Yet more Half-Life 2 rumours... even Steam versions?

[Crippler2032]

Taken from gamesradar:

[03/09/2003: 17:33]
November release official? Three PC versions? And is it PS2 or PS3 bound? The Half-Life rumour mill's gone into overdrive


Another day, another batch of Half-Life 2 rumours, this time regarding its release date, possible console versions and even how many editions of the PC game will be released. Phew.

To begin with, it does appear that the game's release has definitely slipped to November - as first revealed by gamesradar.com at the start of August. This stems from an email sent out by retail chain GAME to alert customers who pre-ordered the massively awaited FPS sequel that its release date had moved to November from the originally announced date of 30 September.

Meanwhile, as and when the game does get released, there's speculation over exactly what packages will be available to gamers. The theory goes that three versions of the game will be made available via both traditional retail outlets and Valve's broadband delivery system Steam.

The three versions purportedly consist of:

1) A single-player only version
2) A version that includes both the single-player and multiplayer games along with full mod support
3) A collectors edition that also includes additional bonus features

Finally, there are conflicting reports over possible console versions of Half-Life 2. While it's already been announced that an Xbox version (due out next year) is in the works, some sources are saying that the game is also PlayStation 2-bound.

However, other sources are stating that the game will instead be released for PlayStation 3 and whatever Nintendo's successor to the Gamecube will be. All of which, frankly, is enough to make our heads hurt.

And Vivendi UK's response to this current Half-Life rumour overload? A definite 'no comment', which isn't entirely helpful. No doubt all will become clear in the coming weeks. As and when we hear anything more on the game we will, of course, keep you posted.

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to be honest i really dont like the sound of it being available over Steam (the pile of junk that it is) but as always i'm keeping you all upto date with the latest news on HL2.

[McBain]

Took this off Planet Half Life (http://www.planethalflife.com/) -
Some people want to buy Half-Life 2 in a store. Right now we have three SKUs planned at three price points. One will have single-player only and not play MODs and we think of that as the mass market SKU (sold mainly at the Costcos and Walmarts of the world). The second is our traditional single-player plus multiplayer SKU that runs MODs and is sold at places like EBX. The third is the collector's edition SKU with lots of cool bonus stuff for people who like cool bonus stuff.

In the Steam world, some people will want to buy it once, like the middle SKU above. Other people will want to buy the game on subscription (e.g. $9.95/month). The good news for the "buy it once" crowd is, well, they only have to pay once. The bad news is that when we come out with new content (expansion products, TF 2, and presumably other games) then they have to pay separately for those. We're pretty sure that the $9.95 guys are going to get the better value, as we've been pretty good over the years at generating a lot of content.

Now nobody has done this before, so we're scratching our heads and massaging the plans to make sure we've got the best set of options. We've had some feedback that we should sell the top SKU (single-player only no MODs) on Steam, and my reaction has been "yeah, right, for the three people in the world who have a broadband connection, are sophisticated enough to purchase software over the Internet, but DON'T want to play MODs and multiplayer". Some people have said "I want a subscription, but I think the box and the manual are cool, so what about sending me those" and I think that's pretty interesting and we're trying to figure out what to do for them (needless to say Sierra isn't exactly jumping for joy at the idea of selling us boxes so people don't buy Half-Life 2 in stores).

But nowhere has there been a suggestion that people pay in the store and then pay a monthly fee on top of that a la the MMORPG.

[[OLSC]LtTomWoolley]

But nowhere has there been a suggestion that people pay in the store and then pay a monthly fee on top of that a la the MMORPG.
Damn right - those people have been having their cake and eating it for :beep: ages. $9.95/month would still be too much for me though :(

[McBain]

Yeah, I would be inclined to go for the pay once option (like all games currently are) as $9.95 does seem a little steep.

If you look at how many expansions and addons came out for Half Life, there are a lot, but spread over 2 or 3 years. So, to pay maybe $300+ to get all the add-ons free doesn't seem a good option to me....

[Skavorn]

I totally agree I think the monthly subscription games are a total rip off....I would have been playing Planetside if they didnt have a subscription thing...When I pay for a game I dont expect to pay any more money for it...unless the game was free in the 1st place...

I also think its stupid all these seperate versions...why dont they just do like they did with the previous one...create 1 original version and create collectors editions at a later stage than jumping the gun and creating too many versions at once...it will get too confusing...possibly its a good idea creating a bidget version without multiplayer and mods but those people like my mate Paul...who are getting broadband could suddenly get into multiplayer games and wished he bought the other version..meaning he would have to pay for the game gaain to get the multiplayer version...