So lets start with Valve’s announcement at the beginning of May 2003. We were all excited, at least you should have been, and patiently waited all summer awaiting the proposed release date. We were given screenshots and videos through various media sources, and there were even articles on CNN, the BBC and other large news websites about the epic sequel.

September 30th came, and went very quickly but we heard nothing from Valve. Now I want to stop here and say that yes, it is very difficult to judge when you are going to have a game completed. They same goes for any large software project. Still, you’d think they’d at least have an official statement talking about the delay, why it was delayed and give a new estimated release date but we heard nothing. Well, nothing until the statement about the person/group who stole code from Valve. When I read the whole story about the stolen code, it got me thinking about a few things. Below are five things that I would bring up if I were to personally interview someone with Valve.

1. Valve didn’t specify how much was taken, and more importantly how important the stolen things mattered (they said 1/3 of it had been taken but I’m sure it would be somewhat difficult to judge).

2. It doesn’t seem like security was much of a concern to Valve. I would like to know what kind of security measures were in place, specifically what programs and hardware they were using for security.

3. Why does it matter if the person stole the code? Why does Valve feel they need to recode the stolen code?

4. The following quote from Gabe Newell “Around 9/19 someone made a copy of the HL-2 source tree” also makes me wonder about the security. The source code is very important and you would think that Valve would go to great lengths to protect it, being one of the most anticipated video games ever.

5. Did they ever find out anything about the person/group who “infiltrated their network”?

After thinking about those things I began to wonder how legit this announcement really was. So what are the possibilities?

Theory One: Valve completely made up this story to buy more time.
Theory Two: The story is partly true, but the person got away with more than Valve really said he did.
Theory Three: Same as above but the person got away with minimal code which then kind of goes back to theory one.
Theory Four: The story is completely true.
I’m sure you could come up with a lot more theories if you thought about it for a while but that’s not really the point.

Now, we’re just waiting again. We have no idea when this game is going to be released (possibly around March or April but how can we trust dates anymore?) and I’m confident enough to say that nobody really cares about new screenshots or pointless interviews with Valve anymore. They were fun to watch and look through at first when HL2 was being hyped up, but now Valve never seems to really say anything new.

Yes, I am impatient. Not necessarily with Half-Life 2 being delayed, but with Valve for never saying anything. I think it is absolutely fine for them to delay HL2. In fact they should take as much time as they need because after all of this waiting I have some really high expectations. I’m sure you do too.

I like to compare Valve with the G-man after all of the recent events. In the original Half-Life we see glimpses of him here and there, but he doesn’t really speak to us until the end. We’ve seen glimpses of Half-Life 2 through screenshots, concept art, interviews, and a few small videos but I don’t’ think Valve is going to talk until they are done. It is just a big mystery right now as to when we are going to see HL2, but hopefully it will be soon.