Here's a little update from the LC announcement section:

Vista SP1 has finally been released, which is what we've been hoping for in order to complete the game. Why was this so important? By reason of DirectX 10 and the way we are producing our graphics.

With DX10, we've been able to put hundreds of objects in a particular scene that would normally come to a crawl when using DirectX 9. If you could imagine hundreds of players, in a field, or around one of the multiple bases we've designed, you can understand why this is somewhat important.

Unfortunately, our timeline has been based on Microsoft's. When Microsoft delayed fixing Vista, it delayed us. We know we have both Mac and PC users, but PC users are the bulk of our customer base. We had plans to go back to OpenGL, but this would create another mess.

We spoke with John Carmack at ID software who said there's a major upgrade coming for OpenGL, but we wished it was now and not later. Half of our development team feel that OpenGL is a dying technology, but Carmack disagrees with the new improvements coming.

Lost Colony isn't a game we can just slap together and hope for the best. Games are announced each and everyday by companies that go out of business because they either don't understand high expectations and most put out a game that people never wanted in the first place.

Our company and our fans have high expectations. Quality assurance needs time, and we are not in a hurry to rush something out the door.

When its ready, it's ready. We have an exclusive niche market, so is our approach. Yes, we have an ace up our sleeve that's waiting to be unleashed.

Our development team recently moved out of the corporate office and near the east coast of Florida in order to get away from the business frenzy. It also allows most people to commute easier who don't live near downtown Orlando.

We are making progress and with Vista's update service pack, we hope to know something soon. Of course, there's always the Mac that works -- has worked -- doesn't need SP1 updates and all that jazz. Plus the graphics are better on the Mac, but that's another debate.

It's really important to take the entire context of this announcement. Although it starts out saying that they needed SP1 in order to complete the game, the rest of the thread leave not-so-subtle implications on the status of a beta.

such as "When its ready, it's ready. We have an exclusive niche market, so is our approach. Yes, we have an ace up our sleeve that's waiting to be unleashed."

Well, that's an announcement that seems like the repetitive consensus since the first announcement for a beta.

Only the future can tell...