Half Life 2 Goes Gold

AhabTheArab writes "IGN is reporting that Half Life 2 has gone gold. After months of speculation and delays, it is finally true this time."

That's not what IGN is reporting

[DrSkwid]

Valve Software's Half-Life 2 has been submitted to the BBFC for certification, we've learnt this afternoon, news which adds credence to recent rumours that Vivendi is shortly to announce that the hotly anticipated first-person shooter sequel has finally 'gone gold'.

No It Hasn't

[BRock97]

Read the article on IGN (actually, it is Voodoo Extreme), and you will see that Valve has submitted the game to BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) and PEGI (Pan European Games Information) for rating. While this would most likely require the game to be in final build status, there has been NO announcement from Valve or Vivendi as of yet.

Re:What's it saying...

[Anonymous Coward]

Uh, it seems to me that you're mixing up the term "going gold" (selling x amount of units) with the term "golden master." Golden master is a term for when a piece of finished software goes to the production plant to be mass produced. It is called the golden master because, at least at one point, the finished software was put on a golden master disc that was used to produce all the others.

This is still speculation

[fresh27]

There has been no confirmation from Vivendi or Valve yet.

Re:What the hell does "gone/going gold" mean?

[sinner0423]

Terminology used when software is burned onto a "gold" cd that will be sent to the CD manufacturers to be reproduced. So named because of the CDR burnable CDs are gold backed normally. Also See Going Glass.

Taken from Gamedev.Net [gamedev.net]

Certified != Gold

[KombuchaGuy]

if you look on the BBFC page http://tinyurl.com/6t96x [tinyurl.com] you'll see that GTA:SA completed certification on 4th October, a week before going gold. Vampire: Bloodlines a week prior to that and that one hasnt even gone gold yet afaik. Factor in that the process takes a couple of weeks then you could still be looking at anything up to a month before it even goes gold.

You really have to love this

[Wilkshake]

The journalistic quality of these supposed news sites. All it is, is a bunch of news sites such as IGN [ign.com], Computer and Video Games [computeran...ogames.com] (Registration may be required) and Gamespot [gamespot.com] shifting about a whole bunch of rumours and maybees.

Purhaps they should do what real journalists do and actually search out for the truth by contacting Valve or Vivendi Universal, rather than trying to connect the dots or use sources like "An Industry Insider". That way they don't sound like trashy womens magazines that get their sources from "Close Friends" and the like.

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Re:Is anyone else torn between...

[sinner0423]

...using Steam to get HL2 vs. buying it retail? If I recall correctly you can only get the package that includes the Source rework of HL1 via online purchase and I *really* want that, but I still don't like the idea of dropping $50 or so on a game and not getting anything physical to hang on to. I know it's old-fashioned, but I still like having a backup copy to hang on to just in case my drive dies or something.

Amen to the "I want tangible stuff" comment. Check out this [steampowered.com] post for a solution. Basically, you'll have to archive all of the \steamapps folder with winrar, and back it up on DVD/CD. About 2 1/2 DVD's or a fsckload of CD's are your options.

Re:Is anyone else torn between...

[edo-01]

If you lose your PC or your hard drive you can just login to Steam from your new PC and all the games you bought can be downloaded again. I've done it on the three machines I use all the time. You can also copy the Valve directory from machine to machine over the top of a fresh Steam install.

So, backup your Valve directory to a DVD-R, and if you ever lose that you can download it again any time.

Re:And soon, Vampire: Bloodlines

[j.bellone]

This game is indeed running on the Source engine, but it's not the graphics quality that Half-Life 2 is on. I wouldn't go as far as saying it looks like crap though, I personally am looking forward to playing it, but it's not on the same level as Half-Life 2. I suppose that Trokia decided to keep the models on the lower end so that more of the fan base can play it.

I'd recommend looking at the movies

[PIPBoy3000]

I tend to disagree. To decide for yourself, you can check out the movies at the Yahoo preview [yahoo.com]. Personally, I'm amazed at what they've done with Half-Life 2's facial expressions.

Full review of the game is on the newsstands

[xigxag]

PC Gamer's latest December 2004 issue has a very extensive review of the completed HL2 with loads of screenshots and spoilers. They call it "history in the making" and "arguably the best game ever made," finally giving it a 98% rating. For comparison's sake, the same issue also rates Call of Duty:UO at 93%, Evil Genius at 88% and The Sims 2 at 85%.

Cedega?

[JimmehAH]

It shouldn't be too long until that can run HL2 in all its DX9 glory. It can probably run it fine in DX7/8 already.

Re:This story...

[HexRei]

CS:Source multiplayer hacks don't have much bearing on HL2, which is a singleplayer game...

Re:Get an xbox

[Midnight Thunder]

See here [gamespot.com] for information on HL2 for the XBox.

Re:My Steam just started re-downloading HL2

[Chiisu]

i don't think Steam can

the first big preloads for HL2 were the artwork and sounds, which Valve stated were set and wouldn't change. the most recent preload phase downloaded the maps of HL2, as those were likely worked on most recently. now, the executables are being worked on.

as the files are mostly huge .gcf files(encrypted compressed format), i doubt small changes could be made.

Uh...gold?

[ZeeCog]

First of all, this is 2 or 3 day old news. Second of all it does not indicate that Half-Life 2 is gold. Third of all, where is the official announcement?

Gold?

[ZeeCog]

First of all, this is not bleeding edge news. This was known a couple days ago: http://www.halflife2.net. Second of all, even this news does not constitute gold status. Until Valve officially announces that the game has gone gold (which I will admit will probably happen on Monday) I don't want to hear any more rumours or speculation.

Possible leaked press release?

[teknikk]

Spotted this on a certain messageboard, either an actual leaked press release (in which case it's a kick in the nuts), or it might be a fake.

quote:
---
HALF-LIFE 2(TM) HAS GONE GOLD

LOS ANGELES, Calif. (October 16, 2004) - Vivendi Universal Games announced today that Half-Life 2, the highly anticipated next installment in the best-selling and beloved franchise, has gone gold and will be released December 6th in North America, and December 20th in Europe.

"Half-Life 2 offers an unprecedented gameplay experience," said Michael Rouling, EVP, Vivendi Universal Games. "It features the most advanced AI ever seen in a game, combined with state of the art graphics and sound.".

Developed by Valve, Half-Life 2 is the highly anticipated sequel to the best selling Half-Life title, named "Best PC Game Ever" by PC Gamer. By taking the suspense, challenge and visceral charge of the original, and adding startling new realism and responsiveness, Half-Life 2 opens the door to a world where the player's presence affects everything around him, from the physical environment to the behaviors even the emotions of both friends and enemies.

The player again picks up the crowbar of research scientist Gordon Freeman, who finds himself on an alien-infested Earth being picked to the bone, its resources depleted, its populace dwindling. Freeman is thrust into the unenviable role of rescuing the world from the wrong he unleashed back at Black Mesa. And a lot of people he cares about are counting on him.

Half-Life 2 carries a suggested retail prices of $54.95 and has been rated "M" for Mature by the ESRB with descriptors for blood and intense violence. For additional information please go to www.half-life2.com.

About Valve
Founded in 1996, Valve creates entertainment software titles, including Half-Life®, Counter-StrikeTM, and Team Fortress®. Valve's portfolio accounts for over 12 million retail units sold worldwide, and over 88% of the online action market. More information about Valve is available through the company's Web site at www.valvesoftware.com.

About Vivendi Universal Games
Headquartered in Los Angeles, VU Games is a leading global developer, publisher and distributor of multi-platform interactive entertainment. Its development studios and publishing labels include Blizzard Entertainment, Sierra Entertainment, Fox Interactive and Massive Entertainment. VU Games' library of over 700 titles features multi-million unit selling properties such as Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo from Blizzard Entertainment; Crash Bandicoot, Spyro The Dragon, Empire Earth, Ground Control, Tribes and Leisure Suit Larry.
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Jokes aside...

[rsilvergun]

the mark of a _good_ FPS is the weapons and level design working together to make the gameplay different and interesting. Take Unreal Tournament vs Quake III. I find the latter emphasizes accuracy while the former clever use of resources. Or compare the level layout of say, Duke Nukem 3D with the orginal Half-Life, where Duke has numerous alternate routes (but not much story) compared to the more linear, story driven Half-Life.

Weapons can drastically change how you play. In Quake I, ammo was so limited you were often forced to run (anyone ever actually kill a shambler w/o cheating and/or wasting all your nail gun ammo?), Quake II has plenty of ammo, but it was well distributed between all the guns (and the level design meant they where all useful at some point), so you did fine on ammo as long as you made good, stratigic use of your weapons.
We've come a long way since Wolfenstine/Doom. But yeah, there's a lot of mediocre crap out there. Just avoid that junk. There's plenty of first rate titles.

Re:You keep using that word....

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, it depends on the country you're looking at, and whether you are talking about singles or albums.

For example, in New Zealand (population 4 million approx.) the numbers are:
Domestic Single
Gold 5,000
Platinum 10,000

Domestic Album
Gold 7,500
Platinum 15,000

It changes if you look globally, or if you look at a different market such as the US...

Holy crap, press release might be real...

[Anonymous Coward]

Found this on ESRB's site, it has been rated...
Half-Life 2 Sierra Entertainment (Vivendi Universal) PC CD-ROM Mature (17+) Blood,Intense Violence 10/9/2004

Re:Well...

[gabe]

I've already downloaded the "preload" via Steam. I've paid the $60 for the Half-Life 2: Silver package via Steam (didn't want that extra swag either) , so, yeah - when Valve says it's done and it's on Steam, I'll unluck/download it and play it to my heart's content.

My guess is they'll have to release it on Steam when it hits retail stores also to make Vivendi happy instead of litigious.