DarthMaulUK

Amazon is never a good source for release dates to be honest. The essential thing is, that EaW is almost bug free when it is launched DMUK

I cant yet comment about the demo DMUK

I did ask a question about retreating. For the answer...Monday is almost here.... DMUK

he can and has DMUK

Wow. I almost fell asleep reading this one...best put that beer down. If Lucas didnt turn Star Wars into a 'cash-cow' then he wouldnt have money to develope new technology, make new films, games etc. And compared to someone like EA, Lucas is more of a cash-calf! Looking back, Lucasarts haven't hit the mark with a decent Star Wars RTS that sold. Galactic Battlegrounds did do pretty well and was based on a current popular game engine. Times have changed (thankfully) as the RTS genre moves into more of a 'total war' feel to the games. Lucasarts really had to deliver that killer RTS and to be frank, I doubt if the game would get as much coverage if those infamous words 'C&C' wasnt mentioned in press releases early on - because that is a major selling point. C&C hit the mark for various reasons - remember also, the Gulf War had not long finished then, and of course, it was just so addictive! EaW will appeal to a larger market for this very reason. Not only will the hardcore Star Wars fans, who will buy anything Star Wars no matter how bad it is, but also C&C fans itching to try out something new, since the Generals game engine is older than Yoda's underwear! Since Jim Ward was appointed President of Lucasarts, they now plan to release two Star Wars games a year - one at the start of the first quarter and one at the end of the year and they are fully aware of the quality they need to achieve to bring back some credibility to the licence. Galaxies apart, the last few games have been good. I just loved Republic Commando and KOTOR has hit the mark along with Battlefront. Petroglyph are working round the clock and I would really trust my gaming life in their hands. DMUK

Having said all that. I can't see how gamespy can deliver the sort of experience Empire at War will deliver for online play. Im there now, and Dawn Of War is having MORE problems. Its daily and to be honest, a game like DoW that has sold extremely well, only has around 200 players tops at its peak online - maybe gamespy has somethign to do with that? I keep my fingers crossed DMUK

I agree. Gamespy has no sense of community at all. DoW, which I play alot online is awful. It was only 3 weeks ago that they decided to WIPE CLEAN everyone' stats!! Servers are down alot, people drop out of games and trying to find a game to play is annoying. The MSN Gaming zone had its problems but at least it helped create a good community DMUK

Asking about the demo, is really going to be a wasted question. As of Thursday (last week) Lucasarts still havent a date for its release. DMUK

The url is: http://www.gamespot.com/live/stream...105&onthespot=1 Open your Windows Media Player, then copy and past in the address. DMUK

Good call! Ive just emailed Sarah @ gamespot and have a link to the event. Empire at war will be on so i am told DMUK

As mentioned. Activision publish all Star Wars games in Europe and most other parts, with EA covering Australia and I think Japan. The European release date was set at March 24th but it has been brought forward to Feb 10th - Game releases are 95% done on Fridays here. The USA release, by Lucasarts, is still Feb 7 DMUK

Im sure theres a link on the community page - always has been im just not one for doing small affilate styled buttons. The community page has almost all the fansites and forum sites listed. when i get the gallery up this weekend, all pictures etc will get credit until i get my press copy and put in newer images. DMUK

Dead site? I think not and I think over 100,000 members would disagree. I wasn't going to post a comment but after reading that, I had to. Our previous site was a microsite as I am not a fan of having pages with just 'coming soon' littered all over it. However, that is currently the case now but the reason for that is because information is being released more freely and I wanted our site to be ready for these updates - which it is.

The 10th of Feb is a date from Activision. All signs are good and they are going to keep me updated if this changes DMUK

I can confirm that EaW will be shipping in Europe on Feb 10th 2006. Still not 100% but this is the date they are looking at DMUK

With my conversations with Lucasarts, it seems that a demo could be penciled in for a middle of December release. DMUK

I still wouldnt trust info on an early demo. Things can and do change. Just ask Ensemble as to how wrong they got the AOE3 demo...it was so bad, they now have a 1.1 demo! LOL The only way we will certainly know is when the game is on sale...and then until a patch comes out DMUK

Mutterings around my contacts are that the demo is a little behind. But I think they are just trying to decide if they can add multiplayer or not. All we can hope for is a massive update on information - even Battlefront 2 had better news releases in its build up. DMUK

Auto resolve was extremely useful in rebellion for one simple reason. Imperial Stardestroyer vs Rebel transporter. No one wanted to load up the battle map, so auto resolve saved some time and theres no way there would be combat. Once the game went on in time (days in game,) and fleets became larger, there was no real need for it after that. DMUK

I did the same sort of thing just before the expansion for Galactic Battlegrounds came out. I had 5 copies to give away from Lucasarts. So you just never know! DMUK

I work for a publisher in the UK and we released a game a while back that required alot of 'enhancements' however, after releasing the first patch - thats all we wanted to release, regardless. This was frustrating from a community point of view(which i was looking after at the time) and i used to read daily all the cries and pleas for more patching. Frustrating for developers and community but let's hope Lucasarts have learnt from their past mistakes. DMUK

extremely hard work but worth it DMUK

It all sounds fun but one thing you have to remember, not everyone who buys the game will play it online for whatever reason. But as I mentioned, they are going to ensure its community friendly and prevent the 'expert' players from spoiling noob games, as so often happens. Currently, in Dawn Of War, because gamespy sucks, players are creating new accounts, joining a game and then upon launch - dropping out making it all but impossible for a 3v2 battle. I am hoping Petroglyph have servers ready as with their support the game could grow. However, its really down to the publisher to release patches and look at rebellion. DMUK

If you at this in the chat log Question (Cobra848): "Will there be a PetroGlyph Online Support? Like WOL. What kind of features will it have?" Petroglyph-Chris: "Post launch you can expect to see the Petro team very active listening to fans and responding to feedback. I’d also like to point out we will have a unique tournament system that caters to all three unique game modes as well a** an expanded profiling system." Petroglyph-Mike: "No profanity, Chris. :-)" Petroglyph-Chris: "DOH!" More or less confirms tournaments and ladders. How they will be managed, I dont know...but from my experiences of gamespy, they need to find somewhere with an actual sense of community because gamespy hasnt DMUK

You could do all this in Rebellion/Supremacy which made the game totally awesome. Sitting back waiting for your poor opponent to arrive, not knowing what you have waiting for them. Judging by some of the topics I have read and images I have seen, I think spying/espionage will be part of the game but probably using heroes. Either way, lets hope so because it would really make for the ultimate strategy war game DMUK