Sky Zero
United States
Illinois
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Below is the official response I got from Z-man when I emailed them about the delay. I hope I'm not the only one that reads this and goes...WTF???
"Good question, as Vihnos has not arrived at our warehouse.
As we are at the mercy of transport companies (containers, ships, docks, strikes) we expect a transport window of 5-6 weeks.
In this case, (and a few other games involved) this has not happened.
Believe me, we would have preferred receiving the games on time, and the games shipped to our distributors and to you in a timely fashion.
Regards,
S** I*****"
Are you kidding me? What company on earth sits around going, "hmmm, I wonder if the game I'm publishing is going to arrive today?" Do they really think the gaming community is that ignorant? I guess they figure if they put their head in the sand, the problem goes away. I'm so angry I paid them in full for this game. I want my money back 
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Zé Mário
Portugal
Senhora da Hora
Matosinhos
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Quote: Good question
LOL!
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Paul DeStefano
United States
Long Island
New York
It's a Zendrum. www.zendrum.com
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This is the way container shipping works.
Their response is proper.
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Jack
United States
Cumberland
Rhode Island
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This is why when I see a Euro I like, I pay a little extra to get the import version rather than wait around for American companies to figure out what the hell they're doing. I'm a big fan of Z-Man, but this is a bit lame.
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Dave Dyer
United States
Playa Del Rey
California
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skyzero wrote:
Are you kidding me? What company on earth sits around going, "hmmm, I wonder if the game I'm publishing is going to arrive today?" Do they really think the gaming community is that ignorant?
I don't find that explanation to be implausible at all. How much leverage do you suppose you have when you "own" one cubic meter of a 10,000 ton container ship?
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Paul DeStefano
United States
Long Island
New York
It's a Zendrum. www.zendrum.com
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skyzero wrote: What company on earth sits around going, "hmmm, I wonder if the game I'm publishing is going to arrive today?" Do they really think the gaming community is that ignorant?
I can't find the exact threads, but this same thing delayed Asmodee's Claustrophobia expansion and Plaid Hat's recent releases.
This is far from uncommon.
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Sky Zero
United States
Illinois
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Geosphere wrote: skyzero wrote: What company on earth sits around going, "hmmm, I wonder if the game I'm publishing is going to arrive today?" Do they really think the gaming community is that ignorant? I can't find the exact threads, but this same thing delayed Asmodee's Claustrophobia expansion and Plaid Hat's recent releases. This is far from uncommon.
Given that the delay has gone well beyond a few months, it's more than just them waiting on the 5-6 week window of arrival. We've been hearing "it's on it's way" for 6 months now. Even better, there's zero information on their site about it and it's no longer listed in the 2012 releases. Something tells me there's a bigger issue being covered up and rather than admitting and losing all the preorders, we're just being stringed along.
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Paul DeStefano
United States
Long Island
New York
It's a Zendrum. www.zendrum.com
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As far as I'm aware, they've never posted a release date.
Hard to hold them to it.
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Richard
United States
San Diego
California
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Unfortunately, despite wishes to the contrary and the beliefs of this marvelous age we live in, there are still techniques out there not possessed including that of omniscience.
I find that rep's honesty refreshing.
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Matt Shinners
United States
New York
New York
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Coren wrote: Unfortunately, despite wishes to the contrary and the beliefs of this marvelous age we live in, there are still techniques out there not possessed including that of omniscience.
I find that rep's honesty refreshing.
Same here. I'm sure Z-Man wants that game on the shelves more than you do. You get 1 copy and enjoyment out of it - they make their money off of many, many copies.
Overseas shipping is anything but reliable.
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Andy Andersen
United States
Newark
Delaware
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I think the games were on that cruise ship that tipped over.
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Brent Wilson
United States
Montgomery
Illinois
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Orangemoose wrote: I think the games were on that cruise ship that tipped over.
Was Vinhos what was distracting the captain and his lady-friend? 
It does take a lot of focus-- I could see how that would be a problem while driving the boat.
