Fact's about why HL2 won't be out on april..

[Keeson]

Blair, you make some interesting points, here are my comments:

What information!!!! There is no INFORMATION!!!!

Well I agree with you here, there is no real good evidence to support the SDK release or the the games release soon. Valve isn't really very reliable, their poor track record speaks for itself, I won't go over it since it would take to long. :x


Many times on these forums I have made my release date prediction known as
:dork: :dork: April 2005, Yes that's right 2005!!! :dork: :dork: and I'm sticking to it. :dork:
Sad to say but if you are not an eternal optimist on these forums you will be flamed to death for anything slightly negative towards Valve or HL2

Now Valve and Vivendi both know that Doom III is their big contender, and Vivendi is going to want and hurt their sales. Which, by that conclusion would have HL2 out during Aug-Sept '04 in order to compete with Id on the gamers market.

I definitely don't agree with this point you made however. Here what Gabe Newell had to say about it:

Question: How do you feel Half-Life 2 will contend with such other eagerly awaited releases? i.e. Doom III, Deus Ex 2, etc.

Gabe Newell: I'm never sure how to answer questions like that. I know people like to see developers get into pissing matches, and I am as guilty of that as any gamer (aw, for the good old days of Paul Steed .plan file updates). However the reality is that I am looking forward to buying and playing Doom III, and I'm looking forward to buying and playing Deus Ex 2. I want Duke Nukem Forever to come out, and Stalker and Max Payne 2 to show us all something new, and so on.

The reality is that the PC games market is not a zero sum game, and the more good games that are out there, the more every developer benefits by growing the number of people who regularly buy PC games.​

I think the key thought here is "zero sum game" - an economic term you might of heard in school. Blair this what you are likening the games market to i.e. HL2 steals sales from Doom3 and vice versa. I think I agree with the poster above who said:

if there is a good movie, you watch it, if there are 2 good movies, you watch em both, because they both kick ass.

I think they both see themselves as partners in growing the overall FPS/PC game market rather bitterly competing to hurt each others sales. Each game will suceed based on its own merits, it doesn't matter if one or the other comes out first or both at the same time. So I think that neither ID nor Valve want to release their games at the same time to hurt each others sales. Staggered release dates are better for allowing people with limited resources a chance to save up and buy both.

 

[ferd]

It's my guess that it definatly won't be out for April, but more likely Sept of 2004, or..

Good guess indeed

I don't even think saying late as Dec. of 2004 is really out of the question.

You think

I really don't care anymore frankly..

Well then shut up?
:imu: :burp:

 

[Feath]

I haven't got got time to read the whole thread so I'm just going to respond to the first post with two links.

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=fact
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=speculation

Learning the difference between them would be good.

 

[Mr-Fusion]

Blair is clearly a twit.

 

[Keeson]

I haven't got got time to read the whole thread so I'm just going to respond to the first post with two links.

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=fact
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=speculation

Learning the difference between them would be good.

This is a silly reply. This is the Rumors and Speculations area of the forums. What Blair posts is quite appropriate for this area. :dork:

 

[Brian Damage]

Yet he declares them to be facts, not speculation, Keeson...

 

[DEATH eVADER]

Theres a perfectly rational explanation to all this...no there isn't

Its so obvious, Valve are going to release HL2, CS:CZ and TF2 in one box. i bet ya they'll release HL1, OP4, and Blueshift as well in a seperate box, only with new content, levels and introduction to new characters.

I am Septic Peg (not mystic meg) i can only guess whats going to happen. but if you think about it, theres a descent amount of playability in this. Its like LOTR special edition, only for HL fans. good marketing can be made from this.

