I don't think there is a risc of anyone from these forums not to like it :)

diging now

whattttttttttttttt only 11 so far.

we must spread the word mate.

I just joined the Good Game (Australia's no. 1 gamer show) and the PC Powerplay (Aus no. 1 PC mag) fourms specifically to request that they give IM a mention. Wish my attempt luck :P.

EDIT: I also wrote a E-mail to Good Game.

Spreading the word in the U.S.

The word that needs spreading is that the company is defunct - the rich uncle pulled the plugg and the staff has been laid off. Nice try, though - next time around, try to keep the hype more in synch with actual accomplishments (paying tribute to 4 year old teaser trailers....? Blurring the demo due to "non-disclosure with tech supplier" when everybody knows Epic thinks the game is lackluster and will not allow publicity on use of the Unreal engine? Bragging about San Shepherd working on/with the team when he is in fact an advisory board member? Etc, etc....) Don't disappoint people with claims and promises you know you cannot back up with action, don't distort the facts, and don't be such goddamn attention whores with so little to show. How to detect an impending foreclosure at aspiring gamedevs? Showing off concept art before demo is out, or at least actual in-game footage is available...without blurring. Oh -and throw in a spiderpig in stead of the four-legged shark, that might work...

Bordering on injury...? I guess you mean insult, as in libel or defamation....? Pfff, this is the internets, remember? I'm spilling my guts with impunity. And with a good deal of factiual knowledge. As for missing that rich uncle (as their only source of financing, apart from oh abt 70 supporters on their facebook app) - you can't have been paying much attention to the vids, then. One of the first questions from game media is, "what engine are you making the game with"? As a paying supporter, my guess is you would have a vested interest in that, too - being such an "immersive experience" triple-A trilogy extravaganza. Ever wondered why that tech question remains unanswered, even at this stage...? Could it be that the game lingers between being a non-existant fantasy of a handfull people who never made a game in their life before, and a playable prototype that is pedestrian, to put it mildly. And certainly not the impressive showcase they try so hard to crank it up to be. I think it's fair to warn any prospective supporters at this point that whatever money they hand over presently - in good faith, trusting this will eventually becoma a product - will just end up paying the lawyer's fee who's going to clean up the mess after they've closed shop.

Keep up the positive thinking - and stay tuned to the grapevine - and remember where you heard it first.

I guess they fired the mods as well...? And don't shoot the messenger - it's very easy to counter my claims...if they're without substance. Bring it on.

I don't get any kicks out of pissing on other people's parades - but the game biz is chocful of bullshit artists, and I call it as I see it. And let's face it - ZPS has been around since 2003, pimping the_ idea_ of a game by releasing a number of teasers/trailers on their project IM. All fine, and they got attention from communities and press - but they somehow missed the valid point that you do these elaborate and expensive marketing efforts AFTER you've wrapped up producing the actual game, or at least in the final phases, paving the way for big sales as a result. And they're totally misintertpreting the interest for their game, based on number of people who have seen the promo vids. I mean, more than 30 million people have seen Numa Numa guy on youtube, and he still has his regular day job. How come management has kept repeating the nonsense about the millions of people who allegedly have seen the teaser/trailer, when only abt. 70 people have signed up in this community...? What happened was ZPS couldn't capitalize on the attention then, and cannot afford to produce yet another original teaser/trailer. Afford in the sense that it would be meaningless, seeing that they would be at least three years away from any release date at the current pace, best case scenario. And then they would be faced with the harsh realities of PS4, Xbox 720 Natal, Wii II and whatnot, not standing a chance with their current "old gen" product. Which is prob part of the reason they pulled the plugg at this point. Another part is as mentioned before - the game is just not up to par, in terms of originality and execution. ZPS have been working on an eval license from Epic for years, and they never allowed ZPS to use their good name to promote the game - for the simple reason that the effort is just simply overly ambitious and underperforming. The management of ZPS has NEVER done games before - they're very ambitious and passionate gamers - namedropping a shitload of games they played as inspiration for IM. It's a classic mistake - or more precisely, wet dream: Hardcore gamers wishing to do a game for themselves, in stead of for any existing markets. There's not a single person involved in the actual (or more precisely, now laid off) production team that has had previous experience with actual production of a triple-A game, and none on the management team has ever made any games before. But management's totally caught up in their own hype, repeating ad nauseam the same catchphrases for the last 6 years. Only thing new is the community, and making that and maintaining it has taken up a lot of valuable production time from a team that has been underperforming during constant crunch.
Add to that the hippie talk about sharing and AAA-indie production with the help of a community - it's a pipe dream, and the bubble just burst. Those Gamespot guys kept a very diplomatic tone during the interview - "ambitious project" wow, what accolade. Not a word on the actual quality as they perceived it, and they're usually very enthusiastic fellows. Hats off for trying - but it's not cool to use other people's money to feed your own personal fantasy, and misleading everyone about performance and opportunities that just simply are not there.