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Half Life 2 release delayed indefiently.

Foxtrot

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Foxtrot

Foxtrot

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Thats right. It's already been delayed how many years now, but it's put off indefiently now because of a legal battle between the game makers, valve, and the supplier, Vivendi.

 

 

The Article can be found here:http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/09/20/news_6107712.html (Mods, if it's too long, just delete it and leave the link.)

 

Last week, news of Valve finally shipping the Half-Life 2 release candidate to publisher Vivendi Universal Games (VUG) grabbed headlines. However, behind the scenes, the two companies have been involved in a much less upbeat kind of transaction--an ongoing legal battle that has garnered little attention from gamers.

 

 

On August 14, 2002, Valve served its then-publisher Sierra On-Line (now Sierra Entertainment, a Vivendi Universal Games brand) with a lawsuit in the US District Court of Washington, Western Division, alleging copyright infringement--the result of Sierra placing Valve games in Internet cafés in the US and abroad. "Sierra has in the past and continues to reproduce, use, distribute, and/or license one or more of the Valve Games with regard to 'cyber cafés,'" the complaint read. "Sierra's activities are outside the scope of Sierra's limited license...and therefore constitute copyright infringement in violation of the Copyright Act of 1976."

 

And so it began.

 

Since that filing, more than a dozen lawyers have left their stamp on the more than 200 documents and exhibits (the most recent filed just last week) that have crossed the desk of the honorable Thomas S. Zilly, the judge mediating the dispute.

 

Presiding over the claims, counterclaims, motions, answers, declarations, applications, amended complaints, and other minutia of the case, Zilly is in the middle of the legal equivalent of a barroom brawl. In court filings, attorneys for Sierra/VUG allege that Gabe Newell, founder and managing director of Valve, conveyed "misleading half-truth" to them, and that various ensuing conversations between Newell and Sierra/VUG executives were colored with "misrepresentations and concealment." Valve's marketing director Doug Lombardi is also described as having made "false representations" to Sierra/VUG execs.

 

"Valve sued Vivendi for copyright infringement back in 2002 over their unauthorized distribution of our products to cyber cafés," Lombardi told GameSpot last Friday. "We later had to add breach of contract claims for, among other things, refusing to pay us royalties owed and delaying Condition Zero out of the holiday season."

 

That lawsuit became more complex when Sierra fought back with a counterclaim. "Almost a year and a half into the lawsuit," Lombardi continued, "Vivendi responded by making a number of claims in an attempt to invalidate our agreement and be awarded the ownership of the Half-Life intellectual property. We expect to prevail in this lawsuit."

 

Though the density of the legal documents makes for arduous reading, they yield many fascinating nuggets of information. For example, the first Half-Life, which went on to win numerous awards and reap huge profits for both developer and publisher, was delivered to Sierra after an almost laughably meager $800,000 advance--the initial payment was a mere $30,000 when Newell and Sierra On-line reps signed their first software publishing agreement on April 27, 1997.

 

Currently, the case stands here: After Valve's initial lawsuit alleging that Sierra illegally distributed Half-Life to game cafés, and Sierra/VUG's counterclaim that accuses Valve of circumventing Sierra's retail plans by distributing Valve games via Steam, the two sides have both submitted motions for summary judgment on lesser points.

 

"Our court date [a jury trial to address the complaint and counterclaim] isn't until March 2005," Lombardi said. "The October 8 motions relate to two legal issues. We expect those issues to be decided in our favor."

 

For readers not familiar with the case (that is, just about everyone), the overall timeline is referenced in documents filed by VUG attorneys on Wednesday, September 15, 2004. In those documents--a second motion "to compel production of [Half-Life 2] source code"--Sierra/VUG attorneys stated their case in filings as follows:

 

"In 1997, Valve and Sierra entered into two agreements whereby Valve undertook to develop certain computer games and Sierra undertook to manufacture, market, and distribute the games. Among other benefits, these 1997 agreements granted Sierra intellectual property rights in the games.

 

"Beginning in 1999, following the success of its first game, Valve began to threaten Sierra that it would halt or slow development of the remaining games it was obligated to develop unless Sierra relinquished certain rights under the 1997 agreements. Sierra eventually capitulated to these demands and, relying on misrepresentations by Valve, entered into a new software publishing agreement (SPA) with Valve in 2001.

