WWII Online closed beta to continue?

[Mickey1992]

From http://www.sewer.playnet.com/
I hear a lot of people clamoring for details about the beta. Well right now we’re right at 100 people in the beta. Once we roll into Phase IV we’ll be adding a fair number more, probably another 100 to 150 or so. We’re on track with things as they stand. While I know that this is not nearly fast enough for ya, it’s the best we can do. We’ll all be shooting at each other soon!
/quote

It sounds like the closed beta is to continue, with more testers added.  It looks as if those who don't get added to "phase 4" will have to wait until 2001 for the open beta  

[Maverick]

Yawn......

[Westy]

  Chuh_ chuh_ chuh..chuh_changes!!!

"There will not be a downloadable version. It (WWII Online) will be available only as a retail release.
------------------
Mark "Snail" Pribe
Executive Producer
Cornered Rat Software/Playnet Inc."
 http://www.wwiionline.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/006965.html

 -Westy

[Sunchaser]

Chu..chu..chu..CHOICES!

Although I believe the Rats are trying to do too many things to do any one really well, I wish them luck and hope they succeed.

With the HTC trend to late war and "what if" planes there should be no threat from an online sim set to start in France in 1940 and it will weed the AH ranks of all us early war "whiners"

And all you guys satisfied to fly, drive or sail anything with production figures over 2 will still have AH AND, due to the increased competition from WWII Online and WBIII it will be cheaper.

We all benefit from the success of any first rate online WWII simulation or game.

320PM:
Bummer, it will not be around till mid next year anyhow.

I may have to rethink my HTC cancellation, hey Westy, can I use one of yer osties if I return?

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When did they put this thing in here and WTF is it for?

[This message has been edited by Sunchaser (edited 11-08-2000).]

[Ripsnort]

Can't wait, but fair warning, Aces High is a flight sim first, so I believe that if you're picky about Flight models, you may not like what you get in regards to WW2 Online, I may be wrong, but I just don't see alot of focus going into a good FM on a large scale project such as this.

[funked]

Rip you are 100% wrong on that one.  If anything they are spending too much time and money getting the physics perfect before getting a playable product out there.

[Dowding]

I've looked at the WW2OL BB and the FAQs and I think it will be ages until they have a product that actually works. I can't see how they will not have problems providing a lag free product given the size of the maps they are talking about (even if they do limit you to seeing 64 people at once - hardly goes with the concept of 'mass battles').

Some of the things on that board are ridiculous - asking whether or not there will be a cable car system up to a mountain stronghold. That was a recent one that made me laugh.

[AKDejaVu]

Coincidently.. this went out on the squad e-mail list today:

--------------------------------------------

"Wanted to give the community a quick heads-up on a bit of news. As some of you have probably read, we at Cornered Rat Software have been pursuing a publishing partner for retail distribution of WWIIOL. We've been at this since we started, because we feel that the additional visibility of having our game on the shelves of software stores across the country and around the world will bring us a much larger audience than would be possible if we only distributed the game online. Unlike many games, the world we're building works *better* with more people in it.

CRS has recently found such a publishing partner. Strategy First will be handling retail publishing of WWIIOL for the US, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, all US territories and US Military Installations, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Thailand. Strategy First has strong relationships with the largest distributors, ensuring WWIIOL will be available in the largest retail outlets.

This retail publishing agreement means that WWIIOL will be available only through retail outlets in mid 2001. The price for the retail release has not yet been set. This retail publishing agreement will help ensure WWIIOL has the best chance for success.

We are still exploring retail publishing agreements with a number of large overseas companies towards a simultaneous worldwide retail launch, including the entire Pan European Territory (UK, Europe and Scandinavia) and the Pacific Rim.

You should expect to see a formal press release concerning this news in the coming weeks.

In addition to the retail price, there will be a flat rate subscription fee to subscribe to Playnet.com, our online publishing partner, which will include free patches, updates and utilities as well as access to an extensive set of player services. The flat rate fee has not yet been set.

Development continues at a rapid pace. We expect to have all 5000+ of you who signed up for the closed beta actively participating in testing by early January. No date has been set for open beta testing.


------------------
Mark "Snail" Pribe
Executive Producer
Cornered Rat Software/Playnet Inc."

[gatt]

Bad marketing move, IMHO. Actually they should let people decide between d/l and boxed version. Look at the boxed version of WB and DoA: a flop. Moreover when they will release huge reworks of the game engine (WB 2.0 and AH 1.03 for example) the boxed version will become useless.

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GATT
4° Stormo Caccia - Knights
Macchi C.202's sting (1,9MByte film)

[Ripsnort]

 

Originally posted by funked:
Rip you are 100% wrong on that one.  If anything they are spending too much time and money getting the physics perfect before getting a playable product out there.

Good, I'm glad I'm wrong!