Neowin.net - Half-Life 2 sets a date

Half-Life 2 sets a date

Posted by malebolgia on 03 February 2004 - 16:53 · 54 comments & 2534 views

Thanks Euphoria for bringing this to my attention.

When Gabe Newell, founder of Valve Software, confirmed last October that hackers had wormed their way into the developer's network and stolen the source code to "Half-Life 2," it sent shock waves through the gaming industry. "Half-Life 2," you see, wasn't just a title any gamer worth his or her salt was drooling over, it was the title industry insiders were counting on to help revive the struggling PC gaming business.

As Valve developers gathered their wits, an executive from publisher Vivendi Universal Games told media outlets that the theft would delay the game until April 2004. That date was nothing more than a blind guess, though. Valve, the only company that really had a firm grasp on the impact of the theft, wrapped itself in a cocoon, refusing all questions from the media and not saying a word about when the game would hit shelves – until now. While still shying away from giving a firm date, Doug Lombardi, Valve's director of marketing, told me the company "is currently targeting this summer for the completion of Half-Life 2".

News source: CNN

Tim Sweeney, of Unreal developers Epic Games, agrees: "For a console to really have a useful online component, it has to have the hard drive to store downloaded maps and other data. If Microsoft waits for Sony, it is in effect allowing Sony to design Microsoft's box."

Meanwhile, as the chips at the core of the original Xbox are from different manufacturers (Intel and Nvidia) to those that will be in Xbox 2 (IBM and ATI Technologies), Microsoft have voiced concern that hardware and licensing fees would cost too much to enable the machine to play old Xbox games. However, one analyst has already said, "I can't imagine that Microsoft would be so insanely stupid as to make it incompatible," and some sources suggest that the issue could be resolved by using emulation.

At the core of the machine will be three IBM-designed 64-bit microprocessors, the combined power of which will be greater than current top-end PCs. The ATI Technologies-designed graphics chip will also be faster than its forthcoming R400 which basically means that Xbox 2 will be able to display with the resolution of high-definition TV.

Microsoft's emphasis appears to be on keeping the retail price down and, crucially, launching the machine before PlayStation 3 hits shelves in 2006. Xbox first launched just under two years after PS2 and, so far, 13.7 million of them have been shifted, compared to 70 million for PS2. As soon as we have more on Xbox 2, we'll let you know.

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#1 Posted by HellBender on 03 Feb 2004 - 17:00: Unless they're too slow again. Then they'll blame it on another hacker. What a load of BS.

(6 replies) #2 Posted by nspeds on 03 Feb 2004 - 17:11: HellBender,
As a doctor I am prescribing you one pair of testicles.

For crying out loud, someone stole their work and you expect them to just live on? They need to investigate the causes and make procedures to prevent such a thing from happening again. I work in a company, and making such procedures are a big pain.

This is a quality game, if you don't like it, then don't post and go drool over Doom 3.

(2 replies) #3 Posted by dreamthief on 03 Feb 2004 - 17:16: This might be some stupid question to some, but.....

So around when is summer? month of?

*mind you, i live in an-all-year-round-same-weather zone, so how the hell i know WHEN is summer? it's always summer to me *

#4 Posted by CrimandEvil on 03 Feb 2004 - 17:16: Yawn, This again? What are they doing rewriting part of the game of all of the game? Oh well I don't care any more.

#5 Posted by Jasco on 03 Feb 2004 - 17:17: Summer...

(4 replies) #6 Posted by Ficman on 03 Feb 2004 - 17:18: I think Duke Nukem stole the code...

(2 replies) #7 Posted by dreamthief on 03 Feb 2004 - 17:23: Good games take time. Valve is not the only game developer delaying datelines. Look at Blizzard, it took them almost a decade to come out with WarCraft 3.

(1 reply) #8 Posted by unimatrixzer0 on 03 Feb 2004 - 19:00: lol, I think its a load of BS. I mean so what if they hacked in and had a look at the code. It would be one thing if the hacked had deleted the code, but I fail to see how "oh! a bunch of hackers stole our code! this will now delay our game!" I mean sure they will take time to investigate how and who did it, but its not like they'll divert all the people who are coding the game into it.

#9 Posted by Sawyer12 on 03 Feb 2004 - 19:04

QUOTE

help revive the struggling PC gaming business.

struggling PC gaming business.

(1 reply) #10 Posted by pxleyes on 03 Feb 2004 - 19:11: When are you all going to realize that a year wait is NOTHING. Games like Diablo 2 were delayed multiple years and was released to perfection.

The first HL was delayed one year from the original release date. If we get it by the summer, that is less than a year. You should all be grateful. Get over yourselves.

