Half-Life 2 Targeted for Summer Release

Gudlyf writes "According to CNN Money, Valve's director of marketing Doug Lombardi announced that the company is 'currently targeting this summer for the completion of Half-Life 2'. From the article: 'Valve does not plan to reveal any additional information until the time surrounding the E3 trade show, where the game will once again be shown this year. E3 will be held in Los Angeles May 12-14.'" The game was delayed following a previously covered code leak, and the article also notes: "Arkane Studios, an independent French developer that created the critically-acclaimed role-playing game 'Arx Fatalis,' has licensed [Half-Life 2's Source engine] for a forthcoming title [as has Troika's Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines]."

OK

So, does this mean that halfway to summer, it will get delayed again? And then half way to the new date, a new delay? And half way to that date....

Who knew Half-Life was the estimated time to release?

Re:OK

And the amazing thing is that after being delayed literally an infinite number of times, it would still be released! Isn't calculus interesting?

Re:OK

Heard around here? Damn, that sounds pretty reputable and solid to me. Now I'm off to spread that rumor as fact on all future Half-Life 2 related articles. I know I can count on you to join me.

Re:OK

Screw waiting for Half-Life 2... I'm holding out for Half-Life Forever.

Re:Time to upgrade

Here's an article on 64bit HL2 [hl2world.com]

" We have learned today from AMD and confirmed with Valve here at E3 that there will be a x86-64 port of the Half Life 2 client. This is in addition to the x86-64 port of the Counterstrike server that will be available soon. We saw the Half Life 2 demonstration and it looked amazing."

Re:What's the Counter Strike on OS X scoop?

I have a friend who upgraded from a windows machine to a G5 and the only thing he really misses is Counter Strike. ...and two mouse buttons!

Re:What's the Counter Strike on OS X scoop?

That's what I get for trying to crack a funny. There are too many over-zealous, angry people with mod points, today. ;-)

Re:What's the Counter Strike on OS X scoop?

Something weird happened with the port of that game. It was being done years ago, and then the project was canned.

Since then Sierra games have been nonexistent on the Mac. Why? Who knows. Sierra is probably reluctant to hand their games over to third party developers.

Until then, there's always...

...DOOM [idsoftware.com].

With updated source code [sourceforge.net] available, plenty of improvements [newdoom.com], and lots of ways to create your own maps [rubyforge.org], there's plenty to do before HL2 comes out!

Re:Until then, there's always...

I'm going bananas waiting for Thief 3 :(

At least ThiefMissions.com [thiefmissions.com] has new missions to play for Thief, Thief Gold and Thief 2.

Mod me to oblivion but I must have Thief 3!!

Re:Until then, there's always...

Ugh...after Ion Storm butchered Deus Ex: Invisible War by designing it for the Xbox first, I'm NOT looking forward to Thief III any more; I know it'll simply be more of the same - low frame rates, inconsistent graphics, small areas and shallow gameplay.

Linux version?

will there be a Linux version finally? (perhaps that could be some of the mystery?)

I would buy it, if it was out for Linux.

CB

Re:Linux version?

Nope, Half-Life 2 is pure DirectX only (versions 6 to 9, quite impressive compatibility really).

So unless you'd want to fight through it with WineX, you'll not be able to run it on Linux.

HL2 is by the way the main reason I still have a windows box running here ;)

Not everything is about Linux

The number of Linux servers was actually a reason why HL had so many players.

No, the reason why HL has had so many players is because people like the game. People wanted to play it, so they set up servers. Valve released a linux server because it's a good idea, so people often chose to set up linux servers.

After this it became clear that Valve really didn't give a damn about rewarding the Linux community with a client version. Much to the opposite, HL2 was being tought from the ground up to be Windows-only.

Umm, why should they reward anybody ? They didn't ask anyone to set up linux servers. There are perfectly well running windows servers. They just gave you the option, and you took it.

To make it short I sold my HL CD's, shut the servers down and replaced them with Q3 and UT. Many Linux admins were doing the same, since it really looked like Valve was spitting in the face of the people that helped them. I have never touched HL since then (nor any of the mods).

So you care more about what OS the game server is running than the game itself ? Btw, I guess most people care more about the game than the server's OS. As you can see from gamespy.com's stats page, HL has (maybe ten times) more players than Q3 and UT players combined.

So, basically, I believe in supporting companies that support me (and the Linux community) for their effort. With so many good games of the genre available for Linux it isn't even difficult.

"Your support effort" is nothing compared to "the real work they actually have to do" in order to get a DirectX 9 game running on linux (and btw, it is actually difficult).

I thought it had already been released

But wasn't it released already [slashdot.org]?

What is a...

source engine engine? Did they actually license a programmer?

-Charles

Not What my calculations say...

valvetime("Summer 2004") = "Winter 2005"

This game is going to suck.

Remember how many cheats were written and used for Half Life, Counter-Strike, etc -- and that source was closed?

Just imagine how much more the Half Life 2 and the Counter-Strike port of it will suck *this time* now that the source code had been leaked. This thing is going to be miserable to play online. :(

Re:This game is going to suck.

