Vivendi are not being smart by holding release of HALFLIFE2

Labrador

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jan 19, 2002
Messages
1,930
Ok, so the word on the street is that HalfLife2 is pretty much finished from end to end per Gabe Newell of Valve, they are just play testing it, and polishing it up.

Well there is a rumor that Vivendi the publisher plan to hold off on releasing it untill we get closer to the holiday season, they say for marketing reasons it will sell alot more near Christmas time.

Now this may be just internet bullshit, but I have two good reasons to release and sell it as soon as it is done.


- Blizzard has some of the best and top selling games of all time, I mean the Diablo and WarCraft series have sold millions and millions of copies. And every major release by Blizzard has always been June/July time frame.

- HalfLife2 is one of the most WANTED games ever, this baby will sell a zillion copies no matter when they fucking release it. So dont hold off till Christmas you douchebags


please post educated opinions

thanks
 
He said that last September... Why even worry about it till you are playing it? Unless you have stock in the company.
 
I wouldn't consider using the term 'jewbags' in your arguement to be educated :rolleyes: .

Either way, I agree. I would rather get it in the summer when I don't have class.
 
This same information was circulating around this time last year. The fact of the matter is, regardless of the game's completeness, is that Vivendi is run by a bunch of asshats who embody everything that's wrong with the gaming industry today.

I agree with you when you say that HL2 will sell zillions of copies no matter when it's released. It's been hyped up so much that everyone with even a remote interest in pc gaming has at least heard of it. This over-hype is extremely unfortunate if you ask me, because I believe HL2 will be the biggest failure the industry has seen since DX:IW. (You heard it here first, folks) I was at the peak of my excitement, the day before Valve mentioned that HL2 was in production, when nobody even knew they were working on it. Since that day I have slowly come to realize that the withering state of the industry has claimed another victim in the form of the sequel to what is argueably the greatest FPS of modern gaming.

With that said, I'm waiting and hoping very much that I am pleasantly surprised.
 
Who even cares anymore.... :rolleyes:

When I see the fuckin game on the shelf I will buy it..
 
This thread lost all credibility before it even started as an idea in your mind. Congratulations. You're a dumbass.
 
Now in a twist of fate 3DRealms release Duke Nukem Forever on Sept.30th :p
 
Labrador said:
Now in a twist of fate 3DRealms release Duke Nukem Forever on Sept.30th :p

George Broussard will announce code theft of DNF, saying it was 100% done and ready for release, but some jerkoffs ruined it.
 
Big Worm said:
Who even cares anymore.... :rolleyes:

When I see the fuckin game on the shelf I will buy it..
Yea no shit. Valve has made 1 good single player game about 5 years ago. When they stop lying and creating worthless piles of crap (steam) I will take them a little more serious. As far as I'm concerned, Valve still needs to prove itself as a good game maker.
 
Let me burst your bubble and state that it is not good to release it this summer. I'll give you a good example. Let's warp back in time to 1997. (I hope I have that right.)

I was working at Ensemble Studios at the time and had just released a little game called Age of Empires. It was getting a lot of buzz and good reviews, but we were worried about Blizzard releasing a new game called Starcraft. It supposed to be done and ready to go for Christmas, but it didn't show up until March for some reason.

Only later did I learn (from other sources including a few at Blizzard) that they purposely delayed the game by a few months so Age of Empires wouldn't canibalize Starcraft sales. They knew they would still sell oodles of copies, but that Christmas was flooded with RTS titles. Better to wait it out and get the last word in. It worked out for everyone.

Releasing HL2 at the same time at Doom3 wouldn't be in Vivendi's interests. For one, Gabe has lied about the game being ready before and Vivendi had to delay the game despite his claims. C'mon, do you really trust him fully that the game is totally ready? Secondly, summer is a terrible month for sales. You'd think with everyone on vacation they'd sell like hotcakes. Thirty years have proven otherwise. They will sell more during the Christmas season (September - October) then they would otherwise. Sales figures bear this out.

Most importantly, a HL2/Doom3 head-to-head battle isn't in anyone's interests. Retail would rather spread them out so they can use each product as a loss leader if necessary. Shelf space and in-store advertising is limited. Publishers and retailers would rather spread out the release in order to maximize these two elements. There are only so many end caps to go around. And while the hardcore gamer will sell 5 quarts of his own blood to get the money for both games, most people are going to choose just one game. That does affect numbers for both companies.

Activision and Vivendi never were going to go head-to-head with these two games. They know full well that if the games are spaced out properly, that they both come out winners. The only real contest is which game will come out first. In this case it'll be Doom 3. By waiting just a bit longer, Vivendi could actually come out ahead.
 
obs said:
worthless piles of crap (steam) I will take them a little more serious.

A Steaming pile of crap?

As others have said, until its on the shelves there isnt a thing we can do...
 
this info is FUD, the source is from HalflifeRadio.com/HalflifeSource.com. they pull alot of info from their arse. i wont beleive anything until we hear it from vivendi or valve themselves.

