Zyphria
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- Joined
- Jul 4, 2003
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Given the current disparity on the release date for Half Life 2 between Gabe (Valve) and Vivendi (edit) Universal, how do you feel about the the symbiotic relationship of these two types of companies in the gaming industry?
Publishers are often the ones who dictate when a game is released, often prematurely, in this case it has all appearences that Vivendi wants to take additional measures to maximize profits by ensuring the game incorporates a unique CD key system (I'm thinking Windows activation). If you recall back a few years to 1998 (maybe it was '97) when the DVD was formally released, it had been delayed three years to create an encryption system that was cracked in six months, an example where the people at the top stalled the inclusion of new technology.
Given the development time for Half Life 2, it seems ridiculous for them to attempt to tack on a new system when they had more than enough time during the development time. Also, Half Life 2 was supposed to be the ultimate example of a game whose release date stayed constant, versus games like UT2k3 with the "just another two weeks" drama going on for months.
Another interesting possibility is that of delaying HL2 to include an AA fix with DirectX 9.1 so that at launch there would not be a problem for Nvidia cards...even this seems a little overkill, as I hardly believe that people are going to be more content to wait another three-four months for a fix that only a small minority of gamers would truly utilize.
So how do you feel about this? I for one believe that Vivendi should have made sure that Valve's PR person was reading from the same line at the very least, and visa versa, this kind of split on release dates does nothing but confuse customers, and potentially injure the reputation of both.
Edit: Minor grammar, company name, spelling.
Publishers are often the ones who dictate when a game is released, often prematurely, in this case it has all appearences that Vivendi wants to take additional measures to maximize profits by ensuring the game incorporates a unique CD key system (I'm thinking Windows activation). If you recall back a few years to 1998 (maybe it was '97) when the DVD was formally released, it had been delayed three years to create an encryption system that was cracked in six months, an example where the people at the top stalled the inclusion of new technology.
Given the development time for Half Life 2, it seems ridiculous for them to attempt to tack on a new system when they had more than enough time during the development time. Also, Half Life 2 was supposed to be the ultimate example of a game whose release date stayed constant, versus games like UT2k3 with the "just another two weeks" drama going on for months.
Another interesting possibility is that of delaying HL2 to include an AA fix with DirectX 9.1 so that at launch there would not be a problem for Nvidia cards...even this seems a little overkill, as I hardly believe that people are going to be more content to wait another three-four months for a fix that only a small minority of gamers would truly utilize.
So how do you feel about this? I for one believe that Vivendi should have made sure that Valve's PR person was reading from the same line at the very least, and visa versa, this kind of split on release dates does nothing but confuse customers, and potentially injure the reputation of both.
Edit: Minor grammar, company name, spelling.
