Half-Life 2 Held Hostage?

[Sep 24, 2004, 6:50 pm ET] - Share - Viewing Comments

Half-Life 2 held hostage on GameSpot has more information from the ongoing legal battle between Valve and Sierra/Vivendi, indicating that it's possible that the release of Half-Life 2 could potentially be delayed by as much as six months as a result of the spat. The following was entered into the court records by VU Games' deputy general counsel Eric Roeder:

"Valve has announced that it will deliver a release candidate version of Half-Life 2 (HL2) (a game required under the 2001 SPA) to Sierra/VUG within the next few weeks. If Valve delivers a release candidate version that complies with the contract and is a Final Milestone, then VUG will have six months to release the product under the 2001 SPA. Valve is pressing VUG to release the product early within that six month window, and its representatives have made a number of public statements without our consent or concurrence that the product will be published and released to the general public in September of this year."

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157 Replies. 8 pages. Viewing page 7.
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37.

FU!

Sep 24, 2004, 20:12

Hatter

Posted edited due to some crazy monkey language, and Bittorrnet links to HL2 funkaramma bananarama. This comment was edited on Sep 24, 20:19.

36.

Re: hehe

Sep 24, 2004, 20:11

Fantaz

I bet everyone in the Quality Assurance department at Vivendi is having the time of their lives right now.




proudly fragging noobs in deathmatch since 1999

35.

Re: hehe

Sep 24, 2004, 20:09

phorce phed

HALF-LIFE 2 HAS BEEN KIDNAPPED BY VUG. ARE YOU A BAD ENOUGH DUDE TO RESCUE HALF-LIFE 2?

34.

Re: LOL

Sep 24, 2004, 20:06

Shataan

"Gimme Stalker" Aaah yes, another deftly delayed game. Everyone seems to be doing their own version of the "Duke Nukem Forever" imitation. Will 2004 and on to 2005 become another "Year Of The Delay"????????????? Bring on the excuses. Ya know? "Oh some Hacker stole our code"!!! Stuff like that. LOL "Oh, now we are in this huge pissing match with Vivendi" Etc etc etc.

33.

Re: *sigh*...I tried to resist

Sep 24, 2004, 20:04

Toxic_Metal

HAHAHA!!
"Son of Penis" LOL!!11111!!!

* * * * * * *
Their freedom was taken away as they crashed . . .




* * * * * * Their freedom was taken away as they crashed . . . -- "So Long, and thanks for all the fish..."

32.

Re: *sigh*...I tried to resist

Sep 24, 2004, 20:02

JosephBlowski

Of course Valve is having trouble with Vivendi. Just take a look at the name of the guy running Vivendi games. René Pénisson Chairman Ya, you got that right. It is no mistake. The guy running Vivendi Universal games is named Son of a Penis. This just goes to show you. When Joseph Blowski tells you that there are no coincidences in life, you better believe it. This comment was edited on Sep 24, 20:03.

31.

LOL

Sep 24, 2004, 20:02

Tumbler

This is hilarious, LOL, I hate valve, I hate Vivendi, I am so sick of this game. It's made me full of hate! I'm not buying it! Ahhh such a huge weight off my shoulders.

Gimme Stalker, DOW is kicking @$$, Jump to Lightspeed, I don't care, I just don't want to be a part of this horrible game.




VGfive.com - Game Trading site (Steam codes too!) Kickstarter "Game Developer"!

30.

No subject

Sep 24, 2004, 20:01

Bunko

SHIT! FUCK! DAMN!

We bury our sins here, Dave. We wash them clean.




Who knows but that, on the lower frequencies, I speak for you? http://citizenb.com/ - Now at v1.1

29.

Re: hehe

Sep 24, 2004, 20:00

Toxic_Metal

Farcry = GotY

LOL!!ROFL!!

* * * * * * *
Their freedom was taken away as they crashed . . .




* * * * * * Their freedom was taken away as they crashed . . . -- "So Long, and thanks for all the fish..."

28.

Re: hehe

Sep 24, 2004, 19:57

ColligoMortis

OK THATS IT, SHIP GABE NEWELL OFF TO BASRA AND LET ZARQAWI HAVE HIS WAY WITH HIM. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.

27.

hehe

Sep 24, 2004, 19:53

Toxic_Metal

OMG!!! LOLZ!!LOL1111!!

* * * * * * *
Their freedom was taken away as they crashed . . .




* * * * * * Their freedom was taken away as they crashed . . . -- "So Long, and thanks for all the fish..."

