What's the deal with the delay?

D33

D33

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First it's happening, then it's not, then it is, then it's rumour, etc, etc.

Has the release date of Half-Life2 been delayed or not?
 
Just had to be sure really, everyone saying a different thing, etc.
 
lol funny movie.. that a real advert?

____________________________________

Ahh, i see now..
 
omg lone that was great! hahahahah, except the first line sucked, the rest was great, omg lol
 
Originally posted by tokin
omg lone that was great! hahahahah, except the first line sucked, the rest was great, omg lol
Click to expand...


That one is by SpuD actually. :)
 
As far as I can tell, initial word of the delay came from an anonymous source but was given "credibility" in the first reports by saying they worked for Vivendi. Suddenly, other sites picked up on it and said that Vivendi Universal had said the game was delayed when Vivendi had in fact said no such thing, at least not officially.

Someone e-mailed Gabe Newell about the rumor immediately, and his response: "First I've heard of it." Of course, a debate immediately ensued as to the legitimacy of the e-mail, but it seemed to fit Gabe's style of to-the-point brevity. This is the first and last thing Valve has said concerning the delay rumor.

So then people started contacting Vivendi directly, and their PR person (forget her name) said things like "Valve is still working towards a September 30 release date" or "Valve is committed to September 30," both of which seem to contradict the rumor. She attributed the rumor to a "miscommunication."

Then there was a press release from ATI saying that their latest video card, the Radeon 9900, would be released on September 30 bundled with a copy of Half-Life 2. The press release went even further suggesting that Valve's gold date is September 13 which would give about two weeks lead time to package and ship the game, which is perfectly reasonable and seems entirely valid.

Finally, at least one retail site still has Half-Life 2 pegged for a September 30 release date: http://www.gamestop.com/product.asp?product_id=645118

So that's about all we know at the moment. No official source and no named source has gone on record to confirm the delay and all named sources some to indicate that September 30 is still the go date. We'll see in about two months, I guess.
 
Originally posted by Mountain Man
Someone e-mailed Gabe Newell about the rumor immediately, and his response: "First I've heard of it."
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I wrote that e-mail, some people said it was fake, let them burn in the deepest depths of hell.
 
That Boomtown article was just another petty webmaster overestimating his own importance in the grand scheme of things. In his little retraction notice, he bitched and moaned about Valve and Vivendi's PR department for apparently releasing contradictory information when the fact is, Vivendi never said the game was delayed in the first place. According to Planet Half-Life, word of the delay was initially attributed to "reliable sources" and not Vivendi at all.

While things still seem up in the air and there is still a lot of skepticism, I think Valve and Vivendi played this one smart and just let the rumor die on the vine. It's probably best not to start a precedent of squashing every rumor to come down the pike as it will only encourage pranksters looking for their 15 minutes of fame.
 
It's annoying that even though available information seems to point towards the game not being delayed, people like Fragmaster seem absolutely certain that it's delayed, as if they are somehow "in the know". The truth is, they don't know any more than we do.
 
And besides whats it matter if there is a slight delay. I mean i want the game as soon as anyone, but people got insanly mad back then. They only told us about the game a month or 2 ago, and i think were god dam lucky they said "out in 2 months" rather than "due December 2004".
 
The main reason for so many big gaming sites (eg gamespy) posting the delay was because it causes them to get alot hit on the their page and thus more viewing of their ad's.

And the only reason why they have not posted a correction (spelling?) for the delay is because they dont want to be seen post inaccurate info
 
Originally posted by Mountain Man
As far as I can tell, initial word of the delay came from an anonymous source but was given "credibility" in the first reports by saying they worked for Vivendi. Suddenly, other sites picked up on it and said that Vivendi Universal had said the game was delayed when Vivendi had in fact said no such thing, at least not officially.

Someone e-mailed Gabe Newell about the rumor immediately, and his response: "First I've heard of it." Of course, a debate immediately ensued as to the legitimacy of the e-mail, but it seemed to fit Gabe's style of to-the-point brevity. This is the first and last thing Valve has said concerning the delay rumor.

So then people started contacting Vivendi directly, and their PR person (forget her name) said things like "Valve is still working towards a September 30 release date" or "Valve is committed to September 30," both of which seem to contradict the rumor. She attributed the rumor to a "miscommunication."

Then there was a press release from ATI saying that their latest video card, the Radeon 9900, would be released on September 30 bundled with a copy of Half-Life 2. The press release went even further suggesting that Valve's gold date is September 13 which would give about two weeks lead time to package and ship the game, which is perfectly reasonable and seems entirely valid.

Finally, at least one retail site still has Half-Life 2 pegged for a September 30 release date: http://www.gamestop.com/product.asp?product_id=645118

So that's about all we know at the moment. No official source and no named source has gone on record to confirm the delay and all named sources some to indicate that September 30 is still the go date. We'll see in about two months, I guess.
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Thats what i said! "No".
 
