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The Final Hours of Half-Life 2
IvyMike writes "Gamespot just published a 25-page article titled The Final Hours of Half-Life 2. It has inside details of the missed September 30th, 2003 ship date, the source-code leak, and hints at future projects from Valve." Relatedly, kraemer writes "Valve has said publicly they would unlock Half Life2 before the November 16th street date if stores start selling it early. Well, Stores are selling it early. In an attempt to show Valve whats going on Shacknews is having a contest to come up with verifiable proof."
Bought my copy. Now, wake me up the 16th.
Is anyone else disturbed by the fact that this came out over a year after it's initial release date? It makes one wonder what was so wrong with the source that they had to spend a year fixing it just because someone else was able to look at it.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. It's just that yours is stupid.
This article was quite good, considering its 25 page length. The most notable highlights being some of what we didn't know but guessed at: Yes, Gabe was 'lying' to us with all of the "September 30th release date" bruhaha - the game was far from complete, as many people figured out when they were still adding features in early 2004 (some figured the delay was in large part due to anonymous hacker).
Even more interesting still: post-release content - the "ATI" levels (heavily misleading name, but whatever) which are eye-candy filled to stress out video cards, and other small episodes that will be released from the viewpoint of Alyx. Still no word on TF2, aside from a vague statement we'll get it at some point.
Since they are holding a product I've already paid for hostage and requiring me to install a push content client called Steam in order to use it.
Valve themselves have said that Steam would not be required to play Half-Life 1 or 2 online, however, once they realized that no one would voluntarily install Steam, they made it a requirement to play the games online (Valve does not run any of the servers, which are operated by fans of the games.)
I encourage you to join me in boycotting Valve products, although I expect most people are so anxious to enjoy the (admittedly well crafted, if it's anything like the first) game, they would sell their grandmothers into slavery.
The source leak probably delayed it a little bit, but most likely it was just a scapegoat ... they didn't have it done, they took their time.
However, I'd RATHER a game company be a year late than put out a game that blows.
Jay | http://oldos.org
When the date was DEFINITIVELY STATED as September 30th (and was also picked up by Amazon, etc), I pre-ordered my copy and - just two weeks before the release date - built myself a brand new kick ass machine that included a $500 video card. I was eager to play HL2 and kick some ass with a great machine.
More than a year later, my machine is mediocre. I could spend another $1500 to build another kick ass machine, but why bother? I'm not interested in HL2 anymore. I just want CS:S.
they would unlock it early.
Seriously, who cares anymore? The game will come out, but people will be to cheap to upgrade their computers and will still be playing the original CS.
Simply retarded
"Valve has said publicly they would unlock Half Life2 before the November 16th street date if stores start selling it early."
This is entirely false, VALVe never said it. ShackNews made it up. It turns out what VALVe said was that the STEAM version would unlock when the retail version shipped. Obviously they meant that they'd both be the same date, which turned out the be the 16th. What ShackNews interpreted that as is that if the retail version comes out early via leak, the STEAM version would too.
ShackNews is just digging themselves a hole for something that VALVe has already said isn't going to happen (and that they never said that).
Why gather evidence? The game will come out in just over 2 days (2 days 6 hours at this point). WAIT for it damnit. Stop whining like goddamned 10 year old AOLers.
If there was ever a cause to use this acronym, this is it. The article explicitly states by Gabe himself that the source leak had nothing to do with the delay and that the game simply could not have been finished and even without the source leak would not have been finished until now.
In manchester, New Hampshire, around 5pm EST saturday.
Half Life 2 was all over the shelves, normal and collector's editions.
oops. Well, Bestbuy is big enough to make valve their bitch.
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms should be the name of a store, not a government agency.
Yes. Clearly, Valve is focusing on the essential elements of an immersive game experience. "Breast demonstration?" Not snappy enough to become an industry benchmark. I say we go with the "Tit-test!"
I wonder if Doom 3 passes...?
There's a statement on steampowered.com.
"Half-Life 2 For Sale?"
Apparently they would be in violation of the contract they have with Vivendi if they unlocked the game files before the 16th.
I'm not going to be able to play it until sometime in February when my ship pulls back into port... If I plug my laptop into the network here, and one of the admins happens to check the log, the laptop gets confiscated... thanks for the DRM, Gabe! (maybe they could offer a little unlocking tool for orders shipped to FPO addresses?)
nope, unless you are talking about Demon tits