SAS
Can't get enough of FH
- Joined
- Dec 23, 2003
- Messages
- 1,004
It has been quiet on the Half-Life 2 news front, until now. An explosion of activity has swept across the net with news sites and retail sites reporting increased volumes of traffic. Gamers are eagerly awaiting any possibility of the game being activated early.
Reports of an early release of the game, including screenshots of the box and cds have surfaced, although this appeared to be a localised case rumours of the game appearing randomly in small retailers have started to grow in number.
Valve has released a statement regarding the activation of Half-Life 2, due for official release on the 16th November:
To round off, Gamespot have posted an article about the final hours of Half-Life 2.
Reports of an early release of the game, including screenshots of the box and cds have surfaced, although this appeared to be a localised case rumours of the game appearing randomly in small retailers have started to grow in number.
Valve has released a statement regarding the activation of Half-Life 2, due for official release on the 16th November:
Half-Life 2 For Sale?
If you have purchased a copy of Half-Life 2, we are sorry you are still waiting to play. This is not Valve's choice. Vivendi is insisting that the game has not yet been released, and has threatened that Valve would be in violation of its contract if we activate the Half-Life 2 Steam authentication servers at this time.
Thanks for your patience and we will update you when we have more news to share.
If you have purchased a copy of Half-Life 2, we are sorry you are still waiting to play. This is not Valve's choice. Vivendi is insisting that the game has not yet been released, and has threatened that Valve would be in violation of its contract if we activate the Half-Life 2 Steam authentication servers at this time.
Thanks for your patience and we will update you when we have more news to share.
To round off, Gamespot have posted an article about the final hours of Half-Life 2.
So what did happen? As Newell and the team have explained, by July it was obvious that Half-Life 2 would not be finished in time for a September 30 release. So why was Valve still telling the public in late August that the game was on schedule? "We were paralyzed," Newell says. "We knew we weren't going to make the date we promised, and that was going to be a huge fiasco and really embarrassing. But we didn't have a new date to give people either." In other words, Newell didn't want to announce the delay until he had a new official date to announce. It's that simple. "So I decided we should just stay quiet," he says.
Still, there's a difference between staying quiet and confirming a ship date that you know to be incorrect. Newell says that, in retrospect, he may have made the wrong decision on this front. At the time, however, he didn't want to announce the delay until he had something better to tell the fans. "I didn't want to go to 'when it's done' or announce 17 different dates over the next few months," he says.
Not long to go now. Will a rise in last minute work sickness occur on Tuesday? Still, there's a difference between staying quiet and confirming a ship date that you know to be incorrect. Newell says that, in retrospect, he may have made the wrong decision on this front. At the time, however, he didn't want to announce the delay until he had something better to tell the fans. "I didn't want to go to 'when it's done' or announce 17 different dates over the next few months," he says.