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As 2002 ends, there is a lot of unfinished business in various corners of the tech world. We are referring, of course, to vaporware: hot, must-have products promised but never delivered.
Wired News put out a call to readers for the technological wonders they most looked forward to in 2002 but never saw because developers delayed release or, in some cases, abandoned them altogether. Then we tabulated nominations and selected the top 10 -- or should we say bottom 10? -- most-waited-for-in-vain products.
For the first time, there were quite a few winners that also made last year's list. In the fast-moving world of technology, it's unusual for products to be hung up long enough to qualify two years in a row, but a number of hard-working companies heroically managed it.
This year, game titles stole about half the list -- a testament, perhaps, to the extent to which the video game industry relies on prerelease hype.
It's also worth noting that about two-thirds of the nominations were spam. We received thousands of messages about penis and/or breast enlargement aids, work-from-home schemes and great deals on a Thomas Kinkade Santa figurine. So much for progress.
10. Silicon Film's Electronic Film System: For the third year in a row, Silicon Film Technologies makes the list for failing to deliver its long-promised "digital film" system, which turns film cameras into digital ones.
The company's website admits the technology still isn't available, but invites visitors to sign up for an e-mail notification when it is.
"I e-mailed them a year ago and it's still not available," wrote reader Nono Felipe. "They should change their site's statement to: 'Wanted: People who can actually make this product a reality.'"
9. The new Amiga: Earlier this year, fans of the Amiga were in a tizzy about the prospect of a revival of the comatose platform: Both new machines and a new operating system were promised. Suffice to say, neither are readily available.
"Some retailers and the Amiga website are taking orders for systems, but 'selling' and 'shipping' are two very different things," wrote reader Russ Van Winkle.
Swift Griggs added: "I've heard promises now for three years. Amiga Inc. has delivered nothing but lies and hot air now for three years, just like everyone who has come before them in the post-Commodore Amigan holocaust."
8. Ubi Soft's Shadowbane: An ambitious online roleplaying game set in a post-apocalyptic world, Shadowbane has been in development so long, readers said, it is now referred to as "Shadowwait." (Although the game has been in the beta for a couple of years, it qualifies as vaporware because it hasn't hit store shelves as a shrink-wrapped product.)
"It promised to revolutionize gaming, but it has been in progress the past five years," wrote Sue Tillery. "Every other month open beta and release are pushed further and further away."
7. QuarkXPress for Macintosh OS X: Quark's page-layout system, QuarkXPress, is probably the most eagerly anticipated application awaiting conversion to Apple's new operating system, Mac OS X. Wisely, Quark hasn't committed to a release date, but, as readers noted, the OS X version has seemed just around the corner for the last couple of years. Clearly, many graphics enthusiasts thought it would appear in 2002. Alas, it did not.
"Quark, which has given new meaning to the term 'customer-hostile,' is now damaging Apple with their way, way, way overdue Mac OS X-native version of QuarkXPress," wrote Michael Stango. "Their ineptitude at keeping up with the pace of change in the Mac market is doing more to sell copies of Adobe InDesign than anyone in Adobe's marketing department."
6. NVidia's GeForce FX graphics card: NVidia claims its new GeForce FX card will usher in a "new era" of "cinematic computing." If it ever gets to market, that is.
Reader Eric Scott said, "First it was 'early summer,' then it was 'August or September.' Those came and went and it became 'on sale right after Comdex,' which was followed by 'available for Christmas.' And now Christmas is just a few days away, with no product in sight.... Perhaps all those dates were really supposed to be in 2003."
5. Infogrames' Master of Orion 3: Master of Orion 3, known as MOO3, is the long-awaited update of the popular space-strategy game. The wait appears to be nearly -- but not quite -- over. The game is available as a "preorder," according to the company's website.
"People have been waiting for this puppy for three years now and it's still not out," said reader Eric Budai. "At least the publishers have refused to give yet another release date until it goes gold."
