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HL2 Episode 2 Not Until Spring 2007
eToyChest has an article up entitled Half-Life 2 Bite-Sized Contempt. The author registers his dissatisfaction with the state of episodic content so far on Steam. While he liked Episode One, the projected released date early next year makes it hard to be excited. From the article: "Episodic content could really take off if done correctly, something which so far hasn't been the case. Episodes need to be of decent quality, arrive in a timely manner, and be made available for an attractive price. Then you will create a slam-dunk impulse-buy environment that solidifies the marketplace as a viable one — think iTunes Music Store for games."
As someone who put out a number of Neverwinter Nights mods (for free), the more successful mods are those that came out soon after the game's release. After that, having regular sequels ever few months was key. Anything more than six months or so is too long to keep people's attention.
They're still playing half-life, a game that came out two years ago. Doesnt that imply that they arent the type to drop money on "new" content every month?
-- 'The' Lord and Master Bitman On High, Master Of All
$20 is too steep for 5 hours of gameplay. If they had released this same amount of content for $10, you wouldn't be seeing nearly as much complaining. The reviews on this game are almost universally positive, with the only complaints I've seen being the price for what you get.
As far as how long it takes between episodes, I'd rather Valve take the time to make each episode fun and engaging rather than throwing out half-assed garbage every 3 months. Of course, one of the primary problems with episodic gaming (and episodic novel writing, or episodic television, or whatever) is there is an enormour amount of pressure to rush out new content to keep the salivating masses happy, and quality can easily suffer.
Of course no one contacted Valve about this as they said today that the game is still on track for a Holiday 2006 released according to 1up.
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3151546
Auuuughhh! Gaaaahhh! Grrrrr! That's a right pain in the ass, isn't it?
You know what, this just may have changed my mind on the whole episodic thing. Not that Episode One wasn't great - it was absolutely awesome in content, if an hour or two shorter than I'd have liked, but spacing the episodes this far appart really makes this model a lot less attractive. It's bad enough with TV, where by the time one season premiers you've totally forgotten or just lost interest in the cliffhanger from the previous season's finale, and that's usually just a three or four month gap.
Seriously, the individual episodes need to be much closer together than that for people to maintain an interest in the series. At least every six months, if not every four... three would be heaven. Twelve is simply insane.
if this is their definition of episodic, then they might as well make each episode even longer. i'm not that great a player, but i finished hl2:ep1 a little too quick for my taste. personally i barely had time to really get into the game before i realized that it was already done.
anyways, i guess its back to looking for some good mods to pass the time. or maybe its time to switch to a new engine entirely....i wonder if there is a oldschool command and conquer mod for CnC:Generals. that would be fun...bah..this long waiting period makes me wonder why i even spent the money in the first place.
l8r.
Doesn't bother me - I'm going to wait 3 or 4 years and download them all at once. All this episodic malarkey doesn't interest me.
Who the HELL wrote this story?
In my experience if Valve says "Holiday 2006" then they really mean "Holiday 2007". They're not the most reliable source for their own release dates.
I just wish I could install Episode 1. I bought the boxed version but whenever I try to install it the filepath to steam doesn't work, it says c:/programfiles/steam\STEAM.EXE, which isn't a valid file path.. hence doesn't work and you can't chnage it. This is happened with 2 DVDs..
Steam support is terrible and no one seems to know a cure. Anyone got an idea?
I like muppets.
The article Zonk posted has been corrected by 1UP.com as the parent denotes.
In very very recent interviews, I'm talking about ones done a mere week ago with Valve, they consistently mentioned December 2006 as the release date. Considering that its development started around the same time as Episode One, I really thought that Episode Two would make it by then.
Is PC Gamer the only source of this Spring 2007 release date? I know this is Valve we're talking about, but I'm still thinking it could be a miscommunication, and Valve still thinks it's coming out at the end of 2006.
This was PCGamer. As I recall, magazines and retail outlets are almost always horrible at saying when something will come out until the distributer announces a specific date. I really don't think that the "Spring 2007" date came from Valve.
Yeah, I mean, the release dates are way too far apart. I mean, if E2 doesn't come out until 2007, I'm just not playing it. Forget it. If Valve can't turn around the next segment in two months, they just can't keep my attention.
You know, forget that Valve makes really great games, or that they're probably really hard to make. They just need to work harder.
Seriously, what the hell? How many years do we wait between movie sequels? TV seasons? Are you really saying that episodic content as a concept is a failure because it takes less than a year to turn around? How long did it take between HL1 and HL2? Did you boycott THAT because they took too long? Did you lose interest?
Whine. That will surely make everything better.
--Jaybill
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3151546
Episode 2 is NOT DELAYED. It's idiotic to get your panties in a twist over something in a magazine or game site unless it's actually a quote from Valve. Especially dates.
Although the article has already been deemed innacurate on it's main point, it's still makes valid points. The new chapter was too short for the price, and the time between episodes is too long. I'd like to add my own point: Steam sucks. Easily the most bug ridden piece of crap I have ever seen come out of a profesional studio. I hadn't run it since I finished HL2 almost a year ago, and when I started it, it crashed twice trying to update itself. Upon trying to purchase the game it locked up validating my credit card. During the download it froze, crashed, or froze then refused to quit, or stopped downloading, or downloaded at a measly 14k/s despite an otherwise healthy cable internet connection... over and over. It took constant vigilance on my part to manually keep the download going. In the end it took almost 10 hours to retrieve the entire game, four hours more than it took me to play it through. Valve *really* needs to get their storefront in order, particularly since the game itself is such a masterpiece. It's like trying to buy a Mercedes from a retarded kid over the phone.
