E
Eternity
Guest
I think both companies are absolute amateurs. Neither of these public corporations deserve my money, and it is only with the greatest reluctance that I will be forking over money for this (probably superb, yet greately diminished) game. Could I turn to downloading it illegally? Probably, but I don't think anything they could do short of giving away my credit card information deserves that.
Valve's history after HL's release has been a string of failures. They were slipping in their development cycle long before Half Life 2 even announced, according to numerous sources. They set a horrible release date, did a horrible job informing the rest of the world on the state of their product, and then deliberately mislead the gaming community. Their habits of not coming clear on the state of their products is eerily similiar to Enron misleading stock holders on their financial reports. If Valve went public, I would have wanted Gabe in jail.
VU has had a record of mangled relations with companies. They completely ruined potential sales for Interplay's two slated products for the fourth quarter of last year. They have consistently and brazenly refused to do the right thing for the buyer -- they refused to back down when Valve called them on illegally producing Valve games for cybercafes, and instead slapped Valve with a suit that has nothing to do with the original claim -- instead, they try to hide the facts of a contract agreement with verbal spats that involve 'half-truths'. Hello!? Valve sucks when it comes to PR, but an agreement is an agreement. It's on paper.
Not only has VU ruined the profits for Interplay's games, they potentially ruined Condition Zero's potential profits when they delayed the game for no reason -- a move that prompted Valve to sue for royalties. They now might push for doing the exact same damn thing with Hl2: indefinitely delaying it for as long as six months.
These acts further punctuate the point that VU is not acting on the best benefits of the buyer, and furthermore, aren't even acting on the best interests of their financial department.
Those who express the opinion that VU could not possibly have the balls to delay Hl2 have another thing coming. They did it with Condition Zero, and they are so far refusing to give a date for Hl2.
Valve has greately helped increase VU's anti-Valve sentiments with numerous broken release dates, numerous rude press releases about VU and the date of the game, and the greatest slap in the face of them all, developing software to distribute the game without a publisher when they still had a contract with one. Not only have they done all this, but they had magazines come play the game before it went gold, and now expect Vivendi to deliver the game as soon as possible when they have no obligation to do so.
Both of these companies are culprits for the bullshit that has fallen upon us. There's only one conclusion to this sordid tale: because of these companies and their idiotic disputes, it's hurting us big time. Let's just pray to god VU and Valve throw aside their little bickerings and get down to business and just release this game as soon as ****ing possible.
I voted option three: neither.
Valve's history after HL's release has been a string of failures. They were slipping in their development cycle long before Half Life 2 even announced, according to numerous sources. They set a horrible release date, did a horrible job informing the rest of the world on the state of their product, and then deliberately mislead the gaming community. Their habits of not coming clear on the state of their products is eerily similiar to Enron misleading stock holders on their financial reports. If Valve went public, I would have wanted Gabe in jail.
VU has had a record of mangled relations with companies. They completely ruined potential sales for Interplay's two slated products for the fourth quarter of last year. They have consistently and brazenly refused to do the right thing for the buyer -- they refused to back down when Valve called them on illegally producing Valve games for cybercafes, and instead slapped Valve with a suit that has nothing to do with the original claim -- instead, they try to hide the facts of a contract agreement with verbal spats that involve 'half-truths'. Hello!? Valve sucks when it comes to PR, but an agreement is an agreement. It's on paper.
Not only has VU ruined the profits for Interplay's games, they potentially ruined Condition Zero's potential profits when they delayed the game for no reason -- a move that prompted Valve to sue for royalties. They now might push for doing the exact same damn thing with Hl2: indefinitely delaying it for as long as six months.
These acts further punctuate the point that VU is not acting on the best benefits of the buyer, and furthermore, aren't even acting on the best interests of their financial department.
Those who express the opinion that VU could not possibly have the balls to delay Hl2 have another thing coming. They did it with Condition Zero, and they are so far refusing to give a date for Hl2.
Valve has greately helped increase VU's anti-Valve sentiments with numerous broken release dates, numerous rude press releases about VU and the date of the game, and the greatest slap in the face of them all, developing software to distribute the game without a publisher when they still had a contract with one. Not only have they done all this, but they had magazines come play the game before it went gold, and now expect Vivendi to deliver the game as soon as possible when they have no obligation to do so.
Both of these companies are culprits for the bullshit that has fallen upon us. There's only one conclusion to this sordid tale: because of these companies and their idiotic disputes, it's hurting us big time. Let's just pray to god VU and Valve throw aside their little bickerings and get down to business and just release this game as soon as ****ing possible.
I voted option three: neither.
