Joho the Blog
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May 14, 2004
An autism institute apparently is interested in using Half-Life 2's facial animation capabilities to help teach autistic children how to recognize expressions, according to PC Gamer magazine. While we're on the subject, can someone explain to me why having your code downloaded illegally can delay your product development by a year. Sure, you'll want to change it sufficiently that online play can't be hacked. But a year??? Half-Life 2 better be durn good! And here's an unrelated tip: If you want to discuss Aspberger's Syndrome with your thirteen year old, try pretending it's pronounced Frenchily, as in Ahz-bair-shay. Otherwise, I can promise you that you won't get past the syndrome's name. Walt Mossberg at the WSJ takes the ButtKicker for a ride. It sends vibrato through the seat of your chair whenever the notes get low enough, including when you're firing your shotgun at zombies. How long 'til Chanukah? And speaking about How Long, Hiawatha Bray [link breaks soon] reports from the E3 convention that Half Life 2 is approaching cinematic quality, at least in terms of the graphics. Of course, he was watching the 15 minute demo video, which might possibly have been rendered by a server farm. Posted
by D. Weinberger at May 14, 2004 02:05 PM
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Comments
The code, while it might have been dated, also included source for Steam, Valve's proprietary file transfer/game matchmaking technology.
But even without that -- are you aware of how much time it takes for games as complicated as Half-Life 2 to get made? The first Half-Life was delayed over a year from its original deadline. Diablo II, one of the most successful games ever, was delayed 18 months after the producer declared an engine overhaul was in order.
Games are late, so what?
Posted by: J. | May 14, 2004 08:46 PM
So what if a game is late? Magazine ads and commercials are all bought in advance, scheduled months ahead. Penalties in contracts from publishers mean the developer gets less and less money when it finally does go on sale. Milestone payments to the developer from the publisher cease, yet rent and salaries have to be paid. The stock of the publisher may go down because the investors were promised that the game would ship. Shelf space at retailers must be bought and reserved in advance. Staff loses completion bonuses and perhaps even their jobs. Staff burns the midnight oil for way too long, making bugs, lowering quality. Bad things happen when games are late. Even if, like Valve, you've got money to burn...it will have to be burned. They'll survive, probably prosper, but most don't.
Posted by: SomeoneWhoKnows | May 15, 2004 02:46 AM
Well... Half Life 2 ain't near being as late as the Duke Nukeem 2 :)
Posted by: Monkeys Strikes | May 15, 2004 09:48 AM
With the materialism and greed on one hand, a society begins to justify the theft of the intellectual property that was borne from the extreme materialism. No one will produce the top games, software, music, or anything else if it must end up free. It is productive organizations that donate, wittingly and not, time to open source. Without the foundation, the whole scheme crumbles.
Faisal Hoque
Posted by: Faisal Hoque | May 15, 2004 03:21 PM
Valve probably had to check the entire source code's integrity after the theft was noticed. If the code was able to be downloaded, who knows if it was possible that the code could have been tempered with? The last thing they'd want is for the game to run half-way and a "brought to u by the 13317 haxors of 666" message to pop up or whatnot.
And that takes a LOT of time.
Posted by: Bob | May 16, 2004 10:26 PM