Dnf Gets Vaporware Lifetime Achievement Award
<div class="IPBDescription">HL2 gets #1 Vaporware spot</div> from <a href='http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,61935,00.html' target='_blank'>Wired</a>:
<!--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-->Now in its seventh year, Wired News' Vaporware Awards celebrates all those eagerly anticipated gizmos in 2003 that were put off, put away or quietly put down.
And, of course, those that existed merely as a figment of someone's imagination.
The "winners" were chosen by our readers. A call for submissions went out in December, and we're pleased to report that the volume of responses this year was among the largest ever.
Once again, the list of shame was dominated by games, a reflection of the overly competitive industry and its reliance on hype as a marketing strategy.
Several game companies earned a spot, but one in particular, Valve, enjoyed a spectacular year -- from a vaporware point of view. The company managed to propel two titles onto the MIA list. A third title earned a dishonorable mention.
But once again, 3D Realms stood out from the crowd. The company's perennial absentee title, Duke Nukem Forever, is still vaporware. The first-person shooter, now in its sixth year of development, earned almost as many votes as all the other nominations combined.
However, rather than award 3D Realms the coveted Vaporware title for the third year in a row, we decided the company deserved something special. We created a new honor, the Lifetime Achievement Award. This year that award goes to Duke Nukem Forever.
Oddly, ID Software's Doom III didn't earn enough votes to propel it onto this year's list of shame, despite being one of the most anticipated games in recent memory. It still hasn't shipped.
ID lost votes because it hasn't made any unrealistic promises about the title's launch date. In what may prove an important lesson for the rest of the industry, ID has remained vague about its release schedule, a strategy that hasn't raised unrealistic expectations about when its titles will emerge. The company started dropping "early 2004" hints only late last year when it began taking pre-orders. We'll see if it makes next year's Vaporware list.
Meanwhile, dishonorable mentions go to SCO for the as-yet-unseen Unix code that the company alleges was ripped off in Linux, and to Microsoft for its "secure computing initiative" and the ever-slipping ship date for Longhorn, which is shaping up to be a very promising candidate for the Vaporware awards in 2006, 2007 and maybe even 2008.
Dishonorable shout outs also go to Valve's Counter-Strike: Condition Zero; President George W. Bush's weapons of mass destruction; and the Oqo minicomputer, which came in at No. 4 last year and is now so vaporous that no one is looking forward to it anymore.
So, without further ado, the winners of Wired News' 2003 Vaporware Awards -- in reverse order -- are:
Lifetime Achievement Award: Duke Nukem Forever (3D Realms).
A Lifetime Achievement Award goes to Duke Nukem Forever on the suggestion of reader Jeff White, who wrote, "First proposed in 1801 (or something close to that), Duke Nukem Forever has now come to define the term 'vaporware.' I wouldn't be surprised if dictionaries actually began printing it: 'vaporware: n. See Duke Nukem Forever.'"
Reader Fabricio Rosas Tariki had a similar take, suggesting Duke Nukem Forever should be considered hors-concours.
"After all," he wrote, "what could possibly compete against a game that is six years in the making, is called by the own company's president 'turtleware,' and has a release date that reads, 'when it's done'?"
Reader Kyle Cuzzort said, "I pre-ordered this game a long time ago. So long, in fact, that I'm thinking of getting the receipt framed so it will be ready when I have kids and the game comes out."
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and:
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1. Half-Life 2 (Valve)
Without a doubt, Valve's Half-Life 2 was last year's most eagerly anticipated game.
The sequel to Valve's wildly popular alien-zapping first-person shooter Half-Life, HL2 promised stunning graphics, astonishing physics and cunning AI.
On the basis of a couple of astonishing video reviews, fans queued up at E3 to catch a glimpse. This summer ATI did a roaring trade in high-end video cards, thanks in part to free HL2 coupons in the box.
Fans looked forward to a September release date, which later slipped to the holidays.
