Nice interview with the writer of the strategy guide

I'm only partly sure he's joking about the phone directory part.

...how development stalled for months when the physics engine was finished and everyone started building crazy contraptions...
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:LOL:
 
how development stalled for months when the physics engine was finished and everyone started building crazy contraptions...
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those ... bastards!
 
No I don't think he's joking, he said it was over an inch thick! And although it isn't exactly proof...

"The Raising the Bar book, however, is something Prima hopes to release 14-30 days PRIOR to the game shipping."

We could pretend we were video game weather men and use this info to forecast the release! Tho I'm guessing this would be roughly the same time as the gold announcement anyway.
 
Sounds sweet. He says that they plan on releasing the book 14-30 days before HL2 is released. So when that book shows up on store shelves. Well.....that'll tell us something huh?

EDIT: Damn, too late.
 
Hmmm... they say the expansion packs for HL are included in the "making of" book's information... this suggests to me that VALVe do consider them canon...

David Hodgson said:
The Raising the Bar book, however, is something Prima hopes to release 14-30 days PRIOR to the game shipping. I'd urge fans to watch where they open the book, as there's a lot of HL2 spoilers in there!
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Oh crap... on the one hand, that's good, as we'll then know roughly when the game's coming out, but it's also bad, as the forums are probably gonna get spammed with BIG spoilers...
 
KagePrototype said:
Damn, a phone book?! That's just plain too big. :|
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Yeah, it doesn't sound like this guy really has much of an editorial process. It's basically "that's cool, toss it in." Although I'm still gonna buy this book fo sho.
 
Well I work in a major book wholesalers, so i'll be checking our internal stock system soon :D

But damn sounds like a good book. Now i can be confirmed to my freinds as the biggest valve fanboy of all times :D

Oh btw /me strokes %45 discount and guarenteed copy if they only have a limited number :D
 
nice find jayte
all i know is that am going 2 buy that phone book ;)
would be my 4th book i ever bought in my live..
 
We'll know about any release date from VU so the whole prediction thing is a bit pointless really. :p
 
14-30 days prior to shipping hey? Well that absolutely rules out September in case some people hadn't ruled it out yet.
Jess Cliffe and myself have been tweaking this for a couple of months now, and we're hoping to have it done within a couple of weeks.
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I think the EB Games date October 1st for the strategy guide is pretty accurate. Then a release of HL2 in November.

GG capitalism.
 
aha! so they're delaying hl2 because the strategy-guide isn't ready yet..

which would be awful.
 
Nice find, it was a while ago we saw an interview this good. :)
 
Nice find. I might actually purchase that phonebook. I have read through "The Lord of the Rings" 4 times during the last year, so I guess I can handle this book as well.
 
thats a nice read, convinced me to buy the book now :p
 
Nice i hope it explains the cabal process to a T. Might give alot of people an idea as to why a game can be done a year ago, and still not be released today.

Hopefully alot of other developers will pick this book up too. Would be nice to have other developers use the cabal system for their development phase, rather than the common A B lists.

Very nice find this should be a news page thread =)
 
Sounds like a must-buy :afro:

Nice find.
 
For everyone that said that the HL2 saga was a soap opera was wrong -- its now a novel.
 
From the article said:
In addition to a strategy guide for Half-Life 2 and a planned mod making book...
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This is NOT the strategy guide people. This is just a behind the scenes look at Valve and all the work they have done.
 
And how exactly can you expect them to fit a book the size of a phone directory in a game box? :rolleyes:
 
Get a bigger game box. The Age of Mythology Collector's Edition box was huge.
 
Feath said:
Get a bigger game box. The Age of Mythology Collector's Edition box was huge.
Click to expand...
Not exactly phonebook size, though.
 
I bet you get a voucher for a free copy of the book when you purchase the CE. (what a sick joke that would be)
 
ok anyone from norway or sweden or something who has ordered stuff from amazon?is it simple or what?
 
What is the reason for buying a strategy guide? Isn't the whole purpose of the game to find the solutions and secrets yourself?
 
i read, "will also deal with the history of Valve Software itself and its previous games and mods"

as

"will also deal with the history of Valve Software itself and its precious games and mods"

for some reason i didn't question it at all.


</needs help>
 
Doug had some really cool plans for how a "coffee table" style book would work, and we ran with the plan of making a history of Valve, plus an art book, and merging them together into a tome around the size of a phone directory, but with a hardback cover and glossy paper.
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So this book has the abilities to withstand Coffee spills, as well as looking colourful with the art that is provided by Valve. Not to mention having half the amount of pages that the bible has, I'm getting goose-bumps
 
on where the stacks and stacks of art were going to be placed in the book. At last count, there's around 1000 images in there.
Click to expand...

So this is definetley serious. It will be in your local waterstones for those people who live in the UK, that I'm sure about.
 
It was a great read but I'd love it if someone told me how on Earth could someone be an "Ex-Brit". No matter where he lives he'll still be British.
 
Feath said:
It was a great read but I'd love it if someone told me how on Earth could someone be an "Ex-Brit". No matter where he lives he'll still be British.
Click to expand...

Unless he got American citizenship after his British citizenship become void due to some administrative error.

Or something.

:p
 
Feath said:
how on Earth could someone be an "Ex-Brit". No matter where he lives he'll still be British.
Click to expand...



this excellent interview has convinced me to purchase it
 
amazon shows a date of October 7th for this. I doubt this is a reliable indicator, but that would put HL2 14-30 days after that...if they succeed in their plan.
 
Correct me if I am wrong, but dident someone buy this and posted spoilers? or was that just a rumor?
 
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