**OFFICIAL HALF LIFE 2 THREAD** - KEEP ALL THE HALF LIFE CHATTER IN HERE GUYS!!

warcrow

Lifer
Jan 12, 2004
11,093
11
81
-=HOW TO BACK IT UP STEAM, CS:S, AND HL2!=-

Then go Here! or go to this Craptastically long url! if the first one doesnt work.

LATEST NEWS - 11/15/04 Half-Life 2 RELEASE PARTY!

That right, kiddies! Lets make like geeks and celebrate the fact that this game is finally going to be playable tonight! Head on over to This website and start chatting away. The festivities begin around 11pm, but feel free to show up sooner than that if ya want! :)

HL2 Reviews so far:
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/halflife2/review.html
http://pc.ign.com/articles/566/566202p1.html


LATEST NEWS - 11/4/04 Half-Life 2 Preload Installer!

Saw this in another forum, its the Half-Life 2 Preload Installer!

It would have been nice to have seen valve create this tool, but someone else did it instead. It lets you burn your Steam cache files to DVD, with an autorun installer to reinstall them. Probably convenient for anyone who has to reformat.

Link!


LATEST NEWS - 11/2/04 NO MANUAL WITH HL2?

Apparently this is true. Doesnt really surprise me though, its a simple game to control and who cares about character background. I never once opened my D3 manual to be honest.

Source


LATEST NEWS - 10/18/04 HL2 GONE GOLD!!!

ITS FINALLY HAPPENED GUYS!!!!

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.

Source

HL2 at outpost.com for $35.99: http://shop1.outpost.com/product/3685505

10/13/04 HL2 TO GO GOLD SOON?!!

A little birdy has told me that HL2 will go gold within the next week.


UPDATE!

Yup, the rumble is coming guys. I did some checking around at some of the HL/CS sites and found this at csnation.net:

HL2 Gold Rumors
rizzuh @ 3:37 pm pdt - half-life, hl2 & tf2 - 115 comments - hot topic
We at CS-Nation are seeing a large under-current of information that strongly leans toward the possibility of Half-Life 2 going gold very shortly. Information points to an official announcement from VU Games or Valve Software tomorrow, but ? as with all rumors ? our sources could be completely wrong. Rumors usually don't turn out well for us, but at least they allow for hilarious comment threads where everyone flames each other.

Let's get it boiling, boys!

9/29/04 NEED TO BACKUP STEAM AND ITS GAMES?!!

I came across this little gem. Worked like a charm for me.

Craptastically long url!

9/29/04 HL2 EDITIONS ANNOUNCED!!

Here's the scoops kids! There are two different retail editions of the game along with three different Steam packages people will be able to purchase. Soooooooo whenever the hell Vivendi decides to release the game (its rumored the game is already done), there will be a standard edition on 6 CD-ROMs or the previously mentioned Collector's Edition on DVD-ROM.

Here is a list of what will be available via Steam:
Bronze Edition - HL2* and CS:Source.
Silver Edition - HL2*, Counter-Strike: Source, Half-Life 1: Source*, Day of Defeat: Source*, Valve's back catalog currently available on Steam.
Gold Edition - HL2*, Counter-Strike: Source, Half-Life 1: Source*, Day of Defeat: Source*, Valve's back catalog currently available on Steam, Complete Strategy Guide from Prima Games, 3 different Half-Life 2 posters, Half-Life 2 hat, Half-Life 2 postcard, Half-Life 2 stickers, Half-Life 2 Soundtrack CD, Chance to win a trip to Valve! (1 trip offered for every 5000 Gold packages purchased).

*To be made available upon product's release.
You'll be able to purchase through Steam next week (no pricing was mentioned in Gabe's email), when you do so the final version of Counter-Strike: Source will become available immediately. Other games will unlock when released.

OH, and one last thing......"VIVENDI SUCKS ME 0FF!

kthnxggbye.

9/27/04 PCGAMER HALF LIFE 2 REVIEW ISSUE REVEALED!

Well boys here it is! The cover of the PC Gamer that has the Half Life 2 review in it, and since its the US PC Gamer and they only review finished games (like they did Doom III) its pretty much as good as gold.

HERE YA GO!

9/23/04 HALF LIFE 2 SE REVEALED!

Looks like both GameStop and EBGames websites are now listing a Half-Life 2 Special Edition. Carrying a $79.99 price tag and a November 1st release date, the SE features a DVD-ROM edition of the game, a limited edition t-shirt and the making-of book.

Source

9/16/04 RELEASE CLIENT DID MAKE IT TO PUBLISHER YESTERDAY! GABE CONFIRMED!

After getting an email from Vermouth pointing to a forum post by Gabe Newell about the status of Half-Life 2 I decided to check with Gabe myself to make sure we werent looking at another spoofed post. So, here you go.. a couple of quick bits from Gabe on what up:

"Yes, the RC went to VU yesterday""

RC being a release candidate.. which means they hope its done but a couple of bugs may still show up in testing. RC cycles can be fairly quick or drag on for weeks. Oh and for completeness, here is Gabe's response to my asking for confirmation:

"Yes. Getting close"

9/13/04 UPCOMING MAKING OF HL2 BOOK AUTHOR INTERVIEW!

HomeLAN Fed today is this Q&A with David Hodgson, writer of the upcoming Making of Half-Life 2 book "Raising the Bar". The book will delve into the history of Valve Software and chronicle the development of Half-Life 2, also mentioning last year's release fiasco.

Interview

9/11/04 REMINDER: VALVE TO HAND OFF RELEASE CLIENT ON 15TH! + 2 NEW SCREENIES!

Coast gameplay movie (1024x768, 3:10, Bink)

"Coast" shows about three more minutes of footage from Valve's upcoming first person shooter sequel. JUST RELEASE THE !@#!@# DAMN ALREADY. Kthnxbye.

9/7/04 REMINDER: VALVE TO HAND OFF RELEASE CLIENT ON 15TH! + 2 NEW SCREENIES!

New Screenshot #1

New Screenshot #2

This doesnt mean the game is going gold on the 15th. Valve releasing a RC to Vinveti means, "Hey, we think this is a good enough candidate for release, what do you think?". They might come back and say, weeeeell....we think you should fix this and this. Personally, I think we're getting extremely close. So hey, this has been know for some time, I just wanted to remind everyone.

Source

9/1/04 Steam bandwidth doubled recently!

Steam's bandwidth doubled today, looks like Valve is gearing up for something. HL2 gold this friday? ;)

Hrrrmmm....

8/28/04 HL2 TO NOT GO GOLD MONDAY!

Update: 0wned. "After a close scrutiny of Gabe Newells account history on the forums, we've come to the conclusion that the gold post is a fake." People are so annoying sometimes.

8/27/04 HL2 TO GO GOLD MONDAY!

Here's the lengthy statement from Gabe: " We're going gold monday... "Gabe's Post!

8/27/04 FIRST SCREENSHOT OF HALF LIFE 1: SOURCE

tEH bOOTAY!
tEH bOOTAY!2

8/26/04 ...AND SO IT BEGINS!

"Half-Life 2 pre-loading begins to Steam account holders today. Over the coming days, those who have selected the pre-loading option will have encrypted Half-Life 2 files delivered to their PC. No purchase is required to pre-load HL2, but is required to activate the game. Purchase options will be released soon. Then, the moment the game is made available, those who have pre-loaded and purchased Half-Life 2 via Steam will be authenticated and ready to start playing. For more information, please visit www.steampowered.com"

Pre-load has officially started guys. I've set up this thread so we can keep all the HL2 news in one thread, much the the Doom 3 thread we had (which turned out to be alot of fun). So, if you have a steam account, let us know how its going.
 

skace

Lifer
Jan 23, 2001
14,488
7
81
All I've got so far is:

base source shared.gcf (58MB)

Oops, I had forgot to click on HL2 to begin preload. I just started it up.
 

Reliant

Diamond Member
Mar 29, 2001
3,843
0
76
I'm glad that they're preloading because it's proof of progress but I still want my cds!
 