You don't send the client information that they don't need (say, the position of players that they can't see)

And then you fend off the complaints of all your customers who notice that when someone comes around a corner in your competitors games, they can be seen smoothly running into view, whereas when someone comes around a corner in your game they instantly "blink" into position a fraction of a second later when the server has made sure that yes, you really can see them. Avoiding this doesn't mean your server has to send every player the location of every other player, but just sending clients the locations of enemies they might see soon would be enough to let cheaters get in the first shot in many confrontations.

and you check to make sure the returned data is sane (for example, the player is traveling on foot more slowly than 200mph, the player isn't walking through solid obstacles, etc.

Good advice, but it seems to have already been taken on the FPS games I've played. Did Half Life 1 really allow cheats like this without a modified server?

Cheating timeline

That is not how I remember it. Wallhacking, which as I understand it is a driver issue that is very difficult to code against, and speed cheats, which were defeated shortly after they appeared, appeared long before CS went to retail. The only real cure for cheaters was active server moderators. Still is. Server mods, which owe their existance to the open source, could discourage certain kinds of griefing and cheating, but there is no substitute for a good moderator.

OK so thats...

... what, two more GPU revisions? This wont tax anything by the time it comes out!

Woohoo!

Half-Life has had one of the longest lives (in terms of popularity) of any video game. I have gone back and played it (the single play) many times, and still do, and the game is from 1998. It is a timeless classic, and its modability has kept its multiplayer alive with CS and Firearms. Most people who actually know something about gaming would say this is the best game ever made.

Re:Woohoo!

Nah ... The best game ever made is David Brabens "Elite", anyone who knows anything about gaming knows that.

Halflife 2 Trailer

For those who haven't seen the video, check it out here: http://www.gametrailers.com/gt_vault/t_halflife2_v ol1.wmv

I'm saved!

Thank god this was pushed back from it's previous release dates... now I might actually pass this semester.

Real reason for delay?

I would have more respect for Valve if they just came right out and said "listen, we are running behind. The game won't be out for a few more months." Instead they try to blame it on the source code leak. Sorry, I don't buy it.

Re:Real reason for delay?

"The world is full of skeptics and naysayers. :\"

I don't believe that for a second.

the waiting game

Don't they realize how difficult it is to get two weeks off from work starting on an unspecified date sometime in the "summer"?

Delay reasons...

The "simple" theft of the source code is not the reason to the extended delay, its simply that they where just not finished and have required this much more time to get it to a release state. Securing the network code or even outright changing it would only require a couple months at most to fix to prevent cheaters; so that option is not valid either. I think they screwed up on stating the release date and this was an excuse that would satisfy reporters.

Steam

Well..at least Steam will be well de-bugged and working correctly by the time it comes out. With the way steam was rolled out, nobody would of been able to download Half-Life 2 even if did come out.

Real reason for delay: Not Content Complete

I've seen a lot of posters blame the whole hacker incident on the delay. The hack caused a whole host of problems, but almost everyone forgets that the game wasn't going to make the September 2003 release date anyway. Vivendi was already making statements for months doubting the release date was going to be met with Valve consistently stating they were going to make it.

I believe it was around Sept. 20th when Valve and Vivendi admitted that the release was going to be delayed. A few days after that the source was leaked and everyone jumped on that bandwagon. It's know come to light in several HL2 forums that the AI was incomplete and several levels weren't right.

HL2 is an ambitious game and a lot of work goes into creating a AAA title. To have it delayed doesn't surprise me in the least. To blame it all on the source leak is unfair. Valve just didn't make their milestone dates, plain and simple.

Optimist or Sucker, you decide...

I just finished putting together my new system so I'd be able to enjoy the next generation of games.

Part of my shiny new System was a ATI 9800 XT graphics card.

I mean yes it was a little pricy but how could I pass it up - it comes with a coupon for a free copy of Half Life 2.

Woot, yes Sir! Hundred of dollars later I'm the proud owner of vaper-ware.

But I BELIEVE... oh yes, Half Life 2 will come out (some day) and my rash buying decisions will be redeemed in the eyes of my fellow games.

You'll see, the day it ships I'll be getting my free half life 2 via Steam... Oh, &$*@#.

The REAL Conspiracy theories

It's a conspiracy and a half, there was no code stolen. The reasons why it was delayed.

1.) The game is waiting longer, so the video card prices will drop lower. Same with CPU prices really.

2.) There are too many bugs anyways, so they need time to fix it.

3.) They need to test how mods fit into the out-of-the-box engine.

4.) They don't want it available in Christmas 2003, cause a million deals later, this will have this game selling for $29.99 by Christmas day.

5.) Directx9a and 9b caused a lot of confusion in 2003. Not the best time to launch a game that tests the water.

Stop the lies!

The game was delayed following a previously covered code leak

No! The game was delayed because the GAME WAS NOT DONE. Come on people! Do some reading and digging before you post shit about Valve/HL2. I know not everyone can be an expert on the Valve code-theft scandal, but I'm tired of reading the same old story with the same old misinformation. I wish Valve would fess-up to the fact that they were either:

A) Going to ship a basically unfinished game and use the masses as beta-testers (maybe even alpha!)

B) Just keep silently delaying it without further explanation.

C) Pull a Duke-Nukem Forever "When it's done" stance.