Top Secret
Spy
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2003
- Messages
- 2,258
- Reaction score
- 0
All right, I'm going to try and analyse what has happened post Sept 30 up to the other day when Valve 'announced' a possible release date.
Last I remember being happy was the months before September, Valve (Doug) was telling magazines and websites that Half-Life 2 was right on track. Everything was going smooth as could be. September 30th is just days away.... and Valve hasn't announced that Half-Life 2 has gone gold. September 25th~, people start saying that Half-Life 2 is delayed. And then, on the big 30, nothing happens. The Half-Life 2 community paused and the 30th just rolled right by. What happened?
All right, here's the first 'point of conflict'. I believe most people are against Valve on this one... why didn't they say anything? A few weeks prior they were announcing everything was good to go, what happened? Here is my take.. many of you say Valve lied by saying everything was on track just a few weeks prior to the release, when it wasn't. To be honest, I can't prove to the community what Valve did, and did not know at this time. But, you can't just point the finger because it was delayed and blame them for not telling us in advance. (Or maybe you can..)
I've had quite a few people say that just before September 30th (literaly days), they were reading interviews in magazines from Valve (Newell and the gang) and how everything was going perfect. Just to point out, this was in magazines, which take a few weeks to process. That interview could have taken place in early-mid August.
All right, what's next on the line? 'A while' after Sept 30, Valve was still doing the occasional interview. Nothing vastly interesting or gripping, but at least saying that they were still alive at the Valve offices. This was also around the fabled "Holiday Release" date given. People were in an uproar at Valve. "Holiday Release?!?! What does that mean?!?" I have to admit, the date was a little 'general'. And we can never forget those funny Flash Movies about the delay. :E
And now, perhaps the spark that blew everything up.... the leak. I remember people posting pictures of the buggy openly on our very own half-life2.net forums. The mods letting it slide because OFCOURSE it coudn't be real. People posting it and getting replies like "Ohh, good job on the buggy model" and then one guy was telling how it was obviously fake because they were "Raven Shield Textures". I thought they were to (I mapped for a RVS mod and I thought I recognized the textures, after a quick double check, they didn't match) It had to be fake right?
When 'most' of us found out the delay was real. First thought: "Half-Life 2 is destroyed". I suspect most people here downloaded the beta. I didn't, but then again I can't prove that. Here's where stuff gets vey ugly, and the community starts to split between the "I hate Valve" and the "I love Valve" which, in my opinion, is worse then Half-life 2's delay itself. The first thing brought up about people with the beta is "This is all they had done, they had been lying to us for months" From what I understand, there is a date on the beta somewhere which is prior to E3, but not by much. Some say the hacker changed the date, and that it would have been very easy to do so. I don't think anyone can take anything solid from this if at all.
Here's one of the bigger issues: Were the events scripted or not? Now, it was pretty much confirmed from the community that most of it was scripted. Such as the scene where the combine soldier kicks in the door to chase Gordon. Also, from what I understand, people said that the AI's just kind of 'stand there' most of the time and, if this build is pre E3 build, it is possible the AI just was not implamented fully. Perhaps the barricade (sp?) scene truely wasn't scripted. I don't think you can take solid information from that either, though, people seem to have done just that.
Ofcourse, the Holidays are gone now, no Half-Life 2, and we've had the largest media blackout ever after the acknowledgment of Half-Life 2. People speculate March, April,.... July and EVEN September 30th of 2004. This is bad and great news at the same time. Same thing (Minus the Leak and split in the community :farmer: ) happened to the original Half-Life. It was delayed for ages. It may have lost some of its graphical appeal at the time, but it took it from a normal shooter.... to THE shooter.
Many people are pissed at Valve for being straight up silent. I don't blame them (I don't blame Valve). Look at what happened every time they ever tried to convey something to the community about Half-life 2. And like I've said, when a game get's delayed, it needs more work, but when Valve delays a game, suddenly they 'lied'. Maybe Half-Life 2 needed more work. Sure, it's possible that Valve could have told the community sooner, but we don't know that. And either way, it's delayed. Moving on to today....
What's this? An ACTUAL 'area of time' for Half-Life 2's release?! Straight from Valve?! This summer, Half-Life 2 'should' be here. Now, don't just think "Valve lied before, it's not going to be here". Statistically, most games get delayed at least once. A lot of you need to be more realistic about this stuff. (Remember Diablo 2? Hehe....) Valve has probably serveyed what has happened, what they've done, and want to take a while to go over and give Half-Life 2 that polish that Half-Life had. If this is the case, I hope we all enjoy Half-Life 2.
All right. Thank you for reading. Please post your own thoughts on the subject. I know some of you don't like Valve right now, that's fine. People can analyse and make their own conclusions. Post your thoughts people.
