Release Date!
 

Listen.....

I was surfing today...came up on a Newegg pre-order for SOW BOB....Release date Sept/02/08

I thought....no friggin way! I called the UBI tech support number they listed and they confirmed that the release date is accurate!

Here is the add
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16832138010

I went to check on Newegg and you are right Lazarus there is a pre-order add.
Unfortunately I think this is just to generate rumors and have people go on Newegg.

If the release would be really on the first week of September then I really do not understand anything anymore about the marketing strategy from Ubisoft.

It is just too short and right after the summer holidays without any teasing, and all the marketing stuff that prepares the market to be sure to have a big buy out in the first weeks.
So unfortunately again it is a blank shot and a desillusion as usual.

Gold

UBI has the worst marketing strategies of any company...imho. I wouldn't be surprised by anything they do.

Usually there will be a forum opened up a year before release.Since there is no forum yet do not expect to see sow before this time in 2009.

Certainly the coolest thing (and most logical) would be to release Battle of Britain around the time of year it actually took place.... September! But probably not this September. Thanks for the warm and fuzzies though, if only temporary! :)

newegg...out of all people...

http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s...4_2007/sow.jpg

Please tell me the box art will be better than this:confused:

It`s not the box, feeling better? :D

It Is Coming Soon...can You Hear Them...thousands Of Luftwaffe Bombers And...what Is This Sound? Stuka Bombers!!! Fighters...yes They Are Coming!!! They Are Coming!!! They Are Comiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing! All Pilots Man Your Machines!

The Storm of War forum has been open for about a year:-P

I think SOW:BOB will be distributed on a DVD. The box says "PC CDROM".
Doesn't look very real to me.

Skarphol

Deutsche UBI foren dos not count! :rolleyes:

Fast
 

It does seem a little fast. Although I saw another sight with January, 9/09 as the pre-order ship date.

EVEN IF IT ISN'T 1C...It's nice to see some hopeful activity. Not to start a fire, here but, it just seemed weird, despite the short amount of time, that Ubi would EVER verbally confirm anything. CALL THE UBI NUMBER AND ASK FOR YOURSELF!

AT BEST maybe it will force them to release a statement to stop the phones from ringing. haha! :D

1-919-460-9778

I called UBI and they told me this game was going to be released only for Xbox 720 in 2012!

Well, play.com says the release date is 03.10.2008 (dd.mm.yy), so who knows...

http://www.play.com/Games/PC/4-/1021...n/Product.html

When SoW finally will be distributed I think it will happen by steam or something like that.
No one will be interested in DVD any more in three or four years...

Hmm ok. Now I know you did those awesome looking railroad objects so you probably know more then us. You serious about those three or four years?

with DVD? Yes.

;)

I'll bet my own head on that this is false.

First of all, no marketing strategy whatsoever and no videos or nothing.
We've also already heard from people involved it won't be until earliest 2009.

If it were true i'd personally let you baserape me for eternity.

However the day it comes out, will just be like an unreal day.. i'd even skip sex no matter what ;), i kinda think SOW is the flight sim's verison of Duke Nukem ForEver.

"When it's done" ;)

Lanz Bulldog tractors Foobar ?

Do we get to drive them ?

If you're talking about download only rather than a "disc" of some shape or form - I think you are very much mistaken.
As someone who has had numerous problems with downloaded games (steam and EAlink) I would certainly hope that publishers wouldnt perform that move.
It will also alienate a fair bit of the market as not everyone has a fast net connection or unlimited bandwidth so they would be shooting themselves in the foot to do download only.
V

Well there are also a lot of people (at least in Australia) that will not buy the IL2 1946 DVD because of problems with the DVD protection software interfering with other stuff on their system.

There is no ideal solution.

Ah, the Old Starforce issue? same with Silent Hunter 3 - It's easy enough to remove the drivers that installs on your system after the install.
I experienced problems with it myself with SH3 on my old PC as the DVD drive was rather old and I also have Daemon Tools installed for several Disc images (legal use) and Starforce didn;t like that! :(

Moving back onto topic with the release date of SOW - I would hope to see it some time in 4th Quarter 2008 but in all realistic scenarios it is going to be put back into 2009 at least - based purely on the lack of updates/ official news/website.
V

Not sure, but the US version uses something like "SafeDisc" which apparently is not good but not too intrusive but the Australian version of 1946 uses a Sony product called Securom (which is used by a number of other major games from various companies) which installs a root kit and is so intrusive many people refuse to purchase games that use it. To the extent that many Australians buy the US version over the internet.

