[jdbolick]

statfreak:
No, it isn't my opinion, it's my experience. If EA waited to release Madden in September, most people would still buy it, but the criticism would be positively overwhelming. Fans and columnists alike would be coming out of the woodwork to blast EA for their delay, and as I said, the only thing saving OOTP on that count is its small market. And their sports games on PC do not come out months after console release. MVP Baseball (a good game) is out on both PC and PS2. Their non-sports games sometimes do come out later on PC because they're not separate development entities, they're porting one product to another system. Porting means taking a finished product designed for something and making the changes necessary for it to be usable on something else. EA doesn't port sports games specifically because there is an industry expectation to have those games released prior to the start of the season they represent, and failure to do is judged to be unacceptable. As for apologies, no one is forcing the developers to do anything, but their attitude negatively affects their chances of reaching increased levels of success. Either you satisfy customers or you don't make it, it's that simple. No tiny mob of loyal attack dogs will change that simple fact.


SkyDog:
Fair examples, although you conspicuously fail to note that BM used to be late in its releases. Now that they're attempting to become a legitimate corner of the market, they're getting things out when the industry expects them to. FOF meets the criteria, though, but their release date has certainly affected my past unwillingness to buy the game and I assume has hurt their overall sales.

As for your other statement, that's a terrible attempt at logic. I regularly play Madden 2004 now even though it's obviously not football season, but that has no bearing on when I expect the game to be released. If there was no connection between the release date for sports games and the start of the season they represent, there wouldn't be such an overwhelming correlation between the two. Clearly a late game is better than no game, and therefore a great game at any time of the year is a welcome addition, but sports games are expected to be out by the time their seasons start. And as I have explained to you at length, "it will be released when it's ready" only means the company in question failed to start early enough to meet the expected deadline.


dangarion:
I've never played TPB, but I know that BM 2004 is out and has been for a while now. I suspect that any delay of TPB is related to the .400-Sullivan merger.

Cardinal Rule:
Before you feel any further resentment, refer to my statement again. I said: "I'm not surprised that there are some reasonable people largely unconcerned by the game's lateness due to their prior satisfaction and faith in a company with a good track record; nor am I'm not surprised by the legions of sheep who faithfully defend their idols." Notice that I indentified two separate groups of people supporting the game. If you are one of those who isn't attacking people like me who are upset about the lateness, then don't count yourself among the sheep, consider yourself one of the former. If you're an unthinking suck-up who blasts all critics because they define themselves by their devotion to some corporate product, then you would be.

OOTP being a public or private company is irrelevant except in defining the degree of their responsibility. The operative word there is "company." As long as they seek to be a legitimate business and make a profit, they have a responsibility to meet industry standards. I already explained that being free source or shareware would excuse them entirely from those unwritten rules, but then they wouldn't be a "company." I also explained that the size of the company in question only affects the amount of response. OOTP being later than ever in delivery of its product won't raise much ire for the same reason that their quality products don't get much praise, because most people don't even know that OOTP exists.

As for when OOTP is released, the earlier they can, the less egregious their error will be. In my own experience as a reviewer and customer, a sports game unreleased a week before the season starts is already pushing the limits. Despite that, if the website or someone on this message board said that it would only be a few more days, I suspect that I would still be forgiving. Instead what we have is a great deal of uncertainty and no end in sight. "It will be ready when it's ready" is not an acceptable business model, it's the kind of thing you say to a hobby. That's the kind of attitude I take towards my own personal writing, not the things I do professionally. Unfortunately the unknown release date is just one example of arguably unprofessional behavior, also evidenced by the OOTP5 front page mentioned in a lower thread that they apparently changed only within the last day or so.