Half life 2 has gone GOLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

[Michaelz]

Half Life 2 has gone gold
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Screw you suckers!!!!

[James]

[Michaelz]

hey look at my funny avatar
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Screw you suckers!!!!

[James]

Off Topic
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[James]

Argh! Half Life 2 still hasn't been announced gold. That's bad news, because if it was ok, it would probably have gone gold by now. Hopefully they won't needtake it back to fix the bugs - that would take ages .

But visit www.halflife2.net - that will tell you if it goes gold.
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[tom2004]

i can't wait for half life 2 - it is going to be amazing!! but it is taking soooooooooo long to release that its going to become old technology soon

[Michaelz]

yeh, i agree with u i mean when it first came out it looked Amazing but now it just looks quite good since other games r catching up
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Screw you suckers!!!!

[Michaelz]

Half-Life 2 held hostage?
Court filings show VU Games has the right to sit on finished Half-Life 2 code for up to six months. Could it be deja vu all over again?

In court filings dated August 27, 2004, VU Games' senior vice president and deputy general counsel Eric Roeder entered the following statement into the record.

"Valve has announced that it will deliver a release candidate version of Half-Life 2 (HL2) (a game required under the 2001 SPA) to Sierra/VUG within the next few weeks. If Valve delivers a release candidate version that complies with the contract and is a Final Milestone, then VUG will have six months to release the product under the 2001 SPA. Valve is pressing VUG to release the product early within that six month window, and its representatives have made a number of public statements without our consent or concurrence that the product will be published and released to the general public in September of this year."

The statement's implication is that VUG, angry with Valve's "public statements," could sit on Half-Life 2 for up to six months. But would VUG use this six-month window as leverage to force Valve to back down from demands contained in its original August 14, 2002 lawsuit?

Previously, VU Games found itself in the center of a similar conflict. At the end of September 2003, Interplay announced that it was terminating its distribution deal with VU Games, accusing the publisher of nonpayment of $3 million and failing to live up to the terms of its software publishing agreement for the console role-playing games Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel and Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II.

Then, in October, Interplay announced Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel had gone gold. Interplay CEO Herve Caen went so far as to state that Interplay would distribute the two games itself, to make sure games were on retailer shelves for the all-important holiday season. "[Retailers] already know the titles are coming out," Caen told the Orange County Register. "Profitability is contingent on the fourth quarter," Caen concluded.

Then, it was reported that VU Games was considering an injunction against Interplay to prevent it from distributing the games itself. While Brotherhood of Steel languished in retail limbo, nary a peep was heard about the status of Dark Alliance II. Then, in November, the two announced they had suddenly resolved their issues. "We are pleased to have come to an understanding with Interplay and look forward to the upcoming launch of Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel," said Philip O'Neil, VUG's then senior vice president of sales and marketing.

However, the "understanding" VU Games' and Interplay reached didn't include Caen's wishes to release Brotherhood of Steel and Dark Alliance II in the fourth quarter. As it turned out, both titles failed to appear on shelves until the following year: Fallout was eventually released on January 14, 2004, with Dark Alliance hitting retail the following week. Sales of Dark Alliance were lackluster, while Brotherhood of Steel was both a critical and commercial disappointment.

Could a similar scenario befall Half-Life 2? "It’s a game of chicken the way I see it," said one industry observer. "VUG could hold HL2 hostage for 6 months (or threaten to) if they want to force Valve to give in to demands. But Valve knows VUG needs the revenue."

According to the two companies' current software publishing agreement, Valve cannot release the game via Steam until the retail version is brought to market by VU Games. That point was confirmed by Valve director of marketing Doug Lombardi who said, "Half-Life 2 will be made available to customers who purchase via Steam at the same time it is made available at retail."

When asked if VUG could be targeting a "late-cycle" release date for Half-Life 2, Lombardi said, "We've been asking, but Vivendi has refused to communicate an expected retail release date for Half-Life 2." Additionally, Lombardi clarified Valve's perspective when it came to the company's desire to get the game into the hands of gamers. "We delivered the first release candidate last week, and hope to deliver the final version very soon," Lombardi said. For its part, VU Games declined GameSpot's requests for comment.

In other developments in the Valve versus VUG lawsuit, the judge hearing the case in District Court pushed the cutoff date for the two sides to present relevant documents (Discovery) from October 8, 2004, to December 31, 2004.

NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
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Screw you suckers!!!!

[James]

http://www.halflife2.net sums up that news well, and quickly - check there for updates.
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[Michaelz]

Half life 2 is given 96% in pcgamer UK and Rome total W HAS BEEN GIVEN 95%!!!




I'M SO HAPPY
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Screw you suckers!!!!

[James]

OMG you stole that news from my MSN name

But yeah, the fact that it got 96% is great. That is the best mark ever except for Half Life 1 which also got 96%. (GRim Fandango got 95%)
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[Michaelz]

We're hearing unconfirmed information from Eurogamer that release dates have been set for Half-Life 2. Whereas the reports confirm the general consensus that the game would be released in November, in my opinion, parts of the information doesn't sound accurate:

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.

With Valve often discussing the game shipping simultaneously worldwide and the fact that not even Valve themselves have the date yet, makes me all very cynical of this information, however, if it is indeed true then let the countdown begin!

You can find the full story here at Eurogamer.net.

Three reviews down, a great deal more to go. Three magazines from three different countries have now started to send their Half-Life 2 reviews into the public domain. With PC Gamer (UK), PC Format (Slovenia)* and PC Gameplay (Benelux) all giving it reviews 90%, it's looking like this will be a common trend. Here are the scores so far:

PC Gamer (UK): 96%
PC Format (Slovenia): 96%
PC Gameplay (Benelux): 90%

Average score: 94%

Many more reviews are expected this coming week, and we'll keep you updated on the scores as they come in.

* PC Format (Slovenia) is believed to contain a translation of the review appearing in PC Format (UK)

UPDATE: With more and more sites reporting on this story, including statements from their own sources, it seems more and more likely that I will end up eating my words. Here's a few different perspectives:
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Screw you suckers!!!!

[[DOTA]D07]

I really want to play HL2 but it is never going to come out
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[Michaelz]

Actually, its very likely 2 be out soon as it's been reviewed and everything fingers cross the relaease date is correct
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Screw you suckers!!!!

[James]

Is that magazine cover you gave the real one? Because according to hl2.net it was mainly black with a huge HL2 logo...
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