Half-Life 2 (PC)

[MartyG]

So people who have pre-ordered, has anyone had it shipped yet?

Play shipped mine on Saturday, and it was just the bog standard version.

[Blu3Flame]

Just been told that I dont have to come into work tommorrow

[Kotatsu Neko]

Wouldn't it have been a more sensible idea to have had the game unlocked at midnight on a per time-zone basis? All this current set up means is that some folk will have to wait until tea time to play it (despite it being the 16th and them owning the bastard). Not to mention the already oft-mentioned huge server spike when everyone all unlocks at once.

I hope this idea dies and is never even contemplated again.

I hope next time they are free from publisher ties and can release it whenever they please, all over Steam.

If it is a success, this could be the beginning of the revolution.

Interesting reading in the gamespot article Valve's plan for episodic content to be delivered over Steam. Sounds great to me.

[Inertia_]

Gameplay have sent them, it's just a slow update. My account says that it's still 'ordered', but elsewhere states that 'the last item that was sent to you was Half Life 2 DVD Edition'.

Dammit, I just creamed my pants again.

[nips]

hee hee hee,gameplay.co.uk says:

Half Life 2
Finally, out tomorrow!

I hope my debit card hasn't expired since last year :S that would be a nightmare!!!

[nips]

Oooh, here's a question for you:

Would HL2 have got 10/10 without the extra year in development?

Was the source leak a blessing in disguise?

[Concept]

Right. I'm bang up to date. Just completed Half-Life. Despite only playing the game for the first time a few months ago, I forgot how much of a slog Interloper and Nihilanth were on Xen. A damn bug almost prevented me from finishing the game again when that spider just wouldn't fall into the goddamn web to trigger a teleportation, no matter how many times I loaded from an auto or quick save.

Thankfully, I eventally got around it by jumping to the next level through a console command. Not one of my finest hours I know, but I'm not fond of progression prevention bugs...

Anyway, the game made up for it by reminding me what an awesome ending it has, especially in light of Halo 2's finale. Spoliers: There's just something inherently cool about jumping all over time and space with the G-Man before he offers you a job back on the train from the beginning. Also, some of his speech echoes direct lines he quotes during Half-Life 2's E3 2004 trailers ("I will see you up ahead"). And also notice how the stars flinging through the pitch black night (or space?) from the train at the end of the original are aesthetically imposed onto G-Man's background during the intro bink for Half-Life 2?

I like stuff like that. A direct continuance.

Not to mention the fact you had a choice at the end and it comes up with:

Subject: Freeman.
Status: Hired. Awaiting assignment.

Properly sets the scene up to continue the story in oh... Just over 20 or so hours.

[Inertia_]

hee hee hee,gameplay.co.uk says:

Half Life 2
Finally, out tomorrow!

I hope my debit card hasn't expired since last year :S that would be a nightmare!!!

They debited mine two days ago.

[JibberX]

nnneeeeeaaaarrrgggggggghhhhhh, I bought Chronicles of Riddick to fill the FPS hole... and this is out tomorrow..... maybe I'll leave it a coupla days before I buy it.

[Concept]

Oooh, here's a question for you:

Would HL2 have got 10/10 without the extra year in development?

Nope.

The game would have been half of what it is now and probably lacking a significant amount of polish to boot. The time has been used to turn a likely great game into a probable legendary one. I hope.

Was the source leak a blessing in disguise?

Nope.

Having read the strain it put Valve under, definitely not. There were people in the company who honestly feared that the attack may send them under, and having something stolen and then spread about half-naked is a nightmare to say the least. If I'd been producing something and I found sketches and ideas spewed up elsewhere when they were private, then I too would be mortified. If anything, (and it wasn't a leak, it was a theft) the attack almost horribly damaged the development of the game. I imagine the prospect of failure must have been close a few days after it happened.

Valve were going to delay half-Life 2 regardless of the theft for a large amount of time due to development priorities focusing on achieving the quality they probably desired. The hacker attack just added a very unwelcome and disturbing element into the mix, during a time when media and fan pressure was angered towards Valve due to the missed September 30th date.

As I said before - The fact we're going to be seeing an unbelievable game out of all of this is pretty unbelievable in it's self too.

[Bojangle]

Just bought the Silver edition from Steam. Currently on 6.1% ^_^ Think I may have a play through Half-Life to bring back some memories!

[Chadruharazzeb]

You'd have thought they'd have released HL:S early just to whet the appetite.

[superkully]

I've heard mention of backing up a Steam downloaded install.

How does this work? Do you backup to a DVDR?

In two minds whether to order this with Steam or from the shops tomorrow and this is the one deciding factor now...

[Chadruharazzeb]

You'd need an outrageous connection to buy it over Steam and play it tomorrow.

[Bojangle]

I'm pretty sure I read on RLLMUK that Steam does have a backup function. I'll go and see if I can find the post again...