Half-life 2 release date!

[Freak]

according to the June 2003 issue of PC Gamer, Half-life 2 will ship on sept. 30th!!!

I'm looking for a link to the story, and will post when I find a good one.

Am I the only one starting to drool?

[JBMoney]

http://bushwhacked.net/bits/OMG.jpg

SWEET!!!

[Freak]

A link from CNN no less!

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - When it was released in November 1998, "Half-Life" redefined the action gaming genre by combining fast-paced action and an intelligent, intense story. Players quickly began clamoring for a sequel, but developer Valve Software responded with silence. Five years later, the call for that sequel is as loud as ever. (http://money.cnn.com/2003/04/23/commentary/game_over/column_gaming/index.htm)

Later this year, it will finally be answered.

"Half-Life 2" is scheduled to hit store shelves Sept. 30. Developed once again by Valve and published again by Vivendi's (V: Research, Estimates) Sierra games division, the game will put players back in the familiar shoes of crowbar wielding hero Gordon Freeman, battling aliens from the planet Xen.

For those of you scratching your head and wondering what the big deal is over a video game sequel, here are a few numbers to take into consideration. Since its 1998 launch, "Half-Life" and its various add-on packs (including mods such as "Counter-Strike" � see below for more on those) have sold more than 8 million copies worldwide, according to Valve. With zero fanfare, "Half Life 2" has tied (and possibly surpassed) "Doom III" as the most anticipated PC action game of the year � and could help spark a revival of the PC gaming industry.

The game will make its public debut next month at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), the trade show of the gaming industry, at the booth of graphic chip developer ATI. A non-interactive theater will show gameplay (much like id Software and Activision (ATVI: Research, Estimates) debuted "Doom III" last year).

"You are once again Gordon Freeman," described Gabe Newell, managing director and co-founder of Valve. "You are awakened in the future. Several of the characters from [the original game] are back, including Barney the security guard, the G-Man, about whom you learn more and in whose employ you now are, and several of the scientists. There are new characters as well, most prominently Alyx, whose mother was killed during the events of the original game. The story is once again conveyed entirely within the course of playing the game."

The game will also have multiplayer features, but Valve is holding those details back until it gets closer to shipping the game.

PC games have seen sales decline over the last few years, as consoles stole the spotlight. 2003 might rectify that with "Half-Life 2," "Doom III" and other, unannounced titles that will be unveiled at E3 next month.

"Holiday of 03 is going to be a really big year for the PC," said P. J. McNealy, research director at GartnerG2.

It's not just high-profile games that are behind that surge. The industry is nearing the apex of the console cycle and will soon start to see declines there. Typically, that's when PC titles pick up steam. PC hardware is now considerably faster than consoles � and the graphics capabilities of computers are noticeably superior.

As a result, said McNealy, "they need more intensive games � bigger, badder, faster. ... So far, there have been very few games that have challenged the latest PC builds. Graphically, there have been no challenges. We expect that to change this year."

The appeal of "Half-Life" goes beyond the game itself, though. Like many other action titles, "Half-Life" offered its basic programming code to whoever wanted it. Avid gamers use this code to make modifications � or "mods" � to the game, usually resulting in freely downloaded new levels or characters.

"Half-Life" fans, though, used the code to make entirely new games � called Total Conversions � which are freely distributed over the Internet. "Counter-Strike", the most popular of these, currently boasts over 1.7 million players per month, dedicating more than 2.4 billion minutes per month to the game, according to an October 2002 Business 2.0 story. Other total conversions, such as "Team Fortress Classic" and "Day of Defeat" are also exceedingly popular.

In order to play these conversions, though, gamers have to own the original "Half-Life", which keeps the money flowing in to Valve and Sierra. And Valve has bought the rights to the three conversions mentioned above. You can still download them for free, but Valve also sells shrink-wrapped copies at retail (or is working on retail versions), which have boasted remarkable sales figures. In fact, until last year, games in the "Half-Life" family had seen sales increase each year. Most game titles fade into obscurity within six months of their release.

With "Half-Life 2", Valve will once again offer the source code to modders.