 

[kyro]

my guess is that sdk wil be out in feb. and hl2 will follow after a few weeks.

and about cs:cz....i played it. all it is, is cs sp with new skins and a few new weapons. stil kindof fun tho i'd rather get the fusion pack for cs!

oh, is hl2 gona be available to download and sent by cd or only one of those options? (if u have the coupon)

 

[frances_farmer]

Blair. You make a very good point about the fact its very unlikely Half-Life 2 would be released until after Condition Zero has got some sales. A lot of people here don't seem to understand the concept of business, some people seem to be trapped in bubbles where they ignore the fact that the ultimate goal of a company is to make money.

There are numerous cases where the above has happened, delays to let other games make their money first. And also companies often delay to avoid competition from rival titles.

However, although I do agree to some extent with your first point I don't agree with the lack of info, screenshots, boxart etc as a sign the game won't release in April as this has always been Valves way of doing things. Have a look on the internet for old previews of Half-Life 1 and look in any old gaming magazines you may have. I have a wealth of old gaming magazines and I can find about 4 shots of Half-Life pre-release.

 

[Blair]

I haven't got got time to read the whole thread so I'm just going to respond to the first post with two links.

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=fact
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=speculation

Learning the difference between them would be good.

Yet he declares them to be facts, not speculation, Keeson...

Fact's are things you can back-up with proof, I don't need a link to know the meanings my misinformed friend. You can clearly see what I intend my facts to be..

Obviously the relase date is a theroy, I started my sentence with "It's my guess".. Or maybe you missed that part?? Besides, there is no confirmed date from Valve, but 90% of you think that it's definitely coming out in April. This is a fact.

Condition Zero coming before HL2 is also a fact, beased upon good marketing and sales techniques. That is unless CZ has been canceled.. Which, will still have no info on the either.

Which brings up my point that there is no information, no websites, no trailers, nothing... This is a fact people. The proof of this, is that there is no proof.


This is also a fact:

The link with the report on Vivendi list of upcoming games really doesn't matter.. Vivendi can say all they want when HL2 is coming out, but it's really up to Valve to have the product ready by then. If they're not ready, the the publisher would have to release later. Vivendi did the same thing with the Sept '03 release date, if you remeber correctly Vivendi stood by their claim that it was going to release on that date, but ultimately Valve didn't have HL2 anywhere near ready so the publisher had to set another estimated date.

That's all Vivendi does, they work out an estimated date with Valve about when the expected devolpment will be finnished, it's not cast in stone. Most of the time these date's are set well into the future, but Vivendi is anxious to get HL2 out and get the money flowing, so they have a reputation of setting the dates too early, thus having to constantly reschedule.

Publishers have no control over if something is ready or not.. You don't seen a half written book in a bookstore simply because the publisher felt they had enough time to finnish it.

 

[clarky003]

what happened to the sensible quote, 'speculating is pointless'

 

[Cole]

Maybe valve has gone stupid? Ever think of that. Or maybe CZ is ment to come out not as the best game of all time but maybe just as a way to add a Counter Strike storyline. Maybe they have secretly transfered CZ to the Source Engine. Huh ever think of that lol. Im guessing that Hl2 will come out in Mid Febuary, after the sdk release which i belive will come out at the last day of january. Also CZ and Hl2 could come in 1 box togeather.

To me CZ is to make a storyline for CS, nothing more. I mean cs is one of the most widly played game (the first widly played game i think is starcraft with 120 thousand players on at peak times). I mean these older games are still some of the best. Maybe CZ wasnt made to be the top of the line game but to have a grand storyline to make player buy it.

Also some say that the people who cant run Hl2 will get CZ, well id be suprised if u didnt have a 800+mhz computer with more than 128megs of ram, and at least a 64meg video card.

Im mad at valve and blizzard. They both are the best game making companies. Blizzard hasnt said anything about Starcraft 2, and Valve is being a dickhead and saying its gonna be released here, nm here, no here, na here. Now IT HAS NO RELEASE DATE!!! The Sdk has a release date which is Several Weeks. But who knows it might become Several to the 9th power weeks.

Everyone is making me going insane!

