Half-Life 2 Going Gold Monday

[Bruenor]

According to Gabe himself

http://www.hl2fallout.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=4221

Well, that should turn Chylde into the 30 year old equivalent of a giggling schoolgirl :p:

[Rafal Dudek]

w000t

[OldsterHolster]

Good timing! Oh boy! Edward.

[Rafal Dudek]

this is very funny, I"m gonna go get a bucket of popcorn and watch these events. apparently this thing is fake and the believers are fighting with everything they got saying the fake is a fake......

Pretty much we'll have to wait till Monday to really know.

[O'C]

I guess this means I should consider getting Doom 3 soon. I can't seem to play more than one game at a time. :p:

[DanTheManPR]

If it hasn't gone gold yet, howcome steam users can pre-load it already?

[Rafal Dudek]

LOL the whole thing was a fake. Apparently someone haxorzed Gabes account on the forums and made that post. Then they made another post calling Gabe a n00b for using an easy password.


So the next step is the guy who made that post will get pwn3d by Gabe and Valve

[Bruenor]

Apparently someone haxorzed Gabes account on the forums and made that post. Then they made another post calling Gabe a n00b for using an easy password.


I know I shouldn't but I'm actually starting to feel sorry for Gabe/Valve. Security seems to be a huge problem for them. Say wasn't Gabe an ex-Microsoft employee? :p:

Sorry GenX, I'm only human...

[Torsion]

Damn, I had high hopes. The game shouldn't be far off now though.

[Cronus]

I bet his password was either "Gabe" or "half-life 2"...

It will never come out! It will be like Duke Nukem Forever and never be released.

[Rob]

From Gamespot:

[UPDATE]:[UPDATE]: Gamers who went to bed Friday night with visions of crowbars dancing in their heads awoke to a rude surprise Saturday morning when Half-Life 2 Fallout posted the following news bit:

"After a close scrutiny of Gabe Newell's account history on the forums, we've come to the conclusion that the gold post is a fake... After one crazy night of theories, server mayhem and IP tracing, we've finally gotten to the bottom of this mess. In a twist of hilarity, it seems that Gabe Newell's account password was set to 'gaben'. Person x guessed this and made the "going gold on Monday" post which we've heard so much about. The user (who we believe is the same person x) then made this post just minutes ago using Gabe's account:

Maybe he shouldn't have used 'gaben' for his password. Come on Gabe, you could of [sic] thought of something better than that

After a quick double-check, it seems that this was exactly what happened."

Sorry, at this point, I have no sympathy for Valve or Gabe. All I have to say is that this game better knock the socks off of everyone or I see a lot of trouble for Gabe and co.

[Rafal Dudek]

All I have to say is that this game better knock the socks off of everyone or I see a lot of trouble for Gabe and co.

Why? They dont owe anybody anything. Its a persons choice whether they like the game or not.

I'm pretty sure the game will be awesome, its just me thinks people expect this game to be the 2nd comming of Jesus or something.

[Rob]

When you basically have one product to rely on and the anticipation for said product is huge, then disapointing the customer can have a huge effect on revenue. This isn't EA we are talking about who has the money and enough games cominng out that they can write off a few turd games here and there. Besides, isn't Valve owned by another company... who pays Valve's paycheck. This would not be the first time a company would die after releasing a horrible follow up. I am not a fan of FPS and therefore do not care too much about Half Life 2 except for their engine.

its just me thinks people expect this game to be the 2nd comming of Jesus or something. Again, I personally do not care, but when so many people have that high of expectations the further they can crash. Just talking economics.

Besides, this is starting to feel as bad as Duke Nukum Forever. The mistakes thie professional company are making are mind boggleing. Seriously, if something so valuable as the game was hacked, compiled and leaked in turn forcing countless more dollars in rewriting tons of code and delaying the game wouldn't you think a few more security measures would be put in place. Sure, this time it was more a prank then anything, but it does make you shake your head and laugh.

Like I said, I have no sympathy for Valve anymore.

[Gaim Mastr]

Why? They dont owe anybody anything.

That's not necessarily true. Do they owe the gamers anything in a legal sense? No. But there may be a little moral and ethical oweage.

The whole putting it off for at least a year shortly before it was supposed to be released wasn't a good PR move.

And let's not forget about those gamers who'd specifically purchased Radeon 9800 Pro cards sooner than they otherwise would have, because of the HL2 coupon inside? One can only guess how many of those coupons have been accidently lost or misplaced between the time that they were received and when the game actually does hit the shelves.

Also, in the over one year that gamers have been teased with how great HL2 is going to be, the suits (and Gabe) haven't done anything to squash those ultra-high expectations. Make no mistake, they've been aware of the hype and expectations surrounding HL2 for a long time now. At any point in time they could have said something like...

