It's true that I am against pre-orders because the game might turn out bad or might not be the type of game you would enjoy. I would feel awful if I had your money and you had a game you didn't want to play.
As for the release date, We are still aiming for July 31st but I suspect it will likely be sometime in August instead. We are currently delayed because of some issues with 2 of the 4 platforms I plan on releasing on. Their business support teams are busy or on vacation and have left us in limbo halfway through the process. One of them is Steam and if my rep still doesn't respond by the end of next week, I am going to just put the game up on Greenlight. They told me I could skip it, but then they went missing for more than 2 weeks. I don't want to release on 2 stores and then a couple of weeks later release on the rest. I want people to be able to buy it the way that they want without making sacrifices. Some people really like the GoG no DRM option and others like the convenience of Steam's organization and community. Then there are the rest of you "oddballs(<3)" that like Amazon or Desura or Humble Bundle. I suggest people buy it on Steam for the community, access to forums, and centralized mod access(later). However, I also suggest you consider GoG with it's no DRM and a money back guarantee if you don't like the game.
Release date: Before it's too late
Seriously, the reason I waited so long to tell anyone about the game is because I wanted to be sure it was close to ready to play. I've seen too many developers try to get an audience excited for a game and take pre-orders before clarifying that the actual game is 2 years from release.