I think this sums up the negative opinion that appears to be prevalent on this board about wants/needs that don't necessarily pander to others'. If I were to read a little more than necessary in to this post, perhaps there's an assumption those wishing for more information are being thought of as nothing more than impatient kids. I clicked the reply button because I want you to know that's not just wrong, but profoundly ignorant too. I regret that one of the 'thanks' on this post came from Ross, too.
Assuming part of the reason for this thread was the discussion I took part in about the release date last weekend, I would like to make something as clear as I can. We (I or any of the others asking this question) are not you, and while you have your own individual things you're looking for out of this game, there are some of us who value order fulfilment over other things like creating Barack Obama in the Academy. The regrettable feeling I have accumulated with cricket games is reflected on the last one I had a genuine interest in - Ashes Cricket 2013 was a lot of talk (similar to Big Ant in many ways in the promises made in social media for example) and then suddenly nothing. 505 and Trickstar fell off the radar, and suddenly there are cancelled pre-orders and emotional videos by company directors admitting gross failure. The forum was once brimming with posts about functionality and design, but it's now being spammed by bots advertising kitchens.
On my side, there were trust issues. I'd never heard of Big Ant before the announcement of this game, and in no time at all we're in the midst of the greatest cricket game ever invented. Perhaps we are, but I believe Mike at 'the other place' said that once or twice about his game before too. This lack of trust went all the way up the chain - with these sorts of things, what about game-breaking bugs and the turnaround on patches? LIVE/PSN connectivity issues? DLC? Granted, if the unthinkable happens and this turns into another DayZ, the most I stand to lose is a negligible amount of real-world currency (and an even more negiligible amount of time), but there's a point to games beyond wasting minutes and hours away. It's to have an experience, to get out of one world and drop seamlessly in to another. In a lifetime of bills, rent/mortgages, unfair or demanding bosses, or high-maintenance spouses and family, games might actually hold a lot of value for some people. Actually having a real, tangible day of a week or a month or a year might have washed away one or two of those trust issues, and on my part, that's a certainty. When Ross made the comment that put a release date beyond all doubt for 2013, there was a realisation I might see this game in my postbox one day after all.
That's neither unreasonable nor 'trolling' as a lot of people here have claimed. Furthermore, to those in particular, I'd like to request that you be more understanding and compassionate towards those here who want different things out of this game than you. This experience wasn't created for you, it was created for everyone, and I would like to ask that you leave the attitude and narcissism on it at the door before recommending that someone who wants a release date is a fool or trying to cause disharmony on the site. People are different to you, and the sooner you learn that, the easier the other 99.9% of life is going to be.