Hopefully SoW will not use such stupidity.

As for the original topic, I agree 2009 at the earliest. All these "where is SOW" posts are fruitless and stupid.

September-Release is okay - but the year is wrong.


On the other hand it was announced yesterday, that UBISOFT will officially announce a game today, that was so far largely kept a secret.

And if this wasn't enough to raise some hopes: It was leaked that Knights of the Sky, now called "Age Of Flight" will be presented on the German Games Convention, starting tomorrow.
Additionally, over the last few days, a first bunch of awesome unedited ingame-screenshots was published:
http://wwiaircombat.com/

But then again, UBISOFT is driving this "NO INFORMATION"-policy on a couple of games from various genres, so it could be rather anything from Anno to Assassins Creed being announced today.

But who knows....?

Link?

Wont help you much, but here you go:

http://www.pcgames.de/aid,656364/Geh...gtes_PC-Spiel/

According to that, we have to wait another 42 minutes until the announcement.

Right there Feuerfalke my German is very bad lol - but I was googling ubisoft to see if they were planning an announcement and got nothing. Forgot about games convention.
Let us know if it is Kots :grin:
Any prop sim will do :grin:

20 minutes to go

Anno 1404

http://www.funnyforumpics.com/forums...nay-Arnold.jpg

Well, we knew it, right? :rolleyes:


Do windmills count as prop-sim?

Anno 1404 .... http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...6/whatever.gif

I lol and lol again.

Ok i said i wouldn't post here again, but after reading the release date thing i thought i would phone UBIsoft in the UK to find out any info, this is the address and phone number.

Business office
1st Floor
Chertsey Gate East
London Street
Chertsey
Surrey
KT16 8AP

Tel: +44 (0)1932 578 000
Fax: +44 (0)1932 578 001


So, i asked about the release date for Storm of War, the guy had never heard of it and said he would have to ask someone else, he came back some time later and said that one guy knew of the title, he said we have no release date and no involvement with the title whatsoever, he said it appears we were involved with a company called 1C but that 1C was bought out last month by a Russian Company. He stated that UBIsoft have no involvement with SOW and have no info at all on any release date. If you dont believe me then ring em yourself.
It sounds very much like my mate who is a buyer for a big gaming store was 100% correct when he told me that no-one at ubisoft had heard of this product.

Tree...that may be good news if true. IF IC or who ever bought out UBI's contract giving more central control of development,advertising, and publishing.

I agree, if it has been Ubisoft stopping us getting any updates they should now come pouring in. :grin::grin: <joke>

Atleast it would be one less reason not to provide some interesting updates.

The thing that concerns me about the your statement is that ....a russian company buying out another russian company IC would have nothing to do with the UBI contract. Now if it stated that the Russian company (IC)? bought out the UBI contract it would make more interesting.

Well i can only tell you what he told me, and this information was second hand because he got it from a colleague. The nuts and bolts of it all are that Ubisoft is not involved and hasn't been for sometime. Something is clearly wrong here has many of us whiners and criers have suspected for sometime, it may or may not be a bad thing, but my advice to you guys here is to be 'men' and phone up and check for yourselves. (not aimed at you Chivas i have always found your posts to be constructive and not abusive.)

Well, thanks Tree_Uk, that makes a lot of sense of the information blackout.
That also brings an end to the idea that UBISoft was the publisher for Storm of War.

Maybe someone with contact to the higher powers in our tiny flightsim universe could get in touch with Oleg and ask who the publisher will be? Ivan? Nike-It? Anyone?

Skarphol

Guys, nobody bought out 1C, ok? It`s 1C that bought other company called "Buka" rus - "Бука" which was another gaming giant in Russia. As far as discussing who is the publisher and who`s not, ETA and other related subjects i am not free to do so, sorry. :)


Oh, and just to remind you...SOW is not dead, Korea is not dead and BOP has nothing to do with Maddox games :D except the licensed engine...and it is NOT using SOW objects, terrain ,etc :D

Glad to hear IC is still going strong.

