What is gold?
by Erik Madison · in General Discussion · 07/18/2004 (7:21 am) · 8 replies
I've tried to play this off for the last few years, but its finally time to admit my ignorance. Exactly what is gold in reference to software games? I've always took it to mean the same as for albums; 100,000 copies sold. But now Doom3 is gold, and it hasn't even hit the shelves.
About the author
#2
A gold album is 500,000 copies, not 100,000
A platinum album is 1,000,000 copies.
So Kid Rock for example sold over seven million albums when "Devil without a cause" went platinum 7 times.
07/18/2004 (7:25 am)
Gold is the master copy of the disc that is sent to the manufacturer to start pressing discs for distribution on store shelves.A gold album is 500,000 copies, not 100,000
A platinum album is 1,000,000 copies.
So Kid Rock for example sold over seven million albums when "Devil without a cause" went platinum 7 times.
#3
07/18/2004 (7:31 am)
The funny part is you can't say "Gold is the finished product" simply because it's not finished. Basically Gold is released when most companies feel they can get away with selling it to you, and while it's being boxed up they'll work furiously on the first patches so that when people start buying it they can start patching it so iD can start debugging it. You can bet good money the game will have issues. Nobody finishes them anymore. Priority is now givin to getting it out and getting the money, not getting it finished.
#4
07/18/2004 (7:38 am)
Yeah.. Damn those ID people for their crappy software and their evil ways! Come, grab a rock and look out for falling shards.
#5
07/18/2004 (7:42 am)
Following that logic then, everything published has gone gold? Why / how was MarbleBlast released, and then have gone gold shortly after?
#6
07/18/2004 (7:55 am)
They were releasing a new edition - 'Marble blast gold' with more levels, and being cute with the title of the news release. 
#7
07/18/2004 (7:56 am)
Going Gold refers to the gold master disk which is used to create the standard cd or dvd duplicates. The term comes from the fact that the master disk is Gold in colour. If it were green I guess we would have the term going green instead :o)
#8
Crappy software remains to be seen. Sequals are rarely more than rehashed hash with new gravy. And nobody said anything about evil. The proper term would be greedy if anything.
First off, you have never seen my work, so you can't talk about my house. And with that attitude, I'd love to see some of yours. Rest assured, you will get your chance to judge my house for yourself when the products I'm working on are released. And I'll make you this bet right now....
Any game I produce and release will not be patching out stupidity, sloppiness, or lack of testing. I personally hate for anything I make to not work right. Yes, I make mistakes, but I also find them and fix them. I'm obsessive about it maybe, but I just dont buy into that "It's inevitable" bologna. Proper planning and clear thinking make for good code and a good product. "Are we gonna meet our deadline on this?" is trouble waiting to happen.
Want to know the best way to enjoy Doom 3? Wait till all the "Gotta have its" help work out the bugs so you can just load it, get your patches and play. Nothing worse than a ton of unhandled exceptions and NULL's killing your fun.
07/18/2004 (9:40 am)
Quote:Damn those ID people for their crappy software and their evil ways!
Crappy software remains to be seen. Sequals are rarely more than rehashed hash with new gravy. And nobody said anything about evil. The proper term would be greedy if anything.
Quote:Come, grab a rock and look out for falling shards.
First off, you have never seen my work, so you can't talk about my house. And with that attitude, I'd love to see some of yours. Rest assured, you will get your chance to judge my house for yourself when the products I'm working on are released. And I'll make you this bet right now....
Any game I produce and release will not be patching out stupidity, sloppiness, or lack of testing. I personally hate for anything I make to not work right. Yes, I make mistakes, but I also find them and fix them. I'm obsessive about it maybe, but I just dont buy into that "It's inevitable" bologna. Proper planning and clear thinking make for good code and a good product. "Are we gonna meet our deadline on this?" is trouble waiting to happen.
Want to know the best way to enjoy Doom 3? Wait till all the "Gotta have its" help work out the bugs so you can just load it, get your patches and play. Nothing worse than a ton of unhandled exceptions and NULL's killing your fun.
Torque Owner Yacine Salmi