Midnight sales.

[Hanta Swe]

your 443 posts says something else.

 

[Nocturnaloner]

No one care to speculate this further?

I'm still not impressed. Someone that none of us know, says in an email, (a second-hand email no less) "I heard it directly from Valve." No specifics, no nothing.

eLGee, let me put it to you this way, if you really buy into this hint of a rumor that you are so desperately clinging to, if it gets to be a day or two from the 16th, and rumors are rampant on the forums about people who "really" have a copy, and Steam's not activated, you're going to be whining about how Valve lied to you, when in fact they did nothing of the kind. On the other hand, if you just relax and don't get your expectations wound up, and Steam does activate a day or two early, it'll be a nice surprise.

 

[Silent_night]

Are we sure that the game will be activated nov 15 at midnight? ddi we get a confirm?

 

[eLGee]

I'm still not impressed. Someone that none of us know, says in an email, (a second-hand email no less) "I heard it directly from Valve." No specifics, no nothing.

eLGee, let me put it to you this way, if you really buy into this hint of a rumor that you are so desperately clinging to, if it gets to be a day or two from the 16th, and rumors are rampant on the forums about people who "really" have a copy, and Steam's not activated, you're going to be whining about how Valve lied to you, when in fact they did nothing of the kind. On the other hand, if you just relax and don't get your expectations wound up, and Steam does activate a day or two early, it'll be a nice surprise.

Come on, don't talk to me like I'm a five-year-old. I'm not bringing my hopes up until I hear something from Valve. "...desperately clinging to"? Please.

 

[eLGee]

Are we sure that the game will be activated nov 15 at midnight? ddi we get a confirm?

Nothing from Valve yet.

 

[FISKER_Q]

I'm still not impressed. Someone that none of us know, says in an email, (a second-hand email no less) "I heard it directly from Valve." No specifics, no nothing.

eLGee, let me put it to you this way, if you really buy into this hint of a rumor that you are so desperately clinging to, if it gets to be a day or two from the 16th, and rumors are rampant on the forums about people who "really" have a copy, and Steam's not activated, you're going to be whining about how Valve lied to you, when in fact they did nothing of the kind. On the other hand, if you just relax and don't get your expectations wound up, and Steam does activate a day or two early, it'll be a nice surprise.

That was as in he spoke to them.

Besides we all have our sources, one of them were someone anonymous from vivendi saying that the release was considered a christmas release instead of the 30th september. He turned out to be right.

As far as my sources go i'll tell you that if what i'm told is true and the game is released on steam before the actual official date(i.e because of a store selling too early) then there will be a lot more to discuss in the courtroom.

 

[FISKER_Q]

That was as in he spoke to them.

Besides we all have our sources, one of them were someone anonymous from vivendi saying that the release was considered a christmas release instead of the 30th september. He turned out to be right.

As far as my sources go i'll tell you that if what i'm told is true and the game is released on steam before the actual official date(i.e because of a store selling too early) then there will be a lot more to discuss in the courtroom.

New information.

The game will be released on steam(and retail) 9:00AM GMT+1, or exactly 12:00am 16th november VST(PST).

Edit: Yes i'm serious Valve and Vivendi have made sure that nomatter what noone is "first"(As i wrote before, if Valve did release it early there would be a lot more to discuss in the courtroom). And stores are specifically told to hold it to xx:xx 16th November in their local time. The source is boomtown.net, however no english translation has been made yet.

 

[YamatoTwinkie]

As far as my sources go i'll tell you that if what i'm told is true and the game is released on steam before the actual official date(i.e because of a store selling too early) then there will be a lot more to discuss in the courtroom.

I think its Vivendi's responsibility to ensure that no retailer sells before the 16th. If a retailer does sell it early, its Vivendi's fault (at least indirectly, they should have taken better precautions to ensure that this wouldnt happen). So vivendi has started selling their copies first, which means valve can start selling theirs through steam.

Personally, I doubt there was any contract between Valve and VU regarding the 16th- this might have led to abuse of the system by Vivendi (for instance,VU could have set the "official" release as sometime in 2005, then "accidentally" ship their copies to stores in 2 weeks, telling the stores to "try not to sell it until April 2005"- thus when the stores inevitably sell it early, VU could get all of the profits from the game, because why buy HL2 from steam in 2005 when people could get it in stores now?)

A "valve can't sell it until VU sells their first copy" contract works the best, because neither side can abuse it.

 

[FISKER_Q]

I think its Vivendi's responsibility to ensure that no retailer sells before the 16th. If a retailer does sell it early, its Vivendi's fault (at least indirectly, they should have taken better precautions to ensure that this wouldnt happen). So vivendi has started selling their copies first, which means valve can start selling theirs through steam.

Personally, I doubt there was any contract between Valve and VU regarding the 16th- this might have led to abuse of the system by Vivendi (for instance,VU could have set the "official" release as sometime in 2005, then "accidentally" ship their copies to stores in 2 weeks, telling the stores to "try not to sell it until April 2005"- thus when the stores inevitably sell it early, VU could get all of the profits from the game, because why buy HL2 from steam in 2005 when people could get it in stores now?)

A "valve can't sell it until VU sells their first copy" contract works the best, because neither side can abuse it.

A contract does have more than one line, not just "You, Valve release in 2005, keke?". Of course they will have clauses up the wazoo, that's what lawyers are for.

 

[YamatoTwinkie]

A contract does have more than one line, not just "You, Valve release in 2005, keke?". Of course they will have clauses up the wazoo, that's what lawyers are for.

I understand contracts are lengthy things. I was just pointing out that IF the intention was to make things as fair as possible, a "valve has to wait until XX:XX PST on Nov 16th" contract doesn't make sense unless Vivendi is bound to the same release. But thats pretty much impossible, because some stores always sell early. I guess a overall steam lock on both steam/retail versions until the 16th would work, but that would just cause grief with all the customers who managed to get a copy early, but can't play the game.

 

[eLGee]

http://www.nilhanth.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/news.htm

I was wrong. Steve Gibson was wrong. Yay.

Vivendi have released the worldwide simultaneous times for which Half-Life 2 will be released at retail and through Steam. The following times ARE simultaneous.

http://www.nilhanth.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/times.PNG

 

[Nocturnaloner]

At least you're adult enough to admit it. Most people on forums aren't

 

[eLGee]

Yeah, how big of me. Thanks.

 

[rocklegendfm99]

im gonna go to sleep at 6:00PM and wake up at 12:00AM and start playing HALF-LIFE2

 

[Slainchild]

im gonna go to sleep at 6:00PM and wake up at 12:00AM and start playing HALF-LIFE2

That's not as easy as it sounds.

 

[Kangy]

Meh, wake up at 7:30, pretend to vomit, sign off from commitments, turn on steam at 7:45, wait till 8:15, play

 

[eLGee]

I'm up at 8:15, so I can eat a nice breakfast before playing, so I'll be able to sit for a while. Maybe take a shower, put on my finest suit and tie... Nah, just breakfast.