rec.autos.simulators

My theory on the Indycar 2 patch is this.  Sierra have released a fixed up
version of the game with the Win95 version included before the dos patch is
released in hopes of selling as many copies as possible to those who can't wait
and will cave in and buy the Dos/Win95 version.  They'll probably hold back on
releasing the patch as long as possible to satisfy their bottom line.  Typical
big business decision.  If Papyrus had not been taken over by Sierra several
months ago, I believe that customer loyalty would have been a priority and the
patch would have been released long ago even if it did not correct all the
problems, just something to hold us over.

Addendum:  Sierra has now done away with manuals.  Instead they use Windows
help file.  They claim it's to save paper but I'm sure it doesn't hurt to help
reduce costs which never get passed on to the customers.  Recent titles include
Earthsiege 2, Missionforce: ***storm and FPS: Baseball 96.

Now I guess there really isn't any reason to go out and buy that game
if it's a Sierra title, since they don't respect their customers enough to
include a paper manual. I'm sure Warez Pirates have cheered Sierra's great
marketing decision.

Sierra if you happen to see this, I bought Jane's Longbow recently, and
one of the reasons I did was because I had heard what a great manual it
came with. Sure would have a tough time dragging the monitor into the
bathroom to do a bit of reading up on the game.

Oh well, I am sorry Papyrus is now part of the Sierra family, no more
great Track Guides in the future, maybe the Sierra family also includes
the publishers of those aftermarket game guides which we have to fork out
another $20.00 for, and this is a way to force us to buy them.

Too bad Papyrus, I guess our fears when you first announced the Sierra
buyout really are coming true, I can only hope that Papyrus manages to
keep the "realism" that their sims are famous for, I'm hoping that ICR3
will not go the way of Sierra's A-10 flight sim.

Cheers.

--John
--
-------------------
  John (Joao) Silva
  http://www.racesimcentral.net/~jsilva
  Seattle, Washington USA.

________

Eldred Pickett

I am NOT paranoid.  And why are you always watching me?!?

Your theory sounds plausable (I've edited it out for brevity of my
post), but I wonder if Sierra really is actually plotting to make
people go out and buy it a second time, or if they are just oblivious.
I mean, if they were paying attention to what is happening, they'd be
worried about damage control by this point. People are absolutely
disgusted- you have heard, perhaps, that people who bought it are
saying the yellow flag bug is still on the new version? And now I
understand that a "return the original (1st) CD with $15 and you'll
get mailed the new CD" was posted on the Compuserve site(see M.
Carver's helpful post regarding it in this group), which doesn't sound
like the right manouver to me. Front cover of the users manual and $5
for handling sound more appropriate... what do they want, profit from
us a second time? I guess that does make your theory sound more
likely.

Long-term, Sierra is losing big time here. Racing sims are specialty
software; it is a limited audience that digs them, and most of those
people, within reason, are passionate about the simes and already
bought the original product in November or soon after. These customers
have been tossed and kicked around for 8 months, and now feel like
they are getting screwed... Think any racing fans are going to have a
warm place in their hearts for Sierra any time soon?