release on feb. 28th seems rel. fixed since swen mentioned binding contracts regarding release in his blog. alpha will most likely come out before xmas when swens let's play which he announced via twitter a few days ago goes well. if not, my guess goes somewhen after xmas maybe early jan.
Which is much too late for any amount of serious testing, feedback and especially acting on said feedback imho. And I'm saying this as a developer, not as a fanboy that wants his fix "naow!" (I'm quite busy with XCOM currently, and will be for a while to come I'm sure. That is in as much time I have to play games, doing a release here as well... :P)
Imnsho they are (again) being much too perfectionistic with something that's supposed to be an early build. I'll bet the "beta" we'll get will be much better than the release quality of pretty much 75% of the game industry (and that's a rather consevative number I've pulled out of a random orifice).
Of course, that is assuming they didn't pull an Egosoft and made a limited version that actually works to show to the press while the main game is an unplayable mess. (warning: abundant use of sarcasm in the previous sentence)
i agree @robcat. i am happy to do alpha and beta test and would not mind waiting a little longer if that ensures a good start for DOS. i dont want to see happening to DOS what happened to "x rebirth"! horrible start for rebirth! but the game will get very good in the end i am sure, b/c egosoft will support the game as long as there is money ;-) egosoft is very supporting and community oriented in my opinion and experience, which - if you are a long time egosoft gamer - makes up for the mess at release
BUT it does/did great damage to the reputation regarding the game and the company concerning, well, all other customers/gamers :-(
Off-topic but judging from what I hear from the X-community it could very well be the Rebirth is beyond saving as the issues aren't bugs, but core mechanics that are just broken, if your core mechanics are bust your game is pretty much beyond saving and the best you can do is patch it into a "playable" state.
so, i hope that
1) DOS is in a state that ensures at least a, let's call it, "safe release" and
That's a state the game should be in *after* alpha and beta, not *before*.
