Vivendi Delay Statement on Gamestar

[rec]

One of Germany's biggest PC gaming magazines, Gamestar (www.gamestar.de), are reporting that there is the potential for Half-Life 2 to be pushed back as far as April 2004 according to a statement by the president of VU Games, Christophe Ramboz. An article on CNN (http://money.cnn.com/2003/10/07/technology/vivendi_code.reut/index.htm?cnn=yes) has spawned backing up these claims, revealing that Ramboz also stated that only a third of the code was leaked, and it is because of the leak that various aspects of the game need to be re-written, causing the delay.

Gamestar do mention that Gabe Newell has not commented on the topic, however HalfLife2.Net has just approached Valve employees for confirmation of this claim made by Vivendi; we hope to have a response soon.

On a related note, according to translated interviews with Doug Lombardi that took place during the Tokyo Game show, Valve had already commenced work on an expansion pack set for 2004. HalfLife2.Net forum participant UndeadScottsman apparently recieved an an e-mail reply (http://www.halflife2.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1298&perpage=40&pagenumber=9) from Doug himself promoting that this statement was either in reference to the Collector's Edition of Half-Life 2, or a translation misquote. Please keep in mind that we have no possible way to cement the legitimacy of the e-mails posted in our "Info From Valve" thread (http://www.halflife2.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1298), however up until this point our faith in community members has paid off with only valid information being published.

[rec]

Personally I'd say the statement and the this news is very real, however keep in mind Vivendi have a habbit of releasing inaccurate information.

[Kyle2]

vivendi had a reason for delaying the game to holiday, "to make more money". they wouldn't have any reason for delaying it till april so it is gabe's decision as to wether the game needs some reworking or if they can go ahead and release it. really any decision to delay the game further should only be trusted if heard directly from valve alone at this point.

[WARLORD]

http://v2.gamekult.com/tout/actus/default.html?nopub=1&temp=490710200356121017

it's a french well known game news website

VU say they are going to delay the game to april 2004, the time for valve to rewrite some compromised codes.
valve still plan the game to the end of the year but they say they were probably to busy putting a decent firewall to check the calendar

vivendi who lost 52millions of euro was expecting much about halflife2


damn... a month after my birthday.. :/

[pixartist]

nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

no pls no nononononononononnononon PLS!!!!!!!! no! PLS NO!

[Gaemon82]

Originally posted by Kyle2
vivendi had a reason for delaying the game to holiday, "to make more money". they wouldn't have any reason for delaying it till april so it is gabe's decision as to wether the game needs some reworking or if they can go ahead and release it. really any decision to delay the game further should only be trusted if heard directly from valve alone at this point.

This time it is NOT a marketing decision, if the game needs 5 or 6 months of coding, then it will need them, regardless of what Valve, Vivendi or someone else says.

[Wob]

Damn i'm getting confused :rolling:

http://www.hl2online.com

Hackers almost caught?
Posted By: Djinn Comments: 0

The staff members from www.halflifesource.com had the chance to ask Gabe Newell a few questions. Here is what Gabe said about the hackers, according to Half-Life Source:

Gabe Newell and Valve Software did confirm that only a SMALL PORTION of the source code was taken. This is different than most of the reports. The entire source was not taken. Straight from Gabe Newell.

No Mention Of Half-Life 2 Delay. So far Half-Life 2 is shipping for the HOLIDAYS.

It appears that Valve Software is really close to getting the hackers. They seem to have their names written on a whiteboard. It's no wonder that it's business as usual at Valve!

They have names on the whiteboard -- the history, date, times -- and other things that looked like file names. That was pretty much a quick issue. You know, it's done! They're on it! They look like they know who did it.

Now that's some good information isn't it?

[Kyle2]

Originally posted by Gaemon82
This time it is NOT a marketing decision, if the game needs 5 or 6 months of coding, then it will need them, regardless of what Valve, Vivendi or someone else says.

that's pretty much what i said... it's Gabe's decision as to wether the code needs to be reworked or not. Technically the game doesn't need to be recoded at all because of the release because the code wasn't damaged in any way, just compromised.

