Halo 2: Gold to Shipping in 38 days...HL2 twice as long??!!

M

McVittees

Guest
Just saw on BBC online news that halo has gone gold and 'the game is on course for its release in the US on 9 November, to be followed by a launch across Europe on 11 November.'

My question is then: if Halo is expecting to go from gold to master in 38 days why is HL2 going to take almost twice that? (If current end of November dates turn out to be true).

Any suggestions as to what makes getting HL2 out so hard? :frown:
 
Its not gold its just done, another month at least for Q&A before its gold. At least this is what the news sources I have seen are saying.
 
I misread the title, thought it was "HL²: Gold" ;(

Anyway why is it taking so much longer than Halo²? it could be the current situation between VUG & Valve, could be the localization & translation of the manuals, could be the RC's weren't good enough, could be anything at this point really. If only we had some sort of insider knowledge... Chris? Icarus? anyone? :LOL:
 
Halo 2 is done, its not gold after they do a month of testing. The reason the testign takes so long for halo 2 is because its a console so it has to be as bug free as possible. HL2 on the other hand is takign so long because vug is using stall tactics for a holiday release.
 
CB | Para said:
I misread the title, thought it was "HL²: Gold" ;(

Anyway why is it taking so much longer than Halo²? it could be the current situation between VUG & Valve, could be the localization & translation of the manuals, could be the RC's weren't good enough, could be anything at this point really. If only we had some sort of insider knowledge... Chris? Icarus? anyone? :LOL:
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Would you really like to know? What if the cd's are already pressed and waiting in the distibution centers, and Gabe and the head of Vivendi are on a cool off course in the himalayas?
 
Speculation is all BS. The gold announcement will come soon enough :D
 
Or it could be the fact that Microsoft are publishing one title in one edition, whereas Valve and VU are effectively publishing three different games in a number of different editions, versions, different boxes, different manuals, different media. And of course they have to test all three thoroughly too.

Any surprise why it's taking a while? :|
 
all the editions and boxes have the same game. Printing 4 kinds of boxes shouldn't be thaht hard. VU is only holding the game to make more money in november
 
Testing for a console game is easier/quicker than testing for a PC game. With a PC title, you have to do the testing on a huge variety of hardware combinations. That adds a lot of time to the testing process.
 
Pi Mu Rho said:
Testing for a console game is easier/quicker than testing for a PC game. With a PC title, you have to do the testing on a huge variety of hardware combinations. That adds a lot of time to the testing process.
Click to expand...
Apart from the fact that there's a lot more work on the pc's technical side, testing a console game is incredibly more intensive and important than a PC game.
A console game needs te be perfect, you buy the game and nobody (except a select few with their box connected to broadband) can patch it later on.
 
Or it could be the fact that Microsoft are publishing one title in one edition, whereas Valve and VU are effectively publishing three different games in a number of different editions, versions, different boxes, different manuals, different media. And of course they have to test all three thoroughly too.
Click to expand...

Actually, there are two editions:

http://www.ebgames.com/ebx/product/243597.asp

They will have a DVD with a making of documentary - wish Valve would have done that too...
 
also don't forget, that Valve hasn't given Vivendi a master edition yet, only the RC's
 
Clavius said:
Apart from the fact that there's a lot more work on the pc's technical side, testing a console game is incredibly more intensive and important than a PC game.
A console game needs te be perfect, you buy the game and nobody (except a select few with their box connected to broadband) can patch it later on.
Click to expand...

I guarantee that HL2 will require a lot more testing than Halo 2.
 
hilly said:
also don't forget, that Valve hasn't given Vivendi a master edition yet, only the RC's
Click to expand...

It's not up to VALVe to decide wether the RC goes gold, ie is the master edition. They just send in RC after RC until VUG declares one of them good enough to be the gold master. Correct me if I'm mistaken :imu:
 
Halo 2 actually has a Limited Edition too. Tin box, extra DVD with developer interviews and concept art on the game. Only 5 bucks more too!

The only reason HL2 isn't coming out sooner is because VUG is futzing around, well... either that or their Marketing monsters say that November 23/26 is a better launch day.
 
