When Can We Expect RTCW 2 To Be Released ?

(|RS| Osprey) #1

Hello Everyone,
First I am very happy to join this BB and partake in discussions with our favorite games.

As a Server Admin to some very popular ET Servers I am concerned about the steadily declining attendance of players. I have spoke to many ET/RTCW Admins throughout the community and we all fear a real sharp decline is merely months away. Although different in many respects RTCW and ET are very similar games. So people like myself have been playing this game since November 2001. It age is starting to show itself.

With games like BF2, CS Source and some notable others out or poised to be released, I fear ET will fall into obscurity. Many of us Admins have spent countless hours working hard with our clans to make this game as popular as it is. As an Admin and leader in a clan I am trying to lay the ground work for 2005. I have decided solidly that BF2 will be part of our roster but
I am utterly in the dark when it comes to RTCW 2. All the information any of us Admins have is that some information was accidently leaked on the ScreenSavers television program. With choices to be made about server hardware upgrades, FTP map downloads and the like, some question need to be answered.

I can very well understand the secrecy involved with games and there jocking for best market position. But many Admins would like to know when we will see the release of the multiplayer side of RTCW 2 . Myself in particular has many decisons that need to be made and that one question could hold the key to my clans success in the near future.

Im not going to act like a marketing analyst or any of the sort but if I can offer a suggestion. Many people I know fall into two groups when it comes to RTCW/ET. There is the group that plays single player and never touches MP, and vice versa. If Id were to consider releasing the MP side of the game seperately either threw online purchase or in store it could release it well ahead of the single player portion of the game. I am taking a quess, I always thought the single player portion of the game takes much more time to develop then the MP side of things. By releasing the Mp side before the single player release, Id could maintain its market prescense and beat platforms like BF2 and CS Source to the punch.

Then we could see a continuence in the MP community of RTCW/ET and continue ID tradition of excellence.

By releasing the MP side of the game early ID can only gain in popularity and market prescence with little or no real damage to the focused release of the single player game. Not to mention the profitability of selling both portions of the game would be more benificial.

I know it almost an impossibilty to get an answer from either Splash or Id but any information would be indeed very appreciated to all us Server and Clan Admins.

(DarkangelUK) #2

I heard the end of january… but dont quote me on that.

(no_shad) #3

2006?

(SCDS_reyalP) #4

RTCW2 hasn’t even been officially announced, never mind a release date. (Todd H. mentioned it, but later said he had said too much…) So I would guess it will be released on the Whenth of Doneuary.

(DG) #5

there was rumour of mid 2007, but the details listed on the site which led to it were blatantly less than a guess - they added exactly 3 years to the date of their article about Hollenshead’s slip.

That said, I figure the date isnt too unrealistic, perhaps from a pessamistic viewpoint, given his later comment on it (stating the slip was accidental) contradicted what he said in the techTV interview and suggested they were only at the stage of looking for a developer for it.

I figure:
2005 is possible if secretly work started on it prior to doom3 release (Splashdamage’s secret project?)
2006 more likely
2007 if the suggestion of not having a dev yet was accurate, especially if rtcw2 would be anything like the sort of leap over Q4 that rtcw was over Q3.

  • Based on the total lack of information, I’d hazard a non-commital guess at mid-2006 to mid-2007, but I have a fair bit of hope that such a guess is somewhat pessimistic (er, if that makes sense :)). I figure 18 months is surely the absolute minimum dev time tho, and even 36 wouldnt be totally outragous. (kind of depends on how much of the work needed will be already done with Q4 i suppose.)

On another note… There’s quite a fair bit of good stuff coming to the world of ET shortly. ET:Fortress should be a major mod and is still hoped for this year. TC:E has a second test soon (Wednesday?) and presumably v1.0 will be in the first quarter. ET:UrT, well who knows. There’s also etpro 3.2.0 and non-beta ETTV to come hopefully fairly soon for “normal ET”. True, ETF etc will draw away some players from ET itself, but the influx of players to those mods from other games will likely be much bigger and that still means the world of ET increasing. ET being in the headlines again might also bring a small influx of new players, and hey manybe some of the mod players will give ET a go and like it enough to play reasonably frequently.

(blushing_bride) #6

i hope it is SD’s dirtly little secret and that it comes out sooner rather than later. The novelty of playing the same six maps for over a year is slowly beginning to wear off. However if SD are not working on RTCW2 then i hope they are working on a game that has some similar qualities in its multiplayer mode so that i can play that instead. Hurry up like.

(Azarael) #7

I don’t doubt that there will be a strong et community for a long time to come. If Splash Damage is indeed working on rtcw2, then they’ll have a lot of cool stuff for us when it’s done.

(Demolama) #8

dg has a point… we’ve seen screenshots of quake 4 already… nothing on rtcw2… my assumption is the game is only on the drawing board… no models no maps nothing being worked on yet… just throwing out ideas for a single player story

multiplayer I bet isnt even being discussed until they are nearly 60 % done with the singleplayer

18 months at least til completion from the first line of new code added

my guess fall of 06

(|RS| Osprey) #9

If the game is slated for 2006 you can kiss the ET community goodbye. Mods are great but the game relatively stays the same as do the graphics. We are already seeing massive declines across many of the most popular servers now, if it goes to 2007 you are talking about a major divide in time that many players will just flat out leave. Couple that with newer Mp games like BF2 and CS Source, Id is going to loose tremendous market prescence.

Take BF for example, it is starting to dwindle heavily and the next installment is right on time. The time span stretches 3 years and EA will not only keep many that played on theiir servers but will pick up people that left ET/RTCW. If it turns out that RTCW 2 will not be out for some time, my clan will have to make a serious choices to where we want to spend our time and money. I cannot believe a game like RTCW that came out before BF will have its next installment 3 years from now. That makes absolutely no sense in a game that did very well. My only hope is Splash damage was given the go -ahead to start work on RTCW with the Doom 3 engine two years ago after Single player ET was dumped.

Like the news guy says…only time will tell…or maybe someone frm ID.

(Sick Boy) #10

Hm I don’t see this massive decline in ET players, maybe it’s just the exams or some players temporarilly messing with HL2DM.

I can see ET having a long future in it left, probably until another free shooter comes around that tops it.

(Zombie13) #11

Do most of you think SD is doing RTCW2 or something? just seems like you guys are thinking that. I think another studio might be doing RTCW2 just cause SD did ET doesn’t mean they are going to do another RTCW game, they might want to do something entirely different for a change, just how id gave Quake 4 to Raven to make.

Just ranting on the common topic of RTCW2: when!?

Z

(PH@TIE) #12

I think you will find a drop off in players on servers over the comming months, but nothing that will impact on the Community or even begin the mass exodus of players.

I too have been playing RtCW since the Beach Test days, and ET since the Fuel Dump demo was released. As have shed loads of ppl that I meet online regularly.

Although I do not play competitively any more for SenF (too much ear bashing from the wife), I do still play both games, and there are still plenty of active servers available for your entertainment. What you will find tho’ is that server admins will need to offer up something to keep their players comming back time and time again. A gimmic. I no longer admin servers so don’t have to worry about such things.
If you have a good server with fair admins and low pings, you will have a steady stream of regulars 24/7. I wont even attempt to preach about what makes a good admin, as that has been discussed before.

RtCW servers like Jolts Market Garden (40 players, low pings) and Happy Penguins 64 player Depot server are always a safe bet for some Full Server action.

As for ET well the game still rox’s, and a quick shufty at ASE, shows it’s popularity, as it does for RtCW.

I quess in the end where theres a habit theres and addict.

RtCW2 would be more than welcome sooner rather than l8r, but in the meantime, theres plenty still to do with the upcomming mods for ET, and the ongoing Massive Support for this FREE game.

No need to hit the panic button just yet. :smiley:

Merry Christmas all.

(DarkangelUK) #13

2006?[/quote]

i said don’t quote me on that! :stuck_out_tongue:

I’ve not been much of a fan of the rumour mill and going by hearsay. Unless it’s official news release, im not bothered just now.

(eRRoLfLyNN) #14

I personally know a lot of people who are busy playin San Andreas, HL2 etc but who are still very much ET freaks. These are massive games that are taking up people’s time, but they’ll come back. No-one can stay away from ET for too long, it’s just too damned good. There are also plenty of new maps out there too for people to play, and mappers still making maps for ET. Yes, some have gone on to other games, but there are plenty still making for ET.

At one time there was no Caen, Venice, Rommel, Cathedral, Stalingrad, Temple, Supply Depot etc etc. Some of them I really love as much as the originals now. Ok, some of these are no good for clan play, but jaysus they are the shit on the pubs.

Being free will always keep ET alive. Being the best MP game ever will also help its cause. Thinkin about games that look old, why do so many people play Counterstrike for so long?? (Yes I know CS source is out now) - but there is something in the game that keeps people playin, even though it looks outdated.

And ET shits on CS imho, from a great height. O, and it looks just great to me, even on my BBC micro. :skull:

Vive ET!

(PH@TIE) #15

:clap:

(Bongoboy) #16

|RS| Osprey raises an excellent point in an admirably well-considered and presented post.

Alas, as you point out, there’s not a snowball’s chance in hell of us being able to answer your question.

I know it’s frustrating not to know. As SCDS_reyalP correctly guessed, all shall be announced on the Whenth of Doneuary. Rest assured, it’s not like anyone’s going to release anything and NOT tell you guys in advance.

So, sorry not to answer your question, but hope you and everyone has a most excellent Christmas/Holiday season and an entirely splendid New Year. In case you overdose on Meats and Roast Things, here, by way of a healthy change, is a choreographic banana.

:banana:

(blushing_bride) #17

Alas, as you point out, there’s not a snowball’s chance in hell of us being able to answer your question.

what if we got you really drunk and said lots of nice things about you?

(schmeisser) #18

Bongoboy:
What if we sent well endowed Nordic prostitutes to your hotel room, dressed in Nazi garb? Hmmmm?

The good servers are still busy as hell. My favorite server is Ilangame.com, all Fueldump, all the time. It is constantly full. Another all Fueldump server is House of Pain. The best maps get played, the cheesy maps fall by the wayside, simple as that. The downside of the single map servers is that people know the defensive tactics so well, they are usually Axis slaughterhouses. I must admit I’m getting a little burned out on some maps, never liked Radar or Battery that much. Bring on RCTW2. I’ll gladly pay for it.

(Zombie13) #19

YAY does that mean people will stop asking when it’s going to be released :smiley:

You guys have a good Xmas too and don’t work too hard over the holidays :slight_smile:

Z

(SCDS_reyalP) #20

You mean they might be doing something completely different ? Perhaps a game about a man with three buttocks ?!? :clap:

But seriously, it’s a good guess that they are working on an RTCW/ET followup. AFAIK, 2 games on the doom III engine have been announced or hinted at, Q4 and a Wolfenstein game. Raven is doing Q4, and SD has said publicly they are working on a Doom III engine game.

As for the ‘community’ it seems to me quite an assumption that there needs to be a thriving RTCW/ET community for RTCW2 (or whatever it is called) to succeed. RTCW didn’t depend on the wolf3d fanbase, and was a big hit :moo: