HL2: Aftermath & Platinum slated for released on April 24th [Archive]

Everlost_MI

01-09-2006, 10:50 AM

Mod HQ (http://www.mod-hq.com/) is reporting (http://www.mod-hq.com/index.php?page=viewpost&topic_id=163) that HL2: Aftermath & Platinum are slated to be released on April 24th.

I decided to e-mail Valve Software's Doug Lombardi in order to ask for a confirmation. This is the response I received (many thanks to Doug):

"We're currently targeting April 24th for the release of both Aftermath and
Platinum.

Platinum will include HL2, HL2 DM, CS: Source, DoD: Source, and Aftermath."
Thanks to Shacknews (http://www.shacknews.com/) for the tip.

Excellent news.

TheKeck

01-09-2006, 10:51 AM

Excellent news.

No Aftermath until the end of April... that's not excellent news. :( That sucks.

Oh well. I guess I can wait.

Citizen Philip

01-09-2006, 10:54 AM

Woo woo! I'm looking foward to it. My new system should by up and running by then.

Can all the previous Steam haters please step-up and say "present", I'm taking attendance, I want to see how many of you are left.

Sion

01-09-2006, 10:56 AM

Wah wahh, I hate steam! im gona bitch over the internet about having the internet required to play games i get on the internet!!

StoneGut

01-09-2006, 10:57 AM

YAY!!

Can't wait!

Varsity

01-09-2006, 11:00 AM

There are also a couple of new screens:

http://www.btinternet.com/~varsity_uk/evilavatar/aftermath_barney_t.jpg (http://www.btinternet.com/~varsity_uk/HL2/aftermath/aftermath_barney.jpg) http://www.btinternet.com/~varsity_uk/evilavatar/aftermath_citadelstreet_after_t.jpg (http://www.btinternet.com/~varsity_uk/HL2/aftermath/aftermath_citadelstreet_after.jpg)

The second screen is a location we've seen before, minus Citadel:
http://www.btinternet.com/~varsity_uk/HL2/citadelstreet_before_t.jpg (http://www.btinternet.com/~varsity_uk/HL2/citadelstreet_before.jpg)

bKangy

01-09-2006, 11:06 AM

Well, at least there's a date for it now, so I can expect it about May or Summer for sure ;P

Nah, just kidding, Valve seem a bit better about dates since HL2, so here's hoping their first piece of episodic content goes well.

Schnoogs

01-09-2006, 11:10 AM

Nice...some good PC gaming news.

Is this free to those of us who already paid for HL2?

Varsity

01-09-2006, 11:11 AM

Is this free to those of us who already paid for HL2?
$14.95 + tax.

bapenguin

01-09-2006, 11:15 AM

Valve Translation of Release Date: November 2006

bKangy

01-09-2006, 11:16 AM

Basically the idea is that instead of expansions, Valve is going to release a new "episode" of HL2, that will gradually improve the Source engine as it goes along (this one is AI, Alyx in particular, I hear the 2nd is focusing on vehicles etc.) so it should be pretty interesting to see it progress.

Rirath

01-09-2006, 11:24 AM

Can all the previous Steam haters please step-up and say "present", I'm taking attendance, I want to see how many of you are left.

Present.

Marginally interested, mostly cautious.
Mid-level loading killed HL2 for me.

Captain Awesome

01-09-2006, 11:35 AM

Looking forward to this very much :)

sebastard

01-09-2006, 11:46 AM

yeah that's too bad, the last date I heard for Aftermath, unofficial of course, was Feb 2006.. I was looking forward to it..

Oh well.

Citizen Philip

01-09-2006, 11:52 AM

Present.

Marginally interested, mostly cautious.
Mid-level loading killed HL2 for me.

Thank you for being forthright. My current system is still using a Radeon 9600 and I would get some texture corruption (now gone), I really enjoyed the whole game.

see colon

01-09-2006, 12:02 PM

OT: i love steam, but HL2 put me to sleep.

i can't be the only one who noticed the lack of year in the date provided :P

Cool AN

01-09-2006, 12:14 PM

Can't wait that long, what I am gonna do until then? Go outside? Bah.

Rirath

01-09-2006, 12:43 PM

Thank you for being forthright. My current system is still using a Radeon 9600 and I would get some texture corruption (now gone), I really enjoyed the whole game.

I enjoyed the game quite a bit the first run through, just hated the loading and Steam. Sound skipping bugs were quite annoying too. Steam for me represents exactly where I don't want gaming to go, but meh... everyone else is happy. I'll live.

RevGored

01-09-2006, 12:48 PM

Wow, posting before Eyesnomore.

My pants are tearing, slowly. I'm anxious.

Kefkataran

01-09-2006, 12:55 PM

Drool. Can't wait.

$14.95 + tax.

Only 15 bucks? That's fantastic! As if they needed to cement in my purchase any more.

