Official Half-Life 2 Time of Release!!!

[Calvin]

WOOOTTTTWHEEEEE
http://www.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=169690
I am EDT, so the official time of release or unlock if you will...3AM on the 16th!!

[Jeff]

Well, I'm EDT too, and I'll be in bed, but it's nice to know I'll be able to wake up on the 16th, and start playing (I'm off that day). Assuming of course, that Steam doesn't get overloaded and shut down.

[Calvin]

I have class all day the 16th, and I can't skip as I am holding my last absences for the 23rd for WoW-so I guess I won't be playing till the evening.

BLEEE

[Clanwolfer]

Off on the 16th.  Oh, bliss.

[Chaz]

Man, part of my reason for going with Steam was so that I'd be able to play it before I had to go in to work on the 16th and start selling it.  One of the most annoying parts of working in a game store is having to spend the entire day selling the games you want to play to other people while you can't play them.  

Even better is when they come in and ask, "So, how is it?"  How the hell would I know?  I'm busy selling you your copy so you can go home and play it!

[-Lord Ebonstone-]

Jesus.

This, World of Warcraft, and Vampire: Bloodlines all in the span of a week and a half.

[farley2k]

So that means stores (at least on the East Coast, and Central) can't do midnight sales like they are for Halo 2

That is dumb.  I wonder what marketing genius came up with that idea?  "huge release...lets make it hard to build hype and get people buying..."

[Valael]

I don't think releasing it 3 hours earlier is going to make any difference.  The people that actually line up for a midnight sale are the people that are so hardcore, they're going to get it anyways.

[jonsauce]

If the EB I preordered at does the midnight deal I'll be there at Midnight and up all night playing it.  I'll just have to skip my Wednesday classes.

[PaulBot]

Man, part of my reason for going with Steam was so that I'd be able to play it before I had to go in to work on the 16th and start selling it.  One of the most annoying parts of working in a game store is having to spend the entire day selling the games you want to play to other people while you can't play them.  

Even better is when they come in and ask, "So, how is it?"  How the hell would I know?  I'm busy selling you your copy so you can go home and play it!

Do I sense some pent up hostility here??

Snicker  

[farley2k]

I don't think releasing it 3 hours earlier is going to make any difference.  The people that actually line up for a midnight sale are the people that are so hardcore, they're going to get it anyways.

I guess I assume that marketing has some clue on how to generate more sales, they might actually be able to show that having these midnight sales works....

Unless you just assume that every store that does a midnight maddness sale is stupid.  They do it for music, games, and movies so I believe by now they would have data to show if it is profitable.

[Chaz]

Man, part of my reason for going with Steam was so that I'd be able to play it before I had to go in to work on the 16th and start selling it.  One of the most annoying parts of working in a game store is having to spend the entire day selling the games you want to play to other people while you can't play them.  

Even better is when they come in and ask, "So, how is it?"  How the hell would I know?  I'm busy selling you your copy so you can go home and play it!

Do I sense some pent up hostility here??

Snicker  

Just because we serve you doesn't mean we like you.

[PaulBot]

The official time of release is: NOT SOON ENOUGH!!!

[angrycoder]

Man, part of my reason for going with Steam was so that I'd be able to play it before I had to go in to work on the 16th and start selling it.  One of the most annoying parts of working in a game store is having to spend the entire day selling the games you want to play to other people while you can't play them.  

Even better is when they come in and ask, "So, how is it?"  How the hell would I know?  I'm busy selling you your copy so you can go home and play it!

Do I sense some pent up hostility here??

Snicker  

Just because we serve you doesn't mean we like you.

This job would be great if it wasn't for the fucking customers

[CeeKay]

The official time of release is: NOT SOON ENOUGH!!!

I think they should delay it a couple of weeks so there's not so much competition  :twisted:  :twisted:  :twisted:

[Laner]

Man, part of my reason for going with Steam was so that I'd be able to play it before I had to go in to work on the 16th and start selling it.  One of the most annoying parts of working in a game store is having to spend the entire day selling the games you want to play to other people while you can't play them.  

Even better is when they come in and ask, "So, how is it?"  How the hell would I know?  I'm busy selling you your copy so you can go home and play it!

Do I sense some pent up hostility here??

Snicker  

Just because we serve you doesn't mean we like you.

Lewl... I'm going to put that on my office door

[Eco-Logic]

I can't wait.  Hopefully there will be no issues with steam...


THANKS ATI!

[Sarkus]

So that means stores (at least on the East Coast, and Central) can't do midnight sales like they are for Halo 2

That is dumb.  I wonder what marketing genius came up with that idea?  "huge release...lets make it hard to build hype and get people buying..."

I'd be shocked to see anyone even want to do midnight openings for Half-Life 2.  It may be the biggest PC game of the year, but it doesn't compare to Halo 2's pre-order numbers.  I manage a game store - we had over 600 Halo 2 pre-order's and have about 30 Half-Life 2 pre-orders.  A midnight opening doesn't make sense.

[ChrisGwinn]

It'll be interesting to see what the steam presale numbers ended up being.  I think people underestimate the number of copies sold that way.  When you think about the current active install base of Counterstrike being a possible audience, that's an insane number of people.

[Raintitan]

"It'll be interesting to see what the steam presale numbers ended up being. I think people underestimate the number of copies sold that way."

I would too. What those numbers might not show is the amount of money that goes directly to Valve  and how that impacts their overall revenue.  If many people, like myself, bought the game through Steam....they are going to be rolling in money .

[warning]

And they basically used the proceeds from HL1 to fund development of HL2.  So I hope they make another bajillion dollars to fun HL3.

[Kevin Grey]

Valve put out a press release recently stating there had been something like 2 million preloads via steam.  Doesn't mean everyone will buy it that way- preloading is free and I imagine quite a few people went ahead and did on the off chance that they can get it via Steam prior to retail.  Still, very impressive and could end up being 2 million lost sales for VU.

[Greggy_D]

The Steam forums just went down.  Prior to that an admin confirmed that an update was being sent out.

Come on......unlock HL2!!!!!

[warning]

The Steam forums just went down.  Prior to that an admin confirmed that an update was being sent out.

Come on......unlock HL2!!!!!

Hmmm. Interesting....

The forums couldn't handle the excitement and are taking a little breather. See www.steampowered.com for news. Thanks!

That would be very nice to unlock it tonight.  Please?

[Laner]

I wouldn't hold your breath

Half-Life 2 For Sale?
November 13, 2004, 4:57 pm · 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.

http://www.steampowered.com/?area=news

[Greggy_D]

Props to Samurai over at the Octopus forum: