Problems with HL2 going gold in august....

[Mr-Fusion]

The idea that publishers playtest originated from the Condition-Zero situation. There were two gold announcements for Condition-Zero, the latter one which was about October 2003, was apparently the finished version.

There was even a condition-zero launch part in December 2003 (http://collective.valve-erc.com/index.php?news=1071548051-27023100)

It just had people in a constant state of "ok, where the **** is the game?". Gabe even said at one point "It's amazing how Vivendi can take so long with it" OR something like that. I really wish i had the source for that but it's burned in my brain.

Granted this situation is very different. HL2 is infinitely more important than condition-zero and i don't think anyone in the pipeline will put up with the bs delays CZ experienced.

 

[63]

i don't know if you missed it or something ( ) but valve said, more precisely doug, that hl2 isn't set for a summer release anymore. they plan to release it in fall/autumn. this news is couple of weeks old and was posted on sites like voodoo extreme.. but not on hl2.net.. :hmph: ...

get this "summer release" out of your head.

Wasn't the whole "fall" thing just a rehash and twist of old news?

 

[InSaNe TuBaíNa]

i keep thinking half-life 2 will be on shelves on 30th september... half-life1 6 years´ date... its a thursday, but when are the release dates? tuesday?

 

[ViolenceJack]

The CS:S beta will probably be to test the netcodes then, not really any other reason to release to the public. Most of the people wouldnt be bothered if they notice a few minor bugs or what ever although they would if it was really laggy and complain that they cant kill due to the lag. Plus its only 1 map. 1 map wouldnt be the greatest way to test source

 

[CombineHarvester]

No no no

Quality Assurance peeps at Vivendi dont look for bugs. They play the game, and then write up a few things that they want Valve to change, because they think the change can make the game sell better (e.g.: Gordon should have a ponytail, Alyx should wear a bikini, etc etc.)


Anyway, the CS:S beta shouldnt uncover many bugs in the netcode. I havent heard of any developers doing this to find bugs, and most game's netcode is fine without this kind of test.

Another thing people are forgetting is that Vivendi are not sitting on their hands, eagerly awaiting the delivery....They will have been receiving builds on a regular basis so will have played and replayed sections over and over again already. So there will have been plenty of feedback given to Valve regarding ponytails and bikinis at this stage. There is no way on earth that Vivendi would receive any kind of suprise so late in the game "Hey Newell, we ain't releasing it until you lose those 60ft killer ninja pigeons, and I thought you promised to put more cleavage in?!"

Having said that, the first RC in not normally the one that goes gold :|

 

[lonestar]

Wasn't the whole "fall" thing just a rehash and twist of old news?

that's not the point. they looked for a summer release. valve stated this couple of times. but at a later time, doug said "we're planning to ship in fall". conclusion: delayed.

 

[Mr-Fusion]

Another thing people are forgetting is that Vivendi are not sitting on their hands, eagerly awaiting the delivery....They will have been receiving builds on a regular basis so will have played and replayed sections over and over again already. So there will have been plenty of feedback given to Valve regarding ponytails and bikinis at this stage. There is no way on earth that Vivendi would receive any kind of suprise so late in the game "Hey Newell, we ain't releasing it until you lose those 60ft killer ninja pigeons, and I thought you promised to put more cleavage in?!"

Having said that, the first RC in not normally the one that goes gold :|

That all sounds pretty logical. But if Valve are already testing versions of the game with Vivendi, would that mean that 16 days is a good estimate till the game actually goes gold.

If Valve and Vivendi are working together to get the product finished then what's the point of a release candidate in 16 days? Vivendi already know what the status is, they know it's ready. So in 16 days when Valve hope to get the game bug free, Vivendi know this as well. They give it a 1-2 hoedown and then it goes gold. That's all assuming they're working together as we converse on this community forum!!

Oh for crying out loud..

 

[gooball]

Has it occurred to anyone that since CS:S is an online-only game, it is only playable after connecting to Steam. So this means that fixes made from CS:S beta testing can be applied to buyers of HL 2 who play CS:S.

Maybe this is the timeline:

HL2 goes gold > CS:S beta starts > HL2 Ships > CS:S players download fixes made in the beta testing.

The problem with this, however, is that Valve would basically be shipping a buggy and untested version of CS:S just to get HL2 out the door, and would be depending on Steam to be capable of updating everyone's copy before they can play.

Now that I've typed this, though, I can see that it's pretty much wishful thinking.

 

[Mountain Man]

I think it would be perfectly reasonable to make CS:S a Steam only release for all owners of Half-Life 2. Since you can't run it without a Steam connection anyway, why does it have to be in the box?