I think best statement i said in here is "Valve has gone stupid".
Dont u?

 

[mrchimp]

Bah. I don't believe CZ will ever see the light of day (on the HL engine, anyway).

I actually had pre-ordered CZ for my brother in March 2002 for his birthday, it was due out a few months after his birthday. It's almost March 2004, and it's nowhere near the same high quality game it was to be (Gearbox had such a cool vision for CZ ), and it's completely dropped off the radar. It went "gold," what, 3 months ago?

personally I think the fact it's gone gold but hasn't been released is reason enough to pressume it's being ported to the source engine. the fact valve said the CS team are working on a game in the source engine which isn't CS2 is a good reason too.

I think CZ is not something that should be taken into account when speculateing the HL2 release date. All the information we have so far points to an April release, so thats what I'm going to go with. Valve have started interacting with the community more in receant weeks so i think thats an indication that the release date is nearing. if they release the SDK sometime in February then that would confirm an April release for me.

 

[B_MAN]

CZ is peanuts compared to hl2
in my opinion, CZ has just become something for hl/cs fans to keep busy with until hl2's release
CZ is not a terribly deep game, so im sure valve and co are not concerned about it overshadowing hl2 is any way

HL2 will be out in April.

 

[Baal]

I believe no release dates until I see on the EB or Valve website a confirmation that the game is going to be out "The Next day"

Or better yet, when someone says "I have the game in my hands"

 

[Pitbul]

"Blairs Opinions Of Why Half Life 2 Wont Come Out In April" seems like a much more suitable name for this topic

 

[IchI]

It's a fact that CZ must come out before HL2 in order for Vivendi to make money on it. It's idiotic to imagine it any other way, no one will want to play crappy CZ when they could have HL2.

It's also a fact that no new information has been shown, no new screens, movies, renders. No offical website, box art, or trailers. Unless of course Valve is going to wait untill the last minute to do these things half assed and in a hurry. (Which is completely opposite of what they stand for)

LMFAO! what an idiot. OK, HL2 and CS:CZ are 2 totally different games. Thats as stupid as saying because u buy HL2 u will never buy farcry and doom3 because u see HL2 is just that good u will never buy a game again LOL!

Ok if tactical mission situations are your thing, u will buy CS:CZ if u are a storyline alien based killer u will buy HL2. Its simple.

I can see what u mean when u say that CS:CZ will not sell WELL, but u make it out like no one will buy it at all. Thats just been stupid tbh.

 

[GoodbyeKitty]

"Blairs Opinions Of Why Half Life 2 Wont Come Out In April" seems like a much more suitable name for this topic

Heh! Sounds like something that belongs on Dave Letterman! I don't know if it would replace "Will it Float?" or "Is this Anything?" but, I'm sure he could get the hoola-hoops and grinder girls to stand behind him as he hammers away his "evidence."

 

[GoodbyeKitty]

Also, Blair, you haven't given us any _concrete_ evidence as of yet. No documents, no web pages, no pictures, statements, emails -- nothing at all. I am not quite as "hyped up" as some of you guys are, but I am still looking forward to the game. Now, me, I have no facts to present to you on my standing, and, rightly so you do not have any authority to demand an explanation from me or anyone else on why we think the way we do. What you don't seem to get is what you wrote in the title... "Fact's about why HL2 won't be released in April." You lure the reader in here under the notion that you have something solid, but saying "facts" can't even be applied here, all you are writing is speculation. Now, as far as I'm concerned, even making a little more abundant use of the words "hypothesis" or "theory" or "personal opinion" or "speculation" would have provoked fewer people into thinking you're a moron than you did when you wrote this topic. People came here looking for facts, and you gave us your personal opinions. That's a no-no. What's better, you were delivering ultimatums to the forum members to present evidence of their standings on why they believed what they did. It's especially more precious when you don't present any factual material yourself. The point being, you have no right to be so demeaning of the forum members when you're the pot calling the tea kettle black.

