Valve Software has revealed it's now aiming for a Q1 2007 release for Half-Life 2: Episode Two, so sadly it will miss the originally expected late 2006 launch. Sniffle.
According to a report on EuroGamer, the developer's Doug Lombardi has said that February 2007 is most likely for Episode Two's debut. "You know, our thing is always that we're trying to make really good experiences and so we're going to manage to that rather than the schedule", Lombardi explained when speaking about the delay at the on-going Games Convention in Leipzig.
Half-Life 2: Episode Two will release with Team Fortress 2 and Valve's mind-bending puzzle venture Portal. PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of Half-Life 2 - which include Episode One, Two and TF2 and Portal - are expected to materialise at the same time as Episode Two on PC.
Speaking of Portal, Lombardi hinted at the possibility of it being included in some shape or form in Half-Life 2: Episode Three.
"We'll be able to get a lot of feedback [on Portal] and say, okay, how are we going to use this in Episode Three or in future versions of Half-Life single-player or multiplayer? We'll be able to make more educated decisions about how to progress that sort of technology, which we think really can open the gameplay as much or perhaps more so than the gravity gun and the physics did", he revealed.
With the PS3 and 360 versions, I wonder if the new additions to the engine afrom Episodes One and Two will be retro-fitted to the main game.
Not being able to use the snazzy new graphical features of Episode One in HL2 itself was the only really disappointing aspect of the expansion, especially considering Blue Shift added higher res models to the original Half-life.
As the guy above said, episodic gaming is pretty bloody pointless if you're only bringing out one a year. Why don't they just release them as expansion packs like normal people?
Same goes for SiN, if you know you are making games in this format then why not line up 3 or 4 of them to be ready to go and release one every two months, then by the time you get to the last one you'll have made a couple more. If people have actual concrete dates like they do with TV series that they can get each "episode" it will start to fall into place. It's not like they've made any huge changes to the engines in either game besides a few tweaks here and there.
I lost respect for episodic gaming a while ago but this just drags it down even futher. What a joke.
It's hardly the brave new world of episodic gaming if you only bring one out a year, is it?
That makes it no more episodic than GTA or Medal of Honour.
LOL
Valve should learn a thing or two from the masters of episodic gaming: EA.
"masters of episodic gaming" - you mean adding a few tiny features, maybe changing a few names about and then sticking a new 07 sticker on it and charging full whack? I see what you're trying to say, but to call EA the masters is a bit much.
It's hardly the brave new world of episodic gaming if you only bring one out a year, is it?
That makes it no more episodic than GTA or Medal of Honour.
LOL
Valve should learn a thing or two from the masters of episodic gaming: EA.
"masters of episodic gaming" - you mean adding a few tiny features, maybe changing a few names about and then sticking a new 07 sticker on it and charging full whack? I see what you're trying to say, but to call EA the masters is a bit much.
The problem is we are now not getting the so-called 'advantage' of episodic gaming, ie the regular release of titles, but we will still be getting the negative of 'episodic' gaming, that is $30+ for less than 10 hours of gameplay. It maybe $20 in the U.S, but it's the above price almost everywhere else!)
I just cannot see PC gaming doing anything other than disappering if we are going to see sub 10 hour gameplay games being released once every 12-18 months for $30.
This is only going to tempt more and more publishers to charge for anything beyond minimal intial content. Oblivion with just the Imperial City section of the game for $30, then each city being released one every 6 months for another $30. Bethesda could rightly say - 'Hey, for our $30 you get 20 hours of gameplay, HL2 EP1 only gave you half a dozen!'
The problem is Valve knows that HL2 EP2 could have even less gameplay than EP1 and people would still buy it because it was Half Life.
There is a saying 'Arrogant Industry? Stupid customers.' Never thought i'd associate it with computer gaming.
I think i paid about £12 for episode 1 through steam and you know what? it was totally worth it, i'm hoping for a bigger installment next time round but as long as it comes with TF2 and Portal i couldn't really give a s**t, short episode of half life 2...pretty much better than anything else out there.
Yes, for £12, no manual, no dvd and label, no dvd case and inlay, more profit for Valve. In the shops, where the majority of copies are sold (or they would not be sold in shops at all) everywhere I looked it was £19.99, the recommended price; for our American friends £20 is close to $40 now, but was closer to $30-35 when it first came out, I was being conservative.
$20 by the way myoldfruity would be about £12, so you paid for just the data being downloaded what Americans paid for the DVD and label, the manual and the DVD case and inlay.
And you may be happy with less than 10 hours gameplay for £20, most gamers wouldn't, and you know what? You aren't enough to keep Valve publishing, or any other games publisher.
So just because you're happy with something, doesn't mean it isn't killing the pc gaming hobby. Just means you'll be one of the last gamers buying one of the last loss-making games before everything closes down.....
If more gamers took their blinkers off and looked at the big picture and thought: 'what is it going to take to keep the millions of gamers buying games to keep the market alive and profitable?' and then think whether £20 five hour epsiodic games are going to do that.
If you do, you are a typical hard-core gamer that tends to have the latest hardware, and want's games that push it to it's limits, even if it sells way less because most gamers can't run it on their PC's.
PC games sales are down 60% in 3 years. And you think games costing over £100 (when all the 'episodes' are purchased) for 25 hours of gameplay is going to stop that drop, eh?
Well excuse me if I think you're wrong myoldfruity.
Yes please, as I have a cheesy smile when I see your messages. It's always nice to have a stalker or someone who is so against you. Make's you realise you have 'made it' in life
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