What is taking Vivendi so damn long?

[^Thomas^]

Its one week since Valve sent the HL2 copy to Vivendi for bug testing. They were going to test it for 72 hours far as I know and they are probably a lot of people that are playtesting it.

Can we expect some more info soon?

 

[clarky003]

I expect, considering all the planned reviews, it'll go gold this week. or at the start of next.

no other info, just a wait for Gold and release date, and a suprise supposedly

 

[Dr0ndeh]

i would imagine that the first RC was rejected, and theyre testing the second now. thats my guess anyway.

 

[SidewinderX]

Its one week since Valve sent the HL2 copy to Vivendi for bug testing. They were going to test it for 72 hours far as I know and they are probably a lot of people that are playtesting it.

Can we expect some more info soon?

that 72 hours "as far is you know" is some fictional number concieved by you or someone else with no evidenbce to support it. They have a release client. Thier job is to make sure everyhting is there, and there aren't major flaws/defects in the game. That takes longer than 72 hours. Yes HL1 was approve quickly, but things were different then, and that may had an impact on it.

Don't get angry at VU because thei're not meeting a fictional date you set in your head.

 

[fez]

its highly unlikely that the first RC was accepted. as a software engineer i have never had the first RC of any software i have produced accepted through QA (that could be im just a crap coder! ) its usually the 2nd or 3rd most of the time as there are always a few niggling issues that i have missed while testing it myself even though the overall product will work correctly

 

[r5a]

VU: "How do you install this thing? There is no installer! my gawd send it back! ITS FAILED"

Valve: "****'s sake"

 

[estling]

Naah.. Since it's a new technology.. (err, I hope you understood that one ^^), I bet it will take a bit longer.. :c I bet they are still on the first RC, and that the first RC will be accepted. since I don't know shite about .. er.. testing and that stuff, I can't say a shite, but _i think_ it's the first one . And I also think that it will be aproved and that HL2 will go gold soon and it will pop up on us all ;-)

 

[Asuka]

I feel it. It will be friday i tell you i feel it.

 

[Daiceman9]

Also, IIRC HL2 is supposed to be much longer then HL was and more open. So it would take longer to make sure everyone speeks and such and that there are no obvious map errors anywhere in the map.

 

[Warlock]

Well, not only do they have to test Half Life 2, but they have to test Counter Strike: Source and Half Life: Source, so that would take a while. And of course, it's quite possible the RC for any of those three was rejected, and they're testing the second one now. Still, seeing the amount of time Valve has spent on all of this, I'd suspect there aren't many bugs that would cause the RC to be rejected, so even if there is a problem with the first, the second should get by. So, either way, not at all long now.

 

[Alig]

First they have to test HL2 thouroughly (sp?) probably on all difficulty settings if the game differs on different settings to make sure everything works. Then HL-S then CS-S.

 

[RobertPBham]

Not sure whether this helps, but I'm sure the post that said it would take 72 hours to test didn't say 3 days - we just assumed it meant a 24 hour period. So to me, it could mean 9 days excluding weekends working on 8 hours testing per day. I guess no one knows for definate, but just an idea.

 

[Anthraxxx]

I just hope it goes gold soon so that I will have it by the time Lanwar starts....

http://www.lanwar.com <- one of the larger lan parties in the midwest/east coast...

 

[Ecthe|ioN]

Nobody knows how long it takes to playtest HL2, HLS and CSS. Just wait .. It's gold when it's gold. And thank God for that.

 

[Incitatus]

that 72 hours "as far is you know" is some fictional number concieved by you or someone else with no evidenbce to support it. They have a release client. Thier job is to make sure everyhting is there, and there aren't major flaws/defects in the game. That takes longer than 72 hours. Yes HL1 was approve quickly, but things were different then, and that may had an impact on it.

Don't get angry at VU because thei're not meeting a fictional date you set in your head.

Actually 72 hours was the time that was mentioned in that article about RC testing, by a game developer that has worked with VU. I can't remember where the link is though :rolling:

:afro:

 

[Nex321]

They won't be telling us if it has gone gold or not before 8th October, right valve?

 

[DvS]

They sent the RC via snail mail and it's probably still on it's way to vivendi. :upstare:

 

[Someone]

As other's have said: It's not just HL2, but HL:S and CS:S that were sent as well. And as someone else said: it's a big new engine on top of that which surely has more chances for bugs and issues than the original HL.

I think people assume because HL1 was accepted so fast that that is what will happen, but that's actually the rare vs the normal. Might take several RC's for each or might take one for each....only time will tell.

But even if each is accepted on the first try that's still 3 products, and that could run 10+ days pretty easy.

 

[kaellinn18]

They sent the RC via snail mail and it's probably still on it's way to vivendi. :upstare:

No, no, no. They're transferring it over the internet...manually...using a laser pointer over an optic fiber.

 

[Sashswash]

I wouldn't think that they'd send it in the mail....wouldn't they send them the RC over the internet or something??

 

[oldagerocker]

i'd have thought they burn it all to cd's themselves and personally hand it over. its the safest way.