[Gaemon82]

Originally posted by Wob
Damn i'm getting confused :rolling:

http://www.hl2online.com

Hackers almost caught?
Posted By: Djinn Comments: 0

The staff members from www.halflifesource.com had the chance to ask Gabe Newell a few questions. Here is what Gabe said about the hackers, according to Half-Life Source:

Gabe Newell and Valve Software did confirm that only a SMALL PORTION of the source code was taken. This is different than most of the reports. The entire source was not taken. Straight from Gabe Newell.

No Mention Of Half-Life 2 Delay. So far Half-Life 2 is shipping for the HOLIDAYS.

It appears that Valve Software is really close to getting the hackers. They seem to have their names written on a whiteboard. It's no wonder that it's business as usual at Valve!

They have names on the whiteboard -- the history, date, times -- and other things that looked like file names. That was pretty much a quick issue. You know, it's done! They're on it! They look like they know who did it.

Now that's some good information isn't it?

If it's true, sure, but have you been here for the last weeks, do you remember when people talked about Valves statement of releasing the game on sep30th and the community said this was good news and not Vivendis stamtements?

[PunitoR]

Well delaying it till april 2004 is also not in the interest of vivendi, cause they don't have any money left. I'm not an accountant but earning some money before the end of the year would be a very positive thing for the "books" i think.

[He@t!]

AWWW WTF!!!!!!!!!!! Now Im Pissed!!!!! april 2004!!!!!!!!! WTF!!
:flame: :flame: :flame: :flame: ;( :flame: :flame: :flame: :flame:

[Shurakai]

For what happened over the last year and of course the last weeks especally I`d rather trust to Vivendi for they do not feel as much for the fans as Gabe would do. They give plain numbers. At least to a newspaper like The Echoes ("Les Echoes").

Anyway, I hope as much as everyone here that these news are not true. Let`s hope what the speaker of VU heard was internal rumours or worst case studies and Gabe will correct him with a definite date that last forever and the release. Altough I don`t believe that 160mb of sourcecode could be anything like "a tiny bit" of the source I do think, that it is only a tiny bit to adapt for a maximum of security and a stable game to release. Steam could most likely be the one "small part" that realy has to be worked over, if it`s code has been leaked too. Because it has to be absolutely secure in order to get the pay-per-play functions running. If HL2 goes out with a public network code, who cares. (View of Vivendi). Something like that can be patched, and the singleplayer game will not be affected by the leak if you don`t use trainers etc. So we could very well get the game in holidays with or without steam... or in march with steam... or...

Argh, I hate this feeling...
Shurakai

[rec]

I remind people again, this is a statement from a VU rep, this has not been confirmed by Valve.

[faust]

This sounds all too familiar, remember VALVe saying:"It'll be out on sep 30th," when VU allready announced the delay months before.

If this turns out to be an official VU statement, then I'll put my trust in them this time around...that's a HL2 release march 2004 -the earliest-


:|

[X-Bond 007]

PARIS, Oct 7 (Reuters) - The theft of part of its source code has delayed until April 2004 the launch of "Half Life II", the hotly anticipated alien-hunting game of Vivendi Universal Games (Paris: EAUG.PA - News; NYSE:V - News), a company official said.

"A third of the source code was stolen. It's serious because it forces us to delay the launch of the game by at least four months, that is to April 2004. Just the time to rewrite parts of the game," VU Games president of international operations Christophe Ramboz told daily Les Echos in its Tuesday edition.

According to Les Echos, a hacker broke into the email of the game's developer, Gabe Newell, the founder of Valve Software, and planted a spying program.

The delay is bad news for VU Games, which suffered a 29 percent fall in revenue and an operating loss of 52 million euros in 2003's first half and was betting on swift holiday sales.

This is the second time the game's release has been postponed.

Last month, VU games postponed the release of "Half-Life II" from September 30 to "an unspecified holiday release".

The game was keenly awaited after last May's games industry trade show, E3. Critics previewing it said it brought a new level of realism to characters and the virtual world in which they move.

The original "Half-Life", released in 1998, is still popular among PC gamers, and a modified version called "Counter-Strike" is widely used in gaming competitions.

"Half-Life II" stars Gordon Freeman, a scientist battling aliens from the planet Xen in a mysterious European locale known only as City 17.

