*~*Half-Life 2 preload begins August 17*~*

Well it must be coming out in August or September as i cant see them preloading for a month. hopefully it will be out end of August all things going well.
 
I really hope no one cracks the files during the preload. thats all we need.

and in response to Gabes statement

BRING IT ON
 
obsidian said:
Well it must be coming out in August or September as i cant see them preloading for a month. hopefully it will be out end of August all things going well.

Unfortunately I still think it'll be mid to late September before it comes out. Doug Lombardi has been talking about a Fall release, after all. Naturally I hope I am completely wrong, and it comes out on 1st/3rd September! (based on Amazon etc dates, and we all know how reliable they are ;) )
 
See, and look at all the naysayer's who said it wasn't comming April ' 04. Told you so. :farmer: :bounce:

- April -
 
I'm gone one day and this is what happens. :|
 
The Thing said:
I'm gone one day and this is what happens. :|

Figures.

Its like being AFK, then you come back, sit down, and while your playing a game of CS or something, RIGHT as you get back, the guy headshots you.

That gets so annoying lol...
 
Now, who can preload HL2?

Only ATI voucher holders, CZ owners only, or just everybody who have Steam (a kind of pre-order thing)?
 
A.I. said:
Now, who can preload HL2?

Only ATI voucher holders, CZ owners only, or just everybody who have Steam (a kind of pre-order thing)?

I'm not quite sure. But I think, (IMO), that its for all steam users, and if you want to purchase HL2, you can send the money, and download the exe and play it.
 
Im still a bit confused about this, does this mean people will be pre-loading the actual HL2 game on August 17th?
 
Mr. Redundant said:
dont get your hopes up :(
looks promising, but so did things last year.

Ummm, I think this is quite different

Also, Steam wasn't as stable one year ago as it is now.
 
Clearing some confusion:
Yes every steam user can download actual HL2 content. You can't do anything with the files, however.
Though if HL2 uses the same system as Codename:Gordon did (probably will), you can open the ".gcf"s with some program designed for that and see the file names and actually extract them, but when you try opening them in any program they show up as gibberish because they are encrypted. 32 bit encryption isn't possible to break (technically it is, but no one has succeeded yet, and if someone has/will, he will for 100% keep it as his own secret =p). You will just have to wait with the files on your hdd (as painful as it is ;[).
Even if you got the decrypted files somehow (from a friend after it's released?), you couldn't play the game anyway because you need a proper HL2 cdkey tied to your Steam account to be able to play. So basically if you are NOT going to buy HL2 over Steam, downloading the precache is a waste of time and bandwidth.
 
Didn't Gabe said HL2 will preload 2 weeks before the worldwide release date ?
 
I don't know, I'm all confused about the timeline now too. I don't think the game will be finished any sooner than mid-late september, but with all the textures and sounds already preloaded, it will make it easier to release HL2 at once to everyone. (Once (if ever) it's finished)
 
sharp said:
Didn't Gabe said HL2 will preload 2 weeks before the worldwide release date ?
Im sure he did somewhere.... but since this isnt a true "preload" perse, since its only audio and art content.... therefore they are still working on the game.... and Valve dont have a good track record to sticking to what they state.
 
Sweet!
I don't intend to get the game off Steam, but at least this means the actual release date is getting pretty close.
 
Head_Crab_04 said:
Will people who preload get it earlier than the people who buy from retailer?
no its a simultaneous release online and in stores...
but technically if you have it preloaded on steam, you can play it the SECOND the game is unlocked (so when people are rushing off to buy the game, you can be playing it)

unless of course something happens with HL2 like it did with Doom3, and stores get it early, and some places start selling it early.
 
No, every1 who has steam can preload and it will be relased worldwide for every1 not just steam users.
 
/scheptical hat on

HalfLife2 will not be out untill end of september, beginning of october (which for some reason is considered by Valve as summer)


/scheptical hat off
 
the hl2 pre-load is on some torrent sites they got it playing with applaunch
 
Ruben said:
/scheptical hat on

HalfLife2 will not be out untill end of september, beginning of october (which for some reason is considered by Valve as summer)


/scheptical hat off

End of september IS still summer (at least 'til the 21st) after all.... but even if it's a day past that, I'm sure people will complain ;)
 
Gorgon said:
STFU :x and post something usefull

Hit a nerve, did I? I saw the hype go insane on this board one year ago when the game was supposedly going to be released, and now it seems it's starting all over again.