Then something weird happened. In early October, Valve claimed it had been the victim of a virtual break-in and that a cracker had stolen the game's source code.
The code appeared on the Net, and Valve responded by pushing back the release date until April 2004 for an extensive rewrite, according to the company.
But after inspecting the code, some fans claimed HL2 didn't need a rewrite so much as it needed to be simply finished. Valve, fans claimed, was using the break-in as a ruse to gain more time. (Valve didn't return calls requesting comment.)
"How about a working copy of anything from Valve Software?" wrote reader C. Recicar. "Half-Life 2, Steam, Team Fortress 2 (voted for that one in 2001). These goons have been no-shows since coming out with the greatest game ever made, and I am, quite frankly, tired of waiting."
"Games get delayed all the time, but the way this has been mismanaged is truly awe-inspiring," said Jon Hicks.
Ken Le said, "This vote is not to mock the hardworking people, toiling to meet impossible expectations.... Unlike the Duke, perpetual lord of vaporware, this vote is cast in loving anticipation.... We're waiting with a new video card, new CPU, more RAM and a chunk of hard drive just for you."
<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--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-->Now in its seventh year, Wired News' Vaporware Awards celebrates all those eagerly anticipated gizmos in 2003 that were put off, put away or quietly put down.
And, of course, those that existed merely as a figment of someone's imagination.
The "winners" were chosen by our readers. A call for submissions went out in December, and we're pleased to report that the volume of responses this year was among the largest ever.
Once again, the list of shame was dominated by games, a reflection of the overly competitive industry and its reliance on hype as a marketing strategy.
Several game companies earned a spot, but one in particular, Valve, enjoyed a spectacular year -- from a vaporware point of view. The company managed to propel two titles onto the MIA list. A third title earned a dishonorable mention.
But once again, 3D Realms stood out from the crowd. The company's perennial absentee title, Duke Nukem Forever, is still vaporware. The first-person shooter, now in its sixth year of development, earned almost as many votes as all the other nominations combined.
However, rather than award 3D Realms the coveted Vaporware title for the third year in a row, we decided the company deserved something special. We created a new honor, the Lifetime Achievement Award. This year that award goes to Duke Nukem Forever.
Oddly, ID Software's Doom III didn't earn enough votes to propel it onto this year's list of shame, despite being one of the most anticipated games in recent memory. It still hasn't shipped.
ID lost votes because it hasn't made any unrealistic promises about the title's launch date. In what may prove an important lesson for the rest of the industry, ID has remained vague about its release schedule, a strategy that hasn't raised unrealistic expectations about when its titles will emerge. The company started dropping "early 2004" hints only late last year when it began taking pre-orders. We'll see if it makes next year's Vaporware list.
Meanwhile, dishonorable mentions go to SCO for the as-yet-unseen Unix code that the company alleges was ripped off in Linux, and to Microsoft for its "secure computing initiative" and the ever-slipping ship date for Longhorn, which is shaping up to be a very promising candidate for the Vaporware awards in 2006, 2007 and maybe even 2008.
Dishonorable shout outs also go to Valve's Counter-Strike: Condition Zero; President George W. Bush's weapons of mass destruction; and the Oqo minicomputer, which came in at No. 4 last year and is now so vaporous that no one is looking forward to it anymore.
So, without further ado, the winners of Wired News' 2003 Vaporware Awards -- in reverse order -- are:
Lifetime Achievement Award: Duke Nukem Forever (3D Realms).
A Lifetime Achievement Award goes to Duke Nukem Forever on the suggestion of reader Jeff White, who wrote, "First proposed in 1801 (or something close to that), Duke Nukem Forever has now come to define the term 'vaporware.' I wouldn't be surprised if dictionaries actually began printing it: 'vaporware: n. See Duke Nukem Forever.'"
Reader Fabricio Rosas Tariki had a similar take, suggesting Duke Nukem Forever should be considered hors-concours.
"After all," he wrote, "what could possibly compete against a game that is six years in the making, is called by the own company's president 'turtleware,' and has a release date that reads, 'when it's done'?"
Reader Kyle Cuzzort said, "I pre-ordered this game a long time ago. So long, in fact, that I'm thinking of getting the receipt framed so it will be ready when I have kids and the game comes out."
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and:
<!--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-->
1. Half-Life 2 (Valve)
Without a doubt, Valve's Half-Life 2 was last year's most eagerly anticipated game.
The sequel to Valve's wildly popular alien-zapping first-person shooter Half-Life, HL2 promised stunning graphics, astonishing physics and cunning AI.
On the basis of a couple of astonishing video reviews, fans queued up at E3 to catch a glimpse. This summer ATI did a roaring trade in high-end video cards, thanks in part to free HL2 coupons in the box.
Fans looked forward to a September release date, which later slipped to the holidays.
Then something weird happened. In early October, Valve claimed it had been the victim of a virtual break-in and that a cracker had stolen the game's source code.
The code appeared on the Net, and Valve responded by pushing back the release date until April 2004 for an extensive rewrite, according to the company.
But after inspecting the code, some fans claimed HL2 didn't need a rewrite so much as it needed to be simply finished. Valve, fans claimed, was using the break-in as a ruse to gain more time. (Valve didn't return calls requesting comment.)
"How about a working copy of anything from Valve Software?" wrote reader C. Recicar. "Half-Life 2, Steam, Team Fortress 2 (voted for that one in 2001). These goons have been no-shows since coming out with the greatest game ever made, and I am, quite frankly, tired of waiting."
"Games get delayed all the time, but the way this has been mismanaged is truly awe-inspiring," said Jon Hicks.
Ken Le said, "This vote is not to mock the hardworking people, toiling to meet impossible expectations.... Unlike the Duke, perpetual lord of vaporware, this vote is cast in loving anticipation.... We're waiting with a new video card, new CPU, more RAM and a chunk of hard drive just for you."
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Comments
Who knows, if no TF2 news shows up perhaps Valve will earn that one next year...
Plus there's no point in any game challenging DNF for the title <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
No, they insisted that the game simply wasn't done and that the hacker had nothing to do with it, and AFAIK they still do.
<!--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-->But after inspecting the code, some fans claimed HL2 didn't need a rewrite so much as it needed to be simply finished. Valve, fans claimed, was using the break-in as a ruse to gain more time. (Valve didn't return calls requesting comment.)<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Yes, well, the majority would seem to think that VALVe would never purposely realease the source code as they could be sued by such companies as Havoc for "leaking" their physics engine and they make it alot harder stoping cheats when the cheat coders have the source as well as giving away alot of things that could be used by other game coders without anyone ever needing to know(except those unscropulus game coders...). Alot of people also seem to think that the code was quite old and that the current state of the engine was not exactly known and VALVe admitted it wasn't finished.
And yes, HL2 is vaporware. Until its out on the shelf (legally, heh), its vaporware. :P
And yes, HL2 is vaporware. Until its out on the shelf (legally, heh), its vaporware. <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo--> <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
So... every game that gets delayed is vaporware?
Let's face it, you look up vaporware in the dictionary and all to be seen is Duke staring straight at you!
Silly aquamen.
Hl2 is probably the worst case of vaporware yet, since it was so highly anticipated.
No no, duke and TF2 are still leagues above HL2 in the vaporware department. In fact the only reason HL2 is #1 and not #2 is they decided to just give 3D Realms the lifetime achievement award. :P
Duke and TF2 were hyped just as much (more so in some regards, as most HL2 hype is fan generated as opposed to from the developer, which HL2 hardly had any of). Most of you weren't around in 1999, but TF2 was the talk of the town, just like HL2 was a few months ago. People were planning their TF2 mods and getting their websites ready and were very happy that TF2 was getting close to release and would be out in a couple of months.
Anywho, on the plus side, TF2 is practically out of consideration for vapourware since we know that it's going to be based on HL2.