"We're just doing our best to make a great game with good graphics, good sound and excellent gameplay. We're not out to revolutionize the gaming industry with this one."

Now, don't get me wrong. I know that a lot of hype over a game before it's released is usually a good thing, in a marketing sense. And I know that if anyone gets themselves too excited about a game that they've never even seen before, then it's entirely their own fault.

But in regards to the whole gamer community out there, yes, I do think that we're owed one of two things. Either HL2 is the superb game that Gabe knows it has been and is being hyped as. Or, some kind of an official statement like the fictitious one I'd made above.

Let's not forget what happened when the hype ran unchecked regarding the Deus Ex sequel, even though ION Storm and Edios knew that they weren't putting out an A+ game. A good game, yes. But not quite what many gamers and fans of the series were hoping for.

[Tavo]

Imagine if multiplayer is as secure as Valve's security? That would give us a really horrible game.

[Rafal Dudek]

Imagine if multiplayer is as secure as Valve's security?

Counter-Strike was a hackers heaven. Also this doesnt apply to Valve only. Lets look at Blizzard... Diablo, diablo 2, warcraft 3 all of them were hackers heaven games as well. I believe this always happens when games get too big for their own good.

The whole putting it off for at least a year shortly before it was supposed to be released wasn't a good PR move.

Its true, Gabe could of said the release was a year after the specified Sept. 30th release. Maybe Gabe miscalculated the workload of the project. They themselves said that it took them like 2 years or something just working on the game engine and they began level design early in the year of the game's official announcement. Eventually even Gabe himself realized this and kept his mouth shut for the time and if he says anything nowadays its just a brief message.

But in regards to the whole gamer community out there, yes, I do think that we're owed one of two things. Either HL2 is the superb game that Gabe knows it has been and is being hyped as. Or, some kind of an official statement like the fictitious one I'd made above.

I still dont think so. All they did was demonstrate the game to us during the E3's, its all our fault we took this to heart, so I dont go pretending like they need to owe me anything. :(:

This isn't EA we are talking about who has the money and enough games cominng out that they can write off a few turd games here and there. Besides, isn't Valve owned by another company... who pays Valve's paycheck.

No they arent as large as EA... BUT... if you read any interviews back in 2003, they said they had enough revenue to finish HL2 and do work on HL3 because of the amount of sales Half-Life and its mods/expansions did. They milked the series just as much as The Sims hehe =]

Besides, this is starting to feel as bad as Duke Nukum Forever.

Far from it. Problem with Duke Nukem Forever was a one news hit wonder. So here it was and then nothing... except for a few statements like "it will be done when its done now shutup" from the main guy. I remembering he gave the publisher the finger a whiile ago hehe =P

With Half-Life at least we're always being informed of things with new videos, and now with Counter-Strike: Source and HL2 Preload via Steam. So the progress MUST be made somewhere.

[Chylde Roland]

well, I did giggle like a little schoolgirl at first, then I cried. Now, I'm just back to waiting. :):

[Gaim Mastr]

I agree Zedd, they don't owe you anything, pretending or not. Just as they don't owe me or anyone else anything. But I'll reiterate that I feel that Valve owes the general gaming community (all us customers combined). The reasons why, what would they owe, and how do they owe it? See my previous post.

[Rafal Dudek]

Half Life 2... ITS DONE!

Well, according to the aussie pc powerplay:
http://www.halflife2.net/forums/showthread.php?t=35163

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v461/sid24/2004-08-30001.jpg


I know we have a few aussie lurkers in here, anyone got the PC Powerplay issue with this ad?

Also about the date on the picture, its the newstand release date of the magazine.


EDIT: Another scan of same ad:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v108/Chode/hl2done.jpg

this one seems more real then last one.

[RangerRick]

I saw an ad at Circuit city of a tentative release date of 11/04/04 in Sunday's paper.

[Chylde Roland]

EB Games is showing a tentative of Nov. 01. Futureshop is still showing Sept. 01, but I'm pretty sure we can all agree that won't be happening...

[Rattlesnake8]

Zedd, why did you post that??????????

Ive been waiting for almost 2 weeks for my issue of PC Powerplay to arrive.. like all the other subscribers.. (been talking about it on the PC PowerPlay forums.

It's almost 2 weeks late!
arrgh.
I was getting the ***** before, now i know theres this, and i could have found out like 2 weeks ago.. bloody hell.
Still, i wont hold my breathe, i'll believe HL2 is out when i see it in stores and buy it.