 

[DvS]

Jesus christ.. I was being sarcastic...

 

[kaellinn18]

Jesus christ.. I was being sarcastic...

Some people just don't get the rolly eyes.

 

[Ady]

i don't know why people don't get that it's probably 72hrs of actual test time, and they most likely only work 8hrs a day. Now go back and workout how many days that is and you have yourself a little more realistic date to look forward to.

 

[Miker75]

72 hours doesn't seem all that long to test a game to me. It may well be correct though, and I would have thought the majority of bugs would have been found in Valve's own playtesting, so there shouldn't be much left for Vivendi to do than give it a "once-over" to see if anything glaring pops out at them.

 

[sHm0zY]

Its one week since Valve sent the HL2 copy to Vivendi for bug testing. They were going to test it for 72 hours far as I know and they are probably a lot of people that are playtesting it.

Can we expect some more info soon?

they are hogging the game

 

[Sparta]

They sent the RC via snail mail and it's probably still on it's way to vivendi. :upstare:

I got an email from Gabe saying they sent the RC via carrier pigeon. But it got delayed because Greg Coomer told the pigeon to pick up a pizza he ordered and instead, the bird accidently gave Vivendi the pizza, and gave the RC back to Greg.

So Vivendi have been playtesting a large beef and pepperoni for the last 5 days

 

[CombineHarvester]

i would imagine that the first RC was rejected, and theyre testing the second now. thats my guess anyway.

No,no,no!

It obviously went gold on early Saturday morning. Valve then set up a Third test on Monday featuring the picture of a solid gold Miiiister Freeeeeeman, but we are all too stupid to have noticed

BTW I think HL2 should go platinum. Gold is just sooooo passe.

 

[Black-Falcon]

Well, not only do they have to test Half Life 2, but they have to test Counter Strike: Source and Half Life: Source, so that would take a while. ... I'd suspect there aren't many bugs that would cause the RC to be rejected, so even if there is a problem with the first, the second should get by. So, either way, not at all long now.

yes you are right, but you come accross that they are only using one team for all of the games. I am pretty sure they have one team to do HL2 one team to do CSS and so on. Because to me atleast it is just inefficient to try to do such a large game. so yea theres my just-woke-up-inebreated-post

 

[FISKER_Q]

that 72 hours "as far is you know" is some fictional number concieved by you or someone else with no evidenbce to support it. They have a release client. Thier job is to make sure everyhting is there, and there aren't major flaws/defects in the game. That takes longer than 72 hours. Yes HL1 was approve quickly, but things were different then, and that may had an impact on it.

Don't get angry at VU because thei're not meeting a fictional date you set in your head.

As already said:

The information is from Per Edman(piotr) he's on the team behind Ground Control 1/2

His information, although outdated, does describe pretty much what the progress goes through.

His numbers might be screwed a bit though.

And also don't jump to conclusions, it's not like they need to put out a press release for each RC.

 

[Silent_night]

as soon as they are done hl2 will go gold? is that how it works?

 

[john121]

VU: "what? you used sprites? this is worse than duke nukem forever! OMG send this game back! i can't beleive they fed us those movies of high res and send us this crap comparable to pac-man! we'll wait 10 years if we have to!

valve: how about 15 years? cuz we gotta rebuild everything...

VU: just never make a HL2, dammit!!

THIS IS MY NIGHTMARE....LOL

 

[Wraith]

i'd have thought they burn it all to cd's themselves and personally hand it over. its the safest way.

i dont really think VALVe is known for safety with their games

 

[Teta_Bonita]

don't worry. It'll come out some day....

 

[ImJacksAmygdala]

Even if HL2 goes gold this friday it will still be stuck in legal limbo between VU/Valve and ATI/Valve and I doubt it can be released untill after March 2005....

 

[TheWart]

Even if HL2 goes gold this friday it will still be stuck in legal limbo between VU/Valve and ATI/Valve and I doubt it can be released untill after March 2005....

I'll take option 'C'

 

[Mr. Redundant]

well first vivendi had to get over the "OMFG we have teh HL2" then they had to stop their beta testers from playing with one hand all the time (if you catch my drift), and now that things are settling down they are recording all the numerous bugs (or lack thereof), or at least finding reasons to keep the game in their hands a couple extra days.

 

[BlackMesaDude]

If we see no gone gold this month then something is seriously wrong with the RC or it just takes that damn long to test everything but I highly doubt it but then again you cant be too sure how it works over there.

 

[uziholda]

well first vivendi had to get over the "OMFG we have teh HL2" then they had to stop their beta testers from playing with one hand all the time (if you catch my drift), and now that things are settling down they are recording all the numerous bugs (or lack thereof), or at least finding reasons to keep the game in their hands a couple extra days.

yeah,so they can find hax0rs for teh cs0rrr i b3t


lol,damn vinvendi beta testers,i say we shall kill them at the break of dawn

 

[FISKER_Q]

Even if HL2 goes gold this friday it will still be stuck in legal limbo between VU/Valve and ATI/Valve and I doubt it can be released untill after March 2005....

It won't.