Half-Life 2: Ep Two slips again

By Tom Bramwell Published 10 November, 2006

Now for summer 2007.

Half-Life 2: Episode Two is now down for "summer 2007" according to Valve's Doug Lombardi.

Speaking to CVG, the marketing manager said that this was now the target, and obviously meant the same for Team Fortress 2 and Portal.

Those two games will be bundled with Episode Two on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 - with the latter two console packages also including Episode One and the original Half-Life 2 game.

You can read more about how production's been going on Episode Two and its friends TF2 and Portal by checking out our Leipzig interview with Valve.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (27) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • JayPee #1 5 years ago

    Am Cry.

    May as well play HL2 on the old xbox now.

    Boo. I'd still love it if they just released the HL2, EP1, Portal and TF2 package for the 360 TBH.

  • El_MUERkO #2 5 years ago

    i'd boo but i long ago stopped paying attention to valves release dates, i'll get interested when the reviews hit

  • Shrui #3 5 years ago

    Aw! I'm looking forward more to Portal and TF2 than I am Episode 2! I'll buy them separately if they'll let us! :(

  • Eighthours #4 5 years ago

    Bollocks. So this means no Half-Life 2 on 360 till summer 2007. Damn.

  • space_ace #5 5 years ago

    i don't even remember what the previous release date was.

  • Steroyd #6 5 years ago

    Might be an eventful Summer next year. o_O

  • Mho7276501 #7 5 years ago

    whats the point of episodic content when you have to wait a year between episodes? I guess its still better than 5 years.

  • Talha #8 5 years ago

    I don't care. The later it is, the better it gets - that has been true of all Valve releases so far.

    However, that doesn't mean I am not pissed off as hell.

  • ChromeMud #9 5 years ago

    There's plenty of games to keep 360 fans busy like
    Bio-Shock,Mass Effect,Forza2,Alan Wake,
    GoW (yes that 8/10 game!) and many others until
    it arrives and when it does whoohoo for Team Fortess
    all over again!

    edit/
    Too Human 'n' Forza delayed /cries
    Edited by 2 at 10/11/06 @ 11:31

  • Wite_Noiz #10 5 years ago

    I respect Valve greatly for the work they've done in games and Steam, but I'd love to see the Ep2 package available for pre-order so we can get our hands on Portal now!

    We could do with another game-play trailer about now, as well ;) Seeing the amazing views in that forest, Ep2 is going to be like nothing we've seen from Gordon's PoV before

  • Kostabi #11 5 years ago

    Another triumph for episodic gaming then?

  • melw #12 5 years ago

    These guys just never know how to set deadlines. HL2 was delayed several years, the episodes after that for a year or so each. Still, the quality of their output is excellent, so I don't mind the delays. I just wish they would keep their traps shut until they know exactly when the games will be ready.

    Personally, also, waiting more TF2 and Portal than the actual Episode 2.

  • coojam #13 5 years ago

    so much for "episodes like TV". I think I'd rather they just waited 10 years and brought out one whole game.

  • Talha #14 5 years ago

    They just set deadlines so that they get press coverage and the world knows that they are still working on something. You know, deadlines sound sexier: "Episode 2 will be out next month' is far more attention grabbing than "We have just agreed on the font for the opening screen. Currently the font in question is undergoing testing and soon the title sceen and the menu will go gold. After that - why, the rest of the game will be there in a jiffy!"

  • Gulag #15 5 years ago

    Blood boiling, vision blurring...

    Gah! This I suspect has everything to do with the deals being done with Microsoft and Sony to bring the games to their consoles and nothing to do with further improving the quality of the PC experience.

    Valve would do well to remember that the PC market made them and Steam a success. Serving those fans first should take precendence over chasing the console buck. Are we going to see HL go down the road of Deus Ex and Thief? Ballderdised sequels, dumbed down for console consumption?

  • neuroniky #16 5 years ago

    /shock in Valve delaying a game.

    Just joking.

  • Talha #17 5 years ago

    @Gulag: Half Life appeared on PS2, Half Life 2 on XBox. As far as I can see, there was no evidence of dumbing down.

    No evidence of anyone buying them either. ;-)

  • Veldaban #18 5 years ago

    Sam & Max is episodic gaming, this has absolutely nothing to do with it whatsoever. They're expansion packs, released whenever they're done.

  • Feanor #19 5 years ago

    I bought HL 2 for the Xbox for $10 and traded it in a month later for $8. :) Good game, especially for two dollars.

  • skillian #20 5 years ago

    This just put a real downer on my day :(

    I really hope it's not implementing the console versions that's holding up the release.

  • Inflatable #21 5 years ago

    That sucks! Whatever happened to Episodic content being released every 6 months orso?? But whatever, it's Valve, you can expect delays.. Aslong as their games are very good I don't mind that much.. But the extra waiting does suck..

  • symmetry #22 5 years ago

    Nooooo!

    Oh well, it is rather a large package they are constructing there.

  • Drakron #23 5 years ago

    Guess what?

    Episodic content does not work, its not TV and even in TV they dont shoot the episode, air it and then start writting the script and build the set for the next one.

    The so called "episodic content" is nothing but expansion packs but with less content.

  • dudefella #24 5 years ago

    Yeah really Valve's approach to episodic content really is taking the piss. This is not how you do it. One year between 'episodes' or 'add-ons' is laughable. Telltale is doing it right with Sam & Max, one episode a month, that is episodic gaming. Valve is simply making 3 add ons, releasing them over 3 years' time, and calling it episodic content. It's ridiculous. 3 Years is what it would take most teams to build one hell of a game, not 3 add-ons. I'm not necessarily saying the episodic gaming model itself is broken, as developers like Telltale show, but Valve's approach definitely is broken.

  • yagisencho #25 5 years ago

    I'm glad I waited until this month to buy HL2: Ep1. But now I see that I could have waited until at least next Spring.

    I think it's great that each episode utilizes new rendering (and soon, multi-threading) technology. But it's difficult to maintain an interest across the expanses of dead time between installments.

  • a.d.venturer #26 5 years ago

    The real question is when is episode 3 of Minerva coming out?

  • dcangel #27 5 years ago

    Damn, that's a real shame. I'll have to wait longer to defiantly not buy it.

    Now, on the other hand, if they miraculously released Portal as a standalone... that really sounds like a fun game.