#11 Posted by netstarman on 03 Feb 2004 - 19:40: Valve had the F.B.I. looking in on the theftsupposdely they had a couple of people in custody already for the theft. I want the game too, it looks sweet but i can wait . I can wait for Halo 2 , Half life 2 , Doom 3 and what ever else there going throw out there.

#12 Posted by tronmaster on 03 Feb 2004 - 19:56: Not bad...only about a year late.

#13 Posted by StuRReaL on 03 Feb 2004 - 20:03: hmmmm this has duke nukem forever written all over it (forever being the word) looks like i'll be buying the new version of windows before HL2 at this rate, and by that time i'll also have dual opterons, an R420 based Radeon and a second TFT monitor

#14 Posted by tom5 on 03 Feb 2004 - 20:13: ... and when the game comes out its engine/graphics etc will already be outdated. Fine.

#15 Posted by ViciousX on 03 Feb 2004 - 20:36: A lot of you need to grow the hell up. It's a wait for a few months to allow them to finish the frigging game Turn off your HL2 Count-downs and wait, it'll be here when it's done.

#16 Posted by nic on 03 Feb 2004 - 20:41: relax everyone. There will be plenty of other games released to keep your mouses clicking in the mean time.

#17 Posted by Bant on 03 Feb 2004 - 20:46: oh my .... noobs everywhere!

#18 Posted by prozak on 03 Feb 2004 - 20:48: i wanted it so bad tha I dont want it anymore... i probably gonna get a version...

#19 Posted by krazeguy on 03 Feb 2004 - 20:48: ... like tetris - super speedy edition.

#20 Posted by Drimo on 03 Feb 2004 - 21:05: I'll wait for it cause it'll be worth it. Heh... been waiting for TF2 for over 4-5 years now anyway.

#21 Posted by alkaholikc on 03 Feb 2004 - 22:19: I also await for TF2 ;D... *Blows the dust off my old PC Gamer Magazine and looks at old screenshots* (;!

#22 Posted by Rishdeep on 03 Feb 2004 - 23:47: "...it was the title industry insiders were counting on to help revive the struggling PC gaming business."

...and they wonder why the PC gaming business is struggling with constant delays like this...

(1 reply) #23 Posted by pHuzi0n on 04 Feb 2004 - 01:54: The title is a bit misleading... They set a time-frame (summer of 2004) not a date.

#24 Posted by demorgoron on 04 Feb 2004 - 01:58: why all this obssesion with Half Life 2?i didnt even liked the single player in the first one,the mods where the good things!Counter Strike,Day of Defeat,Team Fortress classic etc.why dont we wait for the game to come out and see how good its gonna be.With all the bad experiences over the year with over ,ultima ix anyone?bug kindom.Also what if the game has so much good graphics that not even an ATI 9800 xt cant keep up with it and it crashes every second,maybe not, but we shall see what the future holds

(1 reply) #25 Posted by AfmomasTER on 04 Feb 2004 - 02:27: I can believe justin timberlake ripped of gabe newell's shirt at the super bowl!!!!

(1 reply) #26 Posted by threetonesun on 04 Feb 2004 - 02:52: This is just feeding the video card market. Say a game is coming out, buy a brand new card that gives you the game for free, and then by the time the game comes out, it's no longer a top of the line card. I can guartantee companies work these things out with each other.

(2 replies) #27 Posted by StAnGeR04 on 04 Feb 2004 - 05:02: has anyone seen posted or read and minimum/maximum specs for HL2 yet?
I pre ordered and I really hope it'll play decent on my system....I can't believe Valve hasn't released any info like that to any press yet (to my knowledge) or have they? if anyone knows here's my pc specs

Athlon XP 3000+
1 gig PC2700 DDR
Asus A7V8X
GF FX 5200 Ultra

#28 Posted by Gary_Player on 04 Feb 2004 - 07:49: Sets a date my ass..."sometime this summer" yea, riiiiiight

(1 reply) #29 Posted by csabo2 on 04 Feb 2004 - 09:03: The hacker took EXACTLY what valve had done, as you can see its not even 25% done.. they can say it was him. but he did what he did BECAUSE tehy were lying. and they were going to have to pospone anyway. gabe was sitting on his fat ass eating rather than working.

#30 Posted by ProxXect on 04 Feb 2004 - 11:04: Omfg n00bzz... Make a game ur ****ing self then, if u think u rule the world

(1 reply) #31 Posted by Magallanes on 04 Feb 2004 - 12:21: Who care

HL1 was good but not too good!.. HL2 will not be the best game ever.

In Fact, Diablo 2 was a good game but there are a lot of games even better that diablo (and they taken only 1 or 2 years).

Even more, Final Fantasy will take less designer time and FF is truly a awesome game (graphics, sound, story...).

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