So in the end, we will be waiting the same length as we would if Valve were to just go ahead and make a full length sequal to HL2 (which they recently admitted HL2: E is actually HL3) but in the form of 3 episodes at $20 a pop.
I got episode 1 and enjoyed it till the ending, it left me wanting more but as time has gone on I have started caring less and less. I'll end up getting EP2 when it's released as I will ep3 but I Might just wait till all 3 episodes are out before I do.
I knew Episodic content was a bad idea from the moment they announced it. They charge way to much for such a short game, they wait far to long to come out with new episodes (when is the next of 10 SiN episodes supposed to come out?) and charge the same ammount for each episode which is rediculas.
It would work if they completed the game all the way through, charged $5 per episode (can start with $10 or $20 depending on length for the first episode since it hold the core of everything) and released them each week like real episodes then it would work better. cause then in the end the game becomes $50 which everyone is used to (360 versions are $60 since that is what they are used to).
,br> but if it's going to take 3 years for 3 episodes to come out then it's not going to work well (and I feel sorry for the ones who are into SiN, cause they will be waiting 10 years for closer on it).
If the writer isn't even aware that these episodes are HL3, then I don't put much stock in his release dates either. As the interview of Gabe Newell states:
Circuit City's weekly ad showed it for $7.99. Now, that's worth it.
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
Valve started work on Ep. 1 and Ep. 2 simultaneously. This is why they have enough content available at Ep. 1's release that they were actually able to make a trailer for Ep. 2. This is also why a release date for #2 that's six months after #1 isn't that hard to swallow. This is also why #3 is slated for next Christmas, cause they're probably just starting work on that one now.
I think most of you have no idea what goes into making a game, in terms of skills, time, anything like that. As an experienced mapper, it takes me probably a good 40 minutes (not including compilation) to make a basic Iceworld clone for CS:S, and about 2-3 hours if I want to make it look good, and slightly original. To make a map like DOD:S's "Orange_fight", that would take about 10 hours, at least. To make a basic multiplayer map like cs_office, complete with all of the models (even if most of them are pre-made, original ones still must be made) would take a mapping team at least a few weeks, if not months. Hell, as we've seen, it takes a mapping team quite a long time even to just add HDR to maps that are already complete, it's not just a matter of hitting a checkbox that says "Use HDR" and recompiling.
It's also unrealistic to expect Valve to move people over from the coding team over to the mapping team. The coders write code, and the mappers make maps. If you want to put a coder on map-making, you might as well just hire a new person, cause you'll easily be able to get someone with more experience. So the engine's done? Ok, time to make it better. Add more options so that the guys with dual 7950 GX2s can't complain that their hardware isn't being properly utilized. If you don't, they might start buying games from EA (or whoever) instead of Valve. Episode 1 came with engine optimizations, and added some more graphical features for this precise reason (and so that people with lower-end hardware could still play!)
Episode 2 also needs more engine upgrades, or else it'll look like crap. Ever notice that so far, all HL2 maps have involved relatively enclosed spaces? The sole exception was the Coast levels, but even they were always enclosed on one side by a cliff, and on the other by water (which you couldn't go in for fear of leaches, and therefore could easily utilize the 3D-skybox). In Ep 2 you're going to be able to roam considerably more, since it's going to take place in a mountain range for at least part of the game. In order to deal with this greatly increased draw-distance, they're going to need to tweak the software.
The main point: making a game takes a long time, no matter how long or short it is, and no matter how many textures and models you're reusing. The guy who makes Minerva had it right. Make your own map if you think it's easy. The software is out there, as are some very good tutorials.
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I just bought the game about a month ago from a retail store (mistake -- the price was nearly double of what it should have been, but I was impatient).
When I finally got to installing the game, Steam told me the key was registered. I was pissed at first, but then took digicam pics of the serial and the receipt and sent them to Valve via their support site, along with a message where I described the situation. They took nearly a week to respond, but when they did, their response was to grant me my key back.
Valve need to do something about this, but they do have a process in place that serves as a workaround.
I agree that episodic games can be successful, even at a $20 price point, if they are done in a timely manner. Look at series DVDs, like Anime, Lost, 24, etc. These DVDs usually cost about $15-$20, and only contain 2 or 3 episodes, which is about 4 hours, or less. A 5 hour game that costs $20 is either equal or greater value. However, just like a series, if the next episode takes too long to become available, then I start forgetting what has happened, pick up another interest, or just stop caring about that series.
So now I look forward to 25% of a game every year? I've given up on the story... since apparently they have too. How about answering some questions about what the hell is going on? I've lost track of the dead-end plot points and supposed "mysteries" regarding half life. It's still a linear FPS with no sense of urgency other than, "GO HERE GORDON!", and "KILL THEM GORDON!".
It's a shame because the games are pretty and the mood and atmosphere is rich. But they've saddled themselves with an albatross of a story line. I think they realize that if they gave us answers to some of the questions, we'd realize it's really b-grade sci fi we're getting.
They should take a page from the LOST writers and tie up a story line every now and then...
Don't "rent" from Valve until they get rid of Steam. Seriously.
And yes, I said "rent." It's not "buying" if you need to "activate" your purchase.
I loved HL2, loved ep 1 apart from the fact that it crashes avery dman half hour. I would get much more excited about episode 2 if they could get episode 1 to work, so many people have had crashes with ep 1 (http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread. php?s=af9613eb805c3b3e392eba8461620be3&threadid=44 3922) it needs sorting before ep 2.
Ye have made your way from the worm to man, and much within you is still worm.