About it not being an announced date and it instead being peoples perceived dates...

If you went into McDonalds and ordered a hamburger... and they gave it to you an hour later, would you not be allowed to get mad because they never told you when they were going to give it to you?  I mean, say you REALLY love McDonald's Hamburgers.  I mean, if you really love them you wouldn't complain, right?  Afterall, you still get your hamburger... just a little late.  You totally wouldn't be a fan if you instead went across the street to burger king to get a hamburger earlier... right?

Perceived release dates are totally acceptbale if said release date isn't ridiculious.  Which, even 2 years ago expecting it to be released wouldn't of been ridiculious.  I mean, what was the last game released that started development before the gen started? 

Outside of complete screw up jobs like Duke Nukem forever anyway?

Completely an totally inaccurate comparison. "Fast food" promises a quick turn around implicitly. This is more like going to a steak house, and then wondering why you don't get your food as fast as you did at McDonald's.

Perceived release dates are absolutely meaningless. How on Earth can you claim otherwise? The majority of fans wanted a 2009 release for Zelda Skyward Sword but now it is in 2011. Does this mean the game has been horribly delayed? Why is the release window demanded by someone who neither works on the game, nor has any real idea of how much more work needs to be done is beyond meaningless.

Started development last gen? FFXIII jumps to mind. Too Human was in the works since forever and a day as well. I could probably throw out a few more as well if I started looking through the PS3 big budget library. Gigantic block busters planned for a system that has less than half the expected user base will get put at a much slower pace to make sure the install base is at a level to perform adequately.

The bigger point is that PD is not your bitch. They are not working for you, nor do you have the power to set a deadline for them. That is a purely internal affair. Unless you are a major stock holder, or are on the board you have absolutely no say on when the game comes. They never promised you the game before November of this year. Not once. No matter how self important random people on the internet feel they have neither the ability, nor right to arbitrarily decide when the game should come out.

you cant ignore the collective power of the consumers (which include these random internet users).

And @ bolded

This is the first time I've heard of this. The only game that I can think of which this could be true is GT5..hmm

Well yes.  If anyone didn't buy Too Human or FFXIII or don't buy Zelda... they are totally within their rights to not buy it.  Too Human is actually the perfect freaking example... and in fact, lots of people AREN'T going to buy it.  Just like how a bunch of people AREN'T going to buy Duke Nukem forever who would have otherwise.

They actually are working for the customers... because you know, the cusomters buy the product... and it's up to them why they do are don't.

The only people in this thread who are acting self important are the people who think they have the magical right to detirmine who is a fan and who isn't a fan.

So if it's a steakhouse and it takes them a day to get you your stake it's ok, because it doesn't imply "fast" food.  Just that you'll get it at some time? 

Development times this long are in fact, a huge outlier.

Don't be surprised when people get frustrated enough to where they eventually give up on something because it's just taking too long.

So you never heard of FFXIII I guess?

@Kaz
I have stated before I think you are right with how Bugrimmar is over reacting. Your analogy is, however, completely stupid. Food has a much smaller time frame for when could even be remotely  seen as acceptable, and you are completely stuck until the food arrives. Game don't work like that. You aren't sitting in front of your TV waiting for GT5 to show up or else you could die. It just doesn't work.

And again, if a couple week delay convinces you not to buy the game then you never really wanted it that bad. Duke Nukem Forever is over 12 years late. If someone would say "I wanted the game a couple years ago, but now I have just lost interest" then that seems reasonable to me. However this goes above and beyond that. This is the game being pushed back to probably later in the month and people throwing their hands up and calling it the worst thing ever.

And no, anyone who is stating the game has to be out by a certain point is being overly self important. Your individual $60 doesn't mean much of anything, sorry. You have the right to not buy their game, and thats cool. This isn't some niche studio that needs to felate their  audience in order to stay in the black. They have the money, time, and talent to improve the game over a long period of time and the customer has no right, no ability to force them to do otherwise. I say again, PD is not your bitch.

Development times this long are abnormal, but why is that suddenly terrible? Games that are a buggy mess get shit on mercilessly. Why on Earth would someone want a developer to think this is the better choice? It is, of course, fine for someone to prefer a quick and dirty release. In the end though if a small delay causes you to give up on the game there is no way that person could reasonably defined as a fan of the series. I get the argument for it being so long since the last game released, but that is not what anyone here is really bitching about.

Final Fantasy 13?  The first time they delayed it was because of PS3 userbase.  (Though it was one of those not release date yet delays.)

GT5 isn't "A couple weeks late".

It's extremely late based on what people could reasonable expect.  This new delay could just be the "straw that broke the camels back."  

Hell you see this shit all the time, people like some anime for example, but don't like the huge pauses and the most recent story, and then they change one of the character's hair... and a bunch of people get angry and leave.  It's not REALLY about the hair changing, it's about all the crap before that.

Also, I like your premise that "It's ok they've taken so long... becuase they're more popular."

What makes you think GT5 couldn't been released a long time ago without bugs?

The big time sync was car modeling.  That was specifically the reason given for why it wasn't released years ago.... well a long time ago.

What makes me thing that is the fact that the game isn't out yet. You don't sit around on your ass with a completely finished game. At least not for long. That is just dumb. Could it have been finished? Well yes, probably. That loops back into the waiting for a sufficient user base though.

The premise also is not that they are so popular. It is because they are that good. Their product will be bought by a shit ton of people eventually. Pissing off the impatient people does jack squat to their long term bottom line. See Blizzard for a company that clearly works around the concept of releasing a game whenever they damn well please.

And no, GT5 could not reasonably be expected any sooner because the game was never promised any sooner. No release date means no reasonable expectation. Thats the bottom line really. There has been one delay that is probably just a few weeks, but the details are still sketchy on that one. It won't be terribly long as the code is finished evidently.

So you are saying people shouldn't be pissed that they willingly sat on their asses to wait for development, because they were waiting for a bigger userbase?  Why?

This could of been done a long time ago but wasn't because they didn't feel like seems like the perfect reason to be upset.

Espiecally since the bigger userbase comment is bullshit anyway.  Lots of Franchises actually sell their best at the begining of a consoles lifetime.    Some good examples in the past are, Final Fantasy.... and Gran Turismo.

Blizzard works around the concept of releasing a game whenever they damn please?  How so.  Becaues they just released Starcraft 2?   There was never even real mention they were working on starcraft 2 until like... a year ago.  They waited until they were about to release it.  Blizzard is an example of how you do things right.  If you are developing a game that you don't expect to be out anytime soon... you don't talk about it.  Most games start development before they are announced, and aren't announced until they're a year or two away, specifically because of this.

The game eaisly could of reasonably been expected way sooner because it's taken over 4 years... from when it started work.  That is very much longer then your average game development time.  It's like twice as long.

That's not really impatience.

the more they bictch the more likely they will be first to buy it.