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First Person Shooters (Games) PC Games (Games) Entertainment Games

Half-Life 2 Targeted for Summer Release 414

Posted by simoniker from the coming-soonish dept.
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]."
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Half-Life 2 Targeted for Summer Release More

Half-Life 2 Targeted for Summer Release

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  • OK (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 03, 2004 @02:39PM (#8172543)
    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?

  • Until then, there's always... (Score:5, Informative)

    by tcopeland ( 32225 ) * <{moc.dnalepoceelsamoht} {ta} {mot}> on Tuesday February 03, 2004 @02:40PM (#8172554) Homepage
    ...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!

  • Linux version? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Chuck Bucket ( 142633 ) on Tuesday February 03, 2004 @02:40PM (#8172556) Homepage Journal
    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? (Score:5, Informative)

      by MooCows ( 718367 ) on Tuesday February 03, 2004 @02:42PM (#8172581)
      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 ;)
      • I expected as much since we never saw the release of Half-Life. I've retired my Windows boxes, and I'm done with dual-booting. I still have RTCW running great, and can play my buddy, who is running it on OS X. I'll stick with that, unless I have to run HL2, and then I'll try WineX, but it's not the solution I'd like.

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

        Maybe in the final version, but in the beta that leaked it ran fine under OpenGL. Not that I'd know of course, I just heard about it on the discovery channel. (/best excuse ever).

        For them to take it out now would piss off a lot of people, especially since the support was in at some point. It would be like microsoft buying out whoever made VirtualPC and cutting mac support..
    • The last I read was that it made full use of DirectX 9 for everything. If this is true, then it's unlikely that it will ever be released for anything other than Windows / XBox. A shame really, I'd have bought an OS X version...
      • A shame really, I'd have bought an OS X version...

        Well, personally I never cared for Half-Life so I'm not looking forward to Half-Life 2. My poison was Counter-strike. I wish they'd port that to something a little more open than Valve's crappy platform. How about make Counter-strike a Quake 3 mod so the rest of us can play it?

    • No, HL2 is windows-only.

      Once upon a time I actually played a lot of HL mods (to be honest HL itself i ok, but the true reason it was so popular was the mods - CS in particular). Configured wine, tweaked the settings, the whole monty. I also - like many GNU/Linux admins - administered servers, and public servers at that. The number of Linux servers was actually a reason why HL had so many players.

      After this it became clear that Valve really didn't give a damn about rewarding the Linux community with a

      • Not everything is about Linux (Score:5, Informative)

        by Kor49 ( 748163 ) on Tuesday February 03, 2004 @04:34PM (#8173989)
        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).
        • 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.

          That people like the game (actually, like the *mods*. If not CS HL would be dead long ago) is a given. But - and this might be specific for where I live - if not for the availability of Linux servers there would be not enough places for people to play. This was akin to UT.

          U
  • Critically aclaimed or not, that game sucked.

  • I thought it had already been released (Score:5, Funny)

    by Bingo Foo ( 179380 ) on Tuesday February 03, 2004 @02:42PM (#8172579)
    But wasn't it released already [slashdot.org]?

  • Word. (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Tirel ( 692085 )
    Didnt Valve announce that they were going to release HL2 in february instead of december because of the source code leak? So what happened to change the release date to 'somewhere in the summer'?

    Or was the leak just a nice excuse for the clueless managers who wanted
    game shipped around the Christmas shopping spree?

  • What is a... (Score:4, Funny)

    by chill ( 34294 ) on Tuesday February 03, 2004 @02:42PM (#8172595) Journal
    source engine engine? Did they actually license a programmer?

    -Charles

  • Not What my calculations say... (Score:4, Funny)

    by Slack0ff ( 590042 ) <matbrady@NOsPaM.bored.com> on Tuesday February 03, 2004 @02:42PM (#8172598)
    valvetime("Summer 2004") = "Winter 2005"

  • This game is going to suck. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 03, 2004 @02:43PM (#8172603)
    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. :(
    • The whole reason it's been delayed from Christmas was to change the game enough that compatible cheats couldn't be written with the leaked source code.
    • What I keep wondering is, why don't they, say, *make it not quite as hackable*?