Confused

Elite Member
Nov 13, 2000
14,166
0
0
Where the hell is the option to enable preloading? I can't see it anywhere, and I sure as hell have never seen anything.

I want to start preloading HL2 goddamnit!


Confused
 

wfbberzerker

Lifer
Apr 12, 2001
10,423
0
0
Originally posted by: Confused
Where the hell is the option to enable preloading? I can't see it anywhere, and I sure as hell have never seen anything.

I want to start preloading HL2 goddamnit!


Confused

go to the games menu, and choose half life 2 (its under "coming soon")
 

Confused

Elite Member
Nov 13, 2000
14,166
0
0
Originally posted by: wfbberzerker
Originally posted by: Confused
Where the hell is the option to enable preloading? I can't see it anywhere, and I sure as hell have never seen anything.

I want to start preloading HL2 goddamnit!


Confused

go to the games menu, and choose half life 2 (its under "coming soon")

Ahh, I had to log out and restart Steam :roll:


Confused
 

Jeff7181

Lifer
Aug 21, 2002
18,368
11
81
I finished the download... it's like 1 GB... wtf? Is HL2 REALLY only going to come on two CD's????
 

Modeps

Lifer
Oct 24, 2000
17,255
44
91
While it's still a cool way to deliver the game, I'm just gonna wait for my CDs. I'm a patient bloke.
 

GTaudiophile

Lifer
Oct 24, 2000
29,776
31
81
Last time I played CS, it was before the STEAM days. How does it work? Is it a seperate app. you install or just a web site or what?

And where can I use the key that came with my ATI 9600XT?
 

warcrow

Lifer
Jan 12, 2004
11,093
11
81
HL2 will be on 4 CDs. Its rumored that the collectors edition will be on DVD, though.
 

Thor86

Diamond Member
May 3, 2001
7,886
7
81
The Steam server are currently too busy to handle any more preloads of Half-Life 2. Please try again in a few hours. :(
 

warcrow

Lifer
Jan 12, 2004
11,093
11
81
Originally posted by: dighn
Originally posted by: warcrow
8/27/04 FIRST SCREENSHOT OF HALF LIFE 1: SOURCE

tEH bOOTAY!

tEH bOOTAY!2

hl1 upgraded?! sweet :Q

HL1 is being ported to the Source engine (the engine HL2 uses). I don't think there is really any changes being done as far as geometry count and models....but hey, its a free port. ;)
 

imported_chrisbtx

Senior member
Jun 8, 2004
602
0
0
Originally posted by: warcrow
Originally posted by: dighn
Originally posted by: warcrow
8/27/04 FIRST SCREENSHOT OF HALF LIFE 1: SOURCE

tEH bOOTAY!

tEH bOOTAY!2

hl1 upgraded?! sweet :Q

HL1 is being ported to the Source engine (the engine HL2 uses). I don't think there is really any changes being done as far as geometry count and models....but hey, its a free port. ;)

My understanding is that HL1's source port will only be available with the Collector's Edition release... have I missed something or is this still the case? If it's still only available this way, it's technically not a free port since you are paying almost 30 dollars more for the Collector's Edition. (unless you pre-order from WalMart... ugh... EB for me)
 

warcrow

Lifer
Jan 12, 2004
11,093
11
81
Originally posted by: chrisbtx
Originally posted by: warcrow
Originally posted by: dighn
Originally posted by: warcrow
8/27/04 FIRST SCREENSHOT OF HALF LIFE 1: SOURCE

tEH bOOTAY!

tEH bOOTAY!2

hl1 upgraded?! sweet :Q

HL1 is being ported to the Source engine (the engine HL2 uses). I don't think there is really any changes being done as far as geometry count and models....but hey, its a free port. ;)

My understanding is that HL1's source port will only be available with the Collector's Edition release... have I missed something or is this still the case? If it's still only available this way, it's technically not a free port since you are paying almost 30 dollars more for the Collector's Edition. (unless you pre-order from WalMart... ugh... EB for me)

Don't know for sure just yet.
 

furie27

Senior member
Apr 22, 2004
684
0
0
Sorry, I'm an idiot. I was assuming the preload would be playable like the CS source.