HalfLife2 Must Go Gold This Monday Or Tuesday To Be On Time

[djkanuk]

Originally posted by Seikeden
hey don't forget they could probably have theg ame gold on the 29th and still manage to get it on steam on the 30th. But only if they wanna piss off Vivendi/Sierra

There have been some other rumours along this same line, but it would do more than just piss Vivendi off, it would probably breach the publishing agreement. Can you imaging how much retail sales they would lose if HL2 were available on Steam like a month or two before it was in stores? The retailers would not be happy and Vivendi/Sierra would certainly have grounds for a massive lawsuit against Valve.

 

[Feath]

Actually, if Valve wanted to generate more interest in the game they don't need to spread delay rumours to do it.

They could release details about multiplayer or post new screenshots/videos.

 

[qckbeam]

I'm not saying valve needs to spread delay rumors to hype there game. The game doesn't need to be hyped up, we all know that it will be great from the E3 videos. My point is that the best way for Valve to keep the community interested in Half-Life 2 is to spread a ruour about delays. I would do it if I ran a gaming company. It's a great way to give your game hype without having to release screenshots and give away your secrets. Posting screenshots and videos is a good way to create hype, but I think Valve would rather not reveal any secerets they have kept for 5 years in the two weeks before release. So in order to make sure we are all excited about half-life 2 they are keeping us in suspense with the release date rumours. I think that they will keep us in suspense up until the last minute.

 

[JimJimBinks]

Q/A is already going on this we know because in the Valve info post Erik Johnson gets asked "what are you guys doing right now? "Play testing testing testing"

I think when Erik Johnson said that, he was PROBABLY saying that a lot of the development team (Excluding Q/A) excluding Q/A has started playtesting, which is a very good sign that the game is close to being released.
Q/A has most definitely been working on the game for months now.
I've worked Q/A on a Valve game before and it doesn't just take a few weeks.

 

[MaDMaXX]

Ok, i think a few of you are forgetting the logistics of all this, when the game is released, its unlikly to have enough copies to supply the demand, however, the first so many that get done in time will be sent out while the production lines continue to churn away at more and more copies, also, they only have to supply initially enough to supply the home market (USA) this is the normal reason for small delays on international releases.

When i spoke in person to Doug about the release date, they had already publically stated it was going to be close, but the think they'll make it, until they know otherwise, they will say 30th. I asked whether it was the graphics thing (AA perf) and unexpected problems that contributed towards it, although he didn't give a very straight answer, you can understand that he didn't, he did more or less confirm this to me.

They are battling as hard as possible to finish on time, if it has to be delayed, it may only be a few days, its also out of their control if it is.

One last thing, its Vivendi that decide whether its gold confirmed or not.

 

[qckbeam]

Could it be all the work they had to put into Nvidia that might cause delays?

 

[Feath]

Originally posted by qckbeam
Could it be all the work they had to put into Nvidia that might cause delays?

In my mind, it's probably what Doug was referring to. Valve seemed pretty annoyed that they had to work 5 times as long as the generic path.

Maybe that was the reason for Gabe's "No Comment".

 

[spitcodfry]

Originally posted by Feath
In my mind, it's probably what Doug was referring to. Valve seemed pretty annoyed that they had to work 5 times as long as the generic path.

Maybe that was the reason for Gabe's "No Comment".

Yeah, and this is where a lot of people think that Valve screwed NVIDIA in favor of ATI, and that just isn't the case. They've gone out of their way to make sure that people with NVIDIA cards will be able to play.

I almost fell over with laughter when I read NVIDIA's press response to the benchmark results from Valve's 'shader day.' They talked a bunch of bullshit about how it didn't reflect the true performance and they gauged their results on current drivers.

What were they supposed to do? Make their own drivers? If it doesn't work well at the moment, then it probably won't work much better later on down the road. Its a hardware limitation, people.

 

[qckbeam]

Yeah Nvidia did spout off alot of BS in that press release, and Gabe seemed to be pretty pissed off with Nvidia at the shader day event for a number of different reasons. God knows I would be too.

 

[JimJimBinks]

I'm pretty confident that the Half Life 2 will be available through Steam on Sept. 30th, probably on retail shelves shortly after.

If Vivendi is like any of the other companies I've worked for, it has to go through a Quality Control type of thing where a team at Vivendi tests it hard for a week or two before they say if it can go gold or not. That's probably the stage they're in. Which means Valve is probably only touching the code if the Quality Control people find something major.

 

[Goombatommy]

Originally posted by JimJimBinks
I'm pretty confident that the Half Life 2 will be available through Steam on Sept. 30th, probably on retail shelves shortly after.

If Vivendi is like any of the other companies I've worked for, it has to go through a Quality Control type of thing where a team at Vivendi tests it hard for a week or two before they say if it can go gold or not. That's probably the stage they're in. Which means Valve is probably only touching the code if the Quality Control people find something major.

Damnit JimJim!! They're releasing it BOTH on STEAM AND ON STORE SHELVES ON THE 30th!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[JimJimBinks]

Damnit JimJim!! They're releasing it BOTH on STEAM AND ON STORE SHELVES ON THE 30th!!!!!!!... and more!!!!

I hope I'm wrong and you're right. I really do.

 

[Direwolf]

Vivendi would have Gabe's head on a plate if they released on Steam first.
Its not an option.

 

[Goombatommy]

Trust me man, it'll be available to anybody on 9/30. Either it be via Steam, or if you wanna buy it on a store shelf.

 

[Solid_Raiden]

Originally posted by schweppes
THE ORIGINAL HALFLIFE WENT GOLD THREE DAYS BEFORE IT WAS ON THE SHELVES.

Really? Didn't know that