I thought of, so I figured I’d point it out in case anybody cares.

I also omitted to say a few things on the neutrality stand point which was mentionned.

I own only a 360 (as for now, I plan on getting a PS3 this week end lol).

I never played a God of War game.

I’m a fanboy of the Splinter Cell franchise.

I really don’t like the feel of Alpha Protocol.

On Alpha Protocol, I guess it’s personnal, I just don’t dig it. Love RPGs and love Stealh action games, but the mix seems poorly done. I watched a few videos and the game looks to be badly animated (crouching is the worst part) and the caracters seem flat and stereotypical. The art style also seem inispired as the russian girl with pink glasses (as seen in the trailers) look not only bad, but no sexy at all. Also, guns with all their upgrades seem akward and out of place. I’d rather play Mass Effect for a hour before playing Conviction an other hour. I’m really waging a one man army war against this title. Sorry for those who like it…

@Sigmatic : I wanted to play Bad Company 2 about an hour ago, EA had shut down their servers -_-… If you remember, similar problems arose at the lauch of the first Bad Company game… Anyway, I doubt a delay would have helped it since the had a public Beta on PC and both long running and very popular demos on both consoles.

Thanks Again Axers!

My example would be Singularity; a game I was really looking forward to in 2009. Now I couldn’t care less. When they delayed that game (because of CoD:MW2) I interpreted it as a lack of faith in the strength of their game. Only a good demo or stellar reviews will get me interested again…

I think the guys at Ubisoft didn’t really know what they wanted SC: Conviction to be until the end of last year.

First there was the total engine rewrite, then there was the delay to expand the multiplayer options… Did they not realize, way ahead of time, that a well conceived, sizable multiplayer suite almost always adds to a game’s value?

One thing I hope Ubi currently realizes is that this indecisiveness has killed many gamers’ enthusiasm for Conviction. They’ve still got my vote, as I’m a sucker for stealth action and the gameplay footage has been impressive.

However, I know for sure there are many out there who just don’t care anymore, even if they were totally pumped at one time.

As for Alpha Protocol, judging from the gameplay footage that was floating around just before its original release date, things were not looking good.

Unfortunately, things don’t seem to have improved since then, delay and all. Has anyone seen what hand-to-hand combat looks like in AP? Ugh is the only adjective that comes to mind.

I really hope things take a turn for the better. The equipment customization options appear expansive and the concept of an espionage RPG is simply badass. I’ll keep an eye on it…

Personally i can´t really take a side here sometimes it helps the game to get delayed and sometimes it does not.

Contra example:

[Duke Nukem Forever]

The delay or the “when it´s done” approach clearly didn´t help the Game cause now no one cares anymore about if its getting released or not but if, it won´t sell very well i think.

Pro example: [Battlefield Bad Company 2 for PC]

I think in this case a delay had helped the developers to get rid of the Problems the Pc version of the Game momentarily suffers from.

Connection problems,Punkbuster issues, Team auto balance doesn´t work, Hits that don´t do damage, random CTD´s, Veteran unlocks don´t work, etc. and the EA Master Server goin down every 2 days or so because it wasn´t ready for this huge amount of Players (or so they say). This could have been easily prevented by simply delay the release of the game by one or even two months.

About Alpha Protocol: You really can´t say what it will be when its released i agree with you that the Game (in what we´ve seen so far) does look a bit clunky and half-baked but we haven´t seen much new footage in the last time have we? Maybe it will look much more polished when the release date draws nearer, i definitely hope so. A espionage RPG could be awesome.

So long