Phl Delay Editorial + Fan Rebuttal
<div class="IPBDescription">'Fragmaster' Vs. 'Feath'</div> Planethalflife has posted a "Half-Life 2 Delay Editorial" explaining why Half-Life 2 will not make the September 30th ship date. It can be found here.
<a href='http://www.planethalflife.com/features/articles/delayeditorial/' target='_blank'>http://www.planethalflife.com/features/art...delayeditorial/</a>
'Feath' from the halflife2.net forums has posted a rebuttal raising equally (and more) valid points as to why HL2 will meet the Sept. 30 deadline.
<a href='http://www.halflife2.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6431' target='_blank'>http://www.halflife2.net/forums/showthread...=&threadid=6431</a>
Both are worthy reads, though Feath's has better arguments IMO without resorting to "old news" as PHL accuses. However, truthfully, both have invested alot of faith rather than evidence in their reasoning. PHL also heavily implies Lombardi a lier, though they try not to. And their "which year" argument is utterly ridiculous.
Discuss.
<a href='http://www.planethalflife.com/features/articles/delayeditorial/' target='_blank'>http://www.planethalflife.com/features/art...delayeditorial/</a>
'Feath' from the halflife2.net forums has posted a rebuttal raising equally (and more) valid points as to why HL2 will meet the Sept. 30 deadline.
<a href='http://www.halflife2.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6431' target='_blank'>http://www.halflife2.net/forums/showthread...=&threadid=6431</a>
Both are worthy reads, though Feath's has better arguments IMO without resorting to "old news" as PHL accuses. However, truthfully, both have invested alot of faith rather than evidence in their reasoning. PHL also heavily implies Lombardi a lier, though they try not to. And their "which year" argument is utterly ridiculous.
Discuss.
Comments
You do realize that they've done exactly this on multiple occassions, right?
In fact, Valve has **NEVER** made it out the first time they promised on anything they've ever done. From Half-Life to patches to more recently the HL2 movies. First release of TFC was delayed at the last minute for several months after they gave a date on when it was coming out. Same story with about 5 or 6 HL patches. Same story with SDK releases. Same story with the new HL2 movies...
Remember back in April when they said the new patch (and CS 1.6) was coming "any day now"? And now its September and its just now MAYBE coming out tommorrow...
Whether you love Valve or hate them, the fact remains that they are far from punctual...
<!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->"I can't post any proof that the game is delayed, but then again, you can't post any proof the game isn't delayed..."<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Why should anyone have to prove that the game <b>isn't</b> delayed? Thats like telling an atheist to prove that there <b>isn't</b> a god; its a weak argument.
I don't mind waiting for Halflife 2, even if I do have to wait through a delay; as long as I get the game, I'll be happy. But its really annoying to have pessimists like Fragmaster trying to foul it up for everyone else.
a) VALVe say it will be being released on schedule. Now there is some debate whether "on schedule" means 5 years on from the original release date or September 30th. I was under the impression it was September 30th. Doug Lombardi confirmed this to me at ECTS and whilst he looked uncomfortable about the subject, he did not appear to be lying.
b) The rumours of its delay originate entirely from a marketing weenie at Vivendi. Doug Lombardi was somewhat peeved by this, although he remained diplomatic. <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
c) I actually spoke to someone else who will remain nameless who has played HL2. He confirms that it both rocks and is finished, at least as far as multiplayer goes.
d) The demo was recorded on (as far as I recall) a 2.4Ghz P4 with 1GB memory and a Radeon 9800 pro.
e) The dynamically lit textures look totally awesome and are a piece of cake for any halfway decent modeller/skinner to recreate with Softimage.
f) A limited version of Softimage will almost definitely ship with the game, similar to the whole Maya/Unreal thing.
g) Fam is crap at getting pictures of ECTS off his camera and onto the web.
Hope this is of interest.
And off-topic, Ground Control 2 looks really sweet.
I'm almost sure that HL2 will make or just miss the 30th September deadline - this is a guess based on what valve/vivendi is saying - apparantly, valve says they will make the deadline, while as vivendi says they will not o_O. It's all a bit futile and confusing, as I'm still going to get my game <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
As we all know by now, Fam sucks at internet.
I am going with the 'innocent till proven guilty' method right now, and let Valve make their date or slip it on their own merits. With 5 years invested and from what I've read, the only remaining tasks at this point being tweaking and minor balance changes in the SP, why wouldn't they make it? PHL and other (so-called) news sites were clueless on HL2 being <b>worked on for 5 years</b>, so why should their investigative journalism skills suddenly improve?
It's nothing against PHL personally, but game sites are not run by real journalists by any stretch of the imagination...
Honestly, its not that I want HL2 to be delayed. Hell, I'll probably skip a few classes on the 30th just to go pick up a copy. Its just that, well, I still don't have a lot of faith in Valve's punctuality...
Oh and ViolenceJack: While yes Fragmaster is very opinionated and doesn't mind sharing what he thinks (as I think people should be), I'd also figure that he's a man of his word, and is also just plain crazy enough to dress up as Gordon while handing out HL2 copies and film it :P
Blizzard's delays are <i>always</i> worth it though.
In any case, it seems like they might make the date to me. A big date like this isn't that easy to call off at the last moment without seriously **** off your fanbase. We're what now, 21 days away from release? If they are planning another delay, it'd better be soon.