Half Life 2 has been released in Savannah Georgia

rrmorton · Post by **rrmorton** » Sat Nov 13, 2004 8:31 pm

Who the hell are you talking about, msduncan? That gamer does not exist.

Also: Paper sleeves can BITE MY ASS. That is beyond lame.

edit: LOL, bluefugue.

$iljanus · Post by **$iljanus** » Sat Nov 13, 2004 8:37 pm

bluefugue wrote:
"Gosh Nellie! This game sure looks purty. Let's buy one up!"
"Shucks! That there Doom 3 we bought was fun! Let's give it a whirl!" says Nellie.
So these are Red-state Best Buy customers?

The Blue State version:

"I say, Francois, this morsel of electronic entertainment looks spiffing, n'est-ce-pas?"

"Mais oui, Raindrop. As soon as I finish sipping my latte, I will take a closer look at le box."

"Just think of the moral values we can flout while indulging in this anarchic bit of tomfoolery!"

"Load up the Segway -- it's time to roll!"

No no, I kid.

LOL! Mon Dieu! Demi-Vie 2 is available! Zut alors!

msduncan · Post by **msduncan** » Sat Nov 13, 2004 9:03 pm

Update from Valve (thanks to Hetz for finding this!)

If you have purchased a copy of Half-Life 2, we are sorry you are still waiting to play. This is not Valve's choice. Vivendi is insisting that the game has not yet been released, and has threatened that Valve would be in violation of its contract if we activate the Half-Life 2 Steam authentication servers at this time.

Thanks for your patience and we will update you when we have more news to share.

Vidiot · Post by **Vidiot** » Sat Nov 13, 2004 9:03 pm

New news

If you have purchased a copy of Half-Life 2, we are sorry you are still waiting to play. This is not Valve's choice. Vivendi is insisting that the game has not yet been released, and has threatened that Valve would be in violation of its contract if we activate the Half-Life 2 Steam authentication servers at this time.

Valve wants to unlock it but VU won't let them.
VU will also be the ones that needs to deal with the pissed off people and returns. I don't get this move on their part.

In any case, the question now is: Will VU break and let valve unlock it before monday night?

bluefugue · Post by **bluefugue** » Sat Nov 13, 2004 9:04 pm

Statement from Valve, via Shacknews:

Half-Life 2 For Sale?
November 13, 2004, 4:57 pm Â· valve
If you have purchased a copy of Half-Life 2, we are sorry you are still waiting to play. This is not Valve's choice. Vivendi is insisting that the game has not yet been released, and has threatened that Valve would be in violation of its contract if we activate the Half-Life 2 Steam authentication servers at this time.

Thanks for your patience and we will update you when we have more news to share.

So blame the big bad evil French corporation!!!

bluefugue · Post by **bluefugue** » Sat Nov 13, 2004 9:04 pm

Heh, triple post in about a 30-second timeframe.

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Sat Nov 13, 2004 9:07 pm

Yowzers you guys are fast.

is_dead · Post by **is_dead** » Sat Nov 13, 2004 9:32 pm

I think this is an excellent way to stem piracy.

msduncan · Post by **msduncan** » Sat Nov 13, 2004 10:14 pm

Great way to stem piracy. I agree.

But when retail stores are selling the game -- it's time for the publisher to release the damn thing.

End of story.

disarm · Post by **disarm** » Sat Nov 13, 2004 10:17 pm

rrmorton wrote:Also: Paper sleeves can BITE MY ASS. That is beyond lame.

my opinion is about the same (except i'm not so into the ass biting)...5 paper sleeves in a cardboard box is definitely going cheap. if they're not sticking anything else in the box, they could at least give a decent holder for the discs. i'm willing to forgive them if the game kicks ass though...

Greggy_D · Post by **Greggy_D** » Sat Nov 13, 2004 10:19 pm

I'm cancelling my preorder with EB and just going the Steam route. Paper sleeves do suck and so do 5 CD's. Add no manual to that and it makes it an easy choice.

