Half-Life 2 (PC)

[Inertia_]

The long, drawn-out Half-Life 2 release date saga appears to be drawing to a close at long last, with Vivendi-Universal Games' expected to formally announce a November 26th release date for Europe, with US gamers getting the game three days earlier on November 23rd.

At least it doesn't clash with Halo 2, I suppose.

[marcus]

By making everyone wait all the time only increases its profile and makes people want it even more. Unfortunatly with that, it also increases expectation, I just hope this doesnt turn into another Doom 3 charade where peoples hopelessly high expectations werent met.

[gizmo1990]

Guys, chill out.

VU know that in all probability this will be the biggest game they will ever handle. Their extremely unlikey to get HL3, Valves hostility to them is well known.

Therefore they NEED to maximise the earnings they make off this one title, ie get everything in place, commercials, shop publicity, ad's etc to achieve this.

I'd expect a formal announcment sometime next week 'confirming' the rumoured late November release.

[Concept]

I've just had a large part of my enthusiasm completely crushed for Half-Life 2 now, thanks to someone posting two significant spoilers in a thread title.

I hate wankers and the net. The two seem intrinsically drawn to each other.

[ascender]

Much as I'm keen for news of HL2 I might have to stop looking at the HL2-specific sites as I really don't want to know anything else at all about the plot.

[Concept]

That might be a good idea.

This is like how MGS 2 was spoilt before release all over for me again. Great.

[Len]

Aah m8 that is bad, put it out yr mind, go get hammered and hopefully you can forget some of it.

Well it might work...

I ain't going anywhere near those hl2 sites from now on then.

[Spatial]

Sorry to hear that mate, but what you've got to try and remember is that the game is going to be an overwhelming experience wether you know the plot or not.

Just cos you know some bits of the outcome or some of the surprises, it doesn't mean it isn't going to be one hell of a ride getting there ( take Kill Bill for example ).

And anyway, before I started keeping away from the forums of HL2 sites I read all sorts of crazy things that were supposed to be major plot leaks from the beta. Every single one turned out to be from the feeble imagination of some 13 year old who thought they were original and funny.

It might be the same this time around ? ( but don't go looking to confirm )

[Len]

On another note, after seeing those pics I'm starting to get twitchy again. I've been through this before, but I'm wondering if my 9800pro 256mb card is going to do this game full justice. I know, I know, I'm being silly, but with a game like this you know its got to be the ultimate experience all the way.

Can you not just flash it up to an xt or is that just the 128mb cards...?

That's what I plan on doing if needed...

[Zapp$ter]

Can you not just flash it up to an xt or is that just the 128mb cards...?

That's what I plan on doing if needed...

Is there any point in flashing an 9800 pro to an XT? IIRC a 9800XT was the same as a 9800 pro but with higher clock speeds. Or am I getting it mixed up with something?

[NejO]

Can you not just flash it up to an xt or is that just the 128mb cards...?

I think it works for both versions.
You can easely flash/overclock your 9800 Pro to an 9800 XT but you won't notice that much difference as the 9800 XT is hardly faster then the 9800 Pro.

This videocard should be more then enough for HL2 as it was THE card for the game, remember the coupons for a free copy and so on...

[ascender]

Just had my first spoiler by way of a topic heading. I know its nothing major, but its just disappointing.

[Ish]

I'm steering clear of other forums and PC fan sites until its released. I've not had any spoilers yet and I plan on keeping it that way!

[PH]

Don't know if this has already been mentioned or not (sorry, can't be bothered to trawl back.)

The PC Gamer review is available for download on your favourite torrent site.

[ascender]

I think the mag is due out tomorrow? 96%, but that's all I know about the review as apparently its full of new screenshots. Which I really don't want to see!