It's Now Fall 2007...

Perhaps they are putting something special and new into Episode 2. Like a bullsquid or houndeyes.
:E

And why dont you guys like the box art? I think it looks great, simple, original and does the job. I hope it stays that way.
 
At this point, i'm thinking they would have been better of delaying ep1, including it with ep2 and calling it half-life 3....
 
The more delays Valve makes, the more time I have to get a new computer before the game's release. First non-sarcastic "Hooray! Delays!" in this thread. Go Valve, go.
 
The more delays Valve makes, the more time I have to get a new computer before the game's release. First non-sarcastic "Hooray! Delays!" in this thread. Go Valve, go.

Same here :E
 
Hopefully I won't complete it in one evening when it's finally released. :E
I wouldn't be too hopeful.
Still, there's always Portal and TF2 to keep you occupied.
 
At this point, i'm thinking they would have been better of delaying ep1, including it with ep2 and calling it half-life 3....
Run this past me again... it would be better because... we'd have to wait one and a half years to play something we could have played in Summer 2006? Doing the two as one project wouldn't have made them come out quicker. In fact, the fact that the project was even larger would doubtless make them arse around for an extra year.

Edit: So a Half-Life retail box looks completely rubbish? Quelle Surprise. It's like EA are hiding under the table with hands over ears, shouting 'But Steam Doesn't Exist! But Steam Doesn't Exist!'. Where's the incentive to buy a boxed copy when the average photoshop-jocky could whip up a cover in thirty minutes, and everyone could make steam backups? Especially in the UK, where EA retailed Half-Life 2 Episode One at nearly twice the price of the Steam version. That's one hefty tax on materialism they've got going there.
 
I just heard the news guys and I have to say I am not surprised as with Valve but I am surprised as it has been delayed to late summer and now fall within a couple of days!! o_O Is the episodic nature really justified anymore???
 
Can someone put a positive spin on this? i be interested how this could be anything but farce now.
 
Suits me fine. I won't be upgrading till at least the fa- oops, I mean the
AUTUMN
 
I hve to laugh at the replies in thread. Some people are accually suprised by this, most don't seem to know the defenition of an episode and some just want to jump on the anti-EA, anti-Sony or anti-console bandwagon and blame this on EA or the PS3 instead of Valve who are (in)famous for this kind of thing.

Valve go over everything with a fine-tooth comb. They tweek, and revise, and perfect every scratch of gameplay. The results are HL2 which is the reason we're all bloody here. The blame is on Valve, but they have a damn good reason for it.
 
I think the best way for valve to release episodic content would be to develop it on the Unreal 3 engine. GOW was developed for under 10 million, meaning developing in the U3 engine is quite fast and much easier then source evidently, and GOW sure as hell wasn't a rushed shitty game. It was AWSOME.


I think its the tools they use that are slowing them down to this extent. everything on source seems to take forever to develop for, even if the results are comperable to other games.


either way, episodic was a stupid idea for games. shoulda just made hl3, then broke it into 3 seperate games, charged more for the entire package selling it in pieces and get 3 times the exposure from the same game. that woulda been the way
 
I think its the tools they use that are slowing them down to this extent. everything on source seems to take forever to develop for, even if the results are comperable to other games.
You underestimate the time Unreal Engine 3 and GoW were in development, and you definitely underestimate the time it takes to retrain an entire development team to use someone else's development tools. Not to mention the cost of licensing, and all that programming they'd have to discard (and probably do over in UE3 for what it is lacking).
 
I think the best way for valve to release episodic content would be to develop it on the Unreal 3 engine. GOW was developed for under 10 million, meaning developing in the U3 engine is quite fast and much easier then source evidently, and GOW sure as hell wasn't a rushed shitty game. It was AWSOME.


I think its the tools they use that are slowing them down to this extent. everything on source seems to take forever to develop for, even if the results are comperable to other games.


either way, episodic was a stupid idea for games. shoulda just made hl3, then broke it into 3 seperate games, charged more for the entire package selling it in pieces and get 3 times the exposure from the same game. that woulda been the way
You think that it would be faster to train over 100 people to use an entirly new engine? :LOL:
 
Whoever designed the box art needs a slap. I personally couldnt care less about the delays, Valve are a bit like GNER Train service :) I do think though they should perhaps change them to expansions and not episodes, bit late for that now though.

Anyway lets stop whinging, it will eventually be here and then the party starts.

choo choo heres my train.
 
Oww :lol: - this is a couple of days after I said here that two delays is enough for Valve. Apparently it isn't, and it's a third delay now. Particularly if it's late autumn, this will mean that Ep2 would come out almost a year after its originally planned release date.

Well, once again, I can't say I'm disappointed - as always, I prefer to play a game later but when it's completely ready and polished rather than sooner but with less polish. Still, I'll have to agree that this probably spells Valve's failure with their "new episode every 6 months" plan.

Ah, here I found (one of) the original statements.

Valve divulged little in the way of information about Episode Three, saying only that it was the last “in a trilogy…that will conclude by Christmas of 2007.”

That's from May 2006, that is, already after Ep One had been delayed. Now, it seems, that Ep2 will be out not long before Christmas 2007, forget concluding the trilogy :).
 
I think the best way for valve to release episodic content would be to develop it on the Unreal 3 engine. GOW was developed for under 10 million, meaning developing in the U3 engine is quite fast and much easier then source evidently, and GOW sure as hell wasn't a rushed shitty game. It was AWSOME.
That 10m figure didnt have to include engine licensing costs due to the fact another team in their company made the engine, probably at the coats of millions. It probably would cost another million or so to license the engine which is a waste when valve have a perfectly good engine already. They then have to retrain staff and they will have to redo assets to the engine and things like their in game speech system wouldnt work with the engine and IMHO the source engines facial technology is superior to that seen in GOW.

Im sure episode 2 costs alot less than GOW anyway.
 
I heard the delay is to get the biozeminades working.
 
Oh well, gives me more time to save for that new machine ;)
 
surprise surprise

Come on, Valve. At least pool your resources and get 1 of the 3 games on schedule. You've single-handedly scuttled your own concept of episodic gaming, so lets not make it a double-deuce by destroying everyone's trust in you too. If you're incapable of plotting a development schedule for 3 games, perhaps you'd be better with 1 at a time.
 
Good! I was a little afraid they would release it too soon.
 
A great game will be a great game, regardless of when its released. It might be a little annoying to the impatient, but in the end of the day ... what do you rememeber most about a game? The gameplay that it offered ... or the fact that you had to wait a few extra months before you could play it?
 
This is great, meaning i get the money to buy both WoW: Bc, Spore and Ep2 in the same year!

Way to go!
 
This special occasion calls for a special picture.

gordonpissed.jpg


Duke Nukem Forever anyone?
 
Wow, my hype level is dropping even further.

Release some non-spoilerific and awesome media and I shall be satisfied as long as it justifies the delay too.
 
Valve trying to release nine games with rewritten or entirely new game engines on three formats simultaneously?

What could possibly go wrong? :dork:
 
Somebody dig up some old quotes from Doug Lombardi discussing the benefits of 'episodic gaming' ...
 
Fair play to Mr Lombardi...when was Episode 1 released?

Doug Lombardi: During the development of Half-Life 2, which spanned almost six years and over $30 million, we all agreed that we needed to find a way to get games to our community faster than every 5 or 6 years. With the success of Steam and the lessons we learned by constantly developing our multiplayer games, it seemed natural that we could take the same approach with single player projects. Before Half-Life 2 was released, the decision was made to deliver the next installment of this story in episodic form instead of heading off for six years to build Half-Life 3. So instead we will begin delivering the follow up just 18 months after Half-Life 2, and conclude with the third episode in a much more timely fashion.
 
A great game will be a great game, regardless of when its released. It might be a little annoying to the impatient, but in the end of the day ... what do you rememeber most about a game? The gameplay that it offered ... or the fact that you had to wait a few extra months before you could play it?
Gameplay no contest ...... on the other hand lengthy delays can leave a somewhat bitter taste in your mouth. Especially when you wait so long for a few hours of game, no matter how good it is!

I still the think the bottom line here as that episodic delivery has turned out ot be a white elephent for Valve. And I'm sure that when this whole episode (excuse the pun) is over they will be the first to admit it.

One thing you have to give Valve is that they're not affriad to take chances on things that might well turn out to be complete turkeys. Steam has allowed them to do this without any serious repurcussions I believe. Just look at the response on here - more delays than HL2 for EP2 & most people are quite happy to ride it out!
 
Fair play to Mr Lombardi...when was Episode 1 released?

Doug Lombardi: During the development of Half-Life 2, which spanned almost six years and over $30 million, we all agreed that we needed to find a way to get games to our community faster than every 5 or 6 years.

The answer? Make the games half as long so they take half as long to create :thumbs:
 
wow that was a supprise!!! :D NOT!.

But something that is amazing me is this. Valve are extremly good at making breathtaking trailers of upcoming games but fantastic at delays.....

Something here does not addup.
 
To be honest, I'd barely even care if it hadn't been hyped up so much recently - for which I blame you guys :p Valve and EA aren't helping really... who releases trailers a year in advance of a game coming out, and boxart a few days before pushing it back 3 months? It's been hyped too soon and now with the delays people's interest is fading, my own included.
 
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