      It's not like we don't know how to do it. You don't send the client information that they don't need (say, the position of players that they can't see), 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.)

      Obviously it's not nearly as possible to get rid of things like bots - we're pretty much stuck with

      • Re:This game is going to suck. (Score:5, Insightful)

        by roystgnr ( 4015 ) <`gro.srengots' `ta' `yor'> on Tuesday February 03, 2004 @03:23PM (#8173126) Homepage
        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?
  • Did they fix anything beyond the DRM pieces that leaked with the game? The game was seriously incomplete, so have they taken advantage of their time to do things right this time, or have they just fscked with DRM?
    • "The game was seriously incomplete"

      No, the stollen code was seriously incomplete. What was hijacked from Valve has no real bearing on what the state of the game is, was, or shall be.

      • There's two sides to that one.

        Many of the bsp's in the E3 timeframe were version 18, the leaked version's BSP engine was compatible for version 19.
        (in other words: some of the maps were probably indeed that unfinished)

        But: Many models from the leaked version looked very complete already, and suggesting a lot more content later in the game has already been worked on.
        • Of course, you dont work on a game or any large project front to back. Later parts of the game would be finished before early parts. Whats more, its not like any large set of source code is sitting in one place on a server. What was stolen is no doubt a chunk of checked out code from a source code repository. In otherwords, it was whatever that programmer needed, to work on what ever he/she was working on and not the full project. Other then when you do an alpha/beta/release build you dont often see the ful
      • well, code leak can't be the reason for these delays anyways. they must have knew they weren't going to be able to ship it for last december even when they were saying they'd ship it in september or so, had the hype engine rolling and all.

        blaming the delay then on the source leak was just retarded, if not outright lying.

        'summer' release at this point is as good as 'sometime, maybe' them having missed the day so many times already that I got zero confidence on them shipping in summer.

        half-life forever, b

  • OK so thats... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by j0keralpha ( 713423 ) * on Tuesday February 03, 2004 @02:44PM (#8172615)
    ... what, two more GPU revisions? This wont tax anything by the time it comes out!

  • Woohoo! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by barenaked ( 711701 ) on Tuesday February 03, 2004 @02:44PM (#8172618)
    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.

  • Halflife 2 Trailer (Score:5, Informative)

    by Unreal7000 ( 728903 ) on Tuesday February 03, 2004 @02:44PM (#8172624) Homepage
    For those who haven't seen the video, check it out here: http://www.gametrailers.com/gt_vault/t_halflife2_v ol1.wmv
  • I of course can't wait for our new Half-Life 2 overlords, but in my mind I won't believe it untill i see it on a brick and morter shelf or available to buy in my steam gui --- yeah right, selling half life 2 over steam "content delivery system" will make the myDoom SCO DOS attack look like a tea party.

    I've been dissaponted too many times to believe any date they put out...

    As a side note: I saw one of those guide book/strategy guides at Best Buy for Counter-Strike Condition Zero and had to giggle out loud.

  • E3 (Score:2, Interesting)

    by nick_davison ( 217681 )
    If E3 this year is anything like last year's, remember the fact that Vampire uses the same engine.

    The queue for Halflife was crazy, stretching around the booth and back again. Vampire on the other hand had hardly anyone interested in it. Knowing it was the same engine, I got about an hour with the guys, going wherever I wanted in the game, getting every last question I could think of answered - while the people who queued for twice as long for the H2 demo got a fraction of that.

  • I'm saved! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Jad LaFields ( 607990 ) on Tuesday February 03, 2004 @02:46PM (#8172657)
    Thank god this was pushed back from it's previous release dates... now I might actually pass this semester.