Steam for me represents exactly where I don't want gaming to go, but meh... everyone else is happy.

What about Steam as a concept don't you like? I understand that the execution has been far from flawless, but I still see the concept as something really wonderful, forward-looking, and (most importantly, in my opinion) pro-developer.

Captain Awesome

01-09-2006, 01:05 PM

Can't wait that long, what I am gonna do until then? Go outside? Bah.

CALM DOWN, that's fucking crazy-talk!!

thecrazyd

01-09-2006, 01:10 PM

Steam for me represents exactly where I don't want gaming to go, but meh... everyone else is happy. I'll live.
Automatic updates and online distribution? The ability to play your game from any computer you want without disks? Where exactly do you want gaming to go? More disks that you need to keep in your drive? More money going to the publisher, and less to the developer?

lpmiller

01-09-2006, 01:14 PM

Only 15 bucks? That's fantastic! As if they needed to cement in my purchase any more.

well, it's fantastic if it's 10 hours of play or more.

sflufan

01-09-2006, 01:15 PM

According to Tom Mustaine from Ritual (who are working with Valve on SiN Episodes), he's absolutely amazed at the flexibility Steam provides and the margin that the company can earn on its games. He is pleased that he can offer his product at a lower price-point to the consumer and still get a margin far superior than the traditional publishing route (even after Valve has taken its cut).

sflufan

01-09-2006, 01:17 PM

well, it's fantastic if it's 10 hours of play or more.

You're paying far more than that for less than 10 hours of play for a regular game (Call of Duty, Call of Duty 2, Max Payne 2, etc.) so you're being somewhat unreasonable if you think that you should be paying only $15 for 10 hours of play.

Varsity

01-09-2006, 01:17 PM

well, it's fantastic if it's 10 hours of play or more.
It's about six hours, which makes it cheaper than most choreographed games that get made these days.

Cool AN

01-09-2006, 01:23 PM

It's about six hours, which makes it cheaper than most choreographed games that get made these days.

Thats 2.5 dollars per hour, then again I would pay much more just to get to know more about the Half Life story.

Kefkataran

01-09-2006, 01:25 PM

well, it's fantastic if it's 10 hours of play or more.

I'm expecting no more than eight, and I still say it's a fantastic price point. If they can keep that as the figure for episodic gaming, then, baby, I'm all in.

Varsity

01-09-2006, 01:41 PM

Thats 2.5 dollars per hour, then again I would pay much more just to get to know more about the Half Life story.
HL2 charged you 3.3 per hour, to give some context.

AntB

01-09-2006, 01:42 PM

For fifteen dollars, I better get atleast 4 freaking hours. With replayability.

Nessus

01-09-2006, 01:47 PM

The original Half-Life 2 had some of the best replayability ever. I've gone through the entire game multiple times and loved it every time. I just wish there were a higher difficulty setting.

Mason

01-09-2006, 01:55 PM

$2.50 an hour for a FPS is pretty generous nowadays. Plenty of major releases don't hit that. And if it is designed similarly to HL2, there will be enough reward for exploration that those 6 hours can be stretched pretty far. Assuming that 6 hours refers to a speedy playthrough.

The people who still complain about Steam on a conceptual level just don't get it. Feel free to complain about any particular part of the implementation, but as a distribution method it is our best hope for a renaissance in PC gaming. Episodic content and cheap distribution will be good for everyone.

TrackZero

01-09-2006, 01:58 PM

$14.95 + tax.

Eh, not bad. Assuming Aftermath has a large enough amount of content to be worth it. I just wish it hadn't taken until April to get released. ;(

Mr.Green

01-09-2006, 02:04 PM

For fifteen dollars, I better get atleast 4 freaking hours. With replayability.
Don't worry. Apparently, the "New Game" button works every time.

see colon

01-09-2006, 02:06 PM

i see steam less as a distribution model and more of a copy protection model. it's fantastic to not have to dig for a disk for a rediculous disk check. and it's refreshing to have the right to install a product you purchased on as many computers you want. no searching for patches on the internet... it's a pleasing experience.

and as i said before, i'm not a half-life fan at all. nor am i a CS fan. in fact, even though i own HL & HL2 i haven't beaten either of them. and i haven't played a single match of CS:S since i bought HL2 (but i did check it out on a friends computer to see if it was worth my time. but it's too much like the original for my tastes). as a matter of fact, there's not much available to purchase on steam that i'm really interested in, but i like the service regardless.

TheEpicOfTyler

01-09-2006, 02:15 PM

I waited a year to get Half-Life 2 and I wish I hadn't, the game is magnificent, and I'm really loving Half-Life Deathmatch. :)

I can't wait for Aftermath.

Draft

01-09-2006, 03:07 PM

Steam is great.

HL1 is great.

HL2 was great too but not as great as HL1.

