Beta "a few weeks away"- Lombardi at E3

[Apos]

Why is it I always shudder when I hear that half-life 2 isnt even in the 'beta' stage of the game yet? It seems to me 99% of games, when they finally hit the 'beta' stage, they are still a year or more off from release. Beta to me after so many years watching games and mmorpg and stuff, means "long ways off still"

That has little to do with the development of these sorts of games. MMORPGs need really long betas because the major problem they face cannot be tested in house: you need to test your ability to have thousands of real users actually playing the game and running all over the world potentially breaking stuff.

FPS games, on the other hand, tend to be a lot more linear and require only a couple of simultaneous users even to test the MP. Their beta stages usually take a little less than a month, though that can vary widely because you never know when a big bug is going to crop up (by their nature, bugs are unplanned and unpredictable) or what it will take to fix it.

 

[Raziaar]

FOR SALE: 1GB of registered Corsair 400Mhz memory, 290$ or best offer, perfect for the AMD Athlon 64FX, PM me for details

Dude, I had a pair of 512mb corsair 400mhz ddr 3200 memory and one of em died on me! ARGh. Its been sitting on my shelf for ages now collecting dust cause I am too dumb to return it for warranty.

 

[EVIL]

Hmm so they didn’t made it to beta stage when E³ was being held.

This was the original plan according to Doug, that when they made beta @ E³ time, they would calculate a release date and announce it @ E³ and that release date would have been an early summer release, of not then it could stretch to mid summer. So expect july/august

 

[Mr Neutron]

Beta time vs. alpha time. This all depends on what kind of perfectionists Valve are. What kind of bugs will stop them from release? It sounds like all the tech has been in place for about two years and only tweaked since then (netcode aside). So presumably, most bugs should result from improperly implemented game content or from the game content exposing flaws in the tech. I'm guessing mostly the former. In the latter case though, what does Valve do? Redesign the content or the tech?

 

[Apos]

Dude, I had a pair of 512mb corsair 400mhz ddr 3200 memory and one of em died on me! ARGh. Its been sitting on my shelf for ages now collecting dust cause I am too dumb to return it for warranty.

Ouch. My sob story is that I bought this memory thinking to kick my computer up a notch: and then realized that my mobo can't support it (it's self-error-correcting, which needs a special chip). So I'm sitting on this incredibly fast 1GB matched pair... that I can't use. I think I'll probably start an ebay auction.

 

[dream431ca]

So...I was right...In about a month...hmmmmmm.

that's cool.

 

[Mountain Man]

So to Valve, "beta" actually means "release candidate"? Cause when I hear "beta" I'm thinking "at least six months to go". For instance, the WarCraft III beta period lasted for three to four months and it was at least another month after that before they declared the game "gold".

 

[enthused]

honestly, (i might not share the same opinion with others on this board) I dont care when it comes out, because as of now, Half-Life 2 cant run on my computer. However, in a few months I will be getting a brand new computer for college, my own computer, and you can be damn sure that i will do everything in my power to make that computer run this game....not game...this art.

 

[Asus]

me thinks it's late july, right after the X800 XT is release...

I'm sticking with July 20th as my guess.

 

[Mr. Redundant]

Im thinking July-August 15th, Im hoping for earlier though, and Im praying its not September.

 

[bate18]

honestly, (i might not share the same opinion with others on this board) I dont care when it comes out, because as of now, Half-Life 2 cant run on my computer. However, in a few months I will be getting a brand new computer for college, my own computer, and you can be damn sure that i will do everything in my power to make that computer run this game....not game...this art.

im kinda in the same boat. i need a new comp, but i dont want to buy one now. i want the price of parts to drop, so within the next few months the prices of things will go down, i buy a new comp to run hl2, hl2 comes out, im good to go :cheers:

 

[enthused]

im kinda in the same boat. i need a new comp, but i dont want to buy one now. i want the price of parts to drop, so within the next few months the prices of things will go down, i buy a new comp to run hl2, hl2 comes out, im good to go :cheers:

yeah. i have never had a computer that could run a game on all high settings. that is why i am making sure I can do that for HL2, the game of the century.

 

[Risiko]

I would not mind September 30th at all - it means that Valve has even more time to add stuff to Half Life 2 to make it the best it can be.

I know I'm in the minority position here though .

 

[jet jaguar]

Steam beta lasted like a year right? Anyways, it's hilarious that some people take Lombardi's word so quickly knowing his long storied history of failing miserably when it comes to predicting timetables or schedules. I'm personally hoping for a Sept 2004 release but I wouldn't be surprised at all if it slips because I'm just that kind of person.

 

[Apos]

So to Valve, "beta" actually means "release candidate"?

That's what beta means everywhere in FPS land. Beta is the stage when you are done making the game, and you are trying to polish it into something you can ship: i.e. you are done with all the content, and want to bug test it.

Cause when I hear "beta" I'm thinking "at least six months to go". For instance, the WarCraft III beta period lasted for three to four months and it was at least another month after that before they declared the game "gold".

Again, very different type of game.

 

[FISKER_Q]

In my opinion Doug Lombardi described the alpha version like it was beta, or maybe even RC state. So end-june to mid-july shouldn't be that much off.

Actually like 29th june would probably fit well, it's a tuesday. Else i was thinking the last Thursday in June which is 24th, which i don't think is plausible. Still cool if it was that date.

 

[Mountain Man]

Beta is the stage when you are done making the game, and you are trying to polish it into something you can ship...

So in other words, the beta is just a beta and not a release candidate at all, beta meaning, "The game is content complete but still in need of serious testing and bug swatting."

