Hailed as the game that will change the way we enjoy first person shooters, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. was the talk of E3; almost two years ago. Having tried the game and enjoyed its online capabilities in 2003, we have to admit that the delays have annoyed us since the game looked the bidness back then.
The game that many claim was created to make Half-Life 2s launch timing look good; is back in the news. Showing a distinct lack of PR skills but perfect comedy timing, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. creators, GSC Game World have announced that the official book based on the game will soon be available. To add insult to injury, the press release mentions an interesting fact about the book... On the 16th of November the German-speaking community can happily browse their local book stores in search of the first S.T.A.L.K.E.R. artefact... So it's not even in English.
In another wondrous display of comedic timing S.T.A.L.K.E.R. project manager, Anton Bolshakov commented, It's great to realize that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. enters our lives not only on PC, but also on our bookshelves. Note the intriguing choice of tense, which may however, be attributed to the gentleman's Russian background, what cannot be explained however, is the next phrase...It is amazing that we can bring across the ideas, concept and story behind the game before its release as this will definitely help players understand S.T.A.L.K.E.R. better. So German players are considered specially challenged in some way and require a book about the game? I respectfully disagree, U.S. and the rest of the world's gamers are equally challenged and also require any help they can get.
Well since the delays to the game are so frequent we can only hope that the book's publishers, Panini Books, are given enough time to cater to the inadequacies of all of the world's gamers.
According to today's S.T.A.L.K.E.R. release date guesstimates, the promising PC title will be released either on the 1st February 2006 or the 1st August 2006 (all dates are subject to change by tomorrow's candidate dates released).
