Will they release it without syncing with media and magazines?

[shaggy2039]

do you think Valve or Vivendi for that matter will release the game without it being synced with magazine reviews and other media exposure? the length of time a magazine needs to publish a review I believe is atleast a month before it hits store shelves...
that being said, will they wait till all the mags have their reviews ready to put the game out?

 

[ferd]

no i dont

 

[KagePrototype]

Well, usually reviews start appearing maybe a week or so before release, so the magazines wil have plenty of time to review the game in advance. They could even be playing a near-to-finished build of the game right now for all we know. As long as Valve and Vivendi are confident that they will get good reviews, they'll let the reviews come out ASAP really.

 

[Chris D]

Letting magazines and online publishers get reviews and stuff in is all part of the marketing.

There may be hundreds of thousands of people in the current online communities (across the HL2 sites, PHL and Steam forums) but I guarentee there's even more hundreds of thousands of people that will probably find out about it in a magazine or buy it based on the review it gets on their magazine.

It's something that's very important, but Valve will release review copies to all the major publications to give them a headstart in reviewing the game. They might get it as soon as the game goes gold for example.

 

[kaellinn18]

It's something that's very important, but Valve will release review copies to all the major publications to give them a headstart in reviewing the game. They might get it as soon as the game goes gold for example.

Hey, Chris, I know HL2.net is not a "review site," but it does have a really huge community. Will HL2.net be getting review copies at all? It would be cool to hear some first impressions from you guys.

 

[shaggy2039]

Letting magazines and online publishers get reviews and stuff in is all part of the marketing.

There may be hundreds of thousands of people in the current online communities (across the HL2 sites, PHL and Steam forums) but I guarentee there's even more hundreds of thousands of people that will probably find out about it in a magazine or buy it based on the review it gets on their magazine.

It's something that's very important, but Valve will release review copies to all the major publications to give them a headstart in reviewing the game. They might get it as soon as the game goes gold for example.

so with that in mind, will that delay the game ultimately?
If they were to give them a gold copy say on sept 16th, then they would need a week to play the game, and then have enough time to make to presses with the review....

 

[kaellinn18]

so with that in mind, will that delay the game ultimately?
If they were to give them a gold copy say on sept 16th, then they would need a week to play the game, and then have enough time to make to presses with the review....

I don't think they will delay the game for the press. Either the press' current publishing schedule will allow the review to appear before release or it won't.

 

[Insano]

The press is perhaps playing the RC the moment we speak. Nobody really knows.