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Jeff
United States
Plainfield
Illinois
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Chris Gray
United States
Erie
Colorado
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And the river ran red with the dye of cardboard wine chits.
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David Boeren
United States
Marietta
Georgia
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I have no idea if this is typical of container shipping or not. Still, you've got a ship traveling a known route, and a lot of the upcoming conditions have at least partial knowledge or prediction.
I can believe some variability in travel time due to weather, tides, and other variable factors, but that seems like a larger window than I would have guessed. But as one of the other posters said, Z-Man wants them arrive more than any of us do because they're going to make money when that happens.
So I guess we as a species are still just incredibly bad at shipping things long distances on slow cheap boats.
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Andy Andersen
United States
Newark
Delaware
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Recently a Dutch(?) teenage girl sailed solo around the world. We should have asked her to stop in China and pick up a few copies.
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Jeff
United States
Plainfield
Illinois
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dboeren wrote: I can believe some variability in travel time due to weather, tides, and other variable factors..
Don't forget delays due to piracy:
Current satellite imagery is showing a larger than normal amount of copies of VINHOS being played just off the coast of Somalia...
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Richard
United States
San Diego
California
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That just makes pirates even cooler. Plunder by day; board games by night!
I guess that's why Davey Jones' punishment was that he took all the board games away save Liar's Dice. PotC #2 would have been so much better and make more sense if they had shown a game of Vinhos being played on Sparrow's ship. Then again, it'd still be held up in production...
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Sky Zero
United States
Illinois
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Orangemoose wrote: Recently a Dutch(?) teenage girl sailed solo around the world. We should have asked her to stop in China and pick up a few copies.
LOL!!! 
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J Swack
United States
Aurora
Colorado
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Probably true in the 1800s, ship sales and no one knows until the ship reaches the destination. This day and age with GPS, satellite phones, etc, isn't the shipping companies keeping track of their ships? But I'm not totally surprised given how many times I've said, "Really?!, we can put a man on the moon and I have more computing power on my cell phone than the computer that took man to the moon, but we can't do _________?!"
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I thought the original release date was December? If they were expecting a 5-6 week transit time for the ship, it left in November.. and it's still at sea in February? Maybe Z-Man should notify the coast guard?
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Brent Wilson
United States
Montgomery
Illinois
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subunit wrote: I thought the original release date was December? If they were expecting a 5-6 week transit time for the ship, it left in November.. and it's still at sea in February? Maybe Z-Man should notify the coast guard?
When I decided to buy Vinhos, the expected release data was "Summer 2011" which people expected to be between Origins and GenCon.
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Kelly Lees
Canada
Courtenay
BC
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The supplier for the company i work for was waiting for some bottles to be delivered in a matter of weeks. The ship sunk, the container full of bottles was lost and we had to wait 3 months for new ones. It happens. There was a shortage in all of north america cause of it.
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Sky Zero
United States
Illinois
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dragonpup wrote: The supplier for the company i work for was waiting for some bottles to be delivered in a matter of weeks. The ship sunk, the container full of bottles was lost and we had to wait 3 months for new ones. It happens. There was a shortage in all of north america cause of it.
So do you believe the North American version of Vinhos was lost at sea? I doubt it because they would have quieted the masses with that statement.
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Paul DeStefano
United States
Long Island
New York
It's a Zendrum. www.zendrum.com
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skyzero wrote: quieted the masses.
I'm not sure you posting multiple threads counts as 'masses'.
This is a tiny industry where things vanish, things go wrong, entire companies sometimes pop out of existence without warning or telling their fans and other odd things.
The delay of a game that had no firm release date is not really all that large a blip on the radar. ZMan is more concerned than you - they aren't making money one it. You just aren't getting a game.
This isn't some Felliniesque fiasco like Duke Nukem Forever.
Hell, I'm still waiting for the release of the Lost World's Gladiator series by Nova in 1982. One day, those damn games might just show up...
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Posted Thu Feb 9, 2012 6:02 pm
