Friday 23 March 2012

Unique Content Article on Guild Wars,Game,Development,Gaming,Computer,Market,Gamer,Software,Computer Game,PC

Guild Wars 2 Release Date History


by James Greene


Ever since ArenaNet burst onto the scene in April 2005 with their game Guild Wars, many have been wondering how long it would take for a sequel to come out. After years of delays and months of speculation, a game was announced in 2007, but no release date was set. Fans are still wondering when the Guild Wars 2 release date is.

On the announcement day in 2007, fans knew that this meant a long wait because development takes a long time, even on a sequel. The designers have to figure out what aspects of the original to keep and what to add that would be brand new to make it worth a whole new purchase. This takes some time in order to be done correctly.

After the designers settle on a plan, the graphics need to be planned and coding begins. Because of how many graphics-intensive games there are on the market, this phase is very important. It takes a long time because they have to look excellent or even the most ardent of Guild Wars fans may not buy part 2.

After the long coding and graphics process some initial testing can be done. This is to ensure that there are not any bugs. Almost any software is going to have some errors in the coding that will make the game buggy. It can't be released until these are fixed, so that is why testing is such an important aspect of the whole process.

In 2008, ArenaNet announced that they would soon undertake Alpha testing, the first phase. This angered some fans and stockholders, who were waiting in anticipation. Further delays only made things worse. It was not until much later, in August of 2010 that the world got a small look at Guild Wars 2 by way of a playable demo as some gamer expos.

Finally, a series of closed Alpha testing took place in 2011. Encouraged, ArenaNet then announced a Beta testing phase that would also be closed. No announcement of an actual release date was given at the time but the progress was at least encouraging. All anyone knew was that it would be out sometime in 2012.

A few members of the gaming community and media types who report on the community were invited in February 2012 to see the game in a private session. In March and April of 2012 those sessions would be expanded to include more press and gaming influencers.

One aspect of the sequel that would keep in the spirit of the original was the lack of monthly flat fees to have access to the game. Instead, a one-time fee would be charged for each story or pack downloaded. This made fans happy because they knew they would only pay for what they use instead of a monthly fee regardless of whether they got their money's worth.

Despite the closed sessions with media and gamers, there is still no official Guild Wars 2 release date. All ArenaNet has said is that it is near completion and it would come out sometime in 2012. Whether that is spring, fall or Christmas is anyone's guess. The successful testing seems to hint that the day may be sooner rather than later, but all fans can hope for is that there are no more delays.




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