Half-Life 2
Half-Life 2 is a
first-person shooter computer game and the highly anticipated sequel to
Half-Life that is currently in development by
Valve Software. The game is not expected to be released until
August 2004, though the expected release date has changed a few times already.
In the original
Half-Life, researchers at a remote underground laboratory called the Black Mesa Research Facility accidentally open a doorway to an alien world, unleashing strange and deadly creatures into the facility. The player acted as Gordon Freeman, one of those research scientists, in his attempt to escape the facility.
Half-Life 2 picks up the story many years after the Black Mesa incident in a futuristic Eastern European 'City 17', once again pitting Gordon Freeman against an alien invasion.
For
Half-Life 2 Valve produced a new
game engine called "
Source" that features some of the most advanced interactivity and graphics to date. To get the highest level of graphics, most gamers are expecting to upgrade their
video card, explaining why
GPU manufacturer
ATI Technologies has partnered with HL2's release
[1]. The game engine's interactivity promises to tie emergent gameplay with the scripted sequences that
Half-Life is already known for. Valve is already working on licensing the Source engine to other developers for use in their own games. One game that has allready bought the engine is Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines.
Like it's predecessor
Half-Life, Half-Life 2 has allready been the base of which many
modifications has been planned. Many of them are sequels of original
Half-Life mods, like
Counter-Strike and Sven-Coop. Valve are also planning on having a version of Counter-Strike: Source (Counter-Strike for Half-Life 2) in the retail version of Half-Life 2.
Source code leak
Half-Life 2 was merely a rumor until a strong impression at E3 in May 2003 launched it into levels of hype only equalled by DOOM 3. It was due to come out in September 2003, but has been delayed; Valve Software says that they are aiming for a summer 2004 release. This pushing back of HL2's release date came in the wake of the cracking of Valve's internal network, through bugs in Microsoft Outlook, resulting in the leakage of the game's source code in early September 2003.
The source-code leak had more of an effect on morale for the developer than it did on the schedule—it was later revealed by both Valve CEO Gabe Newell and PR man Doug Lombardi that the September 2003 release date was 'aggressive' and could not have been met even if the leak had never occurred. Many gamers were not surprised by the early delays, recognizing that Valve's first public mention of the game came just four months before its intended release date.
In June 2004, Valve Software announced in a press release that the FBI have arrested several people suspected of involvement in the source code leak.
Beta leak
\nRoughly at the same time as the source code leak, a beta version of HL2 was leaked to the net. Initial claims that the leak was a hoax turned out to be in error as the beta quickly spread widely and was verified to exist by a large number of people. The beta reportedly contains parts of the game in a playable state, as well as some of the tools used to create game content.
External links
\n* Official Half-life 2 website\n* Half-Life 2 website on Sierra Entertainment
HL2 source leak
\n* Jolt Online Gaming forum post: "HL2 delayed to Sept 2004"\n* GameDev.net forum post: "Regarding the HL2 source code"\n* Chris Toshok's blog entry on being raided by the FBI in February (now confirmed innocent)\n* A HL2 storyline speculation by fans, dubbed "Grand Unified HL2 Theory"\n* the official press release by Valve on the FBI arrests
Category:Half-Life
