Erm Bad news inside. I think.

[songwriter]

Sorry if this has been done before but...

In an interview with the gaming magizine Polygon, Gabe Newell of Valve said that Half-Life 2 might not make it's planned 2004 release date.

QUOTE

"We've already spent millions into this project, and we're willing to spend as much as we need to make this the best first person experience ever. If that means delaying the game to 2005, we'll do it without any hesitation. If it means sinking another $20 million into the project, we can do it. Rest assured, if we delay the game, it'll be only to blow your socks off even more when it finally releases."

http://www.vgpro.com/news/4590

 

[CyberSh33p]

ergh. hopefully that was purely hypothetical.

 

[Kornflake™]

Sounds like he was speaking rhetorically.

 

[Crushenator 500]

well.... im speechless, i honestly don't know what to make of this. looks as if valve are gonna do no matter what to make this the ultimate game in every way. /

 

[dura]

A game developer made a statement similar to this a year ago, I won't disclose their name. They ended up losing half of their players.

 

[Reven]

it was a figure of speech?

 

[The Mullinator]

He is not saying they will delay it or that they are thinking of delaying it. He is probably just responding to a hypothetical question that was along the lines of "What happens if the game does not turn out the way you hoped?"

This really doesn't mean anything.

 

[Chris D]

The operative word in that quote is if

 

[blahblahblah]

Frankly, I hope they do. I want to be HL2 to be as good as possible. Nobody hates Blizzard when they delay Starcraft/Diablo/Warcraft for years. Only good can come if they delay HL2 even more. As long as they keep it honest about release dates you should have nothing to worry about.

 

[dura]

Do take note that people taking preparations for something only to have whatever it is in plan delayed brings down their morale.

 

[el Chi]

Sounds like he was speaking rhetorically.

Sound like someone would like to think so.

I include myself in that.

 

[Gorgon]

i am crying right now if this is true.

Lets wait a bit.

 

[Chris D]

Oh the statement is completely true, but the statement doesn't actually suggest that the game is delayed.

 

[ray_MAN]

It is a figure of speech that implies that if the game needs work, Valve will do it to make the game better for us. They want to perfect this game on release, which isn't bad.

 

[CrazyHarij]

It'd just cheer me up if this was true. If they'd delay it more it would be for a freaking reason. And more fun and new stuff!

 

[Gorgon]

If they'd delay it more it would be for a freaking reason. And more fun and new stuff!

Every time they delay it. it will lose quality. Unless they are planning to implement the next Pixel Shader 3.0 texhnology in order to compete with D3....etc.

 

[PvtRyan]

He said a similar thing at E3 last year when he asked if he could promise that HL2 would come out on 30 september. Gabe's response 'I can only promise it's gonna be a great game. If we need extra time to make the game to what it should be, we're gonna take it.' and we all know what eventually happened...

 

[Dougy]

Oh the statement is completely true, but the statement doesn't actually suggest that the game is delayed.

yip.

People this doesnt mean anything.

its purely hypothetical and if you dont understand english too good then just ignore the thread.

it realy doesnt mean anything.

 

[el Chi]

Every time they delay it. it will lose quality. Unless they are planning to implement the next Pixel Shader 3.0 texhnology in order to compete with D3....etc.

Dude, how d'you figure that one? Unless it gets to a Daikatana/DukeN Forevevevevever stage then it will still be fine.

<Crosses fingers>

 

[Dougy]

Dude, how d'you figure that one? Unless it gets to a Daikatana/DukeN Forevevevevever stage then it will still be fine.

<Crosses fingers>

Since HL2's delay Unreal 3 has stolen the best looker awards and several other games are boasting more advanced features.

the delay so far isnt too costly since most of HL2's rivals arent finished yet... but another delay would realy start to hurt HL2's credentials.

Once again that magazine statement does NOT mean the game is or is going to be delayed.

 

[Munro]

The game will be out this year If it's not I'll give a free copy of HL2 to everyone who's posted in this thread and picture myself buying them dressed as Gordon Freeman

 

[Dougy]

The game will be out this year If it's not I'll give a free copy of HL2 to everyone who's posted in this thread and picture myself buying them dressed as Gordon Freeman

Hmmm....

either get HL2 this year....

or

get a free copy next year and laugh my ass off :naughty:

 

[blahblahblah]

The game will be out this year If it's not I'll give a free copy of HL2 to everyone who's posted in this thread and picture myself buying them dressed as Gordon Freeman

could you also send me a side of crow and some humble pie if that ever happens?

 

[jabberwock95]

The game will be out this year If it's not I'll give a free copy of HL2 to everyone who's posted in this thread and picture myself buying them dressed as Gordon Freeman

That's worth remembering.

Not that I don't have faith in HL2 to be out this year, but I would like a free copy.

 

[Chris D]

Possible Question: Gabe, how can you justify the fact that despite a strict date was given, Half-Life 2 was still delayed very close to it's release date? Do you think it was a fair thing to do, and if so, what were your reasons?

Gabe's Answer: We've already spent millions into this project, and we're willing to spend as much as we need to make this the best first person experience ever. If that means delaying the game to 2005, we'll do it without any hesitation. If it means sinking another $20 million into the project, we can do it. Rest assured, if we delay the game, it'll be only to blow your socks off even more when it finally releases.

 

[PvtRyan]

The game will be out this year If it's not I'll give a free copy of HL2 to everyone who's posted in this thread and picture myself buying them dressed as Gordon Freeman

Do multiple posts in this thread grant me an extra copy? *posts some more*

Chris_D, good point, what was the question to start with? I feel this is indeed kinda ripped out of context.

 

[icewolf]

The game will be out this year If it's not I'll give a free copy of HL2 to everyone who's posted in this thread and picture myself buying them dressed as Gordon Freeman

/hoping on a 2005 release






:upstare:
nah, my bet is on summer 2004

 

[Spiffae]

Possible Question: Gabe, how can you justify the fact that despite a strict date was given, Half-Life 2 was still delayed very close to it's release date? Do you think it was a fair thing to do, and if so, what were your reasons?

Gabe's Answer: We've already spent millions into this project, and we're willing to spend as much as we need to make this the best first person experience ever. If that means delaying the game to 2005, we'll do it without any hesitation. If it means sinking another $20 million into the project, we can do it. Rest assured, if we delay the game, it'll be only to blow your socks off even more when it finally releases.

the question puts it into much better context. the question is "how could you miss your release date?" the answer is "we would miss a release date in a second, if it meant making the game that much better."

I don't like the fact that he puts 2005 in the response, but i'm more and more convinced it's purely hypothetical.

EDIT: Oops, that was a possible question. oh well... we'll just have to see what the real question was.

 

[Direwolf]

Damn you Chris and your facts!
Don't trample on my paranoia!

 

[jabberwock95]

The game will be out this year If it's not I'll give a free copy of HL2 to everyone who's posted in this thread and picture myself buying them dressed as Gordon Freeman

That statement may come back to haunt you. If I wasn't going to bed now i'd make it my sig. :cheese:

 

[ray_MAN]

I am sticking to my June 9th release date. If it is released then, I will throw a party with strippers!(Munro being one of them )

 

[Keeson]

Well, reading over the responses one thing is clear:

The denial is very thick!!! :|

I've read every interview Valve has done since E3 2003 and the year 2005 just calls out to me over and over.....

 

[Spiffae]

That statement may come back to haunt you. If I wasn't going to bed now i'd make it my sig. :cheese:

doesn't anyone get it? Munro is making fun of Fragmaster from Planet Half-Life.

 

[alixharrison]

I immensely respect Gabe for saying this, that is if it is true (it doesn't seem out of place from the Valve way of game production), because he is refusing to give in to the impatient amongst us.
Impatience is a very bad thing for game developers, though usually the impatience that matters is that of the game publishers. They force small game developers to stick to timetables when the devs themselves know the game is far from perfect. Being a perfectionist, like Valve is, means the only games that ever come out of their production line just ooze excellence and are an evolved game experience. That is because they let their game evolve by throwing away the bad bits, calling the game "finished" when there are no bad bits left.
So please, appreciate that when Valve delay a game, it's not a bad thing...it means the game is a better experience than it would be if they rushed and released it to pander to the impatient amongst us.

 

[thehunter1320]

/me gets ready for a free copy of HL2 and sets up a camera hooked up to the internet waiting for that fateful day HL2 is released in 05

 

[PvtRyan]

Well, reading over the responses one thing is clear:

The denial is very thick!!! :|

I've read every interview Valve has done since E3 2003 and the year 2005 just calls out to me over and over.....

No, we're not in denial, we all just think that all the recent signs of an approaching HL2 release are stronger than one out of context hypothetical response to a question we don't even know.

 

[Chris D]

I've been telling people for months that Valve would only delay the game if it needed to be delayed. They all still seemed so angry at Valve, which is so unfair.

They're the same people that'd be equally pissed off if Valve had released the game on 30th September and it was crap.

 

[gooball]

hmm :|

I really hope they don't delay it.

Why don't they just ask the HL2 community to help with the game?

hmm, they built a game engine.. they have good character models.. they have some mappers.. just finish the game?

I just don't understand, I'm not saying anything against Valve, but I don't get what could possibly delay the game.

:rolling:

 

[Lobster]

*Throws himself on the ticking rumor time bomb about to flood the net !!!*

Never take anything in random sites at face value, only last month CGW posted an article on HL2 which was written months in advance, I would say ignore absaloutly everething untill we hear from that preview and E3.

 

[Chris D]

No, we're not in denial, we all just think that all the recent signs of an approaching HL2 release are stronger than one out of context hypothetical response to a question we don't even know.

Like if you caught a glimpse of a newspaper headline tomorrow and all you could see is the word "END". It could be a headline say it's the end of the world; or it could be an article saying it's the end for the Posh and Becks. There's no point in preparing for the worst if it could be any number of possibilities as to why that headline contains the word "END".