[Rafal Dudek]

3rd Pre-load is out, http://www.steampowered.com/index.php?area=news

The third phase of the Half-Life 2 preload begins to Steam account holders today.

This will allow users to download the majority of the models of Half-Life 2 in encrypted form. No purchase is required to pre-load Half-Life 2, but is required to activate the game. The moment the game is made available, those who have pre-loaded and purchased Half-Life 2 via Steam will be ready to start playing right away.

[Rattlesnake8]

Unless part of it is corrupt and there are many reasons that can make it go wrong. So those that pay for it are paying for a game they don't know will even work. Each to their own.. i wouldn't be bothering with this preload crap. The game hasn't even gone gold. It has to be sent in for a check, if the game is refused then changes have to be made. If the game is accepted then it'll go gold.

[Winkks]

Hi all! Been a long time since I've been here. I joined you guys way back when every one scattered from the old game-spot. I found ya'll from a link I had saved of your former forum.
Anyway........
About the statement of Valve owing/not owing the public.
I think a manipulation of the gaming public is what has happened.

They don't owe us a thing, per-say, but what is due us is information that we can rely on.

They have preyed upon our anticipation of their product, (marketing tactic). That action will either make them or break them.

One thing's for sure, a trust has been broken. If their product turns out to be less than what's expected, they are doomed. It's the gamer/buyer that makes the industry successful.

"Oh what a tangled web we weave, if first we practice to deceive."

Some how I see the Valve crew tangled in their own web, to capture the prey they have spent so long to lure... to the nested gooey gore.
They're hands are roped and can not reach to scratch the crabs designed to forage.

:wink: -Winkks

[SupaTroopa]

hehe, hi Winkks, glad you found us!

personally, I can't stand Valve, their ego, or their ridiculous marketing tactics.

My enthusiasm for HL2 has dropped significantly over the months since last year this time and it's been so long since they first announced a release date that I have just grown tired of their games (no pun intended).

When Hl2 comes out, great, I'll buy it, but right now I have quite a few other games to get to, mostly on my Xbox (Fable, Burnout 3, finishing Deus Ex2 and Thief III). Then there's my 2nd time through Doom 3 and my addiction to Anarchy Online to contend with.

So, whatever HL2, hopefully it doesn't come out til December or November when I have some time again.

[Rafal Dudek]

there is a rumor going that Valve is sending RC today to Vivendi. Someone mentioned this somewhere in an interview about this.

[Gaim Mastr]

Glad you got the registration problem worked out, Winkks !!

When I saw the email I was wondering if you were the same person from the old PCGO days. Pretty uniquie screen name. :wink:

If Valve & Vivendi handle their Release Candidates anything like vBulletin (this forum software), then you can just about measure the time between RC1 and finally going Gold in years. :lol:


I'm pretty much with ST on this one. I definitely have enough unplayed games to last me through the rest of this year. I won't say that I'm definitely going to pick up HL2. Perhaps primarily due to my lack of interest in the original HL. I'll wait about a month or so after the game is released and read the consumer reviews once their uphoria of the new game has worn off and they're more objective.

This whole fiasco doesn't have me bitter towards the HL2 game. But it has soured me on the manner in which Valve and Vivendi treat/regard the gaming community.

[Winkks]

Hi Gaim Mastr, SoopaToopa and everyone! After I sent my registration complaint, I checked my yahoo mail again, then I noticed the usual 877 messages in my bulk folder, hehehe, there she was!!! Sorry for the bother.

I'm excited about Half-Life 2, no matter when it comes out; the thing with me is, (use to) when I saw a release date I would run tell hubby with excitement just to be disappointed after that date. It got to when ever I said anything about it, he'd say "I'll believe it's out when it's on the shelf", hehehe, and that's the end of that.
I feel the same way but I find myself clicking any link in a forum that has the word Half-Life 2 in the topic title, (I do that with every game of interest though). That's when I read this thread (after I found ya'll!) and couldn't resist a reply.

I was very disappointed in Deus Ex 2, after finishing it I installed the original just to get back to the good old days when things were kewl, like Jocs apartment. I always cleaned out his fridge, swiped a few things, and bounce the basketball on the walls. I love his apartment! And the bots were so bad/good-bad. They scared me to death when I first played, hehehe, I was askeered to move. Took me forever to complete it that first time.

Thief 3 was pretty good too, but the bots were a disappointment.


Oh, and yea.....I'm the Winkks from the old PCGO days! I couldn't remember the name of that forum but that's it!


-Winkks
:sleep: Good grief I've got a bad connection. Took forever to load this page!!!

