2003 Vaporware Awards 502
7x7 writes "Wired News has the 2003 Vaporware Awards available for your perusal. Winning the Lifetime Achievement Award, if you hadn't guessed already: Duke Nukem Forever!"
IF I HAD A MINE SHAFT, I don't think I would just abandon it. There's got to be a better way. -- Jack Handley, The New Mexican, 1988.
RIP, Fallout 3 (Score:5, Interesting)
that was such a kick in the nuts.
-fren
Re:God Bless America (Score:0, Interesting)
Re:missed the vote (Score:5, Interesting)
Radio Shark (Score:3, Interesting)
Incidentally, TiVo is supposed to be putting in XM capability into one of their new receivers, does anyone know if you'll be able to timeshift it?
Team Fortress 2 (Score:3, Interesting)
Remember how cool it looked when the first videos surfaced.. it even won "TF (TM) 2 Wins E3.Net Awards " in 1999.
port mozilla to amiga (Score:2, Interesting)
Hmm, shouldn't Amizilla [slashdot.org] be on the list too?
Story of Duke Nukem Forever? (Score:5, Interesting)
Just A Reminder Everyone (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm still waiting for Gran Turismo 2000 to hit the shelves.
Software Etc. will listen with empathy about my loud proclamations of GT2K == GT3-Aspec, and the sales weasels will agree with me. But the mgmt. shall not, will not, could not would not refund my money, nor give me a store credit until:
1) A game called Gran Turismo 2000 ships.
2) Official word from Sony arrives that the game is canceled.
bastards.
Re:RIP, Fallout 3 (Score:5, Interesting)
-retained the ability to name/improve your char
-supported portraits (c'mon guys it's not that hard!
-allowed different weapons and strategies
-had a nice 3D system like NWN
I know that last one might be a little controversial, but after getting used to zooming and panning in the 3D world it's hard to go back to pixels..
SplashPad? (Score:3, Interesting)
Where is the SplashPower SplashPad [splashpower.com]?
Several [popsci.com] press [badassgeek.com] articles [i4u.com] have promised this for the past year. They're stuck on "looking for partnerships." I want one. Today.
I remember... (Score:3, Interesting)
Original Release Date: April 1993
Actual Release Date: October 1996
And that '96 release date was only because the publisher forced the matter, even though Smart thought it wasn't yet ready for publication.
And bear in mind that the original release date in 1993 meant it was already being worked on MUCH earlier. In fact, it had been in development for 7 years by the time it was pushed onto the shelves in '96. I mean,
And for all that, it probably should have stayed as vaporware
I mean, how long has Duke Nukem been in development anyways? More then 7 years? Or is BC3K still king?
Re:HL2 should not have been #1... (Score:5, Interesting)
As for TF2, it's now a mod for HL2, so of course it's delayed.
Vaporware (Score:3, Interesting)
They however have learned to at least stop updating at all since their last showing and instead have only this to say:
"Microcode Solutions has received what we believe will be the final hardware revision of the PCI based PowerPC card being manufacturered by a well known PowerPC accelerator company. The current board is a high speed G3 board. Other models are being prototyped right now, and these are G4 and dual processor configurations. Microcode Solutions has always been the leader in Macintosh emulation technology, developing the first PowerPC emulation for a non-Macintosh platform. We will continue this tradition by releasing the first Power Macintosh emulation for the PC. Besides having a PCI based hardware solution, Microcode Solutions will also be releasing a completely software based emulation to the public at an amazingly low price (under $50). We know that people have waited an extremely long time for Microcode Solutions to release a new product, and we appreciate your patience. Just like our successful product "FUSION-PC", we feel we should wait to release the product until it is perfected. We are nearing that stage right now."
Re:RIP, Fallout 3 (Score:1, Interesting)
http://www.interplay.com/fbos/
Re:Phantom at CES? (Score:4, Interesting)
However, the number and types of ports on the back of this box ring alarm bells with me. How many PC-based consoles have:
Composite and S-Video and component video?
RCA and optical and "coax" audio?
Other little signs:
Power adapter plug has changed from previous regular PC style to circular multi-pin.
There is a coax connector for an optional internal cable modem (according to the proposed specs [phantom.net] but an internal ADSL modem is also an option. How do you choose which?
This reminds me of the Moller SkyCar [moller.com] where they produce just enough prototypes to keep the investors happy but never actually produce anything.
If they didn't turn the thing on then this is probably just an empty box with some ports stuck on the back.
Re:RIP, Fallout 3 (Score:2, Interesting)
Sort of similar to the old game Breach, if you remember that.
Back when I played Fallout it was called Wasteland (Score:3, Interesting)
He was even kind enough to ask for input from devoted fans [yahoo.com].
Re:probably best left on the drawing board... (Score:3, Interesting)
but my lifetime achievement for vaporware is: arificial inteligence
Re:HL2 should not have been #1... (Score:1, Interesting)
Certainly there are other examples that I can't think of, but the VAST majority of people think of HL2 first when you give them those criteria because it was so OVER HYPED.
Anyway, code leak or not that game was NOT coming out in 2003. It simply wasn't FINISHED.
Re:My vote... (Score:3, Interesting)
The obvious one is missing (Score:3, Interesting)
Where is it?
Psychonauts (Score:4, Interesting)
THIS STUFF IS *NOT* VAPORWARE (Score:5, Interesting)
I for one am extremely stoked that game studios have finally adopted the "Its done when its done" mantra of releasing games.
Let's not forget that 'etched-in-stone' release dates are responsible for most of the really atrocious games inflicted on us over the last decade.
Blizzard, id, & Valve deserve enormous kudos for sticking firm to their convictions, and holding their corporate masters at bay while producing games that are polished and bug free.
Vaporware suggests that these companies have promised something that has not, and will not be delivered. We should keep in mind that at *no* point have any of these companies offered firm release dates. And they should be commended for not doing so.
What's funny is the really guilty party -- that is, the party which has most frequently made false promises of "what's coming down the pipeline" *has* to be Wired Magazine.
My 2 cents.
One of the two oldest running jokes in retail (Score:2, Interesting)
Yea, this is a bad list (Score:5, Interesting)
This list they have up is kind of lame actually this year, since many of the things that were on the list were announced ONLY this year. HL2 and Doom 3 both garnered votes (with HL2 making the top spot), but honestly, it is not like this game is really late. They just got the ball rolling for it this year, and all of a sudden it is considered TOP VAPORWARE?!?!?!
How about the HDTiVo? Announced in Jan 2003, and by Dec 2003, it is top 10 vaporware? UGH.
I think that Wired really needs to make put up some limits on what actually is considered "Vaporware." IMnsHO, the first thing is that the product must have been announced at least over a year ago (ie, 2002 for these awards). Just my $.02.