At 1005 GMT, shares in Vivendi Universal, the parent company of VU Games, were down 1.2 percent at 16.11 euros in Paris, in line with the European media sector.;( ;(

[Krusty]

I agree rec, I won't believe it unless it comes direct from Valve.


If this is true don't you think ATI may be a little pissed off after paying 6 mill to bundle HL2 with their 9800XT cards? These new cards are, afterall is said and done, just a "kicker" product.
Surely the R400's will be out by April 04, meaning that their bundle will be pointless.

Come on Gabe, give us a post :bounce:

[Andrmgic]

hrm.. no day.. anyone want to bet that it will be April 1st, 2004? :P
Personally, I hope they are wrong.. but if it is true, maybe I can have an Athlon 64 via my tax refund before then ;)

[X-Bond 007]

Oh linky:

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=3568878

[StooMonster]

VU are more likely to give accurate information because they are a publically quoted company and therehfore legally obliged too -- Valve are not.

VU's shareholders and potential buyers/sellers of stock must have accurate and published information (even if via PR to news sites) about the status of serious revenue streams like HL2.

If VU says it's April to anyone -- yes, anyone outside the company and particularly the press -- they have made a public statement and are legally obligated to it; unless they make a statement to ammend it later.

StooMonster has been a director of a publically quoted company and knows how this works. Trust VU's dates, not Valves.

StooMonster

[tjdrico]

Story is on El Reg (http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/33260.html) too.

[faust]

Originally posted by StooMonster
Trust VU's dates, not Valves.



...my sentiments exactly...

[Aknot]

Lets see. VU says game is delayed. Some "Fat Cat" at VU buys up the lower priced stock. Game releases "Holidays" of 2003. Guess who just became a very rich man. Not that I care just so the game gets released.

SPECULATION-MY OPINION-NO FACT-JUST MESSING AROUND

Had to put that so people do not get their knickers in a bunch.

[Shurakai]

Just wanted to post what X-Bond 007 already posted. The man is in fact President International what means pretty much. This seems to get worse every minute in form of getting more believable every minute. :-(

All my hopes are on Gabe now altough I am teached daily not to trust people using Outlook Express *g*.

Go Gabe go... give me, ahm us of course HL2. I don`t care about the network code for I will be playing online in mid 2004. But I want to play the game when it`s cold out there... not in summer. Please!

Shurakai

[Tropico]

Why not give us the single player pack now.
That will get the pressure off for the mp and steam.
Then in two three or four months time release a MP pack.
Lets get a petition going

[mosquave]

You just know that people are going to bury their head in the sand and claim that this isn't true but it's obvious we aren't going to see the game until next year.

[Sporky]

Aaah nuts. ;(

[Vamperic]

Vivendi should just shut the **** up and let valve release the statments man they are always contradicting Gabe and Valve they should just keep quiet and everyone will be happier

[cod56]

It probably is true, :angry: :flame: however I think it might be a conspiracy. They needed more time, posted "leaked" information on the web and are now using this leak as an excuse to delay the game further. (JOKING) :laugh:

I hope it’s not delay as long as HL1 or even worse Duke Nukem Forever. We will see but lest hope we get some straight information that tallies up soon.

[Necro]

i don't buy it. it's vivendi. vivendi is NOT trustable.
I think they're just saying that to cover they're backs JUST in case i mean, if they say april and it makes it out on time they can just say, oh it's done already, but if not they can just say told ya so. they have 3 months before december, that's a lot of time...let's all hope they make it and no believe to some bullshit lies or speculations from vivendi!:cheers:

[Tlaloc]

Originally posted by Vamperic
Vivendi should just shut the **** up and let valve release the statments man they are always contradicting Gabe and Valve they should just keep quiet and everyone will be happier

Valve and Gabe keep contradicting themselves. Valve release statements? heh... At least VU gave us a date. Not that "holiday" crap

[Wesisapie]

This is stupid. Oh well, more time to buy GCN games instead of HL2.