Good luck with your personal opinions, and I sincerely hope you get your segment on Letterman's show.

 

[southparksam]

ummm, I remeber gabe saying that if CZ didnt get released before HL2 that they would port it to source.... he said that, meaning there is a possibility that HL2 was coming out first...

 

[Blair]

When May 1st come's and none of you have HL2 in your hands, just think of these words..

I told you so.

Also, Blair, you haven't given us any _concrete_ evidence as of yet. No documents, no web pages, no pictures, statements, emails -- nothing at all.

This isn't a white house investigation, if you've been following HL2 for longer then 2 months these things are common knowledge, therefore not needing exhibit A, B, or C.



In my previous post above this one, (The very one you quoted me from) it explains what are facts and what aren't. If you would take the time and actually read it maybe you would understand, although it does require you to comprehend basic ideas, so maybe that's were you are lacking.

 

[QProtocol]

The SDK and General Hl2 content my coincide perfectly. The SDK isnt out, so I assume that theyare adding content. SDK = Release soom.

 

[-JeZ-]

Blair, although your arguments are well put you do have a nasty habbit of being rude and/or offensive when there's absolutly no reason to be. People are entitled to their own opinion.

One thing I will say is that there is no "One size fits all" rule when it comes to business. Sure, the strategum that you have outlined may well work in the cut and thrust world of telecommunication competition, or when you have two local corner shops trying to entice all the kids to buy their candy but gaming is a different type of business.

With gaming, there's a HUGE money pie out there for the companies to cut up and each company is happy to have the share that their product is worth WITHOUT having to poke their neighbour in the eye and stealing their slice as well. If they steal someone's crumbs becuase of messy eating then that's all good.

Sure, there's competition out there, but it's not all black ops and conspiracies.

[EDIT: Yes, I'm hungry ]

 

[GoodbyeKitty]

When May 1st come's and none of you have HL2 in your hands, just think of these words..

I told you so.







This isn't a white house investigation, if you've been following HL2 for longer then 2 months these things are common knowledge, therefore not needing exhibit A, B, or C.



In my previous post above this one, (The very one you quoted me from) it explains what are facts and what aren't. If you would take the time and actually read it maybe you would understand, although it does require you to comprehend basic ideas, so maybe that's were you are lacking.

Ha ha ha! And you have the audacity to say I can not comprehend basic ideas when you have no idea how to properly utilize the English language. If you presented any PROOF of your HYPOTHESIS in your completely asinine post, please list it once again.


(P.S: If Valve or VU have not said it, then you don't know jack shit.)
(P.P.S: Don't try to use the 'Well that's why I have proof, they haven't said anything' crap either. Many companies are very hush-hush about their products.)
(P.P.P.S: Past occurences are not proof either, they merely emphasize the logic involved in your thought process(es) [or lack thereof].)

 

[alco]

Ha ha ha! And you have the audacity to say I can not comprehend basic ideas when you have no idea how to properly utilize the English language. If you presented any PROOF of your HYPOTHESIS in your completely asinine post, please list it once again.

Making good use of that thesaurus, Kitty.

 

[un om bun]

Man, I hate optimists. "I trust Valve, I admire Valve..."
How can you (people) be such sissies ? V kicked their fans right in the nuts. They said absolutely nothing about HL2 since the 30th of sept, and many of you are still "on their side". It just like kissing your executioners hand. Of course, a lot less dramatic.
Don't you have any self respect ? Can you really trust a company that doesn't give a rat's ass about you ? How ???

 

[alco]

Man, I hate optimists. "I trust Valve, I admire Valve..."
How can you (people) be such sissies ? V kicked their fans right in the nuts. They said absolutely nothing about HL2 since the 30th of sept, and many of you are still "on their side". It just like kissing your executioners hand. Of course, a lot less dramatic.
Don't you have any self respect ? Can you really trust a company that doesn't give a rat's ass about you ? How ???