  • Real reason for delay? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by kneecarrot ( 646291 ) on Tuesday February 03, 2004 @02:48PM (#8172679)
    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.
    • The world is full of skeptics and naysayers. :\
    • ya know.. i agree.. but i can see there side of it... Instead of releasing a game, that has some small bugs and flaws in it (SIN anyone?) and releaseing patches ever few months.

      The Code is now out in the open so they have to do a years worth of work in pathching in 6 months.

      For example [Rant] i used to play CounterStrike and in the the Halflife game browser, i have many diffrent filters i can choose and SAVE, populated, low ping, empty, linux, dedicated, punkbuster ect.. Halflife didnt ship like that.. it
    • It's amazing how many times this game has been delayed. Vague promises of 2002, then summer 2003, then Xmas 2003, most recently mid-April 2004, and now summer 2004. It's so bad that HL2 was Wired magazine's #1 vaporware product of 2003 [wired.com].
      • I can only guess that the self-control needed to say "it will be released when it's done" comes with experience and an understanding marketing department.
      • It's amazing how many times this game has been delayed.

        You're talking about HL2, right? This game was not even confirmed to be in existance until E3 of last year. There might have been rumours that it was being developed, but never anything from Valve until E3, when they released the gameplay videos that were simply amazing. (and took away a lot of D3's thunder)

        Team Fortress 2 (or Half-life Fortress as it was called in 98) is the game that should be vaporware...
  • what they couldnt find it on an irc bot ?
    :-P

  • the waiting game (Score:5, Funny)

    by ysagal ( 746467 ) on Tuesday February 03, 2004 @02:50PM (#8172717)
    Don't they realize how difficult it is to get two weeks off from work starting on an unspecified date sometime in the "summer"?
  • After seeing how they handle Steam*, I can see one of two conclusions:

    1. They're so busy on HL2 that they can't invest the manpower and energy into keeping existing stuff running well and smoothly. Hence, the Steam problems.

    2. They are soaking up the publicity, continual cash-flow and living too easy. They will delay HL2 until it's no longer worth putting out in its current form. See TFC2.

    * Steam is their content-distribution system that forces updates to those who wish to use multiplayer functionality (
    • I disagree.

      1. They're so busy on HL2 that they can't invest the manpower and energy into keeping existing stuff running well and smoothly. Hence, the Steam problems.

      I don't the Steam problems are cause by lack of manpower as much as horrible management.
      You just do not slightly improve on a beta version each time, then code a large set of new features and release it without proper testing.
      That is what happened with the Steam release, a total failure.

      Although currently Steam is more or less back into 'be
  • Well, it is down here anyway.

    Why does everyone assume we all live in the northen hemisphere?
  • Valve does not plan to reveal any additional information until the time surrounding the E3 trade show

    Well sure... but they didn't "plan" to reveal the beta source code either. But I wish them luck! (seriously)

  • Well...yeah... (Score:2, Informative)

    by Epyn ( 589398 )
    Yeah, I was really impressed with the videos from the previous e3, and even though its been more than a long time they really don't need to rush it. Especially since the single player story mode will be the meat of it. If it was another deathmatch fps I'd expect them to push it out and patch it and such, but when it gets released, I want to play it straight through, completed. So, I think it's unfair to expect them to be expected to get it done ahead of when they think it should be done. I also have to
  • Prediction showing the irony of the Half-Life 2 project cycle.

    This [triumf.ca] graph shows the number of lines of code left in development for half-life 2 and gives you an indication of how long it will until it is actually release...

  • Delay reasons... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Pyrosz ( 469177 ) <amurray@@@stage11...ca> on Tuesday February 03, 2004 @03:01PM (#8172857) Homepage
    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.

    • Re:Delay reasons... (Score:3, Interesting)

      by pmancini ( 20121 )
      I totally agree... this stinks of hoax. I didn't believe them at all when I heard about the introduction of keyloggers on their system. I mean honestly, they don't have norton or mcafee installed on their systems? Right! And no one has been caught after a "thorough investigation?"

