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[neptunes]

a friend of mine from the hl2world forums sent an email to gabe newell early today and he got a reply the same day.

he sent this...

From: jb55 <********@gmail.com>
To: Gabe N- <[email protected]>
Date: Tue, 20 Jul 2004 18:40:18 -0400
Subject: Need comfirmation
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The super-intelligent over at hl2central are saying hl2 is being
delayed once again. Please give me a quote of some kind so I can prove
them wrong and get the news corrected.

Just give me a simple yes or no, is it delayed again? Thank you for your time.

and recieved this...

From: Gabe N- <[email protected]>
To: jb55 <*******@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 20 Jul 2004 15:51:23 -0700
Subject: RE: Need comfirmation
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Right now we are looking at our bug numbers. Each day you fix some bugs
and you find some new bugs. The net number tells you how quickly you
will get to zero.

At our current rate of find/fix bugs, we'll be down to zero bugs in 16
days.

if he speaks the truth it means HL2 will go gold on August 6th, which means it'll meet their supposed release date.

 

[dream]

Gabe n00b?

 

[neptunes]

also Counter Strike Source (official) will start beta on august the 10th.

here...

Our friends over at HL-Portal have just announced that they have received an e-mail from Gabe N00b stating that the CS:Source BETA for Condition Zero owners will start on August 10th, with a period of five days prior to get it pre-loaded.

 

[Mrbob]

September release.

 

[neptunes]

just like last year

p.s. I need to buy CZ quickly!

 

[Wellington]

Why are you believing something Gabe Newell has said?

 

[neptunes]

cause it seems likely and it makes sense.

and he's also made a couple other emails to other sites (like the CS:S date posted above)

 

[dream]

...Gabe n00b?

 

[neptunes]

and it turns out that CS:S will be a 300mb download. (not including size after installation)
and the beta will be one month long.

all signs pointing to a September release for HL2 .

 

[GhaleonEB]

and it turns out that CS:S will be a 300mb download. (not including size after installation)
and the beta will be one month long.

all signs pointing to a September release for HL2 .

They said that last year.

 

[DopeyFish]

someone will hack them and create bugs in their source code, i can see it.

 

[neptunes]

They said that last year.

if they miss this september then they are truly retarded, it's either sept or die!

 

[Flynn]

He failed to mention that every bug they fix adds two.

 

[Error Macro]

Ok, so I need to buy CS:Z to get in the CS Source beta program. Hmm, the question is: Is it worth $30 just to play on one map (de_dust for crying out loud!) and for one month? Tough call. I mean, it's freaking dust for crying out loud. The most nooberific map ever made. *sigh* Yeah, I'll probably get it anyway. I HAVE TO BE L337 LIEK JEFF K AND PLAYS THIS GAME BEFOUR THE LOSSERS ON TEH INTARNET.

 

[xabre]

They said that last year.

Last year they never said which September

Tell you the truth they never said which September this year either. Hmmm.

 

[Crazymoogle]

They said that last year.

The difference this time is that they seem to be in the bug-fixing mode now. Once a team jumps onto the bug track, the game is done. You crunch the bugs and ship the game.

Last year, I had the impression they were still in content production. Now, I know from experience that if you set a deadline like they did, it would be possible to meet it, but all it would take is one or two feature failures (ie: this game feature isn't fun), one or two content failures (ie: these maps aren't working well with the gameplay), and one big security cleanup (as we all know) to push things back into the abyss.

Unfortunately it's all too common to think you are still on schedule that late into it, only to find out all of the pieces aren't going to fit together. If this was Eidos, the game probably would have shipped anyway, problems be damned (ie: tomb raider). The only thing that was probably uncalled for was insisting hitting ship date when obviously the game wouldn't have enough time for replication (end of first week last september, to be specific)

Marketing wise, once the game slipped past december, Valve probably gained the freedom to stretch it out to Sept/2004 date. The first half of the year is a sales wasteland for the unprepared, and I bet that more or less pushed up CS Source and HL1 Source from post-release to pre-release projects.

