why are strategy guides released like 3 weeks

[pontifex]

I was looking at the EB Games site and I see a strategy guide for a game. It is being released on like 8/4. the actual game doesn't release until 8/27...

 

[Schadenfroh]

The guide was probably made during the beta, they are released early so that people anxiously awaiting the actual game will have something to buy... err read while waiting.

 

[Oyeve]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
The guide was probably made during the beta, they are released early so that people anxiously awaiting the actual game will have something to buy... err read while waiting.

QFT, the company I work for does the editing for a lot of those game guides and we get the game well in beta mode and do the editing when the game changes. Last one we did was some pokemon game.

 

[shortylickens]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
The guide was probably made during the beta, they are released early so that people anxiously awaiting the actual game will have something to buy... err read while waiting.

Which is exactly why the Neverwinter Nights 2 guide sucked balls.

They missed a whole bunch of stuff, especially side quests, had wrong info for a lot of the main quest stuff, and even then the book didnt amount to much which is why they just repeated most of the instruction manual but made the pictures huge.

And thats another trend which has been pissing me off.
If we got the game, we got the instruction manual.
STOP COPYING IT INTO YOUR GOD DAMN GUIDE! :|

I know you greedy bastards want to make the most money with the least amount of work, (hell, its the American way) but stop fluffing up the book with 100 pages of useless info.
When I buy a strategy guide I want it to give me some strategy, not a recap of the manual I already have or item lists with HUGE pics.

The best one I have seen so far was the Versus Books guide for Baldurs Gate 2, the 2nd best being the one for Throne of Bhaal (but only because it had a couple editing errors).
Brady Games has been crap lately and its especially obvious with NWN2.

/Soapbox

 

[JBT]

The last good guide I've seen was for FF7...

 

[Ika]

I generally find that GameFAQs provide better strategy guides than the ones you can find in the store (for more popular games, anyway). Just check out the Pokemon Strategy Guide by RJones (listed under Pokemon Red/Blue). He has more info in there than any publisher could ever come up with, and he obviously did it without pay.

 

[Rangoric]

Doublejump Guides (Disgaea 1/2 Rogue Galaxy) tend to be rather... Complete.

 

[Vampirrella]

the main purpose for strat guides are to create additional revenue for games, not to give us "hints" when we get stuck.