GP2-GP3 or what ever..

Hi All, This might be interesting to you all out there. I cant remember when I E-Mailed Microprose or if it was a comment here I made. I think if I remember correctly it was made here by me about GP3 in the winds. If so Microprose do have a look here as the proof in down below. From Microprose...

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>Subject: GP2 addons / GP3 >Date: Mon, 7 Apr 1997 19:49:44 +0100 >X-MSMail-Priority: Normal >Shane, > Please note MicroProse have NEVER indicated that any form of patch, update >or expansion was being worked on either now or in the future. This has >always and will remain the company line for this product worldwide. >MicroProse had the legal licence for the 1994 season only. The 1995 season >was used by Sony for their Playstation title, while the 1996 season was >used by Edcom Software for "Grand Prix Manager 2" (also published by >MicroProse). The current "third-party" addons are created by >"reverse-engineering" the software code and make the orignal program >unstable. However we have no plans to create our own. > As for the rumors of a "Grand Prix 3", this is just a rumor. MicroProse >are not working on another Grand Prix game at this time. I would simply >ignore the hype and guess work about our future aims of the "World >Circuits" series of games. > Any up-to-date information on these games can be obtained from the WWW >site or by calling or faxing our Customer Services departments in Europe >and America. >Regards, >Mark Rich/MicroProse-Europe

End of Microprose quote. What pisses me is that before that I HAD RECIEVED E-Mail from one of them STATING that a PATCH was being made and that NETWORK was going to be in it. I was even told that they were testing the network option to make sure it was fast enough. Now I really wished I had of kept that E-Mail so I could post it here but at the time I was an avid Microprose supporter and if that is what i was told then it had to be the gospile truth so dont ask me to produce proof of that E-Mail. The above is what i have got and all of you who have asked and E-Mailed them and those who have not can draw your own conclusions. Last note is that to say I am dissapointed is and understatment and Microprose you are making a grave mistake. GP2 just begs to be networked at least. The rest is not a big problem to me but the serial link and network option is a big must in now days racing sims. Just have to look at the online racing leagues to see what I mean. Well thats about it. Looks like GP2 is now dead for the time being. Big shame but there it is.. Shane Lansky Hobart,Tasmania Australia

[snip] You must mean the following message :) I hope you aren't an avid MicroProse supporter. GP2 has been a nightmare, although, we have an excellent sim, and MicroProse many dollars, so I guess its been worth it. Deja News Retrieved Document Article 19 of 22 Subject: Re: GP2 NEWS DIRECT FROM MICROPROSE UK !!!!! Date: 1996/11/14 Newsgroups: rec.autos.simulators [More Headers] On Sun, 10 Nov 1996 12:27:50 +0000, John Wallace >>No I think you read what I said wrong. I like the sim and play it to >>death. i dont give a shit if a patch is made or not. The point is they >>said IPX net work in the mags Wet weather and more. That is not in the >>game at the moment. >Hmmm, I don't think I did misunderstand. Yes you did. You seem to think i dont like the game. As I said I do like the game. Well what on earth has that got to do with the mags. Quote all the text. I did say they can get it wrong but surly not 90% of the mags over the world. Shoot the messenger well that I'll agree on so here is a quote from a reply from microprose. Snip........... UK office for replies. Currently, we are working on an upgrade patch for network support, however, it will probably be a substantial amount of time before it is released. Due to the huge amount of information that needs to be transmitted across a LAN, we are trying to find the most streamlined manner in which to accomplish this. Regards, Jeff Martin Senior Technician / GP-2 Spectrum HoloByte / Microprose U.S. snip... There was a few bits telling me they would E-mail me when ready. Anyway if the patch is not available I'll catch a Jumbo jet and meet you at the Microprose office and shoot him together. I'll repeat again. I like the game, I play the game and I am happy with the game. I am only saying what what I have been told from Microprose and not having a go at them so you have know justifacation having a go at me because there is the message. I believe it wont be to long. If not big deal I can live with it.. Shane Lansky Hobart,Tasmania Australia

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>Last note is that to say I am dissapointed is and understatment and >Microprose you are making a grave mistake. GP2 just begs to be >networked at least. The rest is not a big problem to me but the serial >link and network option is a big must in now days racing sims. Just >have to look at the online racing leagues to see what I mean. >Well thats about it. Looks like GP2 is now dead for the time being. >Big shame but there it is.. >Shane Lansky >Hobart,Tasmania >Australia

End: Deja News Retrieved Document

Hi Shane, Whilst not doubting you for a second that you did get the email, it IS a shame that you didn't keep it. Since an email has the legal weight of a letter in the UK (at least until there is a proper test case), there just may have been a case for making out that a legal contract to provide a patch had been entered into. Does anyone have a similar email, including all headers? One thing I would like people to bear in mind here, is that you will need to have absolute trust in your fellow racers - particularly at the first bend. That's no argument against having a true multiplayer patch (yes, I WANT one <g>), but don't expect it to be as instantly successful as say in N2 - if you've read all the flames about pick up races on Hawaii, just think what it would be like in open wheel cars ;-) Well, I'ld qualify that as being that "GP2 is dead as far as upgrades go". It is still by far the best F1 sim available (and will be for quite some time) and ranks right up there with N2 and ICR2. It still offers a lot, although it could obviously offer more in one notable area :( BTW - just because Microprose won't say anything about GP3 doesn't necessarily mean that Geoff Crammond hasn't started work on it. Microprose are only the publishers of GP2 - not the coders. There's nothing to say that Geoff Crammond has to release GP3 via Microprose ;-) Cheers, Richard

> Whilst not doubting you for a second that you did get the email, it IS a > shame that you didn't keep it. Since an email has the legal weight of a > letter in the UK (at least until there is a proper test case), there just > may have been a case for making out that a legal contract to provide a > patch had been entered into. Does anyone have a similar email, including > all headers? While we're on the subject of legalities: I'm going to deliberately avoid the subject of international laws (as I'm from Canada, and many posters here are from the US and UK), but in a case where a software company has obviously and/or deliberately shipped a sub-standard product, or one that does not have all the features listed either on the box or in the docs, is there not an opportunity to present the software company with a class action suit? I don't pretend to have any knowledge of the law...but does anybody know if this has been tried? Perhaps we have a lawyer out there? -- Neil Yeatman Ajax, Ontario, CANADA My REAL email address is: