HL2 delayed
 

Delayed until the "holiday season", whatever that means.

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/halfl ... 72668.html

Surprised? cry:

Better late than never.

Better late and fixed than early and fucked.

hl2>movv

You can't really compare those two.

pile of 30 year old decaying dog shit > strikor

[quote="Old Reliable":6e284]pile of 30 year old decaying dog shit > strikor[/quote:6e284]

Old we will miss you.

we will?

where is he going? old is a staple here, i cant wait for him to go off on a tangent and tell us about the wonderful classical music he listens too. happy:

Bah, as long as its before Doom 3 comes out.

sure i can. just look at how far they went with hl1, dod is so much better than moh or bf1942.

movv = mohaa ultra-arcade in vietnam

hl2 = basic arcade environment with incredible graphics and the ability to mass mod it to just about anything, including vietnam, instead of replacing some models and sounds while retaining the same weapons

Goddamn that sucks, but I will be on holidays then so it is all good.

Ah yes, this is good, at least I don't have to buy it, I'll just get it for Christmas. freak:

Did anyone honestly expect them to release it at the industry guess that we were given?

I was hoping they didn't - Well, I say that, what I mean is I expected it to be delayed.

It's really a win-win situation for everyone involved. Valve would never release a sub-standard product and even if there are a lot of bugs in the v1.0 release code (totally inevitable, no matter how experienced they are) it's a surefire bet that they will release frequent and concise patches shortly after release anyway.

I speak from experience. Let's ignore CS. I remember the patches for HL:DM that came out in 1998, 1999 and so on. Patch announced one week. Then released and all servers came down. End of the day the servers would start coming back online with the new version. Bugs would be reported by the community and then Valve would release a patch the following week addressing each and every one of them. In some cases they'd release an emergency patch the following day.

Considering they are not being paid a penny beyond the cost of the boxed game, that's awesome customer service.

I honestly don't think the reason for this delay is refining code or ironing out bugs.

Everything was in place by the time they produced the demo, all they had to add was content. You only have to look at the SP game for HL to know that by content they aren't talking about 9 missions, 10 player-made multiplayer maps and some new weapons and models.

They're talking about a totally involving and lengthy story and sturdy net-code for multiplayer, with a good 7 quality DM maps to start with. And Valve know how to make good MP maps. Snark-Pit, Bootcamp, Datacore and Stalkyard are examples of some of the finest DM maps ever created.

Only now you can move every object resident in the maps, so there is another dimension for them to impliment and refine.

I do agree it's a little frustrating, though. I simply cannot wait to batter some noob shitless with a radiator, or matress. Anyone who isn't excited by that proposition just ain't right in the head biggrin:

damn ydiss do you always have to type novels as your response lol happy:
oh and i did not know that valve was not being paid to release the patches. that IS good customer service indeed

[quote="Simo Häyhä":247d6]damn ydiss do you always have to type novels as your response lol happy:[/quote:247d6]

No.

[quote=Ydiss] No.[/quote:812a7]
heh jk biggrin:

I wasn't serious biggrin:

I guess HL2 isn't delayed after all.

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/27654

[quote="Simo Häyhä":5d0a3]damn ydiss do you always have to type novels as your response lol happy:
oh and i did not know that valve was not being paid to release the patches. that IS good customer service indeed[/quote:5d0a3]

Hows that good customer service? Why should they be PAID to fix problems they most likely already knew about before the game shipped? If anything its the old pc developer philosophy: ship it now, finish it later. oOo:

Heh - that article was about as specific as the one I posted. I think they both said

"Duh..."

[quote=Gerard]Hows that good customer service? Why should they be PAID to fix problems they most likely already knew about before the game shipped? If anything its the old pc developer philosophy: ship it now, finish it later. oOo:[/quote:8458c]

With a platform that has hundreds of possible variations of specification, set-up, software, limitations and diversity, it is no surprise that no one developer is able to produce a final product that works for every single one of them.

Console developers have no such issues. One spec, one type, same limitations per unit, only one machine to play-test on. Hence, console titles have little or no bugs and never need to be updated, except through expansions.

In actuality, HL had no real bugs at all when it shipped, it just had issues with particular compatibility and they worked hard over 5 years to continually respond to feedback to improve the product, including at one point by completely re-writing the net-code to bring their product up to date.

Name me one console game that has lasted for more than 2 years before becoming totally obsolete and replaced (let alone 5 years). EA's philosophy has ensured that MOH:AA has lost a vast proportion of its original player-base and it's not even two years old yet.

It's the way of the market. I agree that Valve should not be paid for customer service, but in no way are they obliged to do what they have done over the last 5 years.

What it has done for them is this: Built reputation, ensured continued sales of their product through official mods and it means that HL2 will probably out-sell any game in history.

Makes sense to me.

EA do the same but through releasing lots and lots of titles. Look at how many games EA have released over the last 5 years and compare it to Valve.

Quality and quantity. I know which I prefer.