[Gaim Mastr]

:sleep: Good grief I've got a bad connection. Took forever to load this page!!!


linky (http://forums.gamers.org/showthread.php?t=2349)

[Mr. Natural]

Good to see you back Winkks. :shades:

[Winkks]

Thanks Mr. Natural! I recognize your sig! :thumbup:

Gaim Mastr, I added rightmedia.net to my block list, and also, my floppy disk light came on for an instant.
Thanks for the feedback.

I have a little more time this morning, so I'll look around and read some posts.

-Winkks

[Rafal Dudek]

http://www.hl2fallout.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=6610&st=0&#entry121781

It appears the RC was sent to VU yesterday according to Gabe. This time they had lots of confirmation that it was really him heh =]

This means if VU approves it, we could see the game soonish =]

Nice to hear of progress :):

Also Winkks... guess who I am? =P

[Winkks]

[url]
Also Winkks... guess who I am? =P

Now dadgumit! :wtf: I think I know who you are? I can't remember your name though. You're a real funny/creative person if it's who I think it is. You use to post at TweakXP right?

:crazy: It's right on the tip of my mind..... every time it's almost there, it disappears!!! I give up!

-Winkks

[Rafal Dudek]

You use to post at TweakXP right?

ehh no,

back on GS forums I used to use my real name which first name started with R. and last name with a D. But hey, you got the other stuff right =P

[Mara]

Hi Winkks!

I thought your name was familiar. I clicked on your name and found this thread. It's always great when old members find us. I'm glad you've rejoined the fold! :):

[SupaTroopa]

DX2 is okay, but yeah nothing special and it doesn't even feel like a sequel to the first game at all. I'm actually playing it on the Xbox and bought it used a while back. Thief III I'm not in hurry to finish, and haven't played it in a while...good game but it's got it's problems also, might've been more exciting 1-2 years ago.

I liked HL well enough (the sP game) and am definitely looking forward to HL2, but no more than I did Doom 3, which is fun but also nothing I'm too head over heels about...if you like/love PC games and have played 'em a long time then you just have to buy games like HL2 and D3 I guess. :)

[Winkks]

Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander; hmmm, R.D., that just doesn't ring a bell. Been so long ago though.

Hi Mara! I remember you, and your avatar was so cute! Thanks for the welcome, from all of ya'll!!

SupaTroopa; I've played the original Deus Ex so many times, I could play it with my eyes closed, it's so fun!
One of my favorite things said in that game is when JC was talking to a girl in a bar and she asked him for some chits, whining about having no money, he told her had she tried getting a job, hehehe, I almost fell over when I heard him say that.

Half-Life, same thing. When hubby first played the game, he was in a hall trying to line up some boxes to jump on to reach the air vent above. Barney, the cop, would not get out of his way, hubby was cussing like crazy all the while, shoving and pushing at him. Then hubby got so mad at him he hit him. Barney said he had about enough of that and shot and killed hubby. We both laughed so hard, hehehe.

-Winkks

[Rafal Dudek]

w000 some breaking news:
http://community.vugames.com/WebX?13@225.K8HrdEQxNN9.0@.efda917

VU confirms RC candidate. For 72 hours, VU will be testing it to see any serious show-stopping bugs. If none found it could be sent to replication and declared gold. For VU, the average amount of RC's sent is 4. So for HL, we could probably see several of those which means the release date could be around November.

Another thing, the Steam version should be released to coincide with the retail version shipping.

[Rafal Dudek]

back to thread:

http://www.steampowered.com/index.php?area=news

Half-Life 2 Pre-Loading Phase 4
September 27, 2004, 6:12 pm · valve
The fourth phase of the Half-Life 2 preload begins to Steam account holders today.

This will allow users to download the majority of Counter-Strike: Source in encrypted form. No purchase is required to pre-load Half-Life 2, but is required to activate the game. The moment the game is made available, those who have pre-loaded and purchased the game via Steam will be ready to start playing.


me thinks the game is comming soon.

[Fzoulcmbyl]

More news from Filefront:

HomeLan got word that the first print review of Half-Life 2 will be in the December issue of PC Gamer (which, should be out sometime next month, stupid magazines and their weird release dates). Also, Halflife2.net has the schedule for the first three European reviews which will also be out in October. Looks like they're about done over there, then. Bring on Vampire!


Fzoul

[Nova]

Bring on Vampire!

Yes, yes!

[Drewby]

If it hasn't gone gold yet, howcome steam users can pre-load it already?

Preload has been going on for weeks. Last I heard, they have 4 preload packages. This only includes "set is stone" things such as textures, etc. There is not enough information contained in the preload to run the game, it is simply there so that when the game comes out, the Steam users will have a smaller download thus alleviating the servers of some stress.