someone explain this to me

[Anubis]

WTF does it mean when a game "goes GOLD" recently Halo for PC went gold. WTF does this mean. i know its good news for we teh consumer but is there a reason for it?

 

[Zim Hosein]

Gold as in final edition before it hits the presses 🙂

 

[crisp82]

Marketing. Like GOTY editions and Platinum collections etc

 

[Aharami]

oooooooh. i didnt know either!

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: Zim Hosein
Gold as in final edition before it hits the presses 🙂

and why do they need to tell us this?

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Originally posted by: Zim Hosein
Gold as in final edition before it hits the presses 🙂

^^^ WinnAr ^^^

Though in real life, "gone gold" isn't much other than to gain status effect Media Hype +4. It can take any amount of time for a game to go from "master copy ready" to "on the shelves for purchase"

Originally posted by: Anubis
and why do they need to tell us this?

Media Hype +4. 😛

- M4H

 

[DaveSimmons]

> and why do they need to tell us this?

Aside from the Media Hype +4 it tells us that there will be no more development delays, that it's in the hands of pressing / packaging and marketing. Gold = it really is close to reaching you, not months away like Doom3, or years away like Duke Nukem Fornever.

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

It means that people are so stupid they will pay full price or near full price for a 2 year old game if the packaging is sufficiently glitzed up.

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: yamahaXS
It means that people are so stupid they will pay full price or near full price for a 2 year old game if the packaging is sufficiently glitzed up.

be quite ive had my copy of Halo for the PC on preorder sence May

I also have Halo 2 on reserve at game stop . did that in febuary 2003

 

[Lonyo]

Republic went Gold in March or something and was released in August (end of), PC Gamer even had a review around June or something. Lets hope Halo isn't delayed by that much.

 

[MaxDepth]

"Going gold" is the shortened term for "the gold master build" or the even shorter "GM."

A golden master is sent to replication compaines to make the glass masters by which we get our pressed CDs. I heard from one of our senior fellows at IBM that they think it started with either the term "build goal" or "golden hell." If it was build goal, then term comes from the project completion date, the date when the master build is delivered to manufacturing.

If it comes from "golden hell" then that term comes from the developers who decide what platforms, hardware and other factors to leave out of the software. If you tried to include every permutation in your software, then you'd be regression testing for years.

If memory serves me, there was a PBS special/show that detailed the short history of the rise of computers, from Xerox Park to now. (2000?) I think they discuss the term "gold" in that show, too.