CB | Para said:
I misread the title, thought it was "HL²: Gold" ;(

Anyway why is it taking so much longer than Halo²? it could be the current situation between VUG & Valve, could be the localization & translation of the manuals, could be the RC's weren't good enough, could be anything at this point really. If only we had some sort of insider knowledge... Chris? Icarus? anyone? :LOL:
Click to expand...

yeah...im sorta getting annoyed at a few thread titles.. i mean heart attack city here :x
anyway couldn't the reason why its taking longer is simply because its the most anticipated game right now??

also, if anyone here has *insider info* that would Chris_D :p
remember the whole Steam haxor hoax last September? and recently the move=chris_d thing?
yeah...i'd say its time to take Chris into the HL2.net int interrogation room :O
 
It is coming out on Nov. 9th, because that is the anniversary of the launch of the Xbox.

They could have it out sooner, but they chose the 9th for marketing and strategy.

If MS or Vivendi really wanted too, they could go from gold to ship in 2 weeks.
 
Yes, they probably could. However, HL2 has not gone gold yet!
 
...Ok..fair enough. But can you deny that they arn't taking a longer than usual?
 
well it depends how many bugs they find. PC games have to run on a wide range of systems with diffirent operating systems. The first RC valve sent crashed on win98 Pcs with fx 5400,5700 etc cards.

This is a major bug and rightly VU sent it back to valve. Its up to valve to get their shit together.
 
BigWalnutZ said:
when does the HL: raising the bar book come out...looking to snatch that up.

edit: started topic here
Click to expand...

We should be hearing from that anytime soon on these very forums :)
 
Pi Mu Rho said:
Yes, they probably could. However, HL2 has not gone gold yet!
Click to expand...

And as everyones pointing out, neither has Halo 2 :)

A console is a lot easier to test for, and it depends on what bugs you find. Although once HL2 is gold it shouldnt take that much longer for the actual production run.

btw Pi Mu Rho that avatar looks like the railgun tank you were working on, but with a different chassis, did you get that finished?
 
ukfluke said:
well it depends how many bugs they find. PC games have to run on a wide range of systems with diffirent operating systems. The first RC valve sent crashed on win98 Pcs with fx 5400,5700 etc cards.

This is a major bug and rightly VU sent it back to valve. Its up to valve to get their shit together.
Click to expand...

Eh? Where did you get that information?
 
1. Console games cannot be patched. Microsoft (from what I remember), will not allow developers to release patches over their system. Theif anybody?

2. Console games have to be perfect, which is why they take longer. A console game with a huge bug = bad sales.
 
DarkSonic said:
1. Console games cannot be patched. Microsoft (from what I remember), will not allow developers to release patches over their system. Theif anybody?

2. Console games have to be perfect, which is why they take longer. A console game with a huge bug = bad sales.
Click to expand...

Ghost Recon is a perfect example. The Live support was horrible and it was never fixed although Ubi said they were working on a fix it was never released.
 
Yes, because Microsoft won't allow anyone to release a patch, even though it would be possible. I can't exactly remember why though..It was on Pulse a few months back...
 
darkmistx....its elementry...about a week after valve submitted the first RC an update was issued to CS:source here it is....my bad i got the gfx card model number wrong.

An update to the Counter-Strike: Source beta has just been released. Steam will update itself automatically when you restart. Here is a list of the changes:


COUNTER-STRIKE: SOURCE BETA CHANGES / ADDITIONS:

Improved DX7 graphics code path performance by up to 225%.

Fixed key bindings for non-US layouts causing the scoreboard to be stuck on.

Fixed barrel nudging player forever if you crouched near it.

Made correct names appear in "attacked teammate" message.

Made changelevel due to map timelimit happen at round end.

Added intermission scoreboard at end of round.

Disabled hiding viewmodel with "impulse 200" if sv_cheats is off.

Fixed reload exploit.

Fixed C4 sound not playing while planting.

Stopped money icon being red on level change.

Added C4 icon in first person spectator mode if spectated player has the bomb.

Fixed a problem where the game would crash when run on Win98 with a NVidia 5900, 5950, or 6800.
Fixed crash due to stacking large numbers of weapons.

Fixed muzzle flashes showing incorrectly when switching players in spectator mode.

Fixed voice_banmgr.dt growing exponentially.
 
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