Half-Life 2 Release Pushed Back

[rec]

Leading game news website; Shacknews has confidently confirmed the delay of Half-Life 2. A mere week away from apparent release, Doug Lombardi of Valve Software has confirmed a delay in what Shacknews consider an official statement.

While many of us may wallow in disapointment, self-pity and disbelief, Shacknews can assure us with absolute certainty that their e-mail from Doug is legitimate. I will mention that this apparent announcement was sent out at 9pm Pacific time with mention that they're having problems with Valve mail servers (the supposed reason not everyone was informed of the delay), which is keeping people skeptical.

We'll keep you updated with any further information as soon as it becomes availible to us.

Update by StarMonkey:

This has now been confirmed by SpuD, who has been in contact with Doug Lombardi:

From: "Doug Lombardi" <[email protected]>
To: "'Adam(SpuD)'" <[email protected]>, "Gabe Newell" <[email protected]>, "John Cook" <[email protected]>, [email protected]
Subject: RE: HalfLife2.net wants confirmation.
Date: Tue, 23 Sep 2003 22:04:59 -0700Hi.

Yes, I sent that note to Shack.

Sorry it didn't reach the entire press list at once.

And, as you may have guessed, that's all we can say -- for the moment anyway.

Cheers

-----Original Message-----
From: Adam(SpuD) [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2003 9:46 PM
To: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]
Subject: HalfLife2.net wants confirmation.

Hello, I am SpuD from the halflife2.net staff team.

With all this speculation of the release dates and now this magical email that all the sites are reporting about has thrown many into confusion about the release date.

First off, I want to verify this new email that all the sites are posting about.

Second, can you tell me the exact release date now. Hopefully it hasnt changed.

For more information, see http://www.halflife2.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9366

 

[Feath]

Oh well.

My guess is that they are just going to work on the game and the just announce that it's finished one day.

 

[Homer]

this is bullshit. just bought my new card today.

 

[Orange]

well hell spells

 

[theGreenBunny]

*screams*

 

[TheScream]

Hrm... curious, if it is delayed and ATI has a contract for Valve to supply HL2 "lite" with the new 9800XL then will the ATI release be delayed OR is it a keen marketing ploy to make sure that ATI 9800XL owners have the exclusive early release before the retail release?

 

[JimJimBinks]

::Quickly digs a hole and fills it with cement in order to capture and bathe in the tears of gamers everywhere::

 

[lonestar]

NOOOO!...

holiday release?! damnit!.. i'm angry and sad at the same time.

 

[poksmote]

Thats strange Valve's mail servers went down at the same time he sent that e-mail. There's always the possibility their mail servers got hacked, and someone mass mailed the message under Lombardi's address just to **** with everyone. If thats the case, then thats really quite funny. But that would explain the downtime for the servers. OR everyone was just so pissed off they all emailed Valve at the same time and overloaded all the servers. Either way I'm sure there will be some official official announcement tomorrow. Even if the email is legit, it seems kinda shitty to tell only a few websites through e-mail, instead of making some kind of notice on the Valve or Steam websites... Again, I'm sure there will be answers tomorrow. And if the email is true, then even the holiday release is in question, as it is just another "target" date. HL2 coming holiday season, 2005!

 

[Trillian-2hot]

Tell me I"m still dreaming this nightmare....
Somebody wake me up..please!

 

[azz0r]

I say we all gather outside there offices and force ourselves an early copy, yarhgg

 

[PuffyPipe]

Surprized?!?!?!

Who here is surprised? because I'm not and anyone who thought Valve would stick to a September release without getting people ready with adverts and advanced previews are silly. In my view this move is a good sales tactic and generates even more interest amongst gamers and a Holiday release?!? come on, Valve were always going for Christmas time. Not all kids work to buy games but every kid gets a Christmas present and you can bet Valve knows it!
:dozey:

 

[zarloq]

I knew it.

Notice how Valve has cleverly chosen to provoke more, seemingly endless, speculation by saying "holliday season" and no "in-store" date. They must have one of the worst PR depts of any game company...

It seems to me that they're just pissing off their fan base by not communicating the fact that they were not gonna make Sept 30. I don't really mind that game is delayed - I just want it to be fun and high quality.

 

[Gunner]

Whoops! lol : )

 

[smilez]

So if its delayed when will we see : The SDK, More Movies, The Benchmark ??? Important questions must be asked

 

[Skarsnik]

This is starting to smell like TF2

 

[Ken5h1ro]

Personally, I don't mind a delay of about 1 month or so...
Honestly it would be only a mere 2% delay, over a 5 year development project...
I just hope they're spending this extra time adding more eye-candy, such as those DX9 High Dynamic Range sweeties, and NOT recompiling the whole Source engine!!! :dozey:

 

[ZkilfinG]

I find all of this very strange. Concidering how calm Valve has been the whole time and the odd circumstances surrounding this "official statement" I would be surpriced if it's really true. I know there are good arguments for both sides though, but I can't really see any point for Valve to handle the situation like this. Of course unexpected things might come up, but if they really were to push the realease back I think they would have put the news up on official sites and emailed all news/fan-sites.

