Vivendi Universal Games has put us all out of our misery and officially announced that Half-Life 2 has gone gold and November 16 will see its worldwide release.
It seems like a lifetime AGO now but just over a year has gone by since, just as gamers were polishing their WSAD buttons and cracking their wrists in anticipation, Half-life 2 was pulled away from retail shelves. Since that time, Far Cry has been and gone, Doom 3 has overtaken its rival and has proved already very successful and Painkiller has convinced us of the merits of the Havok physics engine. It is almost impossible for Half-Life 2 to have the impact it would have had a year ago.
Events such as the ongoing legal battle between developer and publisher, which almost caused further delays for H-L 2, the delay which Valve announced days before the theft, the theft of the source code itself and the long time during which the game was left without any specific release date, have taken their toll on gamers. During this time the company has drifted out of favor with some of its fan base and a lot will depend on how Valve plans to approach the gamers and how well the Steam service, expected to be used to distribute H-L 2, will deliver for the developer.
Half-Life 2 will be localized in English, French, Spanish, Italian, German, traditional and simplified Chinese, Korean, Thai and Japanese. The game will also feature a subtitle option for the hard of hearing.
The wait is over, let's hope it was worth it.
