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First Person Shooters (Games)

Half-Life 2 Street Date 44

JFlex writes "According to Valve's website, Half-Life 2 will hit the streets on November 16th! From the press release: "The Company confirmed that Half-Life 2, developed by Valve Software, has gone gold with a planned retail street date of November 16, 2004." Gonna have to rush home and beat Halo 2 as fast as possible to free up some time for HL2!!"
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Half-Life 2 Street Date

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  • Old (Score:3, Informative)

    by Southpaw018 ( 793465 ) * on Wednesday November 10, 2004 @07:46PM (#10782421) Journal
    Heh. I emailed the on-duty editor, saying that this was old news. In fact, I mentioned the VU press release [vugames.com] that was edited into the article. The press release is from October 18th. Abort the story instead of making a nonsensical edit, /., this is old stuff.
    • Re:Old (Score:3, Funny)

      by JVert ( 578547 )
      This "breaking news" is also posted on the side of the website. Where the ad's usually are. In big bold letters... ...

      its been there at least 3 days.
  • This is really the game that I have been waiting for. The screenshots not only look good, but seem to have a great atmosphere, with great attention to detail. It is riding on the coattails of HalfLife 1, which had incredibly immersive play, and was a good game to back to.

    Yeah, you can have your Halo 2s and your GTAs, this one is for me!
  • This system will work well! After XBox's all die and overheat from overuse (no comment on Microsoft's engineering), people will now be able to come back to their trusty computers and play Half Life 2! Although, I think that there would be a greater reaction to the it's-gonna-be-damned-awesome HL2 if Valve waited, until, say December 1st, when the novelty of Halo 2 has worn off and people are ready for something new.

    - dshaw
    • Yeah, until Valve's Steam servers die off on the day of release ebcause everyone will be attempting to connect, and in the semi distant future when Valve disappears and you won't be able to authenticate your copy because everything including single player is locked under the authentication system according to Doug Lombardi [gamespy.com] from Valve.
  • Wow (Score:4, Funny)

    by Poseidon88 ( 791279 ) on Wednesday November 10, 2004 @08:02PM (#10782554)
    Thanks for the news [slashdot.org]!
  • How can you... (Score:2, Insightful)

    All geeks support such a company who disregards all computer users as theifs, criminals and crooks?

    Their program needs nannyware to even start up. As a geek, I find that reprehensible. Thats also why I use only windows 2000.. So I dont have to deal with MS's "change some hardware and fuck up your system" crap.

    I also know that many geeks refuse to touch this flaming pile of crap (even if the game content is good). Provide a respectable way for us to play without resorting to demeaning us as criminals, by d
    • Re:How can you... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Poseidon88 ( 791279 ) on Wednesday November 10, 2004 @08:50PM (#10782941)
      I don't understand this viewpoint. All games these days have copy protection in one form or another. For the most part, these schemes are more of a hindrance to the legitimate users than the dedicated pirates. Steam actually gets rid of all the annoying problems caused by current copy-protection, and goes a long way towards actually preventing piracy. No requiring the CD in the drive, no hardware issues, no worrying about losing your key or having someone else use it, game content delivered as soon as it is available, patches downloaded automatically... And the best part: an online distribution system like Steam may help release game developers from their dependence on huge publishers. Frankly, I think more people should be rejoicing about Steam and the way it is changing the games industry.
      • Online delivery is somewhat revolutionary. It's only natural for people to resist.

        Steam is a good thing and it will get better. Soon all games will be distributed this way as it's cheaper and easier for the majority.
      • 6 years down the line, I can still install Win98 on an old machine, provided I have the drivers to run the hardware. Never the less, it will still install and work. The same goes for Windows 95, 3X, NT, and 2000.

        The same cannot be said for Windows XP. Can you guarantee that when WinXP goes out of support, MS will still hand out unlock codes? My greatest fear is not putting the CD in when a program runs, or having some dumb dongle, or some gimmick. My biggest fear is putting the power to run YOUR computer s
        • If the game is good enough that I still want to play it 6 years down the line, I expect Valve will still be making a profit, and will still be supporting it, much as they have done with Half-Life and its many mods.
        • Re:How can you... (Score:3, Informative)

          by Warpedcow ( 180300 )
          Your valve scenario doesn't really hold any water. Assuming you already have a steam account, and Steam and all your games are installed somewhere, you can run any of them without any sort of internet connection in "offline mode". So if you're worried about not being able to play HL2 in 10 years or whatever, just make sure you have a backup of your Steam directory and you will be able to play, no matter what.
          • just make sure you have a backup of your Steam directory and you will be able to play, no matter what.
            Wow, Steam runs on Mac OS now? Because just copying the folder and then putting it back on Windows is NOT the same as reinstalling the program, and probably won't work!
            • Because just copying the folder and then putting it back on Windows is NOT the same as reinstalling the program, and probably won't work!