 

[MoJo|Night]

If there is a delay personally I don't mind the actuall dealy, I do mind the lack of an announcement though.

What Valve needs is an official hl2 site where people can get news without having to have a mass debate and have to trust (or not trust) endless news items of speculation across all forms of media.

This delay may be some mail server hacking, I don't believe it is but you never know. And official site with official statements would just make things a lot more pleasant for the while community. That being said it would cut down speculation and therefore all the free publicity......

 

[kilword]

errr

im gonna stab someone....

 

[FOe]

Why the h*ll are they even mentioning a release date at all if they can't keep it?????? I thought Valve was better then this because they over and over denied all the delay-rumors, but nooooo, they are not better then anybody else. It´s as simple as that.

No, I don't want HL2 to be released if its not finshed, but shut the f*ck up with the dates then!!! Valve as many other game-developers has no respect what so ever for what they say to to the community.

Valve, you just totaly lost my respect for you.

 

[Skarsnik]

Event at ECTS, which was a fairly recent event, Doug Lombardi confirmed sept. 30 in a pc mag interview, 3 or 4 times!!!

 

[.5c0ut-WHoR3.]

Man, NOOOOO!!!!11

 

[Ares]

I say it's a fake email and the devs here aren't not saying anything about.. I swear! They kno-- I mean, they don't not know something.

 

[Devised_Poly]

*takes deep breath* ...... NNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO0000000000000000000000000000oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...... *faints*


who else wasnt suprised but blinded by hope....or still is :cheese:

 

[aku ankka]

Hooray, now we can except even a better game! :cheers:

 

[Max Damage]

Re: I knew it.

Originally posted by zarloq
They must have one of the worst PR depts of any game company...

Worst PR? Maybe?

Best marketing? Look at all the hype this will generate, even if it's for the wrong reasons. They're shrewd businessmen.

Still, sad that it's delayed. I did have high hopes that Fragmaster would be walking around in an HEV suit on the 30th, but those have been dashed on the cruel, pointy rocks of reality.

But... as I've always stated, there's a firm chance of it being delayed. Guess I'll be just be playing Homeworld 2, Otogi, Soul Calibur 2, Knights of the Old Republic and the other ton of great games coming out this month.

 

[roxXx]

gggrr i buyt a whole new pc, and i was a 30 sep believer, but now **** valve realy i dont need hl2 anymore there are lots off other better games! **** VALVE!

 

[Perkins]

As a Brit the phrase 'holiday season' doesn't mean a lot to me now that I have left University (at which time it meant 'term time') - am I right in thinking this is around Thanksgiving and Christmas.

 

[-dp-]

We also got the mail ( www.unrealops.com ). I don´t think it´s a fake mail but I do think it was wrong to tell everyone that there was no delay when people started getting mails from stores, telling them that HL2 was going to be released later.

-dp-

 

[b (thats it)]

... *gets out crowboar and smashes computer screen*

 

[bidou]

That's not nice at all to tell everyone that there will be a delay a week away from the promised release date.

How can Gabe Newell be trusted now?

Liars, that's it.

 

[Guest]

Wheres Disturbed? Lol What happened? Moron.

 

[Guest]

Actually, if they went gold on the 15th of this month they would have enough time to get it to the shelves. IE. UT2K3 went gold 10 days before it was suppose to be released, and what happened? It was on shelves on the day it was suppose to be released. It probably is right now basically "gold" but they may still be play testing to find any other little bugs there might be, but IMHO(in my honest opinion) the game is basically done, and should make the September 30th release date!

----Disturbed

LOL

 

[TrueWeltall]

Its not like we didnt see this coming.

 

[Chicky]

:so confused: date needs to be sept 30th or um there be a..... uprising of geeks and nerds and gamers to kick some ass

 

[Mountain Man]

Call me an eternal optimist, but I think I'll wait for a little more widespread confirmation before I believe this one.

Edit: For what it's worth, I emailed Gabe. It's not like he'll answer me or anything, but here's what I wrote:

There's an email going around supposedly from Doug Lombardi saying that Half-Life 2 is now scheduled for a holiday release. Is there any truth to this? If so, why did you guys so confidently say the game would be out 9/30?

I must admit, if Valve was just playing a marketing game with its fans by towing the "9/30 release" line then I'm rather disappointed in the company as I was under the impression we could take you guys at your word.

 

[DEICIDE]

Vivendi Universal Games = $atan

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

Originally posted by paolob
Wheres Disturbed? Lol What happened? Moron.

Lol don't start with me child.

 

[Trillian-2hot]

Let's strike!

And play Quake and Batllefield till the release.