Why Europe Is Waiting For Retro City Rampage, Dyad And Walking Dead

Replying to questions regarding the latest Store Update, Sony EU Blog chappy Jawad Ashraf has explained a couple of delays. Asked why Retro City Rampage was missing he said “it’s going through certification” and that they hoped the game would be out “sometime this month”.

Jawad was also asked where psychedelic ravey shooter Dyad had got to, “waiting to get some feedback from dev, actually,” was he reply. He also revealed the PS One Spyro Trilogy did have a ‘rough’ release date of October but this has probably slipped.

As for The Walking Dead Episode 4 the Blog seems to hint that the delay is not the fault of Sony. “We’re working with the publisher on this. As far as I know it’s not too far behind, but definitely not today. I’d really recommend asking Telltale as well,” commented Jawad.

When others questioned why Episode 4 was missing Jawad continued to suggest gamers contact the publisher rather than Sony. “It’s well worth letting Telltale know your sentiments as well. This is all assuming us as a bad guy. No fingers are being pointed but few seem to question Telltale. 2 sides to every coin”, he added.

Konami had told us that PS One classic ‘Castlevania: Symphony of the Night’ would be released yesterday but it appears this was never the case and it was not scheduled for release on the 10th, despite an official press release. “It shouldn’t have been announced as it’s not ready for release,” said Jawad in the comments, confusingly.

As for Counter Strike, “hopefully it won’t be too far away” and Doom 3, which is already available in the US, should be with us “in the next few weeks.”

31 Comments

  1. Doesn’t matter, Spyro trilogy is finally coming :D

    • I second that, I’ve been waiting for these games since PS1 games were avalible on the store.

      • Portable Spyro trilogy will make the Vita the greatest console ever.

      • Fingers crossed it will work on the PSP!

    • people said that about Auditorium didn’t they?

  2. Doom 3 is already out on PS3 in the US? I thought it was scheduled for the 16th October?

    • Doom 3 is not available in the US, it comes out next Tuesday as you thought … they have a pre-order on the store for it, but that’s it.

      • Ah, soz, my apologies.

      • It’s not your fault TC, you were just picking up on the questions and answers from the blog.
        Unless the game was actually something you were personally interested in, how were you to know that it wasn’t out.

  3. In other words, SCEE are just being SCEE. Again. If it wasn’t meant to be released this week, then why do a press release? Did no-one at SCEE check to see if it is actually ready for release or did they just decide to do it and hope that they will get it right. And still no explantion for the long delay CS:GO. I’m not interested in it but tis been a month since it was released everywhere else, it shows how incomptent they are. I suspect we will see it in December.

    • SCEE didn’t issue the press release. Konami did.

      I don’t think there’s any “incompetence” here, at least not on the scale that everyone seems to want to think.

      • Indeed, although Sony are obviously shite at certifying games it does appear developers and publishers are also the source of delays.

      • Agreed. Seems to be standard things happening on both sides.

        People calling for “explanations” don’t understand how the system works.

      • Christ on a bike me and Davs agree on something. I’ll be liking footbal next :)

    • They didnt make a press release for Castevania, Konami did and published it on their website. Their mistake, not SCEE.

      Also I think Jawad is making it very clear that it is not always the fault of Sony when things are delayed. Obviously you missed that. Dyad and Walking dead are delayed due to the developer, very possible CS:GO is also delayed due to the developer.

      You are getting angry at the wrong people.

      • Whilst i don’t disagree with your viewpoint & in fact agree that there is 2 sides to everything & it may not be all SCEE’s fault, it does baffle me when games are released in other regions, yet stumble in the EU.

      • Whilst i don’t disagree with you & in fact agree on the fact that there are often 2 sides to everything, it does baffle me when games release in other regions without a hitch & yet no sign of them in the EU store, often for months on end.

        People do tend to go a bit over the top with comments about missing titles (the sheer amount of rage is a bit unjustified), but for something like CS:GO, the delay can surely not help with sales? Everyone else will be done with it by the time it eventually gets released here.

        Oh & where’s Auditorium HD?? :P

      • Hmm, apologies – No idea what happened there! :S

      • Obviously I don’t know what goes on behind the scenes but I can’t imagine Valve is having trouble releasing the game when it’s out on the same platform, with all languages included unless there is a serious bug that slipped through every QA except SCEE’s.
        The problem isn’t really the delay. It’s the complete lack of communication that causes so much trouble. CS:GO is delaved? Give people a reason. Is it stuck at certification? Was it sent back to the dev/publisher because it didn’t meet QA requirements? I really don’t understand why they would take so much flakk if it wasn’t actually their fault.

      • “You are getting angry at the wrong people.”

        It’s still SCEE’s structure that causes this situation regardless of whether they’re waiting for something back from the dev or not.

        Xbox & Steam don’t consistently suffer this problem and neither does SCEA.