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Sat Nov 13, 2004 10:21 pm

At this point, even if the game kicks ass it's still leaving a sour taste in my mouth. From the paper sleeves to no manual to the whole Steam thing, this game better be the Second Coming to make up for it. Of course I bought it so I suppose I lost the chance to make myself heard with an economic vote.

Samurai · Post by **Samurai** » Sat Nov 13, 2004 10:28 pm

naednek · Post by **naednek** » Sat Nov 13, 2004 10:41 pm

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Sat Nov 13, 2004 10:50 pm

Very nice, Samurai.

Asharak · Post by **Asharak** » Sat Nov 13, 2004 11:21 pm

Yeah, Samurai deserves props for that one.

And damnit, why can't this week get here sooner? I wanna play...

- Ash

noxiousdog · Post by **noxiousdog** » Sat Nov 13, 2004 11:36 pm

It was on the shelves at Best Buy in Houston today.

Turtle · Post by **Turtle** » Sun Nov 14, 2004 12:27 am

Eh, I got a ridiculously good trade in deal for Halo 2, more than I would have gotten it if I'd sold it on ebay. So my copy of HL2 is all but paid off, I'll get it when I get it.

Not that I wouldn't drive up to get it right this very instant if they unlocked it and all stores started selling it.

The way this works is that Vivendi's threat of legal action and saying that it's not officially released can only delay things for a few days to a week. The threat is mostly hollow, but I doubt Valve wants to bother with legalities anymore. Unfortunately, a few days is all Vivendi really needs.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Sun Nov 14, 2004 12:46 am

Turtle wrote:The way this works is that Vivendi's threat of legal action and saying that it's not officially released can only delay things for a few days to a week. The threat is mostly hollow, but I doubt Valve wants to bother with legalities anymore. Unfortunately, a few days is all Vivendi really needs.

Actually, Valve is playing exactly the right card with their statement. They shifted all of the blame off of themselves and onto Vivendi. Now it is Vivendi that is causing the stress, it is Vivendi who is screwing the customers, Vivendi that is the evil company, and Valve is everyone's best friend.

Vivendi flexed their legal muscle for no reason except to send a message to Valve and show them "who's boss"; Valve couldn't fight the message, so they accepted it and passed it on to the public. Vivendi either eats it and keeps quiet until Tuesday, or unlocks the game. Anything they officially say at this point will make them look like dung. THAT is what public relations is all about. Beautifully played!

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Sun Nov 14, 2004 12:13 pm

Just bought it over steam (silver edition, since you can't buy that in the stores). Thought I'd give this new form of delivery a shot.

Can't understand what everyone's so pissed about, though. It's not like they didn't make the release date crystal clear the last few months. it's a game people, not a dialysis machine...you can live a few days without it.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Sun Nov 14, 2004 12:51 pm

People are pissed because they didn't make the release date clear to people who wander in off the street into a B&M store and see the game on display there. People are pissed because they didn't make it clear to gamers who didn't follow the game's development - those that thought it looked cool in a preview six months ago and figured they would pick it up when they saw it in a store. All these people go in, spend their money for a game right there in the store, then go home and find out they can't even play it offline for another four days.

People are pissed because the only reason that they aren't being allowed to play it is because Vivendi wants to show Valve who's boss.

The only people the release date was clear for were those who either bought it through Steam or followed its development closely enough to remember the release date.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Sun Nov 14, 2004 12:58 pm

Blackhawk wrote:People are pissed because they didn't make the release date clear to people who wander in off the street into a B&M store and see the game on display there. People are pissed because they didn't make it clear to gamers who didn't follow the game's development - those that thought it looked cool in a preview six months ago and figured they would pick it up when they saw it in a store. All these people go in, spend their money for a game right there in the store, then go home and find out they can't even play it offline for another four days.

People are pissed because the only reason that they aren't being allowed to play it is because Vivendi wants to show Valve who's boss.

The only people the release date was clear for were those who either bought it through Steam or followed its development closely enough to remember the release date.

well, you're right in one aspect, i was thinking only of those of us who were familiar with the game's release. i didn't take into consideration joe schmoe off the street. when seen in that light, it is pretty crappy.

aren't they even posting signs at best buys or other B&M stores telling people of this?

