Yeah I second the ever-delayed Team Fortress 2 anticipation. When was it supposed to be out? 4 years ago?
Anyway, not all of Half Life 2’s idea’s have been aped just yet, but the pysics interaction has now already been done in Psi-Ops. Havoc 2 was mind blowing back then, but now I’ve lost count how many games have it (usually pointlessly) intergrated.
It happened with Doom 3 too, it’s ever impressive textures and lighting effects were lessened by the fact Chroniscles of Riddick ended up doing it first, and not to mention on the Xbox, not a High-Spec PC.
Rumor #1: Half-Life 2 shipping to US retailers this November 23, 2004.
Source: “The long, drawn-out Half-Life 2 release date saga appears to be drawing to a close,” says Eurogamer. Gamesindustry.biz chimes in with a similar chorus.
The official story: The always-present and invariably polite Doug Lombardi of Valve: “VUG has not given us a release date.”
What we heard: Did ya hear the one about the Half-Life 2 release date? What would Rumor Control be without another sighting of Half-Life 2? While the rumor mill that is the British press is well versed in delivering whoppers, this time around the sources referred to–retailers–seem credible. Our own moles to the north say many small bits of evidence from HL2-central (Valve’s offices in Bellevue, WA) add up to a “the date nears…the date nears” vibe. However, the complicated nature of what is now a documented “he said, she said” backstory only complicates any one person’s statement on the matter. To wit: The internecine fighting between Valve and publisher VU Games has been shown to be worthy of lawsuits, counterclaims, threats and even some good old-fashioned trash talk (see GameSpot News coverage of the Valve vs. Sierra/VU Games spat which is ongoing in Federal Court). Given the amount of mud that’s been slung so far, it’s hard to know who to trust any more. Still, calmer minds prevail, and with the currently known power VU Games is likely to invoke, we editors at the rumor desk reserve the right to change our tune.
Bogus or not bogus?: Yesterday, not bogus; today, bogus.
Tomorrow mid-day it will be available for pre-purchase, with the option to immediately play Counter Strike: Source. Still no Gold announcement. Still no release date.
Bronze-$50
Silver- $60
Gold- $90
I’ll see how Steam handles the traffic tomorrow, and maybe get the Bronze in a few days. I would really like to play CS:Source.
Originally Posted by YeLLoWsAmUeL I want source now but…damnit, I want a boxed version of HL2. I wonder if there are any other ways to aqquire CS:Source for now, wink wink?
I doubt it. Steam’s CD Key protection system seems pretty tight. Just buy it on Steam.
Just got this in the mail BFG 6800 OC to gear up for Half Life 2. It runs Doom 3 at 1280x1024 on High Res, 4x AA and all the features on at a steady 60 FPS. Now I know ATI is apparently the Half Life 2 card, but a few FPS difference doesn’t mean much and the fact that it seems NVidias are doing really well on CS:S benchmarks. I’m all about the best card for the money as opposed to ATI vs NVidia. I was real happy with my Radeon 9600 (cost me $100) which will be moving to my 1.7 P4 system.
So far its been a really great card for the price. Awesome UT2004 benchmarks and it ran Halo PC really well (a really system taxing and poorly done port IMO) in a large multiplater game. I was originally planning on picking up a 6600 GT AGP when it was released but I doubt it will be as good as this one for roughly the same price. And the fact that it will probably be a pain in the ass to get one.
So one more stick of Corsair PC3200 XM RAM and I should have a cost efficient and smokin machine for Half Life 2 provided the game gets released..
Well I just got Source (legitimately I might add) and…I fucking love it!!!
It’s hard to describe, but it just…feel’s so much better, so much easier to play. It’s more responsive, its smoother, and its just more damn fun.
Headshots are far less random now, so you can actually aim for the head and have a pretty good chance of hitting it. It’s also lacking in arseholes (for the time being) and so called ‘pros’ who own every server and spoil everyones fun by being so good (and sad imo).
My advice, buy it, buy it now. It’s a lot better than I had expected.
It’s amazing how quickly you can get used to all the new bells and whistles, I bairly even remember what old-school CS looked like. Though I still get a kick out of the rag doll physics and chopping fruit in Italy’s market.
Bought the silver package last night so I could test my system on Source.
I got just over 122 fps on the Stress Test, so THATS comforting. CS: Source itself is kinda interesting to play around with, though not exactly fun since it IS still CS.
It’s been submitted to ratings boards here and abroad. It’s done. If Sierra doesn’t announce gold within a week, then maybe this whole Half Life 2 thing was just an elaborate hoax.
Originally Posted by Kyle Reese She’s Gold. November 16th for retail. No mention of Steam in the press release, though. Midnight November 16th? A day before? Who knows.
Yep, just got this in my Inbox:
Quote:
LOS ANGELES (October 18, 2004) – Vivendi Universal Games (VU Games) today announced that Half-Life® 2, the sequel to one of the most critically acclaimed PC titles in gaming history, will ship to retail outlets around the world in November. The Company confirmed that Half-Life 2, developed by Valve Software, has gone gold with a planned retail street date of November 16, 2004. The countdown to the highly anticipated retail street date has begun around the world, as VU Games completes plans to ship localized versions of Half-Life 2 simultaneously in English, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Traditional and Simplified Chinese, Korean, Thai and Japanese. “Half-Life 2 has surpassed our expectations in every sense – its high-quality graphics, ground-breaking physics and immersive first-person shooter gameplay set a new standard for PC action games,” said Bruce Hack, CEO of VU Games. “Half-Life 2 will go down as one of the best-selling PC titles, and we are thrilled to deliver this ground-breaking title to the worldwide gaming community this fall.” Hailed as “…the best game ever made” by PC Gamer, Half-Life 2 earned a top-rated review score of 98, the highest score bestowed by the magazine in more than six years. The game has received numerous accolades for its technical excellence, captivating story and addictive game play, including more than 10 awards and nominations at the 2004 Electronic Entertainment Expo. In addition to being named “Best PC Game” by 1up.com (Ziff Davis) and Gamespy.com, the title also received a “Technological Excellence on PC” award from IGN.com. CNNMoney.com stated that “Half-Life 2 will redefine what gamers expect from their games visually – and the gameplay is a lot of fun as well.” The global anticipation for Half-Life 2 has reached unprecedented heights, as consumers around the world mark their calendars to buy the game at retail on November 16th. The Half-Life 2 product will include Counter-Strike: Source. VU Games will also release a Half Life 2 Collector’s Edition that will include Half-Life 2 in DVD-ROM format, Counter-Strike: Source, Half-Life: Source, a free limited edition t-shirt, and a Half-Life 2 Prima strategy guide book.