      But, hey, this is just speculation. For all I know they did leave their network wide open and they did have a hacker and the release of code wasn't a nice teaser for the final game.

      Hopefully they won't now have a FIRE and ha

  • Steam (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Danathar ( 267989 ) on Tuesday February 03, 2004 @03:08PM (#8172954) Journal
    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.
  • will I be able to buy this bundled with Duke Nukem forever on Amazon? Also are we talking summer 2005 or 06?
  • A friend of mine sent me this snippet today:

    CGN: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. has been getting a lot of buzz due to its excellent graphics. What should users with lower-end computers expect from the play of this game? What are the system requirements?

    Oleg: Here are the specs for comfortable gaming: P IV-1.4 Ghz / Athlon, 256 Mb RAM, GeForce 4 (or any other card of the same level). The PC hardware market dictates its rules and sets new limits for the games - the slower your computer and the older you video card is
    • "GeForce FX will provide dynamic light sources and soft dynamic shadows cast from anything onto anything and bump-mapping on all surfaces which at least exceeds the Doom 3 technology.

      That sounds scarier than Doom 3 itself."

      That sounds like Doom3 itself!

      Really, what is 'exceeding' Doom 3 technology there?

      Not that pretty graphics matter that much when the game isn't good.
  • The original HL is incredible work--nobody will deny that. The net play was nothing short of impressive across the board and it only got more enjoyable as follow-on additions came out.

    So, like any sequel, it's to be determined if they're riding on the value earned by the original half-life name. This, to me, raises the repeated issue of the nature of first-person gaming improvements. For me (and prolly for most ppl here), the fun of HL1 was in plot solo-play elements, well-done net play, and a decent
    • Hmm, I do think graphical innovations DO usually improve the immersion, and the effect a game has on you.

      That said I do think HL2 will provide a solid single player campaign.
      HL2 might not be that much of an improvement over HL1 .. but that doesn't mean it won't be alot of fun to play :)

      The engine has some nice improvements, for example:
      A. Much better AI
      B. Much, much more realistic physics (thanks Havoc)
      C. It's pretty
      D. Larger maps, making large outdoor areas possible.
      E. Better mod support / SDK

      All in all

  • Real reason for delay: Not Content Complete (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Torgo's Pizza ( 547926 ) on Tuesday February 03, 2004 @03:27PM (#8173172) Homepage Journal
    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.

  • Arkane Studios (Score:2, Insightful)

    by easychord ( 671421 )
    I'm actually more excited to hear that the Arx Fatalis guys are using the source engine than Troika or even Valve.

    I'm not a big fan of fps games, and Troika have really failed to deliver with their other games in my opinion. They can only trade under the grace of having worked on Fallout for so long.

    Arx Fatalis was a diamond in the rough though. A trip into a atmospheric gameworld with some oldskool crpg details that developers seem to forget about these days. I'd like to see what they could do with more
  • Perhaps we should put this on the list under "Duke Nukem Forever"?

    I upgraded my existing machine with a GF FX5950 - mostly so I could play with this game. But with the leaked art of Quake IV and the impending release (eventually) of Doom III and HL2, I'm already saving to build a machine just for gaming. Quad Raptors in Raid-0 with a motherboard full of ram, at 26 years old - this is likely to be the last time I can justify dropping a few grand on building a machine. I play games less and less now, due
  • Mars [asu.edu].

    Make/post your own caption because I can't think of one to be funny.
  • 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
    And in a stunning turn of events, their neccessary changes to the source code are already completed!

  • Optimist or Sucker, you decide... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Kgreene ( 606578 ) on Tuesday February 03, 2004 @04:26PM (#8173876)
    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 (Score:3, Interesting)

    by superpulpsicle ( 533373 ) on Tuesday February 03, 2004 @04:34PM (#8173987)
    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! (Score:3, Informative)

    by unsigned integer ( 721338 ) on Tuesday February 03, 2004 @07:31PM (#8175709)
    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.

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