[mbrithoms]

this is another case of what will it take for you to believe it, we all knew this would cause a delay, and frankly HL2 wont be so special in april, it will be good but im afraid the novelty has gone for me

heres a bit of philosophy about it

a small child's exitement grows about christmas all year, and the waiting makes it all the more worthwhile
but what happenes when you get to christmas day and you tell the child, christmas is being moved to april?
you get a crying child for four months!
good luck to the mods on this board!

[theGreenBunny]

Well, this sucks

[Obz]

http://www.cnn.com/money/2003/10/07/technology/vivendi_code.reut/index.htm?cnn=yes

CNN.com: "The theft of part of its source code has delayed until April 2004"..

:(

[FatboyTim]

Its extremely unlikely that VU would make this statement without prior discussion with Valve. While we need Gabe to confirm, I think this statement has to be taken seriously.

On the brighter side, it gives me that much longer to save for a nice shiny R9800Pro. ;)

[mbrithoms]

april, by that time its going to be old news, WAY TO GO VALVE!

[mbrithoms]

valve and vivendi are going to make a small fraction of what they could have and frankly deserve it

[TwwIX]

Ahh, great!Here we go again.This just keeps getting more ridiculous every day.From the ati vs nvidia fiasco to incomplete file system to source leaks and delays.What the hell's going on with valve?:frown:

[Frost]

This cannot be true. This will be true once its CONFIRMED on gamespy.com because they have the resources to talk to Valve directly to confirm it. Either way with the Half-Life 2 bundle in the ATI Radeon 9800XT and 9600TX cards there is no way the game is going to be coming out as late as April... maybe the multiplayer portion at MOST, but think about it people, do you know how many angry people that bought the Radeon9800XT from ATI's website are now going to have to wait another 4 months for the game that is "Bundled" with it in a mutlimillion dollar partnership, not to mention the ad campaign!

[Mountain Man]

Pushing the game all the way back to April 2004 seems a bit excessive and not in Valve's best interest. The anticipation for Half-Life 2 is quickly diminishing, and I don't know if the fickle gaming community will stand for more delays. With Max Payne 2, Deus Ex 2, Doom III, and Stalker all coming out relatively soon, Valve has a very narrow window of opportunity to make a big splash. The first delay announcement really killed a lot of the community's enthusiasm, and a lengthy delay could be fatal.

[mbrithoms]

fatal is the correct word

[Mountain Man]

Originally posted by rec
I remind people again, this is a statement from a VU rep, this has not been confirmed by Valve.
That's kind of a catch 22 seeing as Valve is not really in the habit of confirming or denying rumors. Unfortunately, the last time a rumor started floating around, it turned out to be 100% true.

[Sunbeam]

ha! knew it delay delay delay. lying bastards Valve.:flame:

the new delay has got nothing to do with your hack or stolen source, hell u probably orchistrated that yourself didint u?!

im telling u people...valve are ****ing lying. want to know the REAL REASON????

XBOX VERSION IS BEING PORTED AS WE SPEAK

PC developement has halted, XBox will either get an exclusive or simulataneous release along side the PC version.

STFU Valve, Vivendi and most of all M$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.:flame:

[rec]

Originally posted by Frost
This cannot be true. This will be true once its CONFIRMED on gamespy.com

Look, a comedian!

[Bal1istic]

Man as soon as the HL2 fans get the announcement how only a fragment of the source is stolen and there close to catching the guys, we get another juicy topic to sink our teeth into. Wonder what people at ATI are thinking right now about this little announcment

[Grim_EFG]

Above story also reported here:

http://www.mcvuk.com/html/news/story.jsp?newsId=1111416

[rec]

Main news item updated.

[Radeon]

Damn, if this is true i relly do hate thos friggin hackers! They ruin it all for the whole community! ;(

[theneb]

Oh FFS!
This is just plain silly, I was really excited about HL2 but I'm just getting more & more pissed per day.
Why not release SP over steam? It'll give us a chance to actually play the game until they get Mp sorted out.
This delay stinks of bullshit, Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

[Kekojones]

Well I happen to believe Vivendy and not Gabe. It was Vivendy who told Us the game was going to be delayed. Gabe just kept playing with us until the last day.

It was that same Gabe who told us that HL2 was going to be released in Steam in a encripted form a week before the official release the 30th.

I have lost my faith in a holiday release of HL2, blame the need to improve multiplayer, blame the hacker's intrusion and steal of the source code, blame the problems with steam, blame whatever you want.

Valve should do the right thing and told Us now a realistic release date. A release date they surely can do.

They may release the game earlier but at least we won't be refreshing the HL2 news sites every two minute to see a damn Halflife2 release date news.

I don't know what are Valve fears on telling Us a release date. We'll buy their game even if its released on 2005, we just need a date for:

1)Reschedule all our personal and profesional life events three months after HL2 release.

2)Start saving some $$$ to get the best ATI card money can buy to play their game the best we can.

Valve, please, give Us the magical date.

[Frost]

LOL :) I'm just saying that they don't normally publish something as factual unless they've CONFIRMED it with Valve. They do report rumors and I don't think anyone here actually goes to gamespy first for news on Half-Life 2 because Halflife2.net is the BEST source for all things Half-Life 2. I'm saying that gamespy.com reporting the delay on their main page would be more believeble then some site from another country. With all the spoofed e-mails and fake crap going around I wouldn't be surprised if this turned out to be fake too or at least not entirely true.

[Sunbeam]

Originally posted by Radeon
Damn, if this is true i relly do hate thos friggin hackers! They ruin it all for the whole community! ;(

Nothing to do with it! Valve are USING the hackers as scapegoats, nothing more. This game was destined to be delayed a long time ago.

[Dax]

there'll be no mercy to the hackers if this is true

EDIT: kill 'em anyway

[draven]

This is just great. Just bought the 9800xt with the HL2 coupon in it. I did need a new video card but it almost seems like a waste now.

This is not a wise move Valve. :frown:

[PSX]

well, it is kinda ironic, I actually have more faith in VU now, although most of their published games suck, they do hand us the info

[jmswe]

Does any1 remember when Teamfortress 2 was showed at E3 i think it was 1999? There you can talk about a long wait. :dork:

[Element Alpha]

I'm going to cry...

This i just like in Melrose place, when everybody thought Andy was dead from a motorcycle accident, and then suddenly it turned out he was Gina's father, even tho they were lovers, and evil Tony tried to stop them, but then now it turns out Tony was the doctor who performed experimental brainsurgery on Andy, thinking he really was Mitch. But then Gina came and everybody was everybody's father, and nobody knew what the hell was going on, so they had a funeral, but there was nobody in the coffin(?!). And the police arrested the murderer.

Yeah, this is just like Melrose place, only more twist and turns.
And you know what? It pisses me off! :flame:

[Frost]

Dvraven did you read my post above? They can't possibly publish the game 4 months from now with the huge deal with ATI and Valve... you have to be getting the game in some form or another around when you can get your card. BTW when is it expected to ship and be at your house?

[Stage]

This is bad news for Valve.
Missing the 30th and thus what would have been the most successfull launch ever is one thing, but now they also will have to compete with a ton of other AAA games due for release around this new date.
While they would have had a completely revolutionary product September 30th, and most likely also around November, now, technologically speaking, it might end up being just one of many.
And what about the ATI deal? Not only will parts of the point of buying their XT cards be gone, are they still gonna be paying $6 million to have a possibly technologically average, or perhaps even inferior game shipping with their next-generation cards?

[SFA]

FFS.

*Replaces HL2 desktop image*

If this news is indeed true (and it looks like it most certainly is), then Half-Life 2 won't be half as good as it would have been if released this year.

Looks like Max Payne 2, DOOM III, Stalker, Far Cry AND Deus-Ex 2 will be out before HL2, and that SUCKS.

Max Payne arguably has better faces than Half-Life 2.
Arguably, Doom III and Stalker have better graphics than HL2.
Deus-Ex 2 almost certainly is more open-ended and deep than HL2.

If HL2 comes out in April 2004, then the wow factor will be seriously diminished.

Its Halo PC all over again.

[PSX]

good one sfa, though we can't be sure that anything will be better, it's safe to say that each one of those games will have some parts that are superior; I have no doubt that Stalker will have better graphics, Far Cry is getting tons of praise for its AI, Doom3, if the shadows are fixed, could have better lighting and Deux Ex 2 more open-ended like you said, and MP2 with its facial animations (I have my doubts tho...), but it could be more gritty and a deep story

[Bal1istic]

HardOCP.com has now jumped on the delay bandwagon
*waits for a valve response, and see what Shacknews.com has to say*

[draven]

Originally posted by Frost
Dvraven did you read my post above? They can't possibly publish the game 4 months from now with the huge deal with ATI and Valve... you have to be getting the game in some form or another around when you can get your card. BTW when is it expected to ship and be at your house?


Yeah, I read your post. I hope you are right, but that is nothing more than wishful thinking to me at this point.

My hopes have been raised only to have them crash down time and time again.

I am guessing that I should receive the card sometime this week with a coupon for HL2 in it. ATI's website hardly gives any details on my order. The truth is, just like everything else lately, I don't know.

[abstract1977]

This is the worst BS I've ever heard. Delay until April 2004 because of this? Rewrite the code? Crock of sh*t.

I mean, I'm probably going to get a hardon when this game comes out but the least we (the gaming community) deserve some respect and sincerity!

We should give Valve credit for the ingenuity though. You guys made CNN.

/Mr. Cent

[Ruben]

I canceled my order from ATI today. By that time there might be an even better card from them or nVidia.

[mosquave]

Originally posted by Wesisapie
This is stupid. Oh well, more time to buy GCN games instead of HL2.

Hell yeah! RS3, MK:DD and a few other games will keep me busy for the rest of the year.

[CalicoRabbit]

You do relize that cheating isn't the only thing hackers could do with the source code? They could use HL2 and steam to take over your computer, delete files, steal passwords etc. Look what they did with Outlook, how much more insecure is HL2 now.

This is more than just taking control of MP games so the hackers can win, someone could break into a college or corporate network and do some nasty things if the users on that network are running HL2.

Just think about it.

-CalicoRabbit

[Hobbit]

Its funny how calm and composed Gabe seemed throughout September. How they continued to mislead the fans regarding the release date.
Like someone else said "The novelty is gone".
In my opinion, Valve handled this affair in a terrible manner. Not just for the fans, but even for so called "partners". ATI is surely not going to be the happiest of the lot now.

[garg]

Oh well.. Unreal Tournament 2004.. here I come :)

[Mountain Man]

An April release will kill any chance Half-Life 2 had of being a trend setter. Now it runs the risk of getting lost in the shuffle.

[GhostValkyrie]

I think it's really disappointing when we get to a point in time where a dev team begins to lead it's fans around like lost animals. Although VALVe created Hl, we made it what it is now. As much as I'd like to believe otherwise, if it wasn't for the gaming communities constant modifications on a dead engine, we'd have a dead game.
Don't get me wrong. I still play Hl every-so-often, but that's because I can't afford to run out and buy other games for a PC that can't handle them, nor I can I afford 50.00+ games for the Xbox, especially with the bills I have to pay,...and it's an awesome game. I've had to scrounge every last penny to get my computer together for this game.(Which my computer isn't even finished yet)
To tell you the truth, I don't trust either one of them. Because of the fact that VU is a broke down publishing co., and has a habit of making false statements. I don't trust VALVe because they couldn't pull off a release date if they tried. At this point I don't care what either one of them has to say. We haven't seen new content for months. No new images, videos, nothing. A couple of sketches Spitcodfry took snapshots of.
Either they truly are going to release Hl2 this Holiday season, or they have bad PR skills, because you can't hold a community for 6 months without new content. At least id. stills releases new screenshots of D3 every month or so. Though I plan to stay with this until Dec. at the very least, VALVe could seriously lose fan$ if they don't do something quick.
If it's delayed until April I guess I'll just quit caring in Jan, then start caring in March, again, and it'll make the wait shorter.
For the most part, I think VALVe can pull this off,..if they push themselves. Hopefully some of the things HlRadio said are true and things are going well. They've been playtesting for over a month, maybe two, now. While finishing up the game at the same time.
At this point to having out in mid-late Nov. I'd speculate that they'd be finished by late Oct, ealy Nov.
A release in time for Christmas would be mid-late Nov.
Hopefully one of these is the case. Aside from ours own needs, I seriously hope VALVe gets this game out by Dec., because it will really help them. Good luck guys!

-Ghost.

[skidrow]

30 sept.
holidays 2003
and now april 2004? wtf is going on here.

hope is just a false statement.

atleast release a demo or something. jezz :|

[Mountain Man]

It's ironic that Valve prides themselves on their community relations when they're always keeping us in the dark.

[Suicidal_Maniac]

oh well hehehehehehehe I DONT CARE Doom3 for me!!!!!! Woohoo!!!!

[Stiler]

I wish they'd release the single player only, agh.

Holding up the freaking game for 6months for mp code to be re-written most likely.

[nonexite]

Valve should have kept the whole game a secret. Inform the public when the game is actually done. That might be a way of releasing a product. And statements like when it's done are quite bad. Does anyone remember the wait on Max Payne. I understand wery well the reasoning behind the delay thou. And please do remember that the design will propably be more polished as more time goes by. Or do you think that the designers at Valve are kept in corner doing nothing and reciving cash. If the game "IS" released next year .The generation 420 and likes form Ati and nVidia might be ready. Makes your upgrading hell more fun. This is for Gabe and for any nimbos out there who are doing or tryign to do some actual stuff. Keep your stuff out from the computer that's on the net. I would newer trust platform from this one "company" to bee so safe that I would keep important stuff on it and at the same time would be using it as a passageway to net. NEWER. And does anybody gues what software company I'm talking about? anyone? I might trust Linux if I knew it thru and thru. And for those of you who think stuff like It's crap when it comes out so late I tell ya. Some far Cry (looks like another SOF 2 with palm trees) or Doom 3 (play it throu and forget) will newer be as fun to play or to edit as HL2 will be. And what comes for Stalker. That might be pretty close. And then If OPF2 arrives early next year (and I gues not). well again time will tell. I could buy Max Payne 2 in the mean time. (if it's done)

[Rant]

MAX PAYNE 2 has gone gold allready!

Check ya sources


HL2 will be born-dead. Its history now. The delay til April 2004 will kill vivendi as there stocks went dont 1.2 % since the delay msg was out.

Valve is getting money problems as well when they dont get money this year and ATI, well ATI will cancel the 6 mio. Dollar contract with them cos the bundle as planned is worthless in april. Graphiccards generations changing every 6 months.

Its "just" another game that bites the dust.

Electronic Arts - I know you all hate them for being soo "big" but they release games ALWAYS to deadline. No delay, No strange source code stealing stuff. Ever ask why?

The hacker who "stole" the source code is "just" a sandcorn on the beach. There is soooo much strange stuff behind valve ongoing. You wont believe what I know.

So HL2 community. Wait 1-2 days for GABE's statement which will be full of promises for a SP demo and the "final" release date for april 2004. And then in 6 months we all speak again and you will see. There is no "HL2".

Did you ever ask yourself what happend to "TEAM FORTRESS 2" ? Just another legendary game from valve which was far of its one. Well, its dead as well.

[Rant]

FROM GAMESPY...

Half-Life 2 Moves to April 2004
Aramo | 7:06 | Action

Publisher Vivendi Universal Games has delayed the release of Half-Life 2 until April 2004 due to the theft of one-third of the original source code.

Developer Valve last week revealed hackers had infiltrated its Internet-connected development network in recent weeks and obtained a version of the Half-Life 2 code which includes anti-piracy and anti-cheating measures.

This is the second time the highly-anticipated sequel to the 1998 original has been delayed; VU Games last month pushed back the release date from September 30 to "in time for the holiday season." The delay is obviously bad news for VU Games, which suffered a 29 percent fall in revenue and an operating loss of 52 million euros in 2003's first half and was betting on swift holiday sales.

http://www.gamespydaily.com/

[Frank]

Well **** this!! I'm done with Half-Life2 until 2004 April, I'm not going to waste one more ****ing second on this crap until it gets released. ****!!! HALO, here I come!!

[sniperdoggy]

well if this is true say goodbye half life 2 hello halo 2!!!!!!!!!!!!

[sniperdoggy]

Electronic Arts sucks all they do is release half assed sims expansions

[Kekojones]

At least Call of Duty is going to have the atention it deserves. This christmas were going to be hard for ohter games thanks to HL2. Now thanks this delay Call of Duty, Max Payne2 ,and UT2004 will surely find a way in my Harddisk.

Call of Duty demo was great so Im sure this will be the multiplayer game to play this christmas. Also far Cry is supposed to be out this christmas and it will introduce great phisics, AI and vehicles.

Fellow gamers this may be a christmas whyout halflife2 but still is going to be one of the best gaming christmas ever. PC gaming, instead of dying like some people will want, keeps bringing the best gamming experience. :bounce:

P.S. Ill like to know about Countertrike Zero secret release?, Does the CS zero release has anything to do with this delay? It may, cause, no gamer is going to buy CS Zero with an inminent release of HL2 and a close CS2 release.......Cospiracy Theory here I come

:cool:

[z2k]

As long as it hits the stores before Duke Nukem Forever I'm happy...

...or maybe not.....gimmie now instead!


edit: spelling...aint not my strong side

[Melov]

ghey

[skidrow]

now imagine that valve released the source code on purpose 2 delay the game lol


wouldnt that be something hahaha.

[Vicelord]

BAH, they better not delay it damnit, dissepointing millions of gamers yet again.... pfff...

[Dhoco X]

F*ckoff HL2 for a moment ! Welcome DOOM 3 :D

[DEICIDE]

From the french site Overgame (http://www.overgame.com/page/20577.htm) HL² is NOT delayed to April 2004 !

The french division of Vivendi Universal Games was contacted, and deny all the recent declarations published in the french economic magasine 'Les Echos' by C.Ramboz.

VUG said too, than they're not abilited to communicate any infos about HL² (VUG is just the distributor remember), but only VALVe.

However, C.Ramboz affirm than the Valve hacking is responsible of the actual delay.

IMO trust no one, only Gabe Newell !

[RoyaleWithCheese]

PFFFFF....


really confusing, so this Ramboz fella spoke to soon, was misquoted, and all of the big news agencies bought that....

[DrDemonic]

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/halflife2/index.html gamespot also has an article and a set release date for April 2004.

[Dhoco X]

Valve said nothing.

[Spook]

Ugh, at this point Gabe and the whole crew and screw themselves with that golden crowbar if this shit is legit. Yeah, we should probably just shut up and wait until April but I don't care for the way they've handled this at all.

The whole thing smells of bullshit.

[XShrike]

If they do delay it until april. Then they need to release the names and addresses of the hackers so we know who to blame.

[Blud Stane]

man, i love valve.. and i was the type to say "lay off" so they can work and get the game out whenever. Man this is really upsetting if they push back till April, I mean WTF that's a huge difference than setp 30th. I can't imagine that they couldn't tell the difference in design progress to make a 7 MONTH difference. That's fishy, and so the code is leaked... so what? they didnt steal the code.... valve is no more worse off, just violated. :( wtf?

[midspace]

This is to be expected. However, I’m surprised the announcement has come so soon.
Vivendi have to say something to keep us, the public happy as well as making sure their shareholders continue to believe they know what they are doing.
Valve would more than likely have said something similar about a delay in the coming weeks, but they have yet to finish analysing how much of their code has been compromised. Their concerns are more on stopping the hacker(s) and catching them, and that’s before fixing code, and legal proceedings regarding IP, and the loss of licensed code from the Havoc engine and ID’s quake engine.

If you get yourself a full copy of Half-Life 2 before April 2004, count yourself lucky. But don’t be too dependent on that date. It’ll be done when they cry, “It’s gone GOLD baby!”

-----
Next out :- Half Life 2 :- Total Conversion. Hunt for the Hacker.
Join the Valve team, as they gather arms in this total conversion of the new HL2 engine, as they seek out a rampant hacker across six famous city locales, following the trail of the evidence, and the multitude of robotic henchmen left in the hackers wake. All followed by a climatic showdown never seen since the likes of Duke Nukem!

[Apos]

An April 2004 release will take all the wind out of HL2. It was going to be the first big next gen game. By April 2004, it'll be one among a growing field, and indeed outdated in many ways technically. I hope Valve realizes this.