The only secret I see to what Gabe is quoted as saying is the "rate of bug crunching". It's one thing to say "I fixed 16 bugs today so I'll fix 16 bugs tomorrow", when in reality each subsequent bug takes longer and longer to fix. If there are any showstopping bugs in the CS Source preview, expect that to delay the HL2 release as well.

If Valve doesn't get stuck with an upward bug spiral (ie: if the preview and bug crunching don't just reveal an expanding field of problems), hitting mid-late September shouldn't be a problem.

 

[neptunes]

after playing the HL2 beta there was no way in hell they would have made that sept deadline last year.

 

[dark10x]

Unfortunately it's all too common to think you are still on schedule that late into it, only to find out all of the pieces aren't going to fit together. If this was Eidos, the game probably would have shipped anyway, problems be damned (ie: tomb raider).

As Neptunes said, the HL2 beta/alpha/whatever was so far from being a complete game. There was virtually no real gameplay present and most levels were just shells with a basic layout. Nobody would ever ship a game in that form...

 

[Error Macro]

The thing that gets me most is how up until about a month or so before Sept. 30th, Valve kept adhering to the "SEPTEMBER 30TH" date. The beta was supposedly a version that was dated Sept. 26th. Yeah, those freaking liars.

 

[Baron Aloha]

They can release it whenever as far as I'm concerned. I've still go to get through FarCry and plus Doom 3 is coming soon. Then theres always UT2004 (which is probably the best FPS I've ever played), not to mention the console stuff. Arrgghh. There's just too many good games coming out.



OT, but did anyone else pick up on this?

Error Macro's avatar

Saturnman's avatar (if it doesn't show you may need to paste "http://opa-ages.com/forums/uploads/av-16.gif" into a new window.

You guys planned this. Right? Because if not, its somewhat scary.

 

[epmode]

he's counting down bugs until the first release candidate. generally speaking, it takes more than one of those before a game goes gold, but maybe they'll get lucky. half-life 2 > joo.

 

[MrPing1000]

well i believe i heard that he or someone from valve said in an interview recently that they'd have a release candidate ready for Sierra (guess thats vivendi now ) by 26th July

 

[puck1337]

Videocard makers are going to be very happy in the next 2 or 3 months if this is true.

 

[sprsk]

zero bugs!!! ZERO!!!

 

[DopeyFish]

he's counting down bugs until the first release candidate. generally speaking, it takes more than one of those before a game goes gold, but maybe they'll get lucky. half-life 2 > joo.

considering that CS: Source is not content complete yet... and since it's shipping with half-life 2, there's a little bit to be done yet.

 

[FightyF]

after playing the HL2 beta there was no way in hell they would have made that sept deadline last year.

They weren't planning to according to the guy who was supposed to write the book that detailed HL2's development. He quit because of the BS. He's the same guy who made Planet Half-Life and wrote all that fan-fiction for HL.

 

[neptunes]

The beta had the countdown 'til the deadline and yeah....it's was buggy as sh!t.

 

[XMonkey]

SEPT 21, 2004 BELIEVE

 

[Error Macro]

OT, but did anyone else pick up on this?

Error Macro's avatar

Saturnman's avatar (if it doesn't show you may need to paste "http://opa-ages.com/forums/uploads/av-16.gif" into a new window.

You guys planned this. Right? Because if not, its somewhat scary.

Holy cow. Wow, you know I didn't think of Saturnman's avatar when I was making mine, but then afterwards I remembered he had a Rene avatar and I thought it was funny that I made a Lene one. But I didn't exactly see the connection until you posted that. Wow, that is scary. It's from the exact same part of the video, just on the different sides of the screen. Maybe I was subconciously thinking of that when I made it? Yikes.

 

[Saturnman]

So it was a coincidence? Weird.

 

[Late Stage Marxist]

:gay