        The system/structure/processes aren’t what they could be, else these problems would hardly ever occur, never mind almost every week.

        And the system/structure/processes are SCEE’s and that’s why people get angry at them and not some dev who is busy jumping through their hoops.

      • you’re assuming jawad’s not lying.

        look at how often these delays happen only when scee are involved.

        the most logical explanation is scee are the problem.

        i’d take financial advice from nick leason before i take jawads word for anything.

        i mean, how can anybody doubt scee are the problem when it happens so often and so consistently.

      • with regards to the castlevania thing, i have no doubt konami put out the announcement assuming it would be out yesterday.

        but that was based on the assumption they were dealing with a company with even a merest hint of competence.
        clearly they were in error there.

        funny how the release dates are always down to the publishers but when the publishers say the game will be out and it’s not the publishers are suddenly wrong.

        so which is it?

      • If this was the first time or the second time SCEE had cocked up, i wouldn’t be that bothered but they have a reputation for messing up a lot. Plus i tend to have trouble believing them as they tend to tell some lies. I remeber them saying that Trine 2 was delayed due to QA issues despite the EU version being 100% the same as the US version. If it is due to the developer or publisher fair enough but most of the time, it’s SCEE.

        I’ve lost count the amount of content that has been delayed, released then taken down or released with a gamebreaking bug. And considering it’s only the EU store that suffers from these problems, it does cause one to wonder if SCEE are up to the job or not. Apparently, CS:GO already includes all of the EU lanugages thus there being no reason for the delay. As it is just the EU that is waiting for the release.

        They really do need to get sorted out. Damm it, i’ve gone on a rant again :-/.

      • “you’re assuming jawad’s not lying.”

        Yes I am, he’s a professional trying to do his job, suggest you try and consider that when making such slanderous and childish comments.

      • professional?

        do you have access to some press only blog i’ve never seen?
        because professional is not the first word that comes to mind when i think about the blog.

        shouldn’t a professional know a little something about their job?

        but you’re right.
        i shouldn’t judge.

        he’s just relaying information, if that information is incorrect i shouldn’t blame the messenger.
        clearly it’s not his job to check the validity of what he writes.

        really though, am i supposed to have any sympathy for him?
        well i don’t, i have sympathy for the people who do much harder and more important jobs who have to miss out time and time again because of people like him and the company he works for.
        not somebody who can’t seem to do the job they’re paid for.

        call me childish, like scee i just don’t care.

        you don’t get given respect, you have to earn it.

      • also, on what planet does professional equal never telling a lie?

        and slander applies to the spoken word, this being written would be libelous.
        if it were proven to be untrue.

  4. I’m hoping RCR will be a PS+ title when the Vita+ launches

  5. fact, scee are simply not up to the job.

    people say it’s their strict quality control that delays things, but clearly that’s bull, look how often they put out stuff that simply doesn’t work.

    and what the hell is this about?

    An official statement from the devs:
    We would love to release Derrick the Deathfin in Australia and New Zealand, but this is dependent on sales in other regions because of the time & cost involved! So if you would like Derrick to swim in your southern seas please tell all your non-Antipodean friends to pick the game up!

    so even though it’s still on scee’s store and being all digital they apparently it will cost them too much to release the game.
    do they have separate subdivisions even for different country’s stores within scee?

    are they like a terrorist organisation? where one cell isn’t allowed to know what any of the others are doing?
    that’s great for keeping things secret, but a shitty way to run a business.

    that would explain the stubborn refusal to give any information out regarding CS:GO.
    other than it’s not out yet, file that under, shit we already know.

    scee are driving the customers away, and they keep this level of performance up they’ll drive away the content providers as well.
    i use the word “performance” in its loosest conceivable sense.

    there’s a scientific principal, Occam’s Razor.
    It is a principle stating that among competing hypotheses, the one which makes the fewest assumptions should be selected.

    to put simply, the simplest explanation is often the correct one.

    to deny scee are at fault given how often the pattern of content only being delayed where scee are involved is just ridiculous
    it just happens way to often for there to not be some kind of causal relationship.
    deny it and you might as well say clouds don’t cause rain either.

    i know, it’s not the same, there’s a scientific basis for clouds and rain, but we only know that because we’re free to investigate, if clouds put up the wall of silence and secrecy scee do we might still believe rain was the work of some god or other.

    i’m just thankful they don’t run anything important, i’d hate to have my life in the hands of such a bunch of incompetents.

  6. This is the one constant problem with the SCEE store, I don’t understand how the 360 can manage world wide releases but Sony can’t. I’d have thought they’d have stream lined the process by now. But it seem no better that when the store first launched and there were massive delays for early titles such as Puzzle Fighter and SSFII HD etc.
    They get so much stick on their blog about it, yet nothing seems to change or even improve?

  7. What about Counter-Strike?

  8. I’m pretty sure Jawad isn’t a he.

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