I don't believe in the delay, but when I stopped by electornics botique to preorder hl2 today, they said it wasn't coming out till november 30.....but what do they know?
 
I care if its delayed cause the current release date is a week after I go to college with amazing network and a ton of free time. I think HL2 would get me off to a good start. P.S. I know its not im just saying that I enjoy the current timing.
 
Hmm, there are quite a few misconceptions in this thread.

A few months ago there was a rumour of a delay reported on Boomtown.net. This was attributed to an anonymous source. People frantically e-mailed Valve and he sent e-mails back saying that the release date had not been changed.

And all was calm.

Then Vivendi Universal said to at least three seperate news sites that the game will not be out on September 2003 but will be out sometime in Holiday 2003.

A few points about this:

1) This was NOT from an anonymous source. Vivendi Universal did say this. A few people seem to think that it was an anonymous source, like the Boomtown article. Just because the articles didn't give the exact name of the person doesn't mean they didn't know the name, or can't say the name. They probably didn't think it was important.

2) These were respectable news sites. They would've checked this before posting. They are reporting news not reporting rumours. People should stop being so cynical about these site's motives.

3) Vivendi Universal did say this, but they later claimed that it was due to a "Miscommunication". This implies that they did say something along the lines of Holiday 2003. Therefore, Gamespy, Gamespot et al did not make it up.

It's also interesting to note that the only thing done to contradict this news report are a few e-mails to fans. There has been nothing totally official that's denied the delay, besides from that Phone call from the Vivendi PR Lady. A lot more effort in denying the rumour could've been undertaken.

Even though I've written all of this, I'm inclined to believe that there is no delay. I'm just clearing up what happened to people and giving my opinion.
 
Originally posted by Mountain Man
That Boomtown article was just another petty webmaster overestimating his own importance in the grand scheme of things. In his little retraction notice, he bitched and moaned about Valve and Vivendi's PR department for apparently releasing contradictory information when the fact is, Vivendi never said the game was delayed in the first place. According to Planet Half-Life, word of the delay was initially attributed to "reliable sources" and not Vivendi at all.
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If I am just another petty webmaster, why bother to rant about what I wrote?

But anyway, you got it all wrong.

First of all, I bitch and moan, yes. But that's my right as a gamer and editor. I still bitch about Vivendi and Valve's sucking PR, because they know about all this confusion and frustration out here amongst us gamers. But do they send out a press release in order to stop the rumours and clarify things. NO! They haven't said anything. That sucks, ladies and gentlemen.

Secondly, Vivendi was credited directly as the source for the delay news story. If you don't believe me (or think you know better) then read Gamespot's story again:

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/halflife2/news_6072668.html

Quote: "Today we received word from the game's publisher, Vivendi Universal, that Half-Life 2's release has been delayed until later this year"

So you think "Vivendi never said the game was delayed in the first place"??? Well, they did.

And the third point:

Early July we ran a story about the delay based on an anonymous source. I personally don't like stories based on anonymous sources, but the interesting part is Gabe Newell's reaction. The story was "Half-Life 2 postponed?" And his answer was No, CZ isn't postponed. Now that is an interesting non-response. Just another example of the very lacking information level about the delay or not delay.

Don't get me wrong, I hope the game is released September 30th. But I doubt it very much.
 
here are a few online game stores that will be stocking HL2.... Note the vast differences in the ship dates...

http://shop.gameplay.co.uk/webstore/productpage.asp?ProductCode=RM00327
28 November 2003

http://uk.special.reserve.co.uk/q_JL2021_half_life_2.html
1 November 2003

http://www.ebgames.com/ebx/product/235059.asp
19 November 2003

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00009ATWC/ref=sr_aps_videogames_1_1/026-6891280-3712400
30 September 2003

And finally the best site....

http://www.tesco.com/entertainment/SearchBrowse.asp?Item=517492&F=MM
26 September 2003
 
Originally posted by Ventura_DK
If I am just another petty webmaster, why bother to rant about what I wrote?
Click to expand...
It's interesting who'll turn up when you beat the bushes a little bit.

As for GameSpot, I don't believe they were ever contacted by Vivendi, or at least it wasn't through official channels which would make it an unofficial rumor from an anonymous source which means it has zero credibility. Granted, I'm basing my take on things on Planet Half-Life which claimed that the information came not from Vivendi but from "a bunch of reliable sources" which remain unnamed. As for some of these sites never going live with an unconfirmed report, what planet are you from?

Yeah, I suppose Valve or Vivendi could have made an official statement saying the game hasn't been delayed, but they have gone on record so many times confirming September 30 as the date that they may have thought addressing a rumor that clearly contradicted all official statements wasn't worth the effort. And like I said, it serves as a means to discourage pranksters and other "reliable sources" who want to stir things up in the community.

What I find most interesting is that many of the community sites seem more inclined to believe an unnamed source that allegedly came from Vivendi as opposed to the actual named sources that did come from Vivendi!
 