I think you're taking Valve's approach to handling the game's marketing a little too harsh. It doesn't mean that they don't care about their fans. Hell, name me another company who let three different fans take tours of their offices. Name me another company who've supported their mod community as much as Valve has. Name me another company who bothers to reply to as many fans' questions as Valve has.

Honestly, you sound like Valve ran away with your wife or something.

 

[X-FacToR]

Vivendi rules VALVe so if they say April, it's April.
And CZ isn't on the financial VU 2004 yearly report because it'll come out before it begins - April 1st

Vivendi doesnt rule anything, if the game isnt done its not done nothing vivendi can rule about. Valve is making the game vivendi is the publisher nither one rules the other. They work together to bring in the profits.

 

[un om bun]

alco > that means practicaly nothing. It really doesn't warm my heart that that 3 dudes (which I'll never meet) got to spend a few minutes in there. And I'm not talking about the support and communication that existed in the past, but about the lousy official statement in which they should have shed some light on the damn situation they're in. What, will the world come to an end if they open their mouths ? And the stuff in "info from Valve" is just there to keep us calm, under control... that's nothing concrete at all. It's the absolute least they can give. And only the mod community can be interested in that, anyway.

I'm talking about the game. Where is it ? What's wrong with it ? Will we really see it in April ?
No, wait... I understand now. They always wanted to say 30 sept 2004, not 2003. They just overlooked this little detail. Man, we're dumb !

 

[alco]

Man, what'd Gabe do, stab you in the back or something?

Here's something you overlooked - they don't owe us anything.

 

[D33]

It's a fact that CZ must come out before HL2 in order for Vivendi to make money on it. It's idiotic to imagine it any other way, no one will want to play crappy CZ when they could have HL2.

I doubt it'll be out in April but the above comment is foolish.
If you need telling why it's foolish then .. heh.

 

[SMEGHaMMeR]

OMG. I mean i started reading this thread and managed to get 3 pages thru b4 i thought i should raise some interesting points.

1. Don't trust people who write threads with bad spelling. Why? Because it means they either rushed the post and hence, didn't really give it much thought. Or they just don't know English. Fair enough if u're about 12, or from another country. But, like, jesus come on....

2. Don't trust anyone called Blair. I know 2 blairs. One is an absolute cock, gothic, gimboid, who lives near me and does similar things to the Blair we have on here. The other runs my country, and he's a ****in tool.

3. How can u say that company's aren't out for competition in the games market????????? Jesus f'in Christ, Look at EA. Look at Activision. Look at Nintendo, Sega, Microsoft and Sony!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

4. However, it's absolutely soddin obvious that Valve are not going to be in direct competition with ID over Doom 3 or anything. I would presume that they have the utmost respect for each other as games developers and players. And i reckon they have LANS at each others houses all the time.

5. Enough release date shite FFS, you WILL know when it's gonna come out. ARE U LISTENING!?????? It's like you know when it's time for the next batch of consoles to come out, and in what order. Then u know what the flagship titles are gonna be and so on..

I would say it's fairly obvious that HL2 will come out this year, unless some other bizarre tragedy occurs, like all of Valve's computer's melt or something.

Also, Far Cry, anyone seen this, played it? ooooooooo well i never expected something like that to come out. =/

 

[Blair]

OMG. I mean i started reading this thread and managed to get 3 pages thru b4 i thought i should raise some interesting points.

1. Don't trust people who write threads with bad spelling. Why? Because it means they either rushed the post and hence, didn't really give it much thought. Or they just don't know English. Fair enough if u're about 12, or from another country. But, like, jesus come on....

2. Don't trust anyone called Blair. I know 2 blairs. One is an absolute cock, gothic, gimboid, who lives near me and does similar things to the Blair we have on here. The other runs my country, and he's a ****in tool.

