News that Valve plans to ship release candidates to Vivendi Universal on September 15 has further fueled speculation that Half-Life 2 may not be released until November 2004.
The expected delay will come as a shock to fans of the game, already disappointed by the many delays to the original September 30, 2003 release date.

Some speculation on a possible September 30, 2004 release now seems very optimistic and unlikely considering Valve will not give a straight answer on the release, choosing to place the ball in Vivendi's court by stating We're currently planning to send release candidates to Vivendi by September 15th, however, VUG hasn't given us a ship date yet. Might be best for you to ask them directly.

It would seem, however, unlikely that a publisher could provide a release date before trying out the release candidates. So we are left slightly confused as to who is actually responsible for deciding that elusive date.

Vivendi has, of course, refused to comment on H-L 2, so we have a strange situation where a game, we are told, is about to release but no one wants to risk giving a precise date. Meanwhile, Steam PCs have already received 2 GBs of Half-Life 2 even though Valve is not sure of when the finished product may be ready.

While all the insiders claim ignorance regarding H-L 2s release, a recent report by Wedbush Morgan claims that November's Vivendi-Universal release Half-Life 2... will sell over 1 million units worldwide. This isn't the first time we've said this about Half - Life 2 but go figure.


Source : Megagames.com

Two more months waiting to be Gordon -- Damn.

On the plus side I'll get to finish my semester two exams before I withdraw from the world for a couple of weeks.

I'm highly skeptical on any release date what-so-ever for Half Life 2. I wouldn't even trust a date from the mouth of Gabe himself at this point. There's been too many 'supposed' release dates and speculation on the matter that there really is no concrete answer to the question of "How much longer must we wait?" It'll be out when it's out, so I suggest no one holds their breath.

I heard they plan to release it in a double pack with Duke Nukem: Forever

(if you don't get the joke don't worry )

i remember way back when diablo2 was the thing we were all waiting for. its first release date was april 199x right after starcraft... then boom like a year or two goes by then it is delayed again, and again, then released

Just gives me more time to hold off on buying a new computer... haha...

TL