Razumen wrote on Apr 18, 2011, 01:06:
All the debate aside, I'd say criticism on Valve saying the game could be 'released early' through community efforts has some validity.

Yes, releasing it a few hours ahead of schedule can be considered 'early' in the strictest sense of the word, but to the average person, and more importantly-to the average gamer, a early release constitutes at least a one day difference. Valve's wording here can be seen as misleading at best.

With 7 of the 13 games completed, and the projected release date still hovering around midnight on Tuesday, and the fact it is now almost Monday, it seems very unlikely that completing the rest of the games will result in the game being released significantly earlier.

The gist of it all is, Valve should have started this promotion LAST week, it would have still given the Indie games some spotlight, while giving gamers a decent time frame to actually work for a SIGNIFICANT early release of Portal 2.

TLDR: A few hours difference is not (really) an early release.