[DEFINITIVE] Half-Life 2 Thread

By Kupo-Cheer
in PC Gaming

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Grand Master

Lexcyn

Posted
Posted

I don't think it really matters that the street date was broken... I mean, no matter what it's not going to be activated before Tuesday, so no one can play it. Also, the encryption is strong; no one is going to be able to crack it before Tuesday.

So... I don't get the big deal. :p

Proficient

Terrigamer

Posted
Posted

Problem is it wasn't valve or VU that said that even. It was the guy who wrote the gone gold shacknews article. It hasn't been officially stated by anyone that matters :( With the weekend here now, there's a 0.5% chance it'll be unlocked before tuesday. and like a 5% chance for monday.

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killme

Posted
Posted
Page 25: The Whack Heard Round the World

The scanner pi?ata awaits its fate in Valve?s lobby.

September 30, 2004, comes and goes, and Half-Life 2 isn't quite done. It's now October 13, and there are only a few dozen bugs left to fix. What's taking so long? The problem is that more bugs keep cropping up every day because of the unpredictable physics gameplay. "We started telling people, 'OK, if we just stop testing we won't find anymore bugs and we can finally ship this thing,'" Guthrie jokes as he sits at his desk and tests one of his maps for what must be the 10,000th time.

As the day wears on, the bug count keeps decreasing. Newell, sensing that today might be the final day of development, begins reflecting on how this compares with the final hours on Half-Life. "It's like the difference between being a wide receiver and a running back," he says. "The first project was this total Hail Mary, catch-in-the-end-zone-with-no-time-left adrenaline rush. This one was much more slamming away bit by bit, a few yards at a time." Finally, though, Valve is almost in the end zone.

A design cabal at Valve discuss one of the last remaining bugs.

On the night of October 13, the team prepares a version of the game that everyone thinks could be the final one. After a night of testing, both Valve and Vivendi are confident that the game is officially done--no more bugs are in the database, and every employee is enrolled in Club Zero. Newell sends an e-mail to the team to announce that more than five years of development has come to a close. Half-Life 2 is done. There's a tremendous sense of relief. And there's excitement about what comes next: the ceremonial whacking of the pi?ata.

Valve initially had planned to whack the pi?ata at a restaurant on the night of Thursday, October 14. But on Thursday morning, the employees start pestering Newell to whack the pi?ata right away. A mob even starts forming outside Newell's office. After five long years, the team can't bear to wait another six hours.

A photo from a cell phone captures the moment of impact.

At noon, Newell finally relents. He sends out an e-mail to the team and tells everyone to meet him in the lobby in 15 minutes. The employees dash out of their offices and head to the lobby. Once they arrive, they see Newell firmly grasping a steel baton in his left hand. He's rhythmically tapping it against the palm of his right hand. You get the sense that he's really looking forward to eviscerating the scanner pi?ata.

The team forms a circle around the pi?ata and Newell stands up. He grasps the baton with both hands, winds up, and lays a massive blow into the pi?ata. As the baton connects, a thud resonates through the lobby. The entire back of the pi?ata flies off. Cameras flash. Candies and other trinkets hit the cement floor. And what's left of the pi?ata hangs on a string, violently swaying back and forth. With one whack, Gabe Newell has signaled the end of Half-Life 2's development. And boy did it feel good.

Newell surveys the damage from his first whack at the pi?ata.

Next: Newell hands the baton to Laidlaw to strike his own blow. While Laidlaw winds up, Newell turns around and takes a good look at his assembled team. You can tell he's immensely proud of what they've accomplished. Newell says the game is exactly what he wanted it to be. "I'm less jittery than I was last time around," he admits. "We know Half-Life 2 is going to be a huge success. Personally, I think it's a much better game than the original."

While the destruction of the scanner pi?ata marks the official end of the game's development, Newell says his real reward will come after the game becomes a success. "Sending off the final discs won't be the most exciting moment for me," he later says in Valve's conference room. "For me that moment will come when I get to hand Yahn's wife a big check and say, 'All those promises we made about building an exciting company and the value that your husband represents to us are true,'" he says.

The aftermath of Gabe?s pi?ata smashing.

Once again, Newell begins expressing great concern about the well-being of the Valve team. "I just feel a tremendous responsibility to take care of everyone at Valve," he admits. "You have to make sacrifices to work here but we want to continue to bring together the best people in the world to create the best games in the world." Coming from anyone else, a line that that would come off like human-resources gobbledygook. But after Half-Life and Half-Life 2, it's hard not to credit Newell for delivering on that promise.

More than five years after it began, Half-Life 2's development is finally over. Suddenly, the missed release dates, the crimes, the lawsuits, and the unending stress evaporate into the ether. Those moments and their associated drama will become part of history, battle scars that the Valve team will bear as a celebration of the sacrifices they made. But what will remain for posterity's sake is something much more profound:A spectacular game on five CDs that, according to Newell, is a worthy sequel to one of the best PC games of all time. Yes, at times the game's development might have seemed cursed. But maybe all those challenges were just tests--tests to see how far Valve was willing to go to make Half-Life 2 all it could be.

Laidlaw takes his own whack at what?s left of the scanner.

Now the cycle starts again. There will be a next game, a new set of challenges, and yes, perhaps another release-date promise. Or maybe not. "I don't think that's ever going to happen again," Newell says with a laugh. "Gamers should trust us on quality issues, but we've pretty much emptied the account when it comes to trust on release dates." Fans, you have officially been warned.

it is five cd's........

source gamespot.(behind the scenes)

Collaborator

dukelion

Posted
Posted
Closest I could find

584914805[/snapback]

and also a damn rip off. thanks tho, im looking for retail stores in the country selling. At the moment, its still monday for me, gonna crank it up 8am when it gets activated on tues morning... need a couple of hours in advance to stare at the box :ninja:

Proficient

Maxious

Posted
Posted
Bandwidth dip on steampowered's status page... I've NEVER seen that on a weekend. Something's up even though I thought nothing would happen.

584915424[/snapback]

looks like they're moving some servers to better connections (remember gabe newell's "i can get 7 gigs per second of bandwidthin just one phone"??) to get ready for the coming week

Grand Master

Nexus-

Posted
Posted

I woulda hoped with a major retailer like BB breaking the date that valve would unlock. but it seems thats not going to happen and it is a shame cus most kids (not us) do not understand how this is working. They will install it and think its broke, their computer is broke, or BB sold them something that doesnt work. At least BB could put up a big sign next to the boxed copies that says 2 things: 1 internet required for authentication of the game 2 game will not run untill the 16th.

Grand Master

Nexus-

Posted
Posted

there would definatly be a lot of people missing church if they do it tonight. i bet if they do do it they wait untill tomarrow afternoon or monday.

i personly just want to see a picture of the big icon on gabes desktop that says

Press this to release Half-Life 2 :D

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