              I know it's not the same, but in this case, it works. I've done it a couple of times transferring Steam to different computers. Actually, this works with more programs than you may think. Sure, you dont get auto-generated program menus and it doesn't show up in Add/Remove Programs, but the darn thing still works!

              I find it funny that you assumed that my statement wa

      • by Anonymous Coward
        Frankly, I think more people should be rejoicing about Steam and the way it is changing the games industry.
        Make it voluntary and I'll sing it from the rooftops. REQUIRING steam is not necessary; all it does is give Valve more power over software YOU purchased. So yeah, if Steam were voluntary it would be awesome. It's too bad it isn't.
      • Re:How can you... (Score:1, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward
        This has nothing to do with online distribution. It has to do with Valve controlling access to a game you have legally purchased through a license-like system. The parent post replied with an explanation as to why Steam is bad.

        My problems with Valve go way beyond that, though. Where the hell is there support for other platforms? They've basically told linux users to go screw themselves, and put themselves in bed with MS in various ways.

        It's not just Steam, it's not just the lack of linux support, it's not
    • HL1 is a fluke - you know how many games I play from 6 years ago that were on a PC...huh, whats that? None? Oh yeah, that's right. And if CounterStrike (which I don't play) didn't exist, the same would be true for a lot of people.

      Sorry, the whole, the developer/publisher/whoever won't support a one-off piece of software in 25 years arguement is crap. Hacks will come out now, although, you will have to be online to get them...so I don't see the difference between obtaining a crack or just using Steam.
  • by cnsc1rtr ( 799636 ) on Wednesday November 10, 2004 @08:25PM (#10782746) Journal
    I've stopped paying attention to all news regarding Arafat's condition and Half Life 2. I was listening to the radio during my 15 minute drive home the other night and when I got in the car, the news was saying that a reliable source close to Arafat said that they were going to pull the plug as soon as some religious leader finished giving him whatever final blessings he needs. Just as I got home, I hear that his doctors are saying that he is in ok condition and will probably last a while longer!

    That is about the same as the news about HL2 has been for too long. "HL2 is going to be released tomorrow!" "Oh, wait... Make that next month!"

    I suggest we all just ignore both of these things until we have real proof that (a) Half Life 2 is really out for the public to purchase and play and (b) that Arafat is really dead and doesnt have any plans for resurrection.
    • Originally posted by me... about four hours ago:
      I suggest we all just ignore both of these things until we have real proof that (a) Half Life 2 is really out for the public to purchase and play and (b) that Arafat is really dead and doesnt have any plans for resurrection.

      Hmm. Scratch (b) off the list... [cnn.com]

      Ok. I will shut up now.
    • We've got a whole palette of Half-Life 2 boxed (with gordon, the G-Man and Alyx on the boxes) in work today. It's sitting in our warehouse waiting to go out Monday night after we close. I'll see if I can get a picture of it and post the URL here tomorrow when I get home.
  • Took you long enough (Score:2, Interesting)

    by sahonen ( 680948 )
    I knew about this a couple weeks ago. Nice to see /. is on top of things, especially with regards to one of the most anticipated games this year.
  • Steam (Score:3, Interesting)

    by aliens ( 90441 ) on Wednesday November 10, 2004 @10:09PM (#10783585) Homepage Journal
    Do the copies sold over Steam become playable at 12 midnight? And in what timezone?
    • The original announcement [steampowered.com] says midnight Pacific time. Half-Life Fallout has a countdown clock [hlfallout.net] that counts down to the release.
    • Half-Life 2 will be unlocked at 12:00 Pacific Standard Time, 11/16/04. That means 3:00 AM Eastern, and Early morning for Europe.

      Valve is actually not letting European stores sell until Midnight PST, which is making for some interesting situations in retailers abroad.
    • The online-copies will activate the very moment the first copy of Half-Life 2 retail is registerd with Steam. At least it says so on the warning sign glued to the door of a local retailer.
      The posts above mentioned a timed trigger, I guess whichever happens first.
  • Beat Halo 2? (Score:1, Offtopic)

    by kyhwana ( 18093 )
    Yes, run home and play Halo 2 for a whole 6-10 hours, and you're ready for HL2.
  • Sid Meier's Pirates! is (according to amazon) coming out the following week (22nd).
  • Hey guys, good news. Halo 2 has been dated: It's November 9, folks! Yayayayay!

One man's constant is another man's variable. -- A.J. Perlis

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