Hl2: Episode 1 Due May

notsosilentbob · 04-04-2006, 17:16

Valve confirms that Episode 1 will be released at the end of May and Gabe Newell begins to drop Half-Life 3 hints

Half-Life 2: episode one will now release on 31 May according to Valve's very own Doug Lombardi, who has confirmed that the episode will now launch at both retail and via Steam for a very reasonable sounding $19.95.
Marketing director Lombardi confirmed the release date had been pushed back from its original April release and Valve's Gabe Newell also said of the much anticipated HL2 episode's content: "A lot of it is about your relationship with Alex, and what the hell happened at the end of Half-Life 2. It was sort of a cliff hanger. You're on top of an exploding building, okay, so how do you not all die. It answers a bunch of those questions. It also raises some questions about what the G-Man's real role is in the Half-Life universe, so there are some surprises there for people."

Newell went on to say that the episode took him about seven hours to play through, although he opined that that might vary depending on the player. In the joint interview, Newell also confirmed that work on Half-Life 2 episode 2 was already well underway.

Perhaps most intriguing of all though was what Newell had to say about Half-Life 3. While Valve is set to be producing episodic content for a while yet, Newell conceded, "On the storytelling side I think right now we're having a lot of fun - chapter, chapter, chapter. I assume at some point we're going to say, and our fans are going to say, 'That was really great for awhile, but now we want the big one.'"

Newell chimed in to compare making the full blown Half-Life 3 to the choice producers have between making TV style episodes and making a full-on movie: "I think that we're having the option now of having the same choices of tv show, tv show, tv show, movie. How do you make that decision? Fans like them both. But, some things you want to do with a movie-like piece, and some things work better as individual episodes.

"Developers like ourselves, we now have that choice. Where before we had no choice. You did that movie, you did it every 24 months, or in our case six years that was really painful. But now we have the flexibility."

Reno · 05-06-2006, 16:57

Got this on saturday - although I havent played HL2 yet I did get most of the plot. The locations are pretty cool, most are more futuristic than the first which I liked.

Have to say im dissapointed though. I dunno, is it meant to just be a continuation of the story, not a standalone game? Was lead to believe it was because it stated HL2 was not required to play it. It took me around 4 hours to complete it, start to finish, on default difficulty.

For such a short game it does have long loading times, and takes up 5 gig of space. It was enjoyable to play, but I will be returning it to HMV - not going to pay 20 quid for 4 hours of gameplay lol.

Draco · 05-06-2006, 17:01

What's worse is that it took them a good year to make the thing, as you said, it is very short and we can only hope that Episode 2 is a bit longer.

X-Buster! · 05-06-2006, 21:38

They should've just moved on and taken Gordon to a different place and made Half-Life 3, okay so people were attached to the new characters but they'll get over it.

Waste of time really, Episodes was a bad idea.

zaammk · 05-06-2006, 23:40

Very VERY fun imo. I laugh at you paying £20 when it's a tenner on steam. I also think you're being a bit of an arse hole taking it back, after all, noone else can ever use that as the key is registered to your steam account.

Yes, it's a straight continuation of HL2. Yes you should really play half-life 2 to get the plot. The does not require half-life 2 to play thing was probably for the people that played it on the X-Box. I don't see how it was a bad idea, maybe in your opinion, for for sales, and for the huge majority of the fan base it seems like it was a good idea.

You wanted them to jsut compleatly drop the storyline and start e new one, practically ignoring the events of half-life 1 and 2, how would it be half life still? Can't wait for episode two, the trailer looks amazing.

sparda · 06-06-2006, 14:41

edited by fallen: <idiot>
Can't wait for HL2 Espiode 2

zaammk · 06-06-2006, 16:09

Lol, maybe you should have put spoilers tags over that?

Wait, do we even have spoiler tags? We need spoiler tags!

Reno · 07-06-2006, 17:35

Call me an arse for taking it back if you want but as you say its a tenner on steam which I had not prev installed, so I have been screwed out of 10 quid because I browse shops for my games.

zaammk · 07-06-2006, 18:59

So you're getting back by screwing the same out of someone else who browses shops for games?

Reno · 08-06-2006, 14:05

If HMV choose to rewrap it in its plastic and sell it on to customers without replacing the CD key then its their fault, not mine. Im perfectly within my rights to return it, and when I do I'm not responsible for its use after.

You have to assume they have replacement CD keys for this kind of thing..

zaammk · 08-06-2006, 18:01

How could they replace the CD key? HMV don't make them, it just comes with it from valve.

X-Buster! · 08-06-2006, 18:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by zaammk

How could they replace the CD key? HMV don't make them, it just comes with it from valve.

Then its Valve's problem, they should realise that people sell games or trade in games so CD keys are Valve's problem and Valve's problem only.

Reno · 09-06-2006, 12:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by X-Buster!

Then its Valve's problem, they should realise that people sell games or trade in games so CD keys are Valve's problem and Valve's problem only.

Indeed. I was meaning Valve probably send a few replacement keys (In this case inserts into the sleeve of the game) along with the games.