Andrew Gray said, "Master of Orion 3 has been talked about forever, hyped over the last year, and the release date pushed back until February now. Chances are we'll be talking about MOO3 in the same way we talk about Duke Nukem Whenever (the sarcastic nickname for Duke Nukem Forever; see below)."
4. Oqo's Ultra Personal Computer: Last spring, Oqo promised its "ultra-personal computer" -- a pumped-up PDA that runs Windows XP -- by the end of the year. The wallet-size computer promised a 1 GHz Transmeta chip, a 20 GB hard drive and more, with a price of less than $1,000. Reader Nick Didenko noted, however, that nine months later the specs have become less impressive while the estimated price has ballooned to more than $1,600.
"And, sadly, we still have no Oqo," he wrote. "This company seems to be little more than a flashy website, a coven of 'famous' designers, and a Transmeta marketing campaign spinning out of control."
Someone called Hexydes wrote, "It may be better than a Palm, but at least Palm released a product."
"When it was announced early in 2002, I was ready to hit my credit card and buy one, but they're still not available," wrote Steve Sande. "The Oqo website doesn't seem to have been updated for six months, so I think the Oqo is truly a dead parrot."
3. Team Fortress 2: Brotherhood of Arms: Valve's Team Fortress 2 is a team-based, online action game from the creators of Half-Life that also made last year's vaporware list. It will be released "shortly," Valve promises.
"This game has been talked about since 1999 or even earlier," wrote reader Chris Mendoza. "And we are about to go into 2003 and still no TF2. The homepage for the game even has a quote from 1999. They haven't even got the decency to remove it!"
James Morgan said, "TF2 has won many awards, including E3.Net's Game Critic's Award for Best Action Game and Best Multiplayer Game at E3 '99, but in 2001 news about it dried up, with no solid news about it in over a year. A game that looked almost done in 2000 appears to remain vapor for the foreseeable future."
2. Mac and Linux clients for Neverwinter Nights: Bioware's Neverwinter Nights is a huge online Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game set in a medieval fantasy world. Bioware promised Mac and Linux clients when the game was released in the summer, but according to readers, they are still waiting for them.
"The Mac version of Neverwinter Nights was supposed to be released along with the Windows version in July," wrote reader Lorien Draeger. "Well, it's Christmas, where the hell is my NWN?"
The Linux client was "supposed to ship with the Windows version," wrote Simon Brooke. "Then a fortnight after the Windows version. Then Autumn 2002. Then Winter 2002. Now not before January 2003. However, to be fair, I really do believe they're working on it."
1. Duke Nukem Forever: 3 D Realms' first-person shooter is the first title to win the No. 1 spot in the Vaporware Awards two years in a row. The game is so hazy it received almost as many votes as all the other vaporware nominations put together. First announced in 1997, the game has now been five years in the making. So long, in fact, 3-D Realms makes jokes about it on its website. It's routinely referred to as "Duke Nukem Whenever" or "Duke Nukem If Ever."
"I remember that they announced this game when I was in the eighth grade!" wrote Ian Huggins. "I'm bloody in college now. What is this?"
"This game was on the cover of PC Gamer back in 1998," recalled reader Jonathan Roberts. "Of course, it is now 2003. Five years later and still no game. Their website still says it will be released 'when it's done.'"
Dennis Murphy wrote, "Once again, Duke Nukem Forever is the definitive vaporware. Hell, even Warcraft III made it out this year. You know, I think I'm going to set up a script to submit Duke Nukem Forever every year."
The company's president, George Broussard, gracefully received the award on behalf of 3-D Realms.
"What can I say?" he wrote in an e-mail. "We're undeniably late and we know it. We've switched engines a couple of times, and we've started over a couple of times. We've made some mistakes, and we've learned from them. I'm just glad we're in a position to do those things, and to be able to make the game we want to make, instead of being rushed out the door to meet stock projections.
"In the end all that matters is the quality of the game," he continued. "So, lessons have been learned, and progress is being made, and we're working as quickly and quietly as we can. You're completely justified in calling us 'turtleware,' at the very least, but the release date is still 'when it's done.'"
Source:
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