Half-Life 2 (PC)

[Concept]

A lot of people are still throwing around the end of November release. More and more people `in the know` are saying that promo and retail slots have been booked in for that period.

I should just stop speculating I guess

The announcement is imminent.

I've tried doing what Concept said and forgeting about HL2 for the time being. I went off and contemplated GTA SA for a good while. Then I got wrapped up in MGS3 for a bit. Yesterday it was Halo 2's turn. But somehow I keep getting drawn back to HL2 all the time.

Snap. I've been away from this thread for a while, but this waiting game with Half-Life 2 is insane. It's like being in a queue at the dentists, except the wait feels a thousand times longer, and you're stuck in a room with no magazines and the most annoyingly catchy tune ever to a grace the radio and never stop playing. In other words, the magnitude of the game is amplifying the duration with which we're all waiting for it to drop by a huge margin. It's tricky stuff.

I know I've got loads of great games I could be entertaining myself in the meantime...

Rome: Total War. Fable. Gradius V etc.

But it's no use... In terms of gaming, whenever I play them, my mind is distracted by Half-Life 2. We're talking about the biggest sequel since Ocarina of Time. Just look at the amount of mods Source is already encouraging, all the development houses it's going to be licenced to, the fact the game will be the flagship title to promote a relatively new online content delivery system. A system which may just help revolutionise and free creativity for developers if they can cut out the publishing middleman in future using such technology...

Half-Life 2, and the surrounding elements around it, have the potential to influence a lot of important developments for gaming. And the title used to promote all this looks to be one of the most enticing interactive experiences around... It's salivating stuff to consider when you consider all the elements in depth which are attached to this release. Valve could make a very big splash indeed.

I'd go as far as to say that Half-Life 2 may just become the biggest entertainment hit of the year in terms of the sheer impact it may have, on a long-term critical, commercial and cultural level.

It only takes an ad online, or for me to see a magazine cover and Bam ! its back in the front of my mind again and won't go away

I haven't been this obsessed with a game since...... well ever in fact. The only thing that comes close is the first time I fell in love with .... ah that would be telling, but she was worth getting this het up over... this is just a game for Christ's sakes !

I know what you mean. PeteJ said in another thread that Halo 2 was his most anticipated game ever, well for me it's exactly the same for Half-Life 2. I've not been this excited about waiting for a videogame in years, and I'd go as far to say I've never looked forward to an album, film or entertainment product in the same way as I have with this.

ICO's still by far and away my favourite game of course. Nothing is ever going to touch it, such is the impact it had on me. But it came as a complete surprise when I played it, a real wake up to the senses.

This is different. Pre-release anticipation for a sequel of which I've never felt before. Blockbuster material with everything riding on it.

The only way I can describe this is by using a couple of rather obvious film analogies. Half-Life 2 in contrast with Half-Life, is like Terminator to Terminator 2. Or Reservior Dogs to Pulp Fiction.

There's a level where the production, expansiveness and style all dictate an incredibly high value level. Where things have moved onto big hitter status. And that's what I'd class Half-Life 2 inside of. That framework.

It isn't my intention to piss off any Halo 2 fans, but a while ago on the 1UP forums, EGM's editor (a console focused US magazine) had this to say about Half-Life 2 (the post was subsequently deleted for breaking an NDA). This may better illustrate the point I'm trying to make.

HL 2 is like Stanley Kubrick made a videogame, not necessarily in its tone, but in its near absolute perfectionism. Everything from A.I. to dificulty to sound to music to pacing to dialog to just plain imagination is clearly the product of years and years of love and genius

Best shooter ever made. Possibly the best single-player game I've ever played

IMO HL 2 makes a mockery of HL 1, it's that good. I'm just giving these guys the benefit of the doubt, but I honestly think there isn't a snowball's chance in hell that Halo 2's single player will be better. But it's apples and oranges and when I review Halo 2 I won't even make the comparison. But as an FPS nut who loves console and PC, I can have my personal opinions.

Doom 3 and FarCry are garbage compared to this. Doom 3 more so. I really wish I could tell you why, but you'll have to wait. Once the reviews start coming out you'll get a better picture.

Interacting with the environment is amazing. The sheer imagination in the level design, events, surprises, and discoveries you make as you play is amazing. The AI of friends and foes is amazing. The pacing, and variety is amazing. Ditto for characterization, visual effects, audio effects, music, level of difficulty, everything. It's like Stanley Kubrick made a videogame and obsessed over every detail. There's not a whiff of commitee anywhere.