3. How can u say that company's aren't out for competition in the games market????????? Jesus f'in Christ, Look at EA. Look at Activision. Look at Nintendo, Sega, Microsoft and Sony!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

4. However, it's absolutely soddin obvious that Valve are not going to be in direct competition with ID over Doom 3 or anything. I would presume that they have the utmost respect for each other as games developers and players. And i reckon they have LANS at each others houses all the time.

5. Enough release date shite FFS, you WILL know when it's gonna come out. ARE U LISTENING!?????? It's like you know when it's time for the next batch of consoles to come out, and in what order. Then u know what the flagship titles are gonna be and so on..

I would say it's fairly obvious that HL2 will come out this year, unless some other bizarre tragedy occurs, like all of Valve's computer's melt or something.

Also, Far Cry, anyone seen this, played it? ooooooooo well i never expected something like that to come out. =/

None of that made any sense what so ever. You're just babbling about random stuff.

Point #3 is actually what I've been saying the whole time. Either you're agreeing with me?.. Or trying disagree with a positive statement that I've already made.

#5 Yes we will know when it's going to come out, someday, but not in 2 months... I think alot of you missed the whole point of this thread. It was made with the intentions of proving April is not set in stone. I've proven that many times, some of you even have proven it in your response's without even knowing it.




OMG. I mean i started reading this thread and managed to get 3 pages thru b4 i thought i should raise some interesting points.

You raised nothing interesting, you spent more time thinking about personal attack's then actually disproving any of my theories. *Golf clap*

 

[Edcrab]

I suspect many of the reactions are due to optimism and reading the thread title and becoming instantly enraged.

As an optimistic pessimist, I will now fill this page with impulsive drivel as I give in to my emotions and level-headedly enlighten you with my limitless knowledge. Remember- I'm not arrogant, I'm just better than you.

(Worst. Paradoxical. Statement. Ever.)

Anyway... As stated, everything anyone can possibly produce is theory. No one knows anything for sure... not even Valve, if past experience is anything to go by. And, again, Valve themselves haven't even slated April. So anyone's guess is as good as ours, or theirs.

I'd like to think I can wait as long as necessary, if it means the final result is a piece of gaming history (and by that I mean the next Half-Life, a worthy sequel, not a Daikatana contender). 'Course, I'm gagging for an indisputable release date, but until the game is physically finished it ain't going to happen, and I'm not going to listen to Vivendi either- I'll believe it when I see it.

As for CS:CZ, the multiple development houses and release difficulties have led me to believe it may not appear. It wouldn't suprise me if it was canned entirely or ported over to Source, or even shipped with the rumoured CS2 as a better-than-botmatch SP module (depending on which incarnation developer #poly-numerical-infinity decides to go with). Competetion does happen, but if Vivendi knows HL2 to be a better game than CZ (as everyone damn well should), I think they may well cater for retailers to release the superior version ASAP. People always buy games, even if far superior equivalents/competitors are available (*cough*Sims:Horrible Cash-in Frenzy*cough*).

Hope for the best, expect the worst... closest thing I can really get to optimistic pessimism, and it suits me fine.

 

[pHATE1982]

Errr, isn't CZ out on all formats apart from PC?

I'm sorry if i'm wrong but, alot of expected sales will be from console owners who have heard how great CS is. So will make up alot more sales that way... The PC version will never be a best seller. Old engine... limited gameplay... paying for something u can pretty much already have for free etc etc.

Or i could have dreamt about this, and am therefore deluded and need help and it hasn't been released. But i'm sure I've seen an xbox copy floating around my mates flat.

However, if i'm correct... your argument is shit... and holds no water....

IT WILL BE OUT SOON!!!!!

 

[Edcrab]

Eh... CS:CZ is due out only for the PC as far as I know. It seems that you're thinking of Counter Strike for the X-Box.

 

[pHATE1982]

I thought it was essentially the same thing... no?


ahh well, my stoopid...