Dunno how real it is, of course...
/offtopic:
And yes, it saddens me deeply that Cavedog only made one real game (and a few expansion packs). TA + some extra polish and better multiplayer support (server browsing, etc.) would have been so much better than TA:K.
/end off-topic.
Um...
Valve <i>were</i> hacked, and the HL2 source <i>was</i> stolen. What consipracy?
Um...
Valve <i>were</i> hacked, and the HL2 source <i>was</i> stolen. What consipracy? <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Sure, thats just what <i>they</i> want you to think <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->
It is however not reasonable that you would get a <i>6+ month delay</i> in the release schedule because code has been compromised. That's management talk.
Something is wrong. Most likely that thing is that somebody (or many people) really needs to get fired, but there are other possibilities. Regardless, something doesn't sit right about the whole situation.
Basically jsut semed like a bunch of current day mods put together though if it came out today. <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif'><!--endemo-->
Um...
Valve <i>were</i> hacked, and the HL2 source <i>was</i> stolen. What consipracy? <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Sure, thats just what <i>they</i> want you to think <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.natural-selection.org/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo--> <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
The fact you can now download hl2 off the internet definatley meens that its just what they wan't you to think and that they weren't actualy hacked...
It definatley wasn't <i>planned</i> by valve but they are using the break in as an excuse to explain why they weren't ready.
Is it this people are refering too? :
<!--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-->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<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Vivendi Universal Games president of international operations Christophe Ramboz told daily Les Echos.
I have <i>never</i> seen VALVe say anything to that effect. They did say something like we simple weren't finished on multiple occasions after the leak though.
Such as:
<!--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-->No.
-----Original Message-----
From: Chad Donahue [mailto:dona8833@bellsouth.net]
Sent: Thursday, October 02, 2003 6:12 PM
To: gaben@valvesoftware.com
Subject: Leak Query
Now that the leak information is out in the open, was this the reason for the delay?<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
As well as this quote of Newells post on the halflife2.net forums:
<!--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-->Originally posted by Gabe Newell
I am not sure who they were quoting, but it wasn't me.
It has little to do with reality as the "they only stole a third of the source code" statement.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
i.e. Vivendi doesn't seem to know what they are talking about.
<!--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-->Gabe: no
-----Original Message-----
From: Arzin
Sent: Thursday, November 27, 2003 12:49 PM
To: Gabe Newell
Subject: -
Hi Mr. Newell,
I'm gonna ask you a question assuming HL2 will release in 2004. If Valve
wasn't hacked, would we really have seen Half-Life 2 on 30th September
or later on in 2003?
It would appreciate it if you could answer this. It wouldn't really help
the situation or anything, but I would just like to know.
Arzin
<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
ARGH YOU...YOU!!! Mentioning it!!! IT I TELLS YOU! IT DIDN'T EXIST!!! nnoooo...no.noooo...
*has fit*
Poor poor TA, it never got the chance to have a true sequal. Sniff.
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It definatley wasn't planned by valve but they are using the break in as an excuse to explain why they weren't ready. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I think this as well to a degree, they probably realised how grossly over the top their original release date was and tried to wriggle out of it.
The answer however will never be known I think.
Dunno how real it is, of course... <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Oh it's real, all right. But it's just the leaked alpha; nowhere near what the final game will be like.
Crazy commies.
Basically jsut semed like a bunch of current day mods put together though if it came out today. :( <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
r00fles. Put that somewhere, I wanna see it. :D
Back on Front Line Force we pretty much openly admitted that quite a bit of stuff in it was directly inspired by TF2. Since then other mods and even valve has done the same, what with mouth movement sync'ed w/ voice comm and all.
News bit of the day: TFC's "Avanti" map (and also FLF's flf_lombardi, which is an early early version of avanti given to us by Valve, still got the .rmf on my hard drive) was originally a TF2 map. In fact, if you look at some TF2 shots you can even recognize it!