26.

Re: No subject

Sep 24, 2004, 19:52

Awesome Spume

I've read that the reason that the Steam and retail versions are priced the same was because VU demanded it in their contract with valve. Sounds bogus. It implies a certain amount of cooperation between Valve and VU up to a year ago. If anything, it's a nod from Valve to VU - yeah we're releasing the game online but it's in nobody's interest to actually buy it online when they can get it in the shop for the same price. And yet 1 online sale probably equals 10 shop sales. Or more.

25.

Re: No subject

Sep 24, 2004, 19:51

Krovven

I've read that the reason that the Steam and retail versions are priced the same was because VU demanded it in their contract with valve. Hump, you were reading that from the typical know-it-all idiot on the Blues News forums, that really doesn't know jack squat about publisher contracts, more specifically, VU and Valve contracts. Obviously if the price point in steam was part of the contract with VU, they wouldnt be going to court over the release of it at all, as it would have already been dealt with. This comment was edited on Sep 24, 19:51.

24.

Re: Hehe

Sep 24, 2004, 19:49

Parallax Abstraction

Who <really> wanted to buy via STEAM anyway? I need physical product, dammit.

Exactly. It wouldn't entirely surprise me at this point if Valve is just being difficult with VU in order to promote Steam and get people to use it. This isn't a good enough reason for me though. As I've preached before, Steam is the predecessor to pay-per-play video games and no one should support it. But the brainless fanboys will do whatever gets them their fix faster.

Parallax Abstraction
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
StateOfGaming.org Coming Soon




Parallax Abstraction Geek Bravado \| Retro Flashback \| All Together Now

23.

Re: *sigh*...I tried to resist

Sep 24, 2004, 19:48

Krovven

Jesus Christ you fucking morons. Try reading comprehension 101 at your local school. "Court filings show VU Games has the right to sit on finished Half-Life 2 code for up to six months." This doesn't mean they are delaying it or that they will delay it. It doesn't serve VU any purpose to miss the 2004 holiday season. Wait for an actual announcement instead of acting like imbeciles over something that may not even happen. Not to mention the release candidate that has already been submitted still hasn't even gone gold yet.

22.

Re: *Yawn*

Sep 24, 2004, 19:44

Shataan

"But HL2 has been delayed so many times now, I really just couldn't give a shit anymore" You can say that again. hehhhe Hey Vivendi ya so and so`s. Release the damned Men Of Valor PC demo!!!!!!!!!!! Even without a delay, HL 2 really didn`t attract me.

21.

Re: *sigh*...I tried to resist

Sep 24, 2004, 19:44

StooMonster

As much as many of you want to refer to the publisher as Sierra (of America), they are Vivendi (of France) who long ago bought the Sierra biz and name and have closed it. Sierra is long gone. Like a mandate in the UN, it's the cheese eating surrender monkeys who are delaying things now. StooMonster

20.

No subject

Sep 24, 2004, 19:43

Hump

I've read that the reason that the Steam and retail versions are priced the same was because VU demanded it in their contract with valve.

not sure how much truth there is to that but it would explain a lot.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
What Would Fred Do?




---------------------------------------------------------------------- "Both the “left” and the “right” pretend they have the answer, but they are mere flippers on the same thalidomide baby, and the truth is that neither side has a clue." - Jim Goad

19.

*Yawn*

Sep 24, 2004, 19:39

Sadogoat

Have long lost interest. I wasn't a big fan of the original, but I kept it on my HD for Day Of Defeat. But HL2 has been delayed so many times now, I really just couldn't give a shit anymore. Not with the likes of Doom III, Rome: Total War, Call Of Duty: United Offensive, Evil Genius, Warhammer 40K: Dawn Of War, and Codename: Panzers either out now or in the next month or so. There's plenty to see and play in the meantime - until Valve and/or Vivendi get their spate sorted out.

18.

Re: Let me be the first to say...

Sep 24, 2004, 19:39

Awesome Spume

If they want to make the Steam version 40% cheaper, due to the lack of production, packaging, storage, and freight costs Not to mention the lack of an actual game! You're right that DVD is the OBVIOUS medium but Valve want to cut out the publisher, hence Steam. Developer Publisher Distributor Retail ..is the least most games can expect. Valve want to go: Developer Retail Except they also want to be a publisher for other developers, so they really want to go: Developer Steam Retail I suppose you could argue that Steam is publisher and distributor, so that would be: Developer Valve Steam Retail As you can see this turns the industry model on its' head.

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