EDIT: the more i think about it, the more i realize that this could REALLY hurt future deployments of games over the internet. if the majority of people who buy this AREN'T aware beforehand of what the circumstances are, and they're the larger audience in sales, this could set back that sales paradigm years...if not destroy it altogether.

is_dead · Post by **is_dead** » Sun Nov 14, 2004 1:01 pm

I think it's the stores' fault like best buy more than Vivendi, and Valve is just being nice to fans by shifting the blame from the local EB. I doubt that there'll be lawsuits. Vivendi and Valve knew absolutely that stores wouldn't be able to contain themselves and would start selling early, or that employees would run home and put it on shareaza. From then it would probably be hours or at most a couple days before it was cracked. Doom3 lost a TON of sales for having that happen, as many legit buyers wanted to play it ASAP, and it was so easy to download that even casual gamers did it instead of buying it at some later point. Valve and Vivendi probably decided together that Vivendi would be the scapegoat, because the design studio is too important to future game sales to take the blame.

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Sun Nov 14, 2004 1:06 pm

hepcat wrote:well, you're right in one aspect, i was thinking only of those of us who were familiar with the game's release. i didn't take into consideration joe schmoe off the street. when seen in that light, it is pretty crappy.

aren't they even posting signs at best buys or other B&M stores telling people of this?

EDIT: the more i think about it, the more i realize that this could REALLY hurt future deployments of games over the internet. if the majority of people who buy this AREN'T aware beforehand of what the circumstances are, and they're the larger audience in sales, this could set back that sales paradigm years...if not destroy it altogether.

No, I didn't see any signs saying the game wouldn't be good until the 16th.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Sun Nov 14, 2004 1:10 pm

Tony wrote:
hepcat wrote:well, you're right in one aspect, i was thinking only of those of us who were familiar with the game's release. i didn't take into consideration joe schmoe off the street. when seen in that light, it is pretty crappy.

aren't they even posting signs at best buys or other B&M stores telling people of this?

EDIT: the more i think about it, the more i realize that this could REALLY hurt future deployments of games over the internet. if the majority of people who buy this AREN'T aware beforehand of what the circumstances are, and they're the larger audience in sales, this could set back that sales paradigm years...if not destroy it altogether.
No, I didn't see any signs saying the game wouldn't be good until the 16th.

Then you're not part of the demographic i was talking about. it's been everywhere a gamer would see it. on eb's site, steam, review sites, etc..

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Sun Nov 14, 2004 3:13 pm

Errr..Hepcat either you're confused or I'm confused by your message my Chicago brother. Actually it's probably me with my poor reading comprehension skills. While there were no signs in Best Buy, I was aware of it not being available until the 16th. You're right, if you're a gamer and you peruse the Internet for game stuff it would be tough to miss this information.

jonsauce · Post by **jonsauce** » Sun Nov 14, 2004 3:28 pm

I guess I should have gone shopping yesterday. I called around to the 2 Best Buys by me and they pulled the game off the shelves Saturday night. It won't be back on until the 16th.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Sun Nov 14, 2004 4:54 pm

Tony wrote:Errr..Hepcat either you're confused or I'm confused by your message my Chicago brother. Actually it's probably me with my poor reading comprehension skills. While there were no signs in Best Buy, I was aware of it not being available until the 16th. You're right, if you're a gamer and you peruse the Internet for game stuff it would be tough to miss this information.

probably more my writing skills

i agree though now, it is going to be a bit of a fiasco for valve. people are going to be confused and probably a bit angry. i just didn't take into account the confusion factor amongst those who don't spend tons of time keeping track of HL2.

bluefugue · Post by **bluefugue** » Sun Nov 14, 2004 5:27 pm

Of course all us fanboy gamers know about 11/16 but as noted above it's not incumbent on Joe Customer to have that information -- it should be presented to him at the store if it is going to have a material effect on whether his purchase works or not.

