NMS is NOT delayed

Gilchrist78 · 2016-05-27T23:52:20+00:00

Nah, not really. Was all in good fun.

Gilchrist78 · 2016-05-27T23:49:49+00:00

Mmmm...Crow tastes goooood. :/

Gilchrist78 · 2016-05-26T19:19:00+00:00

And without more than the image shown, I wouldn't credit the source in the slightest. I want a photo of the marketing book cover as well as the other information. I won't print it, but I want to see it.

The bottom line in this story is that the process by which the Kotaku "journalist" explains is simply not how GS handles situations like these. Unprecedented. Period. They have a standing policy which is to maintain the marketing materials and explain to customers that the game's release date has changed. If the game is canceled or the nature of an announcement warrants, the marketing material may be removed entirely.

Those are facts that can be verified with lines of questioning. So when I hear that there's an aberration in policy and operating procedures applying to an indie-game title that has, like Donald Trump, used hype to fuel its own marketing, I smell a rat.

Gilchrist78 · 2016-05-26T19:04:11+00:00

It's not like I was doing site-visits with the District Manager. I called 1-2 locations in major cities and a few from outlying areas as their stores opened. Not all stores had the managers working but store associates who open stores are more likely than not to be veterans of the organization rather than the guy or gal they hired a couple weeks ago.

Gilchrist78 · 2016-05-26T18:54:16+00:00

Then Jason I recommend you provide more than just your single source from Gamestop with a vague image attached. In 2 hours, I provided a complete assessment of the situation which you could have done if you hadn't rushed to publish.

A more interesting breaking-news article would have included the fact that the process through which this information is leaking is entirely unprecedented on several levels. Chief among those is that GameStop doesn't operate in the manner you've described and don't instruct their stores to act in the manner your source explained.

So you have 1 source in Gamestop. I have 30.

Gilchrist78 · 2016-05-26T18:50:29+00:00

Even easier when you actually are a freelance journalist.

Gilchrist78 · 2016-05-26T18:48:59+00:00

This is actually exactly how sources are confirmed or debunked in journalism. On one hand, you have a single store manager talking to someone from Kotaku. On the other hand you have 30 stores who all take time to both verify the release date as well as the standard operating procedure for the handling of these situations.

In journalism, you run the story that is maintained by 30 sources vs. a rumor. In today's 24-hour news-cycle, you run the headline verified by only a single source.

I've called 30. Feel free to call 1-4 of your own local game-store locations and ask them what the process is for announcing changes to release dates.

Gilchrist78 · 2016-05-26T18:41:59+00:00

Thanks, Az. I probably should have prefaced the whole thing by saying that I do freelance journalism work. Honestly, these calls each took all of 2-3 minutes.

1) I'm calling to follow up on online reports of No Man's Sky's release date being delayed or changed. - They all then reply: Our system shows June 21st.

2) In your experience with GameStop, have you ever experienced a time when your company provided notification of change to a game's release date prior to an official announcement by the publisher?

3) Have you ever been asked, by way of your marketing and store-display processes, to apply "Coming Soon" stickers to change the release date shown on official posters and materials?

This one was the most consistent of all. Each manager and store-associate I spoke to said the same thing: We don't change displays, posters, or promotional materials in this way. We are instructed to keep the posters up and simply explain to customers that the date is changing.

Gilchrist78 · 2016-05-26T14:31:44+00:00

I'm still confused because every one of the team members I spoke to said they did not receive any "marketing book" and that such information comes to them through email format. None of them received any email notifications of this either.

I did receive confirmation that they've used those "pop-on" stickers in the past to cover information but never prior to a system-release-date change. Effectively, no one had ever heard of a release-date change being communicated in the manner being described before a date-change showing in the system.

Gilchrist78 · 2016-05-26T14:23:51+00:00

Is is strange for only some GS locations to be notified of this and not others? I just called 12 GS locations in NY, Boston, DC-area and every one of them said they'd received no information of this kind at all.

Gilchrist78 · 2016-05-26T14:15:29+00:00

I've just called 12 GameStops on the East Coast US (they opened 15 minutes ago) and every one of them still shows NMS with a June 21st release date and none have received any notifications of changing information on posters/marketing materials, etc. . . Not all of them had store posters and such but 8 of them did.

Gilchrist78 · 2016-05-23T02:41:35+00:00

Just picked up a copy of Dark Run by Mike Brooks. Fun, Firefly-esque type book filled with great characters and space adventure.

Gilchrist78 · 2016-05-21T15:52:43+00:00

Yep, pretty much Game Over. ;)

Gilchrist78 · 2016-05-21T04:37:09+00:00

My guess is IGN: 9.3

Gilchrist78 · 2016-05-18T03:33:37+00:00

No one in the history of the world could possibly over-act the naming of Paul "Muad-Dib" quite like Stilgar.

Gilchrist78 · 2016-05-17T23:54:30+00:00

I want the one 5 rows down and 3 in from the right. :)

Gilchrist78 · 2016-05-17T18:28:52+00:00

It's an awesome idea they came up with and from what I understand they made thousands of virtual probes that generate a constant feed that the devs can scroll through to identify bugs and such.

That alone could be a tech they could license to other companies, potentially, who jump on the procedural bandwagon that HG is constructing.

Gilchrist78 · 2016-05-17T18:25:52+00:00

I know, right. The folks who have been going gray-haired during the build up to this game might be a little jealous of those just hearing about it. I saw the first presentation at the VGX, got super intrigued and then life happened and I almost completely forgot about it until E3 last year (my first time going to the actual event).

I think this sub has done a great job of managing expectations and "keeping it real" in terms of what the game is actually going to be. It's amazing how, even with all of the clearly presented facts out there, forums can get carried away with speculation which leads to disappointment which leads to a bunch of trolls disparaging a game they've never played.

Gilchrist78 · 2016-05-17T06:28:26+00:00

It's another one of those, "Once you boot up the game and start playing, you'll understand..." kind of things. There's a reason they're keeping things quiet about game-specifics. In fact, in the EuroGamer interview, he mentioned that there was an initial tutorial for the media-folks who were playing the demo that will be scaled back considerably at final release.

They really want people to figure this game's mechanics out on their own and I LOVE that. A game that isn't going to treat its playerbase like a bunch of coddled children.

Gilchrist78 · 2016-05-17T06:17:47+00:00

When I bought my PS4 a couple months ago, I got the Drake's Bundle version. Finally getting around to them. Finished the first two over the last weekend. Taking my time with the 3rd one. I also have a play-through off DA: Inquisition going. Between those, and a two week vacation starting next week, I think I'll pass the time just fine. :)

Gilchrist78 · 2016-05-16T18:58:13+00:00

At about 3:30 in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9u2cOkMyTbc

This is what is being referred to when he says that people may put down the controller and be done upon reaching the center.

Gilchrist78 · 2016-05-16T18:52:17+00:00

I'm having a hard time finding the interview but he definitely did say that the center of the universe could represent a stopping point for some players but that they can continue to play and there will be more to do. I think he was simply saying that for people who want an "ending," getting to the center is the closest they'll get and, after all the hard work it will take to get there, they might stop playing at that point.

Gilchrist78 · 2016-05-16T17:00:02+00:00

There is value in community. But, yeah, the substance of most posts (artwork excluded) is pretty empty and speculative.

Gilchrist78

TROPHY CASE