Comments like those really don't make the waiting game any easier at all.

Oh, and in updated news, there are strong indications coming from all angles now that the game has gone gold. The indications started here:

http://dubiousquality.blogspot.com/2004/10/half-life-2-update-part-2.html

http://www.csnation.net/comments.php?id=7565

There's an even bigger indication from recently released information from Gamespot's own source, and if they're reporting on such news by now, something must be happening. (The site is down right now, so here's the news item).

Ever since the release candidate for Half-Life 2 was submitted to VU Games in mid-September, a pi?ata has hung in the lobby of Valve's headquarters. The plan: to bust the sucker open when the game achieved gold status. Earlier today, GameSpot learned from an informed sourced that "the pi?ata has been broken" and the game has gone gold. Further evidence of the game's completion was a press release issued this afternoon touting the first review of "the entire game." Though nothing official has been announced yet, it appears the fat lady is at last clearing her throat.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/10/15/news_6110731.html

And to further add wind to the sails, check what this says from the PHP game on the official Half-Life 2 website. Recently changed.

http://www.half-life2.com/hl2.php?move=time

Even further, although we know the game is being rated by PEGI and BBFC right now in Europe, ERSB have rated the game in the US too. Official confirmation here.

http://www.esrb.org/search_results.asp?key=half-life+2&x=65&y=1&type=game&validateSearch=1

There's some promising segments of news going down with Half-Life 2 right now. I just hope the wait is over soon.

[Concept]

Ah, Spatial, you've posted the same news while I was typing out this post.

Still... It isn't a bad echo to have considering the gold indication.

[Concept]

More news. A German gaming site is claiming VUG has confirmed an end of November release. 23rd for US, 26th for UK, as predicted anyone?

http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fgameswelt.de%2Fpc%2Fnews%2Ftopnews_detail.php%3Fitem_id%3D45314&langpair=de%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=%2Flanguage_tools

[Chadruharazzeb]

Call it a hunch, but I get this feeling, this really odd feeling, that Mr Konzept and Spatial are quite eager for this game to come out?

[Concept]

Whatever gave you that idea?

Half-Life 2? Anticipated? Nah, it's just another corridor shooter.

I'm much more interested in Killzone.

[ascender]

For pre-load 6, you might have to log in and out a few times to make it kick into life. Apparently the servers are extremely busy and not all of the content servers have the update yet. Apparently....

[Concept]

Downloaded it two days ago.

But yes, I've heard people have been having trouble.

[Spatial]

Call it a hunch, but I get this feeling, this really odd feeling, that Mr Konzept and Spatial are quite eager for this game to come out?

I'm completely indifferent to its release tbh.

I'm just doing all this to get Concept wound up

[Concept]

You must have psychic abilities to see into the future then, considering I didn't seriously get interested in Half-Life 2 until several months after you started this thread.

[Spatial]

Oh I get it, this is all my fault !

Not to worry, I have broad shoulders ( and odd shaped arms, but thats not important right now )

[Chadruharazzeb]

If this games turns out to be crap I'm going to put a hit out on yous pair

Still, it's not stopping me splurging ?500+ on new kit. Ynerghn!!!!

[Concept]

Oh I get it, this is all my fault !

Look at you, twisting my words. You're not Alistair Campbell in disguise are you?

My growing interest in Half-Life 2 stemmed mostly from the costly upgrade route, like Chadruharazzeb is on the verge of doing now. And this thread provided a platform for me to entertain such interest in the game through post form (or spam as others may see it).

Therefore, the fault clearly lies at Valve for developing a game with all the promise of a turbo-enhanced super monkey competing in the monkey olympics.

Or maybe, Chad, the whole point of this thread was for us all to feign interest so you stop your complaints about having to update your rig at last, and actually do so.

[Concept]

There have been people saying Valve didn't have a pinata this time (unlike for Half-Life) to break, hence contradicting Gamespot's evidence of the game's gold status. Gabe Newell said as much in an email a month or so ago.

However, this picture confirms the fact that obviously in the past few weeks Valve have received one. So... It's looking as though Gamespot are right, and we'll see it broken up sooner rather than later.



Gold. Hopefully.

[Chadruharazzeb]

What the hell is that?

[Concept]

A pi?ata. One was broken to mark and celebrate Half-Life's gold status.

The fact there's a second one, when it was denied up to a month ago, suggests Gamespot are probably going to be right with their information.

The scanner pinata is legit. Perfect for bashing.

Basts. They're teasing people.

Have or haven't they broken it yet, signifying gold? Age-old question.