Hehe.
Poor Ivan. Has to repeat this over and over every two days. Damn. I'm glad you still have the patience for this Ivan.
Hats off to you Sir.:grin:

It sounds like the guy at Ubi got it back to front, but i notice your not denying that Ubi are not the publishers. You seem to be in 'the know' so why not have a polite word with the almighty to see if some one can descend from the heavens and actually put us straight on a few things rather than all this mystery and bullshit. I dont think SOW is dead and i have never said has much, but one thing seems very clear is that SOW is dead to Ubi and has been for sometime. Yet we have been told repeatedly in this forum that we cannot have updates because of ubi. I bet the guys who have been posting this bollocks feel a bit dumb now.

No No No dear Tree_UK, i wont bite on that ;) I absolutely said nothing in regards of who`s publisher and who`s not

Well i wasn't trying to get you to answer that Ivan, honestly. The guy at ubi has already confirmed to me that Ubi is not involved, whether that is worldwide i honestly dont know, but in the UK Ubi are completley out of the frame. If anyone doubts this they can always phone up and ask the question.

My guess is that IC, OM, UBI have been in a power struggle/conflict/lawsuit/negotiations for sometime with neither able to say much for legal issues until the dust settles. So nobody is feeling dumb yet, were just walking around in the dark.

Yeah i hear what your saying Chivas, but there has been a few people on here who have made some smug remarks and would like to appear to have insider knowledge (for the record i am not including Ivan in this).

I think, and some might agree, that it is not really important - who the publisher is... what is important, that future sim is being developed, which simply means that obviously there is someone financing it and it`s a good thing. Whoever will introduce it to the west and the east, doesnt really matter at this point. Just a thought...

I agree Ivan, but it would be nice if the publisher and developer were on the same page in regards to the release of info. That said I have no doubt there are valid reasons for the decisions being made.

I agree with you 100% Ivan. However It would be nice to have someone from Oleg/crew to make a post stressing to forum users not to waste their hard earned cash by pre-ordering SOW from newegg and expecting it to drop on their doormat on 02/09/2008. The whole reason i phoned ubisoft was to clarify the release date that Newegg were advertising and taking money for. Where Newegg are getting their information from clearly needs investigating.

Well, I'm a bit interested in more details regarding the financial part of it. As most of us have guessed there have been "problems" regarding the publishing deal SoW for a while now (don't need that MBA to figure that out). I truly believe that the sim is still in development - but on what level? Has Oleg managed to secure enough cash to keep 5-10 developers working on the title or does he have the 50+ needed for the ground breaking bug free sim we dream of? I don't care that much about who publishes it (or when) as long as he has enough money to keep enough good developers working on the title until it's done. An interested publisher with big pockets really helps to acheive that.

/Mazex

You know what guys it would be really good if we could get a teamspeak channel one night and have a proper discussion.

mazex, i am really curious what those guesses are based on? That doesnt require MBA to figure out :) Lets face it, there is very little official info, i am not going to judge that part, but tons of speculations...

I hope that the game is released soon, thing's are really heating up over the missle defence shield. I can see a trade problem developing over this:(

Agreed, would be rather tough to purchase in the middle of a world war.....

When the lack of info starts causing so many problems with your consumer base - it's normally wise for the companies involved to divulge a little info to prevent that consumer base loosing faith in the product; Be it in the computer game market, movie industry, music industry, infact pretty much any creative industry!

If you start alienating your consumers you are going to damage your sales. Right now IL2 / SOW is the only flight sim that has such a large following and as far as I am aware there are not a huge amount of games lined up that will rival it - however, you simply cannot run the risk of everyone jumping ship and going onto WW2 online, BOBII or any of the other flight sims that are constantly being updated/added to - or even ones that are in development!

This information blockout is simply bad business, there is no way you can justify it being a business strategy! It is caused by legal issues, bad communications, lack of customer focus or other BS.

I am very happy with IL2 46, and I am happy to wait for SOW for a reasonable time framem however the complete lack of information is very discouraging to many people, and I feel that this is going to damage SOWs sales as your pre release support has been non-existant - how are people going to expect your post sales support to be any better?

