HL2 11/01

Looks like the soft date of 9/2 was just that soft...

everyone is now showing 11/1 as the new "date"

Still no word on it from Valve as usual.

hmm... Halo 2 vs HL 2 they'll be one week apart.

Aren''t you Mr. Wet Towelingham? Damn it! I was really hoping for sooner than that.

Half Life rulez and Halo Droolz!

"buzzvang" wrote:

Half Life rulez and Halo Droolz!

Well, that was some truly erudite criticism.

Question: If this was ''ready'' to be released last September, then put on hold due to the ''theft'', what are they doing that takes so long?

It seems like they are reworking the whole game!

The Ravenholm video is pretty amazing.

I wish they''d release this one so I can get my hands on VtM:Bloodlines.
I really don''t have any interest in HL2 or Halo, but Bloodlines sounds really nice.

"buzzvang" wrote:

Half Life rulez and Halo Droolz!

I''m going to illicitly fondle each box... though honestly I''ve been more excited for Halo 2 longer, but HL2 is growing from having seen more of it and from playing through the first.

I''m with duckilama on this one, just release the stupid game so I can play me some Bloodlines.

"karmajay" wrote:

Question: If this was ''ready'' to be released last September, then put on hold due to the ''theft'', what are they doing that takes so long?

It seems like they are reworking the whole game!

I''ve often wondered the same thing. I''m not a programmer but I can''t imagine they had to do much more than rework some of the networking code to prevent cheating or something like that. I have to believe that Valve knows what they are doing, they seem like a competent bunch. I will only start to worry if they change the title to Half-Life Forever.

I think it''s become relatively obvious that the game was not ready last year. Even if they had concerns over the security of Steam, there''s no way that it would take 14 months to recover from it. No, they are crafting content madly still, to my mind.

"mateo" wrote:
"buzzvang" wrote:

Half Life rulez and Halo Droolz!

Well, that was some truly erudite criticism.

Just having a spot of fun, I was! You can save the rolling eyes.

How about we go with the old Blizzard line ""When its done"" as an ETA.. I really REALLY WANT Vampire though! If Vampire is soo close to being done I wonder how long it will be sitting on the shelf until HL2 is done.. maybe they will have an expansion pack added by then!

I thought Bloodlines was just waiting for HL2 to release so they could release without stealing the glory...

Well damn, I hoping for an earlier release.

There''s no way HL2 was ready last year. The whole ""stolen code means we have to delay release"" thing was a bunch of smoke and mirrors to hide the fact that the game simply wasn''t done. Valve''s favorite tactic seems to be ""look at the birdy, don''t look at us, look at the birdy"", where the birdy is whatever their current scapegoat is (code theft, steam, hacking, pirating, internet cafes, whatever).

Their shennanigans aside, I still have hope that HL2 will be a good game. Just because your company behaves like an egomaniac doesn''t mean you''re not good. I sincerely hope HL2 and Halo 2 don''t release so close to each other. I''d really like to check out Halo 2, but a PC release is going to win out over an Xbox release for me. I didn''t just buy a geforce 6800 to spend all my time on the Xbox!

I think they would have missed last years date no matter what. But I also don''t think they planned or faked the code theft just as an excuse. I think it just happened coincidently and made a good excuse. But to be honest, I never saw any quotes from Valve that specifically said ""We''re postponing because of the code theft."" I think everyone just kind of assumed it when it was announced. Not to bash Valve.. but I see a lot of folks saying we trust Valve because they seem competent or they''re the greatest developers ever. People seem to forget that Valve has done exactly 1 game.. just 1. And that was done using a heavily modified Quake2 engine. HL2 is their first completely from scratch game, so I can see why they''re taking some extra time with it. Probably been a huge learning experience for them so I would have been really surprised had they pulled it off without any delays. With that said.. what they''re doing looks spectacular and I can''t friggin wait to install that CD of love on my PC when the day finally comes!

-edit-
Oh ya, and I forgot to mention.. don''t ever ever ever ever believe those release dates that EBGames or any retailers put out there. Until you get the Gone Gold word from the developer/publisher they don''t know the date anymore than you or I. You can always tell too because they always put the date as the 1st. I bet if you kept track of the HL2 release dates EB has had over the past year you''d see 03/01/04, 05/01/04, 07/01/01, 09/01/04, (you see where this is going).

They may it wrong, but they''re never later than an actual release, so we can be sure it''s not going to be before November.

I guess HL2 will be release in early 2005. Sad...
Well Halo2 is on the way...

I bet it ships around September 30th, one year after the original date.

I bet it ships around September 30th, one year after the original date.

Wouldn''t that be super? Certainly better timing that a week before Halo 2.

Oh ya, and I forgot to mention.. don''t ever ever ever ever believe those release dates that EBGames or any retailers put out there. Until you get the Gone Gold word from the developer/publisher they don''t know the date anymore than you or I. You can always tell too because they always put the date as the 1st. I bet if you kept track of the HL2 release dates EB has had over the past year you''d see 03/01/04, 05/01/04, 07/01/01, 09/01/04, (you see where this is going).

In all fairness to our much maligned retail folks they dont really simply make up dates.. they are getting their dates from either publishers/distribution. The reason the dates change are simple.. they''re getting updates from them reflecting that their original estimate on the ship date has changed. No one at ebgames is sitting there thinking to themselves.. hmm.. I bet X game gets released on Dec. 12th!

My bet is October.

What about all that stuff about the game being done within the next week or two? Pure lies? Why would Valve launch a multiplayer beta test and then delay HL2''s release two months? My money is on the game coming out in September. Hell will freeze over before Halo 2 and Half-Life 2 will compete for sales.

Supposedly the preload starts at 7pm(PST) tonight(delayed from 6)

The preload has started, I now have official HL2 files on my PC!

GameGuru.. it''s not the store owners or the employees of the retail stores. It''s EB corporate (or the like) that''s making up those dates. There''s not a chance in the world that a Sierra told them 11/01/04.

"Vega" wrote:

GameGuru.. it''s not the store owners or the employees of the retail stores. It''s EB corporate (or the like) that''s making up those dates. There''s not a chance in the world that a Sierra told them 11/01/04.

eh? Of course Vivendi etc dont call individual stores.. they contact all the distributors with estimated ship dates which trickle down to all the major retailers.

Theres no making up dates on any side of retail.. thats not how retail really works.

Theres no making up dates on any side of retail.. thats not how retail really works.

Publishers give them some idea on a date that they''re hoping for. Sometimes retailers do pull dates out of their asses, on products more than a year out.

I don''t think the game will be released this year.

If they started the pre-load, doesn''t that mean that we''re gonna see it in, say, at least a month or two?

I would think the pre-load is at least somewhere near the bottom of the readiness checklist for launch. (In case that doesn''t seem clear, I mean that it would be one of the last things they do before launch)