It is indeed a fiasco. Not a huge one for me, since I knew about 11/16 and considered my steam purchase a "pre order" until then; but I wonder how many disgruntled Best Buy customers there are at the moment.

Post by **godhugh** » Sun Nov 14, 2004 5:28 pm

They had a ton of copies out for sale at Fry's here in Dallas.

agentusa · Post by **agentusa** » Sun Nov 14, 2004 9:48 pm

hepcat wrote:EDIT: the more i think about it, the more i realize that this could REALLY hurt future deployments of games over the internet. if the majority of people who buy this AREN'T aware beforehand of what the circumstances are, and they're the larger audience in sales, this could set back that sales paradigm years...if not destroy it altogether.

And that's exactly what VU wants to do. The don't want the people who bought HL2 through Steam to access it earlier than those who bought it in a store. And they want their retail customers to be pissed off that they have to jump through hoops using Steam and wait for the game to be activated.

rrmorton · Post by **rrmorton** » Mon Nov 15, 2004 12:01 am

My Gamestop isn't doing a midnight opening for Half-life 2, which is hardly surprising but still bums me out. Are any stores doing it?

What do you think my chances are of talking the manager into letting me take it home at closing time on Monday night if I promise not to install it until midnight?

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Mon Nov 15, 2004 12:43 am

rrmorton wrote:My Gamestop isn't doing a midnight opening for Half-life 2, which is hardly surprising but still bums me out. Are any stores doing it?

What do you think my chances are of talking the manager into letting me take it home at closing time on Monday night if I promise not to install it until midnight?

You can take it home now and install it. You just can't play it until Valve unlocks it via Steam - Tuesday at 3 AM EST.

Napoleon · Post by **Napoleon** » Mon Nov 15, 2004 5:17 am

I saw one person in this thread mention this, but I felt it should be brought up again...what about the responsibility of the stores?

THEY broke the street date they had imposed on them, and I'm quite sure at least some of the BB employees know about the 11/16 date. They should've told their customers. Of course, that would've lost them a sale, so they didn't do that.

I see Vivendi and the stores as the big bullies here, and I think Valve is playing it really cool

msduncan · Post by **msduncan** » Mon Nov 15, 2004 8:20 am

Napoleon wrote:I saw one person in this thread mention this, but I felt it should be brought up again...what about the responsibility of the stores?

THEY broke the street date they had imposed on them, and I'm quite sure at least some of the BB employees know about the 11/16 date. They should've told their customers. Of course, that would've lost them a sale, so they didn't do that.

I see Vivendi and the stores as the big bullies here, and I think Valve is playing it really cool

Have you ever been into a Best Buy? I don't think I've ever met a BB employee that knew ANYTHING about what they were selling....

I called the other day to see if it were in, and nobody there even t knew what the game was!!!!! They asked me to repeat it several times, and then got the spelling wrong. (several different people)

Lynn · Post by **Lynn** » Mon Nov 15, 2004 9:24 am

Hmmm, this on-line activation has me concerned.

If I don't have an internet connection at home, does that mean I will not be able to play this one?

This will be good to know before I buy this one.

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Mon Nov 15, 2004 9:29 am

Lynn wrote:If I don't have an internet connection at home, does that mean I will not be able to play this one?.

Yes. Valve has a workaround on their site, but it's not exactly user-friendly and does involve installing and using an Internet connection on another PC.

Lynn · Post by **Lynn** » Mon Nov 15, 2004 9:34 am

Thanks Zaxxon.

I do all my "interneting" at work. There is no way to get it at home (we no longer use a phone line and cable is not available in the boonies, where I live).

How bad do you suppose the workaround will be?

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Mon Nov 15, 2004 9:40 am

Workaround

Lynn · Post by **Lynn** » Mon Nov 15, 2004 9:47 am

Am I understanding this correctly -- they want me to bring my PC to a location that has an internet connection?

In my case, that would be work. I'm not about to bring my PC into the office, load all their network info onto it, get internet connection working, then haul it all home.

No thanks. I'll take a pass on this one.