Doug Lombardi: "...release date soon".

Chris D

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According to Eurogamer.net, upon yesterday confirming that Half-Life 2 (and also Counter-Strike: Source and Half-Life: Source) had been sent to Vivendi for release candidate testing, they also managed to get some information from Doug Lombardi regarding the release date:
We don't have a release date from VU at this time, but we're hoping they will put out a release date soon.
And of course, why wouldn't it be soon? Valve are reknowned for their perfection when producing games, something that's clear from the six year development cycle to get us Half-Life 2. With Half-Life taking a mere 48 hours from release candidate stage to going gold, it's pretty clear that we're on the final stretch and the waiting game is nearly over.[br]
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You can find the full news post here.[br]
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Once again, special thanks to our forum member Concept, for bringing the news to this forum thread.
 
Yes this is awesome thanks for the news!! :naughty:
 
Meh, just corrected the news title, wasn't showing up properly for some reason.

Has more of an impact that way :D
 
OLD!!!1

Sorry, always wanted to say that ;)

Anyway, this does sound good, sounds like it's bugree, if they are actually waiting for a date.
 
Thats fantastic news, so guys like mentioned before, all the hard works done, the game is 100% complete, all we have to do now is wait for vivendi who shouldnt take to long going over it. :hmph:
 
Well they must think it's bug free if they've sent it as a release candidate :D

I don't think we'll see it go gold within 48 hours like the last game though. They've got to fully test three whole games :|
 
Hey Chris_D how do you find all this info, do you search around on all cs websites?
 
We're supposed to trust DOUG LOMBARDI now? :rolling:

hehe, just kidding.

I really hope it goes gold soon, the only thing that is worrying me is CS:Source still has some silly bugs in it atm... I hope vivendi don't reject the Release Candidate because "The Mac-10 is pink!!111one1one1" :p
 
I think posting this as big news is just going to bring down the community. There is a very large chance of this Candidate being refused, and if there was a Candidate also sent back in July, it could be up to another 2 months before a new one is set to ship.

I would hold off posting news for every miniscule claim, until we hear a more clear, precise time frame other then "Soon."
 
Homie said:
Hey Chris_D how do you find all this info, do you search around on all cs websites?
Most of it comes from people posting in the HL2 fourm. Like the news post says, it was Concept that found this news and posted it.
 
WhiteBoy said:
I think posting this as big news is just going to bring down the community. There is a very large chance of this Candidate being refused, and if there was a Candidate also sent back in July, it could be up to another 2 months before a new one is set to ship.

I would hold off posting news for every miniscule claim, until we hear a more clear, precise time frame other then "Soon."
The one sent on the 15th was RC1. They waited for any release candidates to get the Source engine bugs fixed up (by beta testing CS:S) before they sent one.

If it is rejected, which is more than likely, we'll probably see the second get accepted as gold around mid October for release in November. If this first one goes through, we might see it released in mid October.

It's all in Vivendi's hands really, but we're seeing the game this year unless they say otherwise.
 
Chris_D said:
It's all in Vivendi's hands really, but we're seeing the game this year unless they say otherwise.

That's what I am really worried about. Vivendi could really care less about the community. It's all the profit for them, not the pleased customers. I am going to put my faith in the fact that they are experienced enough to realise that Half-Life 2 is the most anticipated title ever, in the FPS catagory, and it will sell the same amount now as apposed to the Holiday season.

The ball is in Vivendi's court, and now, all we can do is hope.

EDIT:
Also, as Valve surely plays on the fact that we will believe anything they say, they will use it to their advantage, to hype the the game even further, and possibly get their partners, over at ATI, a few more sales on Video cards before the release.
 
Personally, I reckon there's going to be a sixth year anniversary release :)
 
Glad I ate lunch at home today to find this :]
Neat, but not sure what to expect. So I'll be conservative in hopes.

Sierra was based in Seattle wasn't it? Now it's bankrupt.
Does Valve have to send the gold copy through the mail or over the internet to vivendi?
Or does vivendi have a US office that it would be tested at? Kinda curious about this aspect.
 
SOON LMFAOROFLOMGWTF!!!11! :dozey:

but...
Who in their right mind at Vivendi will say " NO NO NO THIS ISN'T RIGHT.... SEND IT BACK TO VALVE RIGHT NOW... I DON'T LIKE HOW THIS GAME FEELS. THE SHADOWS ON THAT ROCK ISN'T RIGHT... "

No wonder Half Life 2 is the most highly-anticipated game of all time.

Just have to cock-tease the public I guess.
 
Chris_D said:
Personally, I reckon there's going to be a sixth year anniversary release :)

Sixth Anniversary to the release of the original Half-Life?
 
Eh I don't understand the report it says that it should only take Vu a fortnight to test it, so why would it be announced gold in november and not, well now, i mean Vu couldn't possible test the game any better then Valve allready did, i think the only game in history ever testen more is World of warcraft, so I think this is the best indication that HL2 is common in november, but I think they will release it jus a week before so that it is just that much earlier than the competition but still around the cristmas period, and another thing is that this must really suckj for people who will buy it via steam cause they could have had the game on the 15th.
 
VUgames and RC possibilities.

