Thursday, June 22, 2006

Xbox 360 "Prey" demo not coming today

Despite banner adds on TeamXbox.com saying the Prey demo is coming today, there's a delay.

From 3D Realms president George Broussard
We do not want 360 people waiting up for the demo or having false expectations. The 360 demo will not appear on Marketplace tonight. [last night]

I'm still waiting for specifcs [sic], but I'm being told that it's still in testing at Microsoft. From what I understand this isn't Microsoft's fault, and is more likely just an issue of timing.

I'm hesitant to give any estimates for a release, but I've been told it should be reasonably soon after the PC release, but could be as long as a few days.
Prey is one of the most anticipated FPS games this year, and has been 10 years in the making.

It's "likely just an issue of timing"? I manage software, so I'm guessing either (A) The demo wasn't turned over to Microsoft on schedule for certification, (B) Microsoft didn't plan for enough time for certification, or (C) significant issues were discovered during certification.

But, since I manage software, my heart really goes out to those folks who are madly trying to identify, fix, and recertify the demo, with hundreds of thousands of stereotypically less-than-courteous-or-understanding gamers lighting up message boards. Unfortunately, software development isn't a very deterministic process.

I, uh, may have been waiting up last night for it ...

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