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Half-Life 2

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File:H-L2 1.jpg
Half-Life 2
Developer: Valve Software
Publisher: Vivendi Universal
Number of Players: 1
Release date: November 16, 2004
Genre: First-person shooter
Game modes: Single player
ESRB/ELSPA ratings: Mature (M)
Platform: PC
Media: CD

Half-Life 2 is a first-person shooter computer game and the highly anticipated sequel to Half-Life developed by Valve Software. Valve sent a release candidate to its publisher, Vivendi Universal, on September 15, 2004; the game went gold on October 18 and it is planned to be released on November 16, 2004.

Overview

In the original Half-Life, researchers at a remote underground laboratory called the Black Mesa Research Facility accidentally open a doorway into an alien world, unleashing strange and deadly creatures into the facility. The player acted as Gordon Freeman, one of those research scientists, in his attempt to escape the facility. Half-Life 2 picks up the story many years after the Black Mesa incident in a futuristic Eastern European 'City 17', once again pitting Gordon Freeman against an alien invasion.

For Half-Life 2 Valve produced a new game engine called "Source" that features some of the most advanced interactivity and graphics to date. To get the highest level of graphics, most gamers are expecting to upgrade their video card, explaining why GPU manufacturer ATI Technologies has partnered with HL2's release [1]. The game engine's interactivity promises to tie emergent gameplay with the scripted sequences that Half-Life is already known for. Even before the release of Half-Life 2, Valve has already licensed the Source engine to other developers for use in their own games.

Like its predecessor Half-Life, Half-Life 2 has already been the base of which many modifications have been planned. Many of them are sequels of original Half-Life mods, like Counter-Strike and Sven Co-op. Valve is also planning on having a version of Counter-Strike: Source (Counter-Strike for Half-Life 2) in the retail version of Half-Life 2. (Since HL2 does not feature deathmatch mode, CS:S fills in as the multiplayer component.) Day of Defeat: Source will also be released, and is currently being pre-sold with premium Half-Life 2 Steam packages. Its status is unknown.

One of the more exciting features of Half-Life 2 and the Source engine is the unique ability of the characters to simulate emotions and facial speech movements on the fly. The characters are language independent, with the facial features being created and executed in real-time. Valve says that fourty-two digital "facial muscles" make this possible. They also claim that the environment is to be "100% interactive", with every object having unique mass, density, buoyancy, and other properties which make its interaction as realistic as possible.

Steam content delivery system

Integral to Half-Life 2 is the Steam content delivery system developed by Valve Software. This allows customers to purchase games (or any other software) directly from the developer and have it downloaded directly to their computer. This system also allows "micro updates" to games — games are continually updated and only the most recent version is allowed to be run. This makes it much harder to crack the game to introduce cheats or to run a free 'pirated' copy. All users playing a game must also have an account on the Steam servers to play the game. Steam is also used for finding and playing multiplayer games.

A 1 GB portion of Half-Life 2 became available for pre-load through Steam on August 26, 2004. This means that customers can begin to download encrypted game files to their computer before the game is released. When the game is released in the shops, customers will be able to pay for the game through Steam and unlock the files on their hard drives and play it immediately, without having to wait for the whole game to download. The pre-load period will last for several weeks to ensure all customers have a chance to downlod the content before the game is released. To stop the system from becoming overloaded only certain numbers of people are allowed to download the game at a time, creating the waiting period that lasts until all customers have had a chance to get it.

In the initial download only assets "set in stone" are downloaded, such as textures and sound. As the game code is still being worked on, it will not be distributed through the Steam system until the game is officially released.

Reviews

Development controversies

Source code leak

Half-Life 2 was merely a rumor until a strong impression at E3 in May 2003 launched it into levels of hype only equalled by DOOM 3 at the time. It was due to come out in September 2003, but it was delayed several times. This pushing back of HL2's release date came in the wake of the cracking of Valve's internal network, through bugs in Microsoft Outlook, resulting in the leakage of the game's source code in early September 2003.

The source-code leak had more of an effect on morale for the developer than it did on the schedule—it was later revealed by both Valve CEO Gabe Newell and PR man Doug Lombardi that the September 2003 release date was 'aggressive' and could not have been met even if the leak had never occurred. Many gamers were not surprised by the early delays, recognizing that Valve's first public mention of the game came just four months before its intended release date.

In June 2004, Valve Software announced in a press release that the FBI have arrested several people suspected of involvement in the source code leak.

Beta leak

Roughly at the same time as the source code leak, a beta version of HL2 was leaked to the net. Initial claims that the leak was a hoax turned out to be in error as the beta quickly spread widely and was verified to exist by a large number of people. The beta reportedly contains parts of the game in a playable state, as well as some of the tools used to create game content.

Going gold hoax

On August 27, 2004 a post by Gabe Newell from Valve Software said "going gold on Monday". Going gold means that the game is finished and simply needs to be pressed onto CDs and packaged into boxes. This caused much excitement among Half-Life 2 fans but it later turned out that the post was a hoax and was posted by someone who had guessed Gabe's password ("gaben").

Breach of contract with Vivendi

On September 20, 2004, it was revealed by GameSpot [2] that Vivendi Universal Games is in a legal battle with Valve Software over the distribution of Half-Life 2. According to VUG, the contract they signed with Valve did not include distribution of Half-Life 2 over Steam. The trial to settle the dispute is scheduled for March 2005.

HL2 source leak

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