 

[tokin]

What will happen is the beta will start and hopefully go for less than 2wks, then a good 1-2wks of other work going on until HL2 goes gold. Looking at a late September-October release.

 

[tokin]

I think it would be perfectly reasonable to make CS:S a Steam only release for all owners of Half-Life 2. Since you can't run it without a Steam connection anyway, why does it have to be in the box?

It's a better marketing strategy and profit gain. People who want CS:S really bad buy HL2 and get a great deal, instead of waiting 1wk to however long CS:S is sold seperately over steam for $25-30 bucks.

 

[Orange]

I could be wrong, but i thought i read that HL1 only had 1 RC
And this is a alittle optimistic, but perhaps Valve's standards for a game are more strict than VU's. Eh, who knows.

going to gonegold . comzors to see what publisher testing is like, if they cover it in their articles.

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

that's not the point. they looked for a summer release. valve stated this couple of times. but at a later time, doug said "we're planning to ship in fall". conclusion: delayed.

If it comes out Sept 30th, OH NOES!!!! 9 day delay, heaven forbid!

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

I could be wrong, but i thought i read that HL1 only had 1 RC
And this is a alittle optimistic, but perhaps Valve's standards for a game are more strict than VU's. Eh, who knows.

Yeah HL1 had only 1 RC before it went gold. And yes VALVe's standards are more strict than most publishers *cough ubi *cough Anyways, I can see them only needing one or two RC's at the most. They have been bug squashing for months...So I doubt there is too many bugs.

 

[dr_gonzo]

Valve should shut their mouths... it only brings them harm. They should give out dates only when they are sure they can meet them. More than a year of false date-giving has pissed me off. :flame:

i feel your pain. tf2 anyone...?

 

[Pitbul]

im sure Vivendi are ansy to get HL2 out, i believe the only reason Vivendi would send it back for more bug fixes would be because it had a bug in it that would hinder sales, such as it didn't run on a certain GPU or CPU. or it crashed.

 

[Icarus]

I still am shooting for Sept. 30th 2004

 

[kanarico]

i feel your pain. tf2 anyone...?

I would really like to play tf2

 

[Mountain Man]

It's a better marketing strategy and profit gain. People who want CS:S really bad buy HL2 and get a great deal, instead of waiting 1wk to however long CS:S is sold seperately over steam for $25-30 bucks.

No, I mean you buy Half-Life 2 and CS:S is a free download away. That way, it's still technically bundled with Half-Life 2 even if it's not actually in the box.

 

[ViolenceJack]

I thought the bad thing about TF2 was that they went quite about it. Its better they say stuff so we know whats going on then going silent. Most people if not everyone thought that TF2 was still going but just delayed. After that they probably just assumed the game had stoped but it infact turned out they restarted the game to go with this new engine they were making because the HL one was too limited to what they wanted. Although they didnt want to say and felt like keeping it a secret.

 

[tokin]

All i know is valve big secret and suprise is the work put into TF2, i guarentee this has been their biggest MP they have worked on.

 

[63]

I still don't know why everyone liked the original TF.. I found it boring

 

[tokin]

I still don't know why everyone liked the original TF.. I found it boring

It was and still is all about the teamplay, just an indifferent game with the classes and weapons. Valve has worked harder on the teamplay for TF2 and made it realistic with the classes and weapons...instead of guns shooting nails and green plasma goo, etc...

 

[Letters]

With all that work being put into the game, you'd think they'd have realized that the "Brotherhood of Arms" part of the title is extremely stupid.

 

[kanarico]

I hope I can still gib people in TF2

 

[[[LuCkY]]]

When will people listen to me? November. That's when the game comes out. October if you're extremely lucky, but not before.

Think later.

 

[The Terminator]

September 3rd, HL2 is here.

 

[[[LuCkY]]]

What year..

 

[dr_gonzo]

capture the flag was the win in TFC!

 

[zafarsaand]

When will people listen to me? November. That's when the game comes out. October if you're extremely lucky, but not before.

yeah ur rite.....i think i should stop browsing half life forums for few months...its nothing but waste of time.....coz there is no new information coming about half life 2.

 

[Citizen 1150421]

it will go gold in august just probably around the end of it. we should see the product on the shelves on a tuesday in september...

good stuff ..

boo ya.

 

[kanarico]

When hl2 goes gold then we can estimate the time it will come out but until then we can only wait

 

[selfdestruct]

I still don't know why everyone liked the original TF.. I found it boring

Yeah, me too. I can play it for 15 minutes before I'm like whoa... this is really boring.

DoD for all of your teamplay needs.