Two Worlds - Rating, Review, XBox 360 Delay

The most interesting news first: Zuxxez announced today that the XBox 360 version of their upcoming RPG Two Worlds has been delayed for an undetermined time. The tricky part (transl.):

[…]Reasons for the delay must not be disclosed by the publisher.

Of course nobody knows for sure, but it´s probably easy to count two and two together.
The PC version is still on track for a May 9th release in the German speaking countries. Several posts by beta testers all over the German branch of teh intarweb hint that the game is in remarkably good condition for an RPG.
2Worlds-Game.de reports it has been rated "12" or equivalent by both the PEGI and the German USK, although a "16" was widely expected by the latter. Does anybody know if Zuxxez had to pull out their scissors?

The same site also pointed out the first Two Worlds review worldwide, by a print mag named 360 Live. Seems Oblivion is no longer the only perfect RPG on the planet. A 9.3 out of 10 is pretty damn good for game which ran into the thing mentioned in the first part of this news.

More information.

Shades of Gothic - A German first release

While the May 9th date is great, when can we look for an English language version? And those early reviews are getting me even more hyped for this game

The English release date is ostensibly June 26th!!

Disappointed to hear it is "T" rated. Hopefully they will leave it uncut for NA.

Odd that the first review is from an Xbox site…reviewing the version that has been "delayed"?

Originally Posted by Dajjer
Shades of Gothic - A German first release

Of course. Zuxxez is a German publisher.

Wow … haven't seen a PC release go forward while the console version was delayed in a while …

The rating shouldn't be a problem, I for myself can not understand the rating of about half of the games and movies out nso there, so just ignore it.

Ratings in general are bad. Except of mine ; - )

Maybe I should take a second look, but I never had a good feeling about this title - it didn't seem to have any vision except "Oblivion too"! I am curious for the first player reports on it and reviews by RPG sites.

The words by Jörg Schindler in the press release is not "must not be disclosed by the publisher" but "cannot be disclosed by the publisher" or even more correct:

Unfortunately, the reasons for this delay cannot at this time be given by the publishers.

There's an edge to that because, cannot could both mean that they may not reveal it but also that they are not aware of the reasons yet but have to evaluate it further.

It is the release date for the X360 for all European countries (except the UK) that has been pushed. ZUXXEZ publish to them all.

It is not so much that other gamers compare it to Oblivion that worries me, it is more that the publishers of Two Worlds often do it themselves too.

EDIT: oh, I see the quote was a translation. Though it's not necessary because every press release from ZUXXEZ is in both German and English.

I´m not sure, why the english version seems to be released some time after the German version. Because i´m playing for about 4 weeks now beta2, beta3 and release candidate2 - in English AND in German. Both versions are remarkebly stable and all vids and dialogues are already implemented.

Originally Posted by Asbjoern
It is not so much that other gamers compare it to Oblivion that worries me, it is more that the publishers of Two Worlds often do it themselves too.

Seems this comparison depends on the focused market.
When we visited Zuxxezz in Karlsruhe for a presentation of TW they compared it also to Gothic, that is also quite popular in Germany.

Originally Posted by Avantenor
Seems this comparison depends on the focused market.

Yes, I suppose you're right.

I live in the city where the game is made and will i have the possibility to play it on 9th May? No, no at all. 26th June… I call that blasphemy.

Originally Posted by Asbjoern
The words by Jörg Schindler in the press release is not "must not be disclosed by the publisher" but "cannot be disclosed by the publisher" or even more correct:
There's an edge to that because, cannot could both mean that they may not reveal it but also that they are not aware of the reasons yet but have to evaluate it further.

EDIT: oh, I see the quote was a translation. Though it's not necessary because every press release from ZUXXEZ is in both German and English.

We didn´t receive the official PR, neither in German nor in English. I took the PR from a random site I visited yesterday. You can see both languages on the two Eurogamer sites for example.
I re-checked my translation. Mine is correct. The German version really says that the publisher is not allowed to disclose the reason. The only thing I streamlined is "the publisher". The PR talked about something like " … by/from the side of the publisher", which I changed.
So Zuxxez either chose to make the English PR sound more harmless or considered the translation to be similar enough.

Originally Posted by Gorath
We didn´t receive the official PR, neither in German nor in English. I took the PR from a random site I visited yesterday. You can see both languages on the two Eurogamer sites for example.
I re-checked my translation. Mine is correct. The German version really says that the publisher is not allowed to disclose the reason. The only thing I streamlined is "the publisher". The PR talked about something like " … by/from the side of the publisher", which I changed.
So Zuxxez either chose to make the English PR sound more harmless or considered the translation to be similar enough.

