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Cast your minds back in time. Remember when Metal Gear Solid 4 was due out this Christmas? Konami were so sure that was the case that they even made a joke about a delay in one of their trailers this year. Well that was a lie (as are many other things) and the game really did get pushed back to 2008. Now, it seems, there will be another delay until the second quarter of 2008.

Konami promises that the delay will provide "greater enjoyment for more customers worldwide." Of course, it's difficult to compare these worldwide enjoyment levels without releasing the game twice so this may too be a lie. Have patience - there are enough games coming out this year to keep you busy until the middle of summer. MGS4 will be out before you know it. Unless it's delayed again.

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This doesn't really surprise me, but it also doesn't make me happy. Sadly, this is going to become more commonplace with each of the consoles and there's nothing we can do about it. I don't want publishers releasing terrible games that need tweaking or more, but I'd also like to see them be realistic. If shooting for Christmas 2007 is near impossible, then don't tell us that's when you expect to release it if you honestly believe it'll come out in September of 2008.

I sometimes wonder if this is a guy, trying to get gamers to preorder a game and then see how much work one should put into it or just release a "good' game. That maybe pessimistic, but it's food for thought.

Release dates have become a total joke. It's like they just pick some random date in the future that seems far away. Consider some of the delays recently:
- Grand Theft Auto IV from Oct 07 to spring 08.
- Metroid Prime 3 from Nov 06 to Aug 07.
- Super Smash Bros. Brawl from Nov 06 to Dec 07 to Feb 08.
- Metal Gear Solid 4 from holiday 07 to spring 08.
- Mass Effect from holiday 06 to May 07 to Nov 07.
- Too Human from 1998 to 1999 to 2000 to 2001 to 2002 to 2003 to 2004 to 2005 to 2006 to 2007 to 2008.
- Army of Two from fall 07 to early 08.
- Splinter Cell Conviction from holiday 07 to early 08.
- Manhunt 2 from summer 07 to Oct 07.
- PlayStation Home from late 07 to spring 08.
- Zelda: TP from holiday 2005 to early 06 to Nov 06.
- etc.

Those are just a few off the top of my head! Time to start overestimating release dates rather than underestimating. To developers: if you "think" a game should be out by a certain date, give a release date of at least 6 months later until you're certain.

Any delay means the game can only improve.

It worked out great for Goldeneye, not so much for many others. Patience fellow gamers, odds are it'll be worth it. Even if it ain't, then what you would have gotten sooner would have been trash anyways.

I'm not saying a long development cycle is a bad thing, I can be patient. But if it will take 4 years, then don't say it will come out in 3!