Wednesday 17-Dec-2003 2:27 PM Valve Software holds a bash to celebrate CS: CZ's "upcoming launch", but retail sources suggest we won't see it until March 2004 at the earliest Mid-November saw a minor kerfuffle breaking out on the Internet following the failure of Valve Software's Counter-Strike: Condition Zero to hit an expected release date of the 18th of that month. Stormy seas quickly settled, but news that the developer held a bash yesterday to celebrate CS: CZ's "upcoming launch" has again had us wondering precisely when this title is going to appear.
Prior to last night's shindig and post November 18, Valve had said little about the current status of Condition Zero, only confirming that publisher Sierra was in possession of the master for the English-language version of the title and that, as of mid-November, extra work was still being done on foreign-language versions.
A knees-up to celebrate an "upcoming launch" of course suggests that: 1) all versions of the game are completed and; 2) a release is just around the corner. However, we have yet to receive an answer to a query about a new release date for the title from Valve Software itself, and Sierra UK informed us today that it still has the date down as "to be confirmed".
It's far too late in the year now to push a videogame into stores, so clearly Condition Zero has slipped till 2004 - the only question is, when? Speaking to a highly placed retail source earlier, we were told: "It [Counter-Strike: Condition Zero] currently looks set for March 2004 at the earliest.
"Our current list for confirmed dates for VU Games [Sierra is a VU Games label] releases runs as far as February 2004, and everything else due next year is down as TBC. Counter-Strike: Condition Zero, as with Half-Life 2, falls under the TBC bracket," they said.
Of course, Valve Software is well-known for keeping a tight rein on its own games, so it's highly doubtful that we'll get a confirmed release date for Counter-Strike: Condition from anyone other than the developer. January 2004? March 2004? Who knows, but we're all ears and we'll bring you the definite word as soon we hear.
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