The first thing I'm going to think when I load up Half-Life 2 for the first time (Hopefully) is "It was worth it."
Have a nice day. :thumbs:
Last I remember being happy was the months before September, Valve (Doug) was telling magazines and websites that Half-Life 2 was right on track. Everything was going smooth as could be. September 30th is just days away.... and Valve hasn't announced that Half-Life 2 has gone gold. September 25th~, people start saying that Half-Life 2 is delayed. And then, on the big 30, nothing happens. The Half-Life 2 community paused and the 30th just rolled right by. What happened?
All right, here's the first 'point of conflict'. I believe most people are against Valve on this one... why didn't they say anything? A few weeks prior they were announcing everything was good to go, what happened? Here is my take.. many of you say Valve lied by saying everything was on track just a few weeks prior to the release, when it wasn't. To be honest, I can't prove to the community what Valve did, and did not know at this time. But, you can't just point the finger because it was delayed and blame them for not telling us in advance. (Or maybe you can..)
I've had quite a few people say that just before September 30th (literaly days), they were reading interviews in magazines from Valve (Newell and the gang) and how everything was going perfect. Just to point out, this was in magazines, which take a few weeks to process. That interview could have taken place in early-mid August.
All right, what's next on the line? 'A while' after Sept 30, Valve was still doing the occasional interview. Nothing vastly interesting or gripping, but at least saying that they were still alive at the Valve offices. This was also around the fabled "Holiday Release" date given. People were in an uproar at Valve. "Holiday Release?!?! What does that mean?!?" I have to admit, the date was a little 'general'. And we can never forget those funny Flash Movies about the delay. :E
And now, perhaps the spark that blew everything up.... the leak. I remember people posting pictures of the buggy openly on our very own half-life2.net forums. The mods letting it slide because OFCOURSE it coudn't be real. People posting it and getting replies like "Ohh, good job on the buggy model" and then one guy was telling how it was obviously fake because they were "Raven Shield Textures". I thought they were to (I mapped for a RVS mod and I thought I recognized the textures, after a quick double check, they didn't match) It had to be fake right?
When 'most' of us found out the delay was real. First thought: "Half-Life 2 is destroyed". I suspect most people here downloaded the beta. I didn't, but then again I can't prove that. Here's where stuff gets vey ugly, and the community starts to split between the "I hate Valve" and the "I love Valve" which, in my opinion, is worse then Half-life 2's delay itself. The first thing brought up about people with the beta is "This is all they had done, they had been lying to us for months" From what I understand, there is a date on the beta somewhere which is prior to E3, but not by much. Some say the hacker changed the date, and that it would have been very easy to do so. I don't think anyone can take anything solid from this if at all.
Here's one of the bigger issues: Were the events scripted or not? Now, it was pretty much confirmed from the community that most of it was scripted. Such as the scene where the combine soldier kicks in the door to chase Gordon. Also, from what I understand, people said that the AI's just kind of 'stand there' most of the time and, if this build is pre E3 build, it is possible the AI just was not implamented fully. Perhaps the barricade (sp?) scene truely wasn't scripted. I don't think you can take solid information from that either, though, people seem to have done just that.
Ofcourse, the Holidays are gone now, no Half-Life 2, and we've had the largest media blackout ever after the acknowledgment of Half-Life 2. People speculate March, April,.... July and EVEN September 30th of 2004. This is bad and great news at the same time. Same thing (Minus the Leak and split in the community :farmer: ) happened to the original Half-Life. It was delayed for ages. It may have lost some of its graphical appeal at the time, but it took it from a normal shooter.... to THE shooter.
Many people are pissed at Valve for being straight up silent. I don't blame them (I don't blame Valve). Look at what happened every time they ever tried to convey something to the community about Half-life 2. And like I've said, when a game get's delayed, it needs more work, but when Valve delays a game, suddenly they 'lied'. Maybe Half-Life 2 needed more work. Sure, it's possible that Valve could have told the community sooner, but we don't know that. And either way, it's delayed. Moving on to today....
What's this? An ACTUAL 'area of time' for Half-Life 2's release?! Straight from Valve?! This summer, Half-Life 2 'should' be here. Now, don't just think "Valve lied before, it's not going to be here". Statistically, most games get delayed at least once. A lot of you need to be more realistic about this stuff. (Remember Diablo 2? Hehe....) Valve has probably serveyed what has happened, what they've done, and want to take a while to go over and give Half-Life 2 that polish that Half-Life had. If this is the case, I hope we all enjoy Half-Life 2.
All right. Thank you for reading. Please post your own thoughts on the subject. I know some of you don't like Valve right now, that's fine. People can analyse and make their own conclusions. Post your thoughts people.
The first thing I'm going to think when I load up Half-Life 2 for the first time (Hopefully) is "It was worth it."
Have a nice day. :thumbs:
