Overhyped and Undelivered: Top 10 Vaporware Letdowns of 2009

Posted 12/03/2009 at 2:45pm | by Alex Castle, Norman Chan and Will Smith

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7. iPhone Tethering

In November, 2008 at the Web 2.0 Summit, the president of AT&T’s cell phone division said something exciting. Soon, he said, customers would be able to tether their iPhones to laptops or netbooks, using them as a mobile, 3G modem. Everyone was pretty excited. Then seven months passed, with no news about tethering.

The silence was broken at WWDC back in June, with news that the new iPhone OS 3.0 software would include official support for MMS messaging and tethering. Except, not from AT&T. The largest carrier of the iPhone needed more time to prepare for the features, and we were told that they would be coming soon.

MMS support for the iPhone was rolled out on September 2009, and although it took a bit longer than people originally expected, at least they actually got around to releasing it. But tethering? You guessed it: still MIA. And with recent communications from AT&T on the issue cryptic and vague, it’s starting to look like tethering on the iPhone is going to remain vaporware for the foreseeable future.

2010 forecast: It’s possible, but don’t hold your breath.

5. Duke Nukem Fore--wha?

Surprise! After over 12 years of development, 3D Realms shut down its offices in May, ending Duke Nukem Forever's reign as the quintessential example of vaporware. So what game is next in line to take the crown? Here are our picks for the three top contenders.

Alan Wake

Remedy's moody psychological thriller was announced at E3 in 2005 as a flagship title for Microsoft Game Studios and one of the premiere DirectX10 game. Since then, the Max Payne Developer has periodically released new screenshots and video, but haven't actually demoed the game in public. Worse yet, the PC version was announced to be on hold in mid-2009, even though the developers claim the core game is essentially finished. As of today, Alan Wake does not have a confirmed release date.

2010 forecast: Since Remedy claims that the game is “done,” we’ll probably see some form of it released next year. But don’t hold your breath for the PC version, which Microsoft may not release.

Half Life 2: Episode 3

Aside from Telltale's Sam and Max and Monkey Island games, episodic gaming hasn't made a good name for itself. Half-Life: Episode 2--bundled with Valve's Orange Box--ended with a dramatic cliffhanger, but Valve has kept mum about the promised follow-up for the past two years. Episode 3 will likely be the conclusion of the Half-Life 2 saga, though Valve will have to significantly step up its game to get gamers interested in the story after all this time. The Source engine as it appeared in Episode 2 is severely dated, and the improvements made to it for Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2 may not apply to the visual style and gameplay of the Half-Life series. Still, considering the success of Left 4 Dead, the privately-owned Valve must have the funds to continue Episode 3's development, even if it's not their top priority. 

2010 forecast: 50-50. It’s unlikely that Valve will cancel the project, and assuming Half-Life 3 is already in the works, Valve would be foolish to announce it without having finished Episode 3.

Diablo III

Giving Blizzard a hard time for delaying a game is sort of like hating on a wild dear for eating the flowers off all the plants in your yard. Sure, it sucks, but that’s just sort of what they do. Nevertheless, Diablo 3 is going to go down in the history books as an especially bad example of Blizzard’s luxurious dev cycles. First announced in 2008 and in development since 2005, Diablo 3’s been tempting us for quite some time now. Unfortunately, Blizzard has made it official that the hack n’ slash isn’t going to be arrive until 2011, at the earliest, meaning at least three years between announcement and delivery. It’s gotten so bad, even Blizzard recognizes that it’s a problem.

We don’t doubt that Diablo 3 is going to be released someday, and it’ll probably suck up all of our free time whenever it is. But for now, it’s vapor.

2010 forecast: A snowball’s chance in Hell.

4. Comcast Bandwidth Meter

Last year, Comcast announced a 250GB bandwidth cap for all of its residential customers. Even though the cap reportedly only affects 1% of all Comcast customers, users were nonetheless outraged by this change in policy. To assuage the concerns of highly-active downloaders, Comcast promised to offer a bandwidth meter that would track usage to help customers work around the cap.

This was in December 2008. 

It's taken them one full year to fulfill that promise, as Comcast has only just began a limited launch of its data metering service for subscribers in Portland, Oregon. But at this point, do users even care?

2010 forecast: We're cautiously optimistic. Comcast’s pilot program in Oregon shows that they’ve made progress in launching the service. But we’re still not confident that the metering service will roll out nationwide anytime soon.