HL2 = this summer as far as i know of.


quote from a poster at penny arcade
I am a lurker on these forums but when I saw this post I felt it necessary to register.

This is not a good source! This is a horrible source. If you look at DJ list this site is headed by Andy Hodges who is notoriously hated by the TFC (Team fortress classic) community. No one takes this guy seriously at all.

He does anything to get people to come onto his radio show including making things up. A month back he claimed to be at E3 and have Gabe Newell appear on the show. When listeners tuned in, he simply read off "news" about HL2 that has been known for months.

He also heads the league, www.realcombat.com. He claims to have the most active league in the community by using stats such as the amount of people visiting his forums at any given time. If you go to his forums, you will see he fakes the amount of people on his forums ie. 12 members and 412 guests. Anyone who has pointed it out has been banned from his league and that's after they paid to join it.

I can't even count the amount of stunts this guy has pulled. He has ripped site layouts from website's like MTV.com for his network. Overall he is just a compulsive liar.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=64418&start=0#top
 
I hope HL2 sucks just to piss everyone off with this bs delay, that would be funny
 
There's enough good games coming out from credible developers/publishers to make this seem trivial and unimportant.
 
I've given up on waiting for this game. Like others have said, when its out, its out and I'll prolly go pick it up. As for the moment, I'll keep playing StarCraft :D
 
release the stinking game now before i come and bust your heads in.

-warsaw
 
Torgo said:
I was working at Ensemble Studios at the time and had just released a little game called Age of Empires.
.


you worked on age of empires? that's such a great game.

and half-life 2 or doom 3 won't just "oh yeah and doom 3/half-life 2 is being releasd nationwide tomorrow." it'll be rammed down our throats for at least a month before we see it. so if anything i'd expect to hear about it next month, or november.
 
HRslammR said:
you worked on age of empires? that's such a great game.
You don't see many game developers posting because they get slammed with game release questions and just some stupid questions. I figure since I'm not currently working with a game company, why not share some inside knowledge of the industry. If anything, it helps when someone writes something stupid like, "Don't post if you don't know what you're talking about." In most cases, I do know what I'm talking about, and sometimes, know the people involved.
 
This game is going to suck. Don't believe me? just wait and see.

And a huge shocker DNF will make it out by christmas time and will be the better game.
 
Labrador said:
Ok, so the word on the street is that HalfLife2 is pretty much finished from end to end per Gabe Newell of Valve, they are just play testing it, and polishing it up.

Well there is a rumor that Vivendi the publisher plan to hold off on releasing it untill we get closer to the holiday season, they say for marketing reasons it will sell alot more near Christmas time.

Now this may be just internet bullshit, but I have two good reasons to release and sell it as soon as it is done.


- Blizzard has some of the best and top selling games of all time, I mean the Diablo and WarCraft series have sold millions and millions of copies. And every major release by Blizzard has always been June/July time frame.

- HalfLife2 is one of the most WANTED games ever, this baby will sell a zillion copies no matter when they fucking release it. So dont hold off till Christmas you douchebags


please post educated opinions

thanks

considering you have a phd in communications and marketing and have 15 years of experience in the filed im sure you know better thean vivendi when it is or isnt profitable to release a game and also know the costs involved to be ready to ship hl2. Good point


also remember vale said they would finish the game in the summer, which it looks like they will do, but that doesnt mean it will be released this summer
 
SkullE said:
This game is going to suck. Don't believe me? just wait and see.

And a huge shocker DNF will make it out by christmas time and will be the better game.


the sad thing is, your most likely right :eek:
 
but my main point was that Blizzard holds some records for top selling games of all time, and they always release their new games in summer June/July. So by releasing HalfLife2 now, they sure will make a hell of alot, and be a top seller in no time, and sell even more come Christmas.
 
Labrador said:
but my main point was that Blizzard holds some records for top selling games of all time, and they always release their new games in summer June/July. So by releasing HalfLife2 now, they sure will make a hell of alot, and be a top seller in no time, and sell even more come Christmas.
Thats what you said in the first post. This aint a fucking essay, you dont have to reinstate your point. :rolleyes:
 
u know what will be funny? if this game hits shelves and it turns out to be really horrid, HAHA all this waiting for nothing, that would be great :p
 
I guess I'll get that game, or does anyone want to buy my voucher from my Radoen vid card box?
 
obs said:
No, you just already paid for it

I guess you could argue that by saying "its included in the price of the video card" But not really, that card would cost the same with or with out the HL2 cupon.
 
it doesn't matter when it is released, because it will have some draconian anti-piracy protection on it that will turn your computer into a pile of melted slag if you even think about trying to make a backup copy.
 
After all the complaining last September, I wouldn't release any date either. People were complaining that they missed the date but it pisses me off that they waited till the last second to tell us, not that they missed the date.
 
The hype has overshadowed the game in my opinion. I think we are expecting this true greatness that sets entirely new gaming standards, but I think we will be dissapointed. No doubt there will be some cool features and very good looking graphics engine, but how the hype before this game is released, it has hurt it.
 
Back
Top