Good enough that I will buy the Xpac though, especially for 15 freakin bucks.

Rirath

01-09-2006, 03:20 PM

Automatic updates and online distribution? The ability to play your game from any computer you want without disks? Where exactly do you want gaming to go? More disks that you need to keep in your drive? More money going to the publisher, and less to the developer?

I can patch my own games, at my own will, and I certainly don't mind owning the original discs. I brought the retail copy of HL2 by the way, not the Steam stream. I play old games on a regular basis, and I enjoy having the actual product. Games need to go to DVD, not a multi-gigabyte download. Steam for me is just another invasive copy protection method.

And after all the lies from Valve, I'm amazed anyone cares how much money goes to them. Valve to me is a business that occasionally makes good products, not my buddy. EA in general is very open to this sort of thing, however. Even MS's Live marketplace and micropayments fails to get much guile around here.

I'm not in a war of who doesn't "get it" as some would claim, I just don't like it. You might find it interesting to note however, I'm perfectly fine with Guild War's method. Completely non-invasive, and makes perfect sense for an all online game.

Kagger

01-09-2006, 03:27 PM

Will the platinum edition contain HL1 Source?

kizke

01-09-2006, 03:46 PM

Will the platinum edition contain HL1 Source?

I doubt it, but who really wants it? I've played a good chunk of it and it barely looks any better...just a few lighting changes, really.

Busted_Astromech

01-09-2006, 05:00 PM

Steam for me is just another invasive copy protection method.

What's invasive about it, though? As far as I can see, it's better than discs which must be physically present every time, even when their entire contents are extracted on your hard drive. But Steam would only prevent you from running, what, two copies of the game at once, which you'd need to physically move discs to do? And since you can run Steam in offline mode, you can circumvent that (i.e. one computer plays CS:S while another plays HL2).

Or is it that the program itself makes you uncomfortable, what with the early problems? Because I currently see no problem with it--I run Steam when I want to play HL2 but at no other time.

Please understand, I'm not trying to be combative, but I'd like further clarification on your problems with what I see as a great improvement over retail.

Mason

01-09-2006, 05:27 PM

Steam for me is just another invasive copy protection method.
So you ignore the whole point of the service, and then say it has no value? Clever.
And after all the lies from Valve, I'm amazed anyone cares how much money goes to them. Valve to me is a business that occasionally makes good products, not my buddy. EA in general is very open to this sort of thing, however. Even MS's Live marketplace and micropayments fails to get much guile around here.
Of course Valve is a business. Their business is making games. If no money goes to them, their games don't get made. I'm not sure what about this is so tricky. And you aren't using guile properly.

People aren't all paranoid about Live marketplace because...gasp...it brings them fun bite-sized games at a fair price. The horror! Those bastards!
I'm not in a war of who doesn't "get it" as some would claim, I just don't like it. You might find it interesting to note however, I'm perfectly fine with Guild War's method. Completely non-invasive, and makes perfect sense for an all online game.
You do understand that games like GW or WoW also have various forms of silent background copy protection, right? And that, since you could purchase and download both HL2 and GW online, there aren't a whole lot of differences in their distribution models? GW has the superior streaming technology, but then that's tied to a particular game, whereas Steam is trying to be a generalized distribution platform.

As I said earlier, whether or not someone likes Steam's implementation of online distribution is immaterial. The point is that online distribution is important for gamers. We end up paying the extra overhead to print those bits on plastic discs and ship them around the world. It's a gigantic sneakernet.

Rirath

01-09-2006, 05:38 PM

Or is it that the program itself makes you uncomfortable, what with the early problems? Because I currently see no problem with it--I run Steam when I want to play HL2 but at no other time.

I'm just not thrilled about Valve's personal little bundle of joy running on my desktop for a single player, retail game. If it ran only during CS:S or for on command updating, maybe. As is, it just seems like an easy way for Valve to push 'news' (ads) and such, remove my choice of patching, and cause me more headaches. I've received more emails than I'd care to of Steam users who mistake my login for theirs and use the 'forgot password' feature.

You can run it in 'offline' mode, but you've still got to run it to get to 'offline', let it do it's thing... and sometimes it'll demand to be let through anyway. I actually switched firewalls because of Steam, to get to offline mode without having to disable my network adapter. I have no desire of running multiple copies, I just like control.

It's not the end of computer gaming, it's just not something I want to see on every game that comes out. I'd actually consider a disc in the drive to be less of an annoyance. Sure, Valve has yet to do anything evil with it... but others certainly might. I do understand GW and WoW are similar, but they're simply better at what they do. -- Well, GW anyway... the frequent WoW downtime and queues make me wonder. At any rate, If HL2 Aftermath was put on the shelf at a typical 'budget price expansion' of $20, it'd be all the same to me.