"We've learned a lot from our experiences with the mod community and with Counter-Strike and Day of Defeat," said Newell. "Half-Life 2 will be a much better platform for mod authors than Half-Life 1."

One of Half-Life's most popular mods was "Team Fortress Classic". Valve was so impressed with the game, it bought the rights and began working on "Team Fortress 2". But there haven't been any updates on the game since 1999.

There still aren't. But Newell did say "After we finish the announcement process for Half-Life 2, we will provide an update on Team Fortress 2."

The expectations among gamers for "Half-Life 2" are incredibly high � which might explain why Valve has kept its corporate mouth shut � even though it has been working on the game since it shipped the first "Half-Life" in 1998. If there's one lesson other developers have learned the hard way, it's that too much hype can crush a game before it even launches. Top of page

Morris is Director of Content Development for CNN/Money

[Freak]

check this out, it looks like a cool time waster. It will be out soon, prior to Halflife 2.

http://www.halflife2d.com

[gopsdragon]

WOOHOO!!!!

[gopsdragon]

Theft of code source delays introduction of new Vivendi computer game
Tue Oct 7,10:51 AM ET

PARIS (AFP) - Vivendi Universal Games, a subsidiary of French media group Vivendi Universal, said it would be unable to launch its new computer game Half Life 2 in time for the end-of-the-year holidays following the theft of part of its code source.

"Vivendi Universal Games is only the distributor of the product, which is produced by the US studio Valve and so it will up to them to make an announcement," the head of Vivendi Universal Games International Christophe Ramboz told AFP.

"But it is true that the launch has been delayed by a theft of a part of the game."

He added however that it will be impossible for those who committed the theft to take advantage of it since they now possess only a third of the code.

The launch of Half Life 2, planned for this year, is now expected to boost sales next year, Ramboz said.

The French newspaper Les Echos, which revealed the incident, said a computer hacker had been able to break into the messaging system of Valve founder Gabe Newell to introduce software enabling the theft.

The launch delay is a blow to Vivendi Universal Games, which had been counting on Half Life 2 to compensate for the failure of another game, Hulk, in the first half of the year. The company had been banking on Half Life 2 to galvanize sales in the United States following a first half operating loss of 52 million euros (61 million dollars).

[JBMoney]

http://www.hl2fallout.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=2369&st=150

[JBMoney]

Go time.

Don't even have to go to the store:
http://www.steampowered.com/

[Freak]

:cool: my mother in law reserved this for me, now I just have to wait untill thanksgiving to pick it up from her. :sure:

They were only 412 days off or so.

[Wham Valdez]

A guy I work with bought a hard copy and got his box, his 5 cds, his advertising but no cd key. I've never heard of that happening before.

[JBMoney]

Gops and I just went through the whole install process... what a clusterfuck! Don't think you're done after those 5 CDs. You have to register for the Steam 'service', providing email and cd key. THEN you have to download more crap and 'activate' your files. I'm on a T1 and it took probably 15 minutes. As far as I can tell, you can't play without having Steam on. I have yet to figure out how to have a simple LAN game. I believe everything is now forced to take place beyond your own personal network, but I need more time to figure it all out.

I have a feeling we'll be sticking to the old HL for LAN games.

[gopsdragon]

Gops and I just went through the whole install process... what a clusterfuck! Don't think you're done after those 5 CDs. You have to register for the Steam 'service', providing email and cd key. THEN you have to download more crap and 'activate' your files. I'm on a T1 and it took probably 15 minutes. As far as I can tell, you can't play without having Steam on. I have yet to figure out how to have a simple LAN game. I believe everything is now forced to take place beyond your own personal network, but I need more time to figure it all out.

I have a feeling we'll be sticking to the old HL for LAN games.

JB$ is being nice. It took over half an hour on the T1 according to the clock.

[Freak]

It's the server overloads. My friend got his done fairly quick, we were done within 10 minutes with a cable modem. Sure looks good from what I saw of it though.

I am not one for "collectors editions" but the one my mother in law got is on one DVD (I called to ask her. heh), which is a plus.