In my opinion, I think if VUGames approves the RC and decides to sit on it until a November release Valve should find another publisher ASAP. VUGames is notorious for VERY slow production. Bad choice if you ask me. I dont think VUGames has the capacity to do a Doom III production time table. I think if they do approve RC1, they will hold off on Gold till a November ship date could be obtained. VUG seems to be very interested in a holiday release timetable by the sounds of Doug L.
 
Orange said:
Glad I ate lunch at home today to find this :]
Neat, but not sure what to expect. So I'll be conservative in hopes.

Sierra was based in Seattle wasn't it? Now it's bankrupt.
Does Valve have to send the gold copy through the mail or over the internet to vivendi?
Or does vivendi have a US office that it would be tested at? Kinda curious about this aspect.


Dude, Vivendi Universal is in Los Angeles... Doesn't take that long for something to go from Washington state to Cali state. Vivendi Universal International is in France. Why would they send it there instead of the US ?!?!? :dozey:
 
Chris_D said:
Valve are reknowned for their perfection when producing games, something that's clear from the six year development cycle to get us Half-Life 2.

Chris_D said:
If it is rejected, which is more than likely, [...]

Bwah? Why is it now "more than likely"?
 
Im hoping HL2 releases by Ocotber 20th thats my birthday. :naughty:
 
itll be before that for sure now. i mean cmon, hl went from testing to gold in 48 HOURS!!! hl2 will take longer though as theyre releasing it eveywhere at the same time...ARENT YOU VIVENDI :E

i will never buy hl2 if it comes out in america first and then europe 2 weeks or so later. oh wait...steam seems more promising lol.

anyway, looks like all those 'when is hl2 coming out' and 'have you heard this incredibly ridiculous speculation about the hl2 release date' type forums and threads can be deleted.

all the waiting means nothing when that loading screen fades away, and suddenly, you're engrossed...

...gordon is steps away from our doors...hold us.
 
Realising the game in november and pissing a lot fans is soooo stupid, because the reason the game is so popular is because of the fans, and screwing them is not good, and if you see what kind of features HL2 has you'll see they are mostly for the hardcore and fans, I'm cs:source, its obviously for the fans and the great editor and all the time they put in it to make it user friendly, and besides most of the casual gamors that buy their games on the holidays do not read game mags or go on the net, they buy a lot of the games because they hear from their friends that they are good or play them at friends( thats the way ther little noob mindes work) so realising it prior to november so all the fans will buy it, and they have noob friends who see the game and want it also for christmas, that will make it a succes.

Besides if they releas it in november I'll just warez it and buy it legaly in januari or februari, to be able to play online and not let he hard work of valve be wasted, but only if more people did that then and the game actually started selling better in januari than in november then maybe they wouldn't screw us on hl3, because its looking that it will also be delayed and will probably come by "accident" also come in november.
 
I wouldn't be surprised if Valve use Steam to distribute it to Vivendi
 
and wtf is with that whole article.

its says: 'f VU leaves it any later it has the mouth-watering prospect of having an FPS duke-out with Halo, which ships the following week.'

omg who cares about ****ing halo!!! i wont even be thinking of that poor excuse for a console-pc attempt.

anyway, cmon vivendi, get that 'testing' over with!! and hl2 released in the us on the 2nd and 5th in europe isnt on at all. people in the us wouldve finished it by the time europe recieves it!!!

steam seems to be the better choice.
 
rkef said:
Bwah? Why is it now "more than likely"?
They could accept the release candidate quickly, but it's actually more likely that they won't as normally most are rejected on their first.
 
Yay!

I can't hardly wait.

btw, when's the anniversary?
 
Pureball said:
and wtf is with that whole article.
omg who cares about ****ing halo!!! i wont even be thinking of that poor excuse for a console-pc attempt.

I can not speak for everyone else but, I can't wait for halo 2 to come out its going to be an awesome game. As for the idea that I would even think of buying it before halflife 2, thats insane.

By the way if VU screws us over in any way...
 
Am I right in thinking that the fourth phase of the pre-loading will be the final one before the release date? As the RC was put forward before this fourth phase (so probably any changes that need to be made to the RC will most likely be in that preload), does that mean we can treat the appearance of a fourth preload as VU accepting the RC / game going gold?
 
Chris_D said:
November 19th
And here I was, thinking it was soon...


JuicyLucifer said:
Am I right in thinking that the fourth phase of the pre-loading will be the final one before the release date? As the RC was put forward before this fourth phase (so probably any changes that need to be made to the RC will most likely be in that preload), does that mean we can treat the appearance of a fourth preload as VU accepting the RC / game going gold?

It could very possibly be a sign of the Candidate being excepted, but don't get your hopes up.
 
Nowhere does it imply that the game will release soon, it's about them announcing a release date soon.
 
Chris_D said:
I wouldn't be surprised if Valve use Steam to distribute it to Vivendi
could that be why the server reporting was down 14th/15th? lol
pretty sure they use steam too...the took monitoring offline so the could load up the RC on a few servers...and people are playing right now....hope no BSOD's pop up.
 
Possibly. I'd reckon that security wise it's a lot more sound for them to do it over Steam.
 
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