Ivan - I know you cannot say what is what, and I am sure none of us would not want to put you in a position where your role is threatened due to the community - however, it seems prudent that you talk to those in the know and tell them of all you see here:
the confusion, the anger, the fustration, the speculation, the mis-information, the dying hope, in order to help the community, and to help the company. However good SOW is, if the blackout continues over the coming months and years I am certain the amount of wallets eagerly awaiting it will dwindle to such an extent that breaking even is not even going to be on the cards.
Regards,
V

Well, the deal between 1C and Atari regarding US publishing has to be a bit hampering on the 1C/Ubisoft relations? OK, SoW:BoB seems to have been excluded from that deal but VERY little information about this exclusion is available. The complete lack of Ubisoft information on Sow:BoB for the last two years must also be considered a bit odd? If it is a serious attempt at producing a high profile simualator, I guess that Ubisoft would at least have some information about the title under "in development"? There have been numerous hints from mods/developers close to MG that something in the dev-publisher relations prevent information/images from beeing spread - including yourself (;)). It's hard to deny that no publisher that I know of has mentioned a single word about SoW:BoB on their web pages for two years (1C has this forum, but try to find the game on their web site. Ubisoft lets the old IL2 forums live, but try a search on ubi.com for SoW:BoB).

That's enough evidence for me that something is happening behind the scenes involving lawyers. As mentioned above - it does not bother me to much if Oleg manages to keep a large team of hot shot deveopers working focused on the title, and the grunts needed to keep the coffe machine running etc ;)

/Mazex

The lack of info or delays will not effect sales in anyway. They will start a website and an ad campaign at the appropriate time and people will be falling over themselves to buy it. If its a quality game and has some protection from pirates it will sell very well. At the present time there is very little competion for IL-2. BOB WOV has a small dedicated community working with a very frustrating game engine that can barely compete with IL-2. The only competition I see for SOW is KOTS, but its WW1 and I'm sure the community will buy both, along with the Korean addon. I may even buy BOP if it comes out before SOW.

Are you suggesting there may have been a repeat of the legal copyright fiasco that occurred just prior to the release of Forgotten Battles ?

You mean Pacific Fighters.

Yeah true, it was USN aircraft ... it has been too long ago and ny memory is not what it was.

Regardless, I sincerely hope that nonsense is not being repeated.

Don't you believe it.It WILL affect sales if the current policy continues.

I'm sure it was probably you Ivan who got Oleg/Ilya to post here when the BoP video caused ructions.Guess what,it appears the sh*t has hit the fan again and it might be a good time to have another word.

If that was the case I think we would have a lot more to worry about than the release of a flight sim.

Ivan you are my hero _ This is the closest anyone has come to actually telling us what is happening.

For those that are confused (who is not?) the KOTS Russian gaming experiement will serve as an example.
Firstly they release screenshots (created public interest) then a few video's and then abruptly changed company name and went totally silent for several months (six). On forums the promised updates but always used legal issues and publisher constraints to actually say nothing.
They are now creating a web presence, the game has changed names and is in full development again.
All sounds very similair to what we are experiencing now does it not?

The name change will come, Ubi most likely has copyright on it....

Agreed all the above is pure speculation but check out the KOTS site and you will get the drift. http://www.neoqb.com/blog/wordpress_eng/?page_id=2

Or this one http://wwiaircombat.com/articles/kni...-age-of-flight

Name Change? I vote for "1940 -Air Combat World Cup Empire Vs AXIS - Round 1 THE Battle of Britain " or "'40ACWPEVAR1TBOB"

Skoshi, he's referring to the namechange for the WWI sim formerly known as KoTS. ;)

D'oh! My Bad! :)

No he means SoW, he's using the sim formerly known as KotS as an example.
He is suggesting Ubi own the rights to the name Storm of War and that the new publisher will need a new title for the product.

Wot he said :grin:

So, someone calls UBI UK, gets bogus info from an uninformed underling who probably thinks Prince of Persia and the Frag Dolls are "da bomb", and now UBI is no longer the publisher oof SOW for western markets?

You guys are really over the edge now.

Honestly.

:rolleyes:

It will be released in time.
And it wont be until after we've seen some marketing for it so don't expect it you just pop up on the shelves on day, we'll have ingame footage and alot more for sure before we'll play it ;).

The only thing that took me with a bit of surprise was that Birds of Prey comes out of nowhere and have already been confirmed for 2009. :P

Of course the current policy won't continue. I'LL repeat myself for you as I know how much you like it.

"They will start a website and an ad campaign at the appropriate time and people will be falling over themselves to buy it."

I know it doesn't suit your timetable but the developer and publisher will change their policy when the sim is in the appropriate stage of development. No amount of jumping up and down, hand wringing, threats of going away and never coming back by the community is going to change that. What they are doing now will have absolutely no effect on future game sales. The only mistake they made was letting the community know about SOW too early in the development. They didn't know for whatever (many) reasons that work on SOW had to be slowed down to continue to develop the IL-2 series from 2005-2007.

Kinda were i tried to get with my post above.

Best post on this board. ~S!~

This post should be made up as a message when accessing the forum and you should have to acknowledge every single sentence if you want to start a new thread here.

Thanks Oleg,finally some concrete news for the community!

Oh wait...

Arguments over for me.You believe what you want to you,as obviously you are a confidant of Oleg's,and I will wait for true facts to emerge one day.

That well may be the case Chivas, but now can we stop having posts from those that make out they are in the inner circle telling us that we cannot have any updates because UBI wont let us have them, Christ how many times have i heard that BS on here. It could simply be that we are getting no news because this product is way off release.

Hi Tree...We are only repeating what the people close to Oleg have hinted at over the years. You can chose to believe they are liars. I personally believe there are many reasons for the lack of info, one as you said the game still has sometime before its released. Another being that the publisher has the contract that controls the paychecks and information released.

I find this back and forth all very amuzing, almost like a bad daytime court show. As Chivas said this forum will basically have 0 impact on final sales if and when a game is released. Side A will still buy the game and say it's about time while side B will say I told you it will come out and buy it too. About the only thing that will impact sales is if another similar game beats it to market.
So I raise the question which will be first, Fighter Ops or SOW/BOB? I am patiently waiting for both. I'll be purchasing a rig based on whichever of the two comes out first.

Oops, forgot about KOTs. Either way I'll purchase and play all three as they become available or whatever comes out in their place if they do not.

Yes i know that Chivas, however it now seems apparent after my phone call to Ubi that because of their complete ignorance of SOW and their insistence that they are not planning to release any such title that what we were initially led to believe is now defunct. It is more than plausible that if there is another publisher in the frame that they too may not want any news/updates being released at this stage of development which is understandable. However i feel those of us that have been saying for sometime now that something isn't sitting quite right with this project regarding ubisoft have now been vindicated.
I also find it very distressing that Newegg amongst others are taking money in pre-orders and advertising a release date that is unrealistic and still openly stating that ubisoft is the publisher. Frankly i am also very disappointed that 1C or ubisoft have not issued a statement advising their potential future customers not commit to this purchase at this stage.

Since you already pointed at me, Tree, let me answer you in a similar way:

Your phone-call proves that the poor salesman you called has no idea about publishing games. What did you expect from the Business office? You should have asked him how many copies of IL2-1946 were sold in the UK, that's his job, not making contracts with foreign game-companies, being in touch with a Russian developer or planning ad-campaigns.
To base any option on that and your friends statements is nonsense. Infact chances are you even talked to the same guys! With the same reasoning I could call my local bank and ask them about the best tactics against a B-17. :rolleyes:


But of course you guys can wait for hard facts. But then please do so and stop crying and calling people liars, who post links and collect statements to answer your pitty whining. Otherwise you quickly run in danger to look like a child who just plugs his fingers in the ears and shouts "LALALALLALALALA" if somebody tells him something he doesn't want to hear. :rolleyes:

Heh heh ... when did Oleg move to Vancouver Island? I'll be driving past Chivas' home town tomorrow if the ferries run on time. Chivas can I pull your mustache to see if it's real? ;-)

People all over the world believe they are Oleg.
Canada's a new one though,I thought it was just moose there.

I don't see any point in Oleg answering any of your questions. You can't seem to grasp the concept that they are Very Busy and WORKING HARD to complete SOW. I suppose he could post every few weeks and say "We're still busy and working hard", but most of us don't need to be constantly reassured.