I've had this debate since the launch of HL2 and honestly, it gets old.
Like I said, life goes on.

Kefkataran

01-09-2006, 05:56 PM

I'm just not thrilled about Valve's personal little bundle of joy running on my desktop for a single player, retail game. If it ran only during CS:S or for on command updating, maybe. As is, it just seems like an easy way for Valve to push 'news' (ads) and such, remove my choice of patching, and cause me more headaches. I've received more emails than I'd care to of Steam users who mistake my login for theirs and use the 'forgot password' feature.

Offline mode. *shrug* I love staying updated on Valve/Steam news without having to go to their site, so it's cool with me.

You can run it in 'offline' mode, but you've still got to run it to get to 'offline', let it do it's thing... and sometimes it'll demand to be let through anyway.

I can't see what the problem could possibly be with running it once to turn on offline mode. It's all the trouble of registering a game after you purchase it. Not a big deal at all, and great for copy protection, regardless of whether or not you dig that.

Valve has yet to do anything evil with it... but others certainly might.

Not as long as they're doing stuff through Steam. ;)

Mason

01-09-2006, 06:11 PM

I do understand GW and WoW are similar, but they're simply better at what they do. -- Well, GW anyway... the frequent WoW downtime and queues make me wonder. At any rate, If HL2 Aftermath was put on the shelf at a typical 'budget price expansion' of $20, it'd be all the same to me.
Yeah, I wouldn't cite WoW as a model online game. Its patch days are horrible in comparison to GW or Steam distribution, I feel.
I've had this debate since the launch of HL2 and honestly, it gets old.
Like I said, life goes on.
Very true. The people who want the game will get it somehow, and hopefully enjoy it. If Valve keeps fixing up the engine, it'll undoubtedly be a very pretty expansion, at least.

ghost

01-09-2006, 06:13 PM

I personally enjoy the Steam method, and see that, from the perspective of the developer, it's incredibly cheaper and easier. I do enjoy having discs, though, but as long as they provide some way of those few who actually want discs getting them, special order from the developer or whatnot, I'm perfectly fine with Steam's method becoming more and more mainstream. And as to it's copyright protection facets, honestly, unless you are trying to play illegal/pirated copies of the game, where's the harm in it? As long as it lets me play the game I paid for, I have no problem with it making sure that I'm not stealing it.

RevXwise

01-09-2006, 10:10 PM

I can't see what the problem could possibly be with running it once to turn on offline mode. It's all the trouble of registering a game after you purchase it. Not a big deal at all, and great for copy protection, regardless of whether or not you dig that.

Ehh what did it for me was moving into a new apartment. I had just gotten the game for my birthday and was incredibly excited to see how the game ran. I loaded it up just to be greeted with a "you can't play singleplayer unless you register online first". It gets to be very annoying when you can't play what you pay for because you have to register with them first. I dunno, mebbe I'm just bitching but those first few moments of seeing that I couldn't play HL2 singleplayer because I didn't have an active internet connection were incredibly infuriating.

Kefkataran

01-09-2006, 11:20 PM

Ehh what did it for me was moving into a new apartment. I had just gotten the game for my birthday and was incredibly excited to see how the game ran. I loaded it up just to be greeted with a "you can't play singleplayer unless you register online first". It gets to be very annoying when you can't play what you pay for because you have to register with them first. I dunno, mebbe I'm just bitching but those first few moments of seeing that I couldn't play HL2 singleplayer because I didn't have an active internet connection were incredibly infuriating.

I agree with that. I mean I have a terribly frustrating HL2 story. Paid a ton of money to get the game shipped to me ON the day it was released (yes, I bought the physical copy). Got it and was so excited, but as anyone who got HL2 on the first day knows, the servers for Steam were WAAAAY overloaded. I couldn't get onto Steam and was convinced it was an issue with my router. Did a ton of fucking around before collapsing in rage. Woke up a couple hours later and logged on fine to the realization that it was just the servers. Blaaargh.

But since then I've grown to love Steam. That instance was annoying, but there's too many positives of it as I see it.

mpsmith

01-10-2006, 08:24 AM

Fuck steam in the ass. The problem is that you depend on their service working, which it does some days and not others.

Last night, for example, I wanted to reinstall steam to play Lost Coast (I uninstalled it a while back because its a piece of shit and I got bored with all of the games). However, when logging into my account it just gave me an error that it couldnt connect to the steam server. Then I checked the steam forums and there was a post with over 90 replies of people complaining about the updates not working, not being able to log on, etc.

Steam is ok when it works, but if it doesnt work 100% of the time it shouldnt be released. With a disc (or disc image) you put it in, install it and you go from there and you dont have to depend on someone else. Further, it pisses me off when the same shitty bugs are present in steam, cs, and cs:s that were present when I tested the beta versions of all three (in steam) years ago. Fuck steam, fuck valve.