Originally posted by SirMcNugget
I care if its delayed cause the current release date is a week after I go to college with amazing network and a ton of free time.
Click to expand...
My first day of Uni is Sept 30th. Here's the thing:
Fresher's week= Social life, more alcohol than my senses/conciousness can handle, potential ladeeez and new and exciting people.
Half Life 2= None of the above. Including a more severe lack of sleep than above. And the very real possibility of rickets from lack of exposure to natural light...
But (at the risk of sounding like a complete and utter fanboy geek recluse) it's HL2... I mean, HL2. Oh, the dillemma.
 
Originally posted by Mountain Man
It's interesting who'll turn up when you beat the bushes a little bit.

As for GameSpot, I don't believe they were ever contacted by Vivendi, or at least it wasn't through official channels which would make it an unofficial rumor from an anonymous source which means it has zero credibility. Granted, I'm basing my take on things on Planet Half-Life which claimed that the information came not from Vivendi but from "a bunch of reliable sources" which remain unnamed. As for some of these sites never going live with an unconfirmed report, what planet are you from?
Click to expand...

Planet Half Life was refering to Gamespot and Game Spy as their Reliable Sources. Which in themselves are news sites.

From Planet Half Life
A whole bunch of reliable sources (here's the GameSpyDaily, GameSpot, and GamePro mentions) are saying that Vivendi Universal Games -- Sierra's parent company -- confirmed today that Half-Life 2 won't make its scheduled September 30th release date. It's now a "holiday 2003" title.
Click to expand...

The reason it mentions reliable sources is so that people don't accuse them of making stuff up. If you read the actual articles they mention Vivendi Universal as the source. They don't mention anyone's name but that means nothing. It doesn't mean that they found their information from someone at a bus stop on the way to the pub. It merely means they didn't write down the name of the PR person or whatever.

Oh, and I'm from Earth not Planet Cynical. They didn't do it to get more hits or more money or for fun. Gamespot were contacted by Vivendi and it was confirmed.

Just to make sure of this: Reliable sources meant big news sites that would be in contact with companies. It wasn't a fan site, it was a site devoted to gaming news. If it was just some guy saying "I've heard Half Life 2 has been delayed" they would've e-mailed Valve or Vivendi, and they would've said "no".
 
Mountain Man:

If Gamespot lists Vivendi as their source, it's Vivendi that gave them the story - it is as simple as that. If Vivendi gave them the story "unofficially" it would be "an anonymous source". If someone from Valve told you "its not gonna make it - trust me" and then said "but you cant quote me on that" - then what are you to do? Some of these websites arent out there to create rumours - but to pass on interesting news. Having someone close to the project say that Half-Life 2 is delayed is a good story - it is just too bad that there are people like you outthere bashing everyone quoting an unconfirmed source. Very few people would make this stuff up - especially if you earn a living by doing what you do. Creating false rumours will hurt your credibility in the long run, so no-one is interested in doing that.
 
Neither Vivendi nor Valve has actually confirmed that the project is on track... Vivendis "Valve is working to reach sept. 30th" confirms nothing at all, unless you are really naive. All of Gabe Newells statements and anything else from Valve is also so incoherent, that it seeds more doubt than anything else.
 
Exactly my point. We won't a bullet proof statement: "Half-Life 2 is going to be released [insert date here]"
 
But they've already given us a concrete date so many times that they may simply feel it not worth their time to contradict an obviously inaccurate rumor.

I mean, I can't count the number of times Valve has gone on record saying that September 30 is the release date, no ifs, ands, or buts. Honestly, how much more concrete do they have to be?
 
Seriously, why are so many people pessimistic? Vivendi said it was a miscommunication, and that Valve is working towards the Sept 30 release. So until Valve says otherwise, that's when it's coming out.
 
I know Valve has stated September 30th right since the game was officially announced. However, Valve is not the only party to be heard in this matter. Vivendi is the publisher, and thus it's quite interesting to see what they say. I just had a look at their site, and in particular the Half-Life 2 product page. Note that there is no release date. That's odd for a game that supposedly is going to be released in 7 weeks:

http://www.vugames.com/product.do?gamePlatformId=470

Even a game as Middle Earth Online, which is unlikely to reach us within the next 12 months has a release date:

http://www.vugames.com/product.do?gamePlatformId=422

And Condition Zero has one as well.

http://www.vugames.com/product.do?gamePlatformId=125

I know this proves nothing really. But it still shows that we need a clarification from Vivendi. Not just a "Valve are still working for September 30th" or something. When is Vivendi going to ship the game to the retailers?

And thanks to |MaTT| for pointing out that the online retailers have no real clue either.
 
I think it's safe to say that no one really knows and everyone is just makeing either educated or uneducated guesses.

-Straylight
 
Can't we just put this whole thing behind us, and agree that that particular rumor was not true? I'm not saying that HL2 will be definatelly released on Sept. 30, however right now there is no evidence to indicate otherwise.
 
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