Valve is absolutely notorious at this point for delaying games indefinitely, from the original Half-Life to Condition Zero to Team Fortress 2 to our beloved Half-Life 2.

I just think we should take any news of progress with a landfill of salt.
 
Mr. Redundant said:
unless of course something happens with HL2 like it did with Doom3, and stores get it early, and some places start selling it early.

ahh, the beauty comes in... Steam won't let those people play til it's released worldwide by VALVe. So stores could sell the game right off the truck, those people won't be able to play :D
 
Really if they go gold within the next few days they could have it out by the end of the month, vivendi has probably machines that can pump out like 250,000 copys and package them in one day. Valve isn't gonna risk having thier precious HL2 game sitting in every1's steam folder for too long.
 
Salmonax said:
If we're lucky, it'll be out by January 2005! :p

Well... you may not be wrong here. You never know about Valve. And people that tell you to STFU seem to forget history. I dont think it will be that late, but you never know for sure do you? Can you people that say it will come out summer 2004 (meaning very soon! cause summer is over soon) honestly say you believe what Valve has to say about release dates?

There you go ... so i for one would not be very surprised if it was delayed untill fall or even xmas 2004. I would be surprised however if the game came out soon after preload. I would be happily surprised! But untill then i wear my scheptical hat on. :hmph:
 
Salmonax said:
Hit a nerve, did I? I saw the hype go insane on this board one year ago when the game was supposedly going to be released, and now it seems it's starting all over again.

Valve is absolutely notorious at this point for delaying games indefinitely, from the original Half-Life to Condition Zero to Team Fortress 2 to our beloved Half-Life 2.

I just think we should take any news of progress with a landfill of salt.

for the record, HL1 was delayed 1 year... just like HL2 was
 
thehunter1320 said:
ahh, the beauty comes in... Steam won't let those people play til it's released worldwide by VALVe. So stores could sell the game right off the truck, those people won't be able to play :D

I doubt the sp game is locked.. how the hell would people with no internet connection play it?

if the game is released early, people will be playing SP before anyone has it on steam, pure and simple.
only the preloaded versions on steam need to be unlocked.
I DO NOT WANT TO SEE THE SAME THING HAPPEN WITH HL2!! (what happened with the Doom3 release) its just not cool.
 
Yea but how would ppl without an internet connection even have steam? besides getting it off a disc(not sure if its possible) ,you've got some serious problem if u got a pc that can run HL2 and ur buying HL2 yet u got no internet connection.
 
Impulse147 said:
Yea but how would ppl without an internet connection even have steam? besides getting it off a disc(not sure if its possible) ,you've got some serious problem if u got a pc that can run HL2 and ur buying HL2 yet u got no internet connection.

steam comes with HL2 Im sure, even if its just the small executable that lets you download stuff.
however you are missing my point. they make SP versions of the game... if someone goes out and buys it, and has no Internet connection (unlikely but completely possible) they cant play it? that would be retarded.

or for instance, say you got HL2 and your internet went down.. now you cant play SP because your ISP is having trouble?
or you cant afford to pay this months ISP cost, so its off.. etc etc
Valve have to think of things like that, and therefore it would make no sense to make people install and then unlock their game....

Valve said you would not have to connect to steam to play single player.. only once you have connected to multiplayer will it authenticate. (blah blah)
 
By the way, if we plan to purchase the CD version, do we have to pre-load the stuff? I don't want all this extra cache stuff taking up space on my hard drive if I'm just installing the CD version.

Or will the cached stuff just be used when I install off the disk as well?
 
I got ur point, they won't put some lock on the game maybe multiplayer , but most companys won't release b4 valves set date, i've heard it can cost em 150 bucks per copy in fines just for selling b4 release date, but i've talked to some ppl at best buy and they said they'll probably be doing a midnight sale like they did with Doom3(looks like i'll have to wait in line for 3 more hours ...again.
 
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