The Romanian game store fiasco...

[karamazovnew]

I am truly appalled by the almost inexistent interest for SH5 in my country. To date (March 2d), none of the major game stores have any information whatsoever about SH5. There was no chance to preorder, no prices, nothing. Previews about the game on special sites were short, mostly links to trailers and a few old screenshots.

Just to put things into perspective here. Some years ago, the first ever gaming magazine had ample updates on any project which involved Romanians. I can't remember who the "bosses" were but I do remember Andrei Fantana was one of them. I personally met most of them as a young boy at the first PC game store in this country (back in 95-96 i think). Both the store and the magazine were called "Game Over" and some of us old guys fondly remember it. I was looking for a good starting flight sim and was about to buy FS95 from them. Andrei told me to get Flight Unlimited instead, and, since they didn't have it, gave me the address of a small store which had it (the only copy I ever saw in Romania). Andrei now works at Ubisoft btw...

One year ago, when Wrath of the Lich King was released, there was such a media frenzy that the stores opened at 00:00 am, major television networks were there, thousands came to buy the game and queued up for hours (including me).

Money is what turns this world and even though I understand that the Romanian public is either corrupted by piracy or uninterested in niche sims, I can't forgive the appalling reception that SH5 has received here. I'm an avid fan and supporter of Silent Hunter and the Ubi team (no matter how much I complain about missing features ) so I really take offense to this.

[Schultz]

Well in Romania few people play sub simulators so they started selling outside because of that, but I can't understand 1 thing, why didn't they put it to preorder like the other games,from all the big online shops in Romania, also the big provider, just 1 little shop has the game but not the Collectors Edition.

[capthelm]

SH5 dev team not located in your country?

wtf is going on here?

[karamazovnew]

Originally Posted by capthelm

SH5 dev team not located in your country?

wtf is going on here?

They are, right here in my town actually. I guess most thought I'd be one of the first to receive a preview copy or get the first box off the shelf, just because I live here. I bet they box the games in Canada, which is why they got the game first. And I also understand that the game should be available from March 4'th, and that it takes a lot of time to distribute it (luckily the Atlantic War has ended so our SH5 loaded ships will not risk being sunk by subs ). So I'm not complaining about not having the game NOW, I'm complaining about the lack of info and interest. If just ONE store had it on the list as "coming soon, collector's edition price 200 RON, made by our good guys yeeey", I'd be happy.

[urfisch]

same here in germany...big stores all have a delay in the shipping from ubi side. game should have been delivered by 26th of febr, and is now to be in stores round the 5th of march.

lol..

[elanaiba]

Well, if its any comfort, we haven't received our copies either. Yet!

[karamazovnew]

Originally Posted by urfisch

same here in germany...big stores all have a delay in the shipping from ubi side. game should have been delivered by 26th of febr, and is now to be in stores round the 5th of march.

lol..

I don't think I've made my point clear. No matter where you search on gaming store sites for "Silent Hunter 5", you get "No results". There is one single store that mentions it, but there is no price. I've even found figurines for Final Fantasy XIII (with prices) but no mention of SH5. This isn't about receiving the games late from Ubi because the trains ran late.

On the bright side, the monthly magazines again do their job. On the newest XTREMPC March issue, they make a Hands-On preview of SH5. The author of this article managed to do a good job for someone who can't tell the bow from the stern so this should by no means be regarded as a critique to her. Let me quote a few interesting lines:

Surprisingly, in this age of shooters and RPG-strategy games, the Silent Hunter series stubbornly tries to ride rides the waves of the gaming industry sea.

etc. you drive a U-boat, historical research, not that easy even for begginers, trigonometry needed for high realism (oh really?!), interesting dynamic campaign etc LOTS of info on what a sub actually does , apparently you can even suffer damage from escorts (that's new), praise for the sub cramp interior...

On full realism you need a good knowledge of math in order to calculate torpedo tracks, particularly because the real german subs had no automated computer to calculate ranges and distances and everything depended on the skill of the crew( you don't say).

etc. need to shoot "somewhat" ahead of the target, the need to hit specific parts of the target etc.

Left mostly alone in the field of naval sims, The Silent Hunter series has never been made for mainstream gaming. It is intended for the nostalgics of the golden age of PC gaming, when the sims ruled the gaming industry.

etc. also good for WW2 fans, historical missions, museum (lots of nations listed), nothing to complain about the sim-part of SH5, but problems with camera movement and lots of graphical issues etc.

No mention whatsoever about modding, about OSP, the availability of just one Type of U-boat and, wierd, a release date for 27 march . Actually that might explain a few things .

You know what? If I manage to get the game fast, I'll submit to them a professional review free of charge. Andrei, do you remember the 6-8 page review of Falcon 4? Or European Fighter? I bet I can beat that

Originally Posted by elanaiba

Well, if its any comfort, we haven't received our copies either. Yet!

It's not a comfort because I already knew that Btw, if you see Andrei today, give him my best regards. Those guys really knew how to appreciate a good sim

[MercurySeven]

Originally Posted by karamazovnew

They are, right here in my town actually.

Well, you COULD go there, knock on their door, offer them some cake and ask kindly whether they would sell you a copy. I assume they have got some at their office.

Not sure whether this would actually work but I would love to read that story!

[karamazovnew]

Originally Posted by MercurySeven

Well, you COULD go there, knock on their door, offer them some cake and ask kindly whether they would sell you a copy. I assume they have got some at their office.

Not sure whether this would actually work but I would love to read that story!

C'mon, I don't have he nerve to bother them with such a thing.

( @ Dan)


Anyway, that wasn't the issue. Even if I had 10 copies since February 20th, I would've still wrote the OP.

[MercurySeven]

Could be fun though. Maybe you would all sit down, have some cake, think about the problem and then call some local game shops to get their bloody moves on, order some SHV copies and organise some events where the devs come and sign copies of SHV in the shops. Never heard of something like that, but if authors do it, why shouldn't game devs do it?

Plus you would eat cake. Nothing bad can ever come from eating cake.

[karamazovnew]

Originally Posted by MercurySeven

Could be fun though. Maybe you would all sit down, have some cake, think about the problem and then call some local game shops to get their bloody moves on, order some SHV copies and organise some events where the devs come and sign copies of SHV in the shops. Never heard of something like that, but if authors do it, why shouldn't game devs do it?

Plus you would eat cake. Nothing bad can ever come from eating cake.

Remember, the cake is a lie.
We could throw in a soup party with "U-boat Special cocktails". And hang salamis and bananas from the air conditioning pipes .

[aandreei2002]

I don't agree with this. I think that in Romania there is lack of interest in original game since piracy it's so high, not to the subs genre expecially. And related to stores, well, they bring in the few titles that may sell well here...so usually that's reserved for multimillion selling games.


OFF-TOPIC

Originally Posted by elanaiba

Well, if its any comfort, we haven't received our copies either. Yet!

Kapitan, please double check that information. Your enigma machine is broken i think.

[alexradu89]

both romania and ubi, fail ! -.- nuff said

[elanaiba]

Originally Posted by aandreei2002

Kapitan, please double check that information. Your enigma machine is broken i think.

Oh bugger, one day away from the office and we got them?

[Schultz]

Karamazov if I hadn't told you about xpc because I have a subscription , I preffer my reward a soup