Sorry M8 I cut it off years ago. I didn't feel the same without the RCAF uniform. ;)

Whatever makes you feel better Feuerfalke, maybe you should try getting off your butt and making some phone calls yourself, this way you can get some hard facts instead of speculating. I did not speak to a salesman i spoke to ubisoft head office and have only repeated to this forum what i have been told. Your analogy about phoning your bank shows all here that you have very little concept of what is real, please enjoy your stay on planet earth but dont forget to leave.

In fact Feuerfalke let me go further, i may of been guilty of daring to question all that has been reported has fact on this forum, but i would rather have that label pinned on me than being considered has a self righteous patronizing twat. No offense intended of course.

I called UBISOFT in San Francisco (USA head office) before the release of Pacific Fighters to try to get an idea on the release date. Guess what? They had no clue what I was talking about.

Tree, the only "hard facts" you have gleaned are that the folks in the "head office" don't give a rat's butt about niche games that they happen to distribute. If it's not a console game they are out of the loop.

Stop the wild rumor mongering.

You know no more than anyone else does, and less than most I suspect.

Folks, lets not slip into flame war... It might be frustrating, i dont doubt it for a second... But there is no need to take swings at each other over the game. You`ll know everything you need to know when time comes. Nobody will keep you in the dark forever. As far as updates, there will be one soon. No exact day, but soon. Just hang in there you crazy bunch...sheesh

You guys have more in common then I think either of you realize... :)

An update ? Soon? Last time I read that here, it took over 5 weeks....

I repeat i am not wild rumor mongering, i am just repeating what i have been told by UBI. you are trying to make my conversation with UBI seem like a 1 minute call to a rep/salesman, it was not, i was on the phone for some considerable time, i even pointed the guy i spoke to to several websites showing the supposed ubi connection with this title, he then put me on hold to find out more, he was openly concerned that he knew nothing of this title, the rest i have already told you. But you know what, you could always try phoning them yourselves, strange that none of you will do that isn't it? You would rather make out that i talked to some low level tea boy than actually pick up the phone and ask.
So please dont make anymore comments until you have made a call yourself.

Yep that we have, but you got nothing to worry about Proton your gold medal is safe. :grin:

LOL...good to know.

This song is by someone that's in love, knows it's over.

Yet, wants to hold on soo much they would rather the other lied to them instead of having to come to the truth, and deal with it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyE4CLM0QIA

Pathetic isn't it?

If I could turn the page
In time then Id rearrange just a day or two
Close my, close my, close my eyes

But I couldnt find a way
So Ill settle for one day to believe in you
Tell me, tell me, tell me lies

Tell me lies
Tell me sweet little lies
(tell me lies, tell me, tell me lies)
Oh, no, no you cant disguise
(you cant disguise, no you cant disguise)
Tell me lies
Tell me sweet little lies

Although Im not making plans
I hope that you understand theres a reason why
Close your, close your, close your eyes

No more broken hearts
Were better off apart lets give it a try
Tell me, tell me, tell me lies

Tell me lies
Tell me sweet little lies
(tell me lies, tell me, tell me lies)
Oh, no, no you cant disguise
(you cant disguise, no you cant disguise)
Tell me lies
Tell me sweet little lies

If I could turn the page
In time then Id rearrange just a day or two
Close my, close my, close my eyes

But I couldnt find a way
So Ill settle for one day to believe in you
Tell me, tell me, tell me lies

Tell me lies
Tell me sweet little lies
(tell me lies, tell me, tell me lies)
Oh, no, no you cant disguise
(you cant disguise, no you cant disguise)

Tell me lies
Tell me sweet little lies
(tell me lies, tell me, tell me lies)
Oh, no, no you cant disguise
(you cant disguise, no you cant disguise)
Tell me lies
Tell me sweet little lies
(tell me, tell me lies)

This is getting so old.

At least it gives us something to read on this forum, otherwise it would be dead as SOW developement. ;) :D

Good point well made

Threads like this give me a good laugh...and I desperately needed it. Thanks.

It will be finished when it's finished.

Glad someone is happy, and a worthy contribution.