 

[dream431ca]

I say that HL2 will be out before mid july...yes I do. You know why?

Cause I'm optimistic!! :imu:

 

[Wolf]

How long do you think they'll leave HL2 pre-caching on Steam after going gold before retail? It makes sense that they'll want to attract people who can't wait to Steam because they get more money, however, there's no way they'll release it straight away given Steams past failures...

 

[Eejit]

In my opinion Doug Lombardi described the alpha version like it was beta, or maybe even RC state. So end-june to mid-july shouldn't be that much off.

Actually like 29th june would probably fit well, it's a tuesday. Else i was thinking the last Thursday in June which is 24th, which i don't think is plausible. Still cool if it was that date.

The 29th June would rock for me personally, given my last exam is on that day. :imu:

 

[riTuaL]

Regardless, I'm confident they'll release it by mid summer.

 

[FISKER_Q]

How long do you think they'll leave HL2 pre-caching on Steam after going gold before retail? It makes sense that they'll want to attract people who can't wait to Steam because they get more money, however, there's no way they'll release it straight away given Steams past failures...

It is going to be quite a download so at first it's probably only going to be for preorder persons, but then as it's clearing out they'll probably allow it.

 

[jabberwock95]

I think we're all pretty close with our release dates. The only problem I have is basing it on info from Doug "Pants on Fire" Lombardi.

j/k :cheese:

I'm still optimistic for an early release.

 

[Mountain Man]

I would be thrilled with a June/July release. I'm just building up a healthy wall of skepticism in order to avoid unecessary disappointment if a summer release doesn't happen.

 

[azz0r]

HL was delayed a year, seems Valves following there own trend.

 

[shapeshifter]

ah for the love of pete!

I figured they were already IN the beta phase....

There STILL in alpha then!, I highly doubt we will see half life 2 this summer then. (unless they have the worlds shortest beta phase, they usually take up quite a bit of time due to chanes/bugs, tweaking, polishing and whatever else pops up) :x

 

[ferd]

whats interests me more, is that some guy at valve said that they will be giving info about the MP possibilities of HL2

 

[RMachucaA]

Well, im in the software business and i can tell you theres no way a game can go from beta to box in less then 2-3 months, so i expect the EARLIEST we could see the game is late august\september or as many popular shops have it, November.

 

[Mechagodzilla]

Well, im in the software business and i can tell you theres no way a game can go from beta to box in less then 2-3 months, so i expect the EARLIEST we could see the game is late august\september or as many popular shops have it, November.

Of course, the entire term 'beta' is arbitrary. It means different things to each company. beta could mean 'done' for all we know.

 

[RMachucaA]

no. There is a developement cycle that is used worldwide, and Beta is pre-oob (out of box), this is when development and inclusion of features and such ends, and the real testing begins to fix the balance\bugs\continuity etc of the game. So no, beta is not "finished" lol.

 

[Shuzer]

no. There is a developement cycle that is used worldwide, and Beta is pre-oob (out of box), this is when development and inclusion of features and such ends, and the real testing begins to fix the balance\bugs\continuity etc of the game. So no, beta is not "finished" lol.

Let's see, VALVe went from Alpha to Beta in what, about 2 months (assuming they're in beta now)? March 15th alpha..

So yeah, I'm pretty sure the term differs from company to company, I know Ritual Entertainment had Condition Zero in alpha for MUCH longer, and beta for even longer..

 

[RMachucaA]

Alpha and beta times have nothing to do with eachother (how long each one takes im referring to)

 

[Shuzer]

Alpha and beta times have nothing to do with eachother (how long each one takes im referring to)

Considering the terms are supposedely "universal" to you, there should be a time for alpha to shift to beta, correct? :|
Point being, you really have no idea what a beta for VALVe means.. Lombardi already said that they hoped to be in beta before E3 (I know it didn't happen), and that the game should be done mid-Summer

 

[shapeshifter]

Let's see, VALVe went from Alpha to Beta in what, about 2 months (assuming they're in beta now)? March 15th alpha..

So yeah, I'm pretty sure the term differs from company to company, I know Ritual Entertainment had Condition Zero in alpha for MUCH longer, and beta for even longer..

yes and look how that turned out! :hmph:

 

[Shuzer]

yes and look how that turned out! :hmph:

Meh, no one will *EVER* get to play the finalized Ritual version of Condition Zero. VALVe used a much earlier build, for what reason I'm not sure, but I used to lurk in the Ritualistic forums where most of the developers posted.. they were pissed that VALVe scrapped their work, and decided to go with an earlier, less polished product

 

[RMachucaA]

Beta is a period of time when the software has finished its developement state and started the testing period.

Depending on how many problems\bugs they encounter it can take anywhere from 1 month to 6 months... depending on how solid\clean the code is. And since they rushed to re-code a lot of the game i wouldnt be surprised if it took 3 months.... but in the end who knows, maybe it'll be out in less then 2 months.

 

[shapeshifter]

Beta is a period of time when the software has finished its developement state and started the testing period.

Depending on how many problems\bugs they encounter it can take anywhere from 1 month to 6 months... depending on how solid\clean the code is. And since they rushed to re-code a lot of the game i wouldnt be surprised if it took 3 months.... but in the end who knows, maybe it'll be out in less then 2 months.

longer.

In most cases much longer, alot of games are in beta for almost a year.

 

[[[LuCkY]]]

2005. You'll see sept. 30th all over again.

 

[Shuzer]

2005. You'll see sept. 30th all over again.

Go away. Thanks

 

[Daiceman9]

Beta can be however long they want it to be, hell they could be in beta for another 5 years if they wanted to be, dont even try and assign time values for each state, there is no way to be even close to right.