Yes, I thought that might be the case. And ultimately that leads your translation to be the correct, because the German press release excludes this as a possiblity:

that they are not aware of the reasons yet but have to evaluate it further blah blah blah

It seems that the general consensus out there is that the reason for the delay is some contractual issue with Microsoft and possibly the failure of Zuxxez to comply with some Xbox Live regulations or something like that. Zuxxez emphasized (in that press release) that the product quality (or lack thereof ) is not the reason for the delay. This seems to be confirmed by the many beta testers on various forums who are confirming that the game is in good shape (well, and also that one review which seems a little fishy to me though).

Does anyone know if Two Worlds was going to allow X360 and PC players to play together in multiplayer (cross platform play)? If the game allows for cross platform play then I can very well imagine that Microsoft has issues with that since this is a feature that they want to charge money for in the future via their live service for the PC. So maybe they've asked of Zuxxez to remove cross platform MP playability before the X360 version may be released(?)

Originally Posted by Moriendor
It seems that the general consensus out there is that the reason for the delay is some contractual issue with Microsoft and possibly the failure of Zuxxez to comply with some Xbox Live regulations or something like that. Zuxxez emphasized (in that press release) that the product quality (or lack thereof ) is not the reason for the delay. This seems to be confirmed by the many beta testers on various forums who are confirming that the game is in good shape (well, and also that one review which seems a little fishy to me though).

Does anyone know if Two Worlds was going to allow X360 and PC players to play together in multiplayer (cross platform play)? If the game allows for cross platform play then I can very well imagine that Microsoft has issues with that since this is a feature that they want to charge money for in the future via their live service for the PC. So maybe they've asked of Zuxxez to remove cross platform MP playability before the X360 version may be released(?)

ZUXXEZ has stated that the micorsoft driver for cross-playability was pending. I don't think the versions was planned from the beginning to have cross-playability but it was something that might happen after the release. Or so it has (again) been stated by ZUXXEZ.
I'll share a rumour with you and perhaps I shouldn't but here it is:

Thats a rumour, but not without any ground. There are hints in a xbox-magazin about publishers of a rpg, who are forced by MS to cut down the online components of their game. Because MS has similar plans for a game and they donīt want that competition. The magazine doesnīt say, it is Two Worlds, but it is clear that they spent some time with the Publishers of Two Worlds, because they are the first and only ones, who actually tested the xbox-version of Two Worlds.

Thats a rumour, but not without any ground. There are hints in a xbox-magazin about publishers of a rpg, who are forced by MS to cut down the online components of their game. Because MS has similar plans for a game and they donīt want that competition. The magazine doesnīt say, it is Two Worlds, but it is clear that they spent some time with the Publishers of Two Worlds, because they are the first and only ones, who actually tested the xbox-version of Two Worlds.

That certainly sounds like something Microsoft could do, judging from their past business practices. It wouldn't be the first time they pressured a competitor out of the market so that they could dominate it themselves.

Originally Posted by Asbjoern
ZUXXEZ has stated that the micorsoft driver for cross-playability was pending. I don't think the versions was planned from the beginning to have cross-playability but it was something that might happen after the release. Or so it has (again) been stated by ZUXXEZ.
I'll share a rumour with you and perhaps I shouldn't but here it is…]

Thanks for sharing the rumor but it brings up some questions, especially why Zuxxez does not sue Microsoft for damages? Naturally we do not know what the contract between MS and Zuxxez looks like but if I were Zuxxez then I'd fire my entire legal department if they approved of a contract that allows MS to change the rules all willy-nilly at their leisure just because they (MS) all of a sudden came up with an idea that coincided with a Zuxxez idea for online play.
In other words: I find it hard to believe that MS would be able to (legally) prevent a release on the X360 from happening just because of a feature that would compete with a planned feature for Live. Zuxxez and MS must have signed the platform contract -when?- two or three years ago, right? How stupid would it be if a contract allowed one party (MS) to change the rules at any time?
That's why it would seem more likely to me that Zuxxez failed to comply with Microsoft's regulations regarding Live and that they maybe misinterpreted something or simply didn't check the terms carefully enough.

Well, who knows? In the end it will prolly turn out to be some leftover nude titty textures that prevented the X360 release .