 

"Among other concessions, Sierra agreed to relinquish intellectual property rights and to allow Valve certain rights to the online distribution of games. Valve did not disclose during the negotiations over the 2001 SPA that it was in the process of developing a new technology called Steam that would allow consumers who would normally purchase games from Sierra/VUG at retail to purchase those products online directly from Valve.

 

"It was not until March 2002, nearly a year after the 2001 SPA was signed, that Valve announced the new Steam technology in a Game Developers' Conference in San Jose. Production of the source code in native, electronic, compliable format will allow Sierra/VUG to analyze the timing of Valve's development of Steam and the relevant Valve games.

 

"The timing of Valve's development of the source code for Valve games, the Valve source engine, and Steam are critical to the development of several of Sierra/VUG's counterclaims, including Sierra/VUG's promissory fraud claim based on Valve's false promises that it would continuously develop games to completion; Sierra/VUG's fraud claim and claim for breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing based on Valve's concealment of Steam and its strategically delayed development of the Valve games to coincide with the commercial release of Steam; Sierra/VUG's unilateral mistake claim based on its mistaken belief regarding the status of development of the Valve games upon signing the 2001 SPA; Sierra/VUG's breach of contract claim based on Valve's failure to use diligent efforts to continuously develop the Valve games to completion; and Sierra/VUG's claim for declaratory relief regarding its right to reversion of the Half-Life intellectual property based on Valve's failure to continuously develop the Valve games."

 

Perhaps not so coincidentally, Valve announced that it had delivered a Half-Life 2 release candidate to VUG the day after this motion was filed with the court. Whether that release candidate qualifies as the "source code" VUG attorneys sought is unclear, although Lombardi indicated to GameSpot the source code at issue and the release candidate are not the same.

 

One especially significant subplot contained in Sierra's 54-page counterclaim to Valve's initial copyright infringement lawsuit revolves around the lengths Newell and others at Valve, according to Sierra/VUG filings, went to to downplay the capabilities of Steam, the Valve-developed digital distribution system now being tapped as a distribution mechanism for Half-Life 2"

 

"During the parties' negotiations...Counterclaim Defendants [Valve] repeatedly and falsely assured Sierra and VUG that retail sales would remain "the key to [their] strategy." In September 2000, for example, Newell told Hubert Joly, then VUG's CEO, that "online is a way to nurture the retail business" and that he 'could not understand how one can make money online today.'

 

"Sierra and VUG would later learn that these statements were flatly false...Incredibly, Counterclaim Defendant Newell also stated that he 'could not understand how one can make money online today,' plainly with the intention to falsely imply that Valve had no present or future strategy to engage in widespread online distribution of the games. This misleading half-truth was Newell's deliberate concealment of the extent to which Valve intended through the parties' negotiations to appropriate the substantial value of the distribution rights to Valve, rather than to Sierra and VUG."

 

In court filings, Sierra/VUG says that the current distribution of Half-Life 2 via Steam exceeds the scope of the current software publishing agreement between the two parties. It is apparently seeking the court's assistance in compelling Valve not to use Steam as an avenue of distribution.

 

On Friday, when asked if Valve was still intent on making Half-Life 2 available to gamers via Steam, regardless of what was determined on October 8, Lombardi replied, "Yes."

 

Interestingly, and in spite of the ongoing legal dispute, Sierra/VUG still wants to work with Valve in the future and is asking the court via filings to force Valve to work with it on whatever is next in the development pipeline. It asks the court, in filings, "for a declaration that Sierra and VUG have the right to a fourth engine license pursuant to the terms of...the 2001 Agreement."

 

According to Lombardi, "[Valve is] going to meet the obligations of [the] current agreement."

 

So what does the future hold for the two parties? They are now in a dash to present to the court all relevant materials to support their cross-motions for summary judgment regarding "cyber-café rights and available damages," according to Sierra/VUG filings.

 

Additionally, the two parties must meet the following milestones, according to the deputy clerk to Judge Zilly:

 

 

All motions related to discovery must be filed by October 22, 2004.

Disclosure of expert testimony [by] November 5, 2004.

Discovery completed by November 18, 2004.

All dispositive motions must be filed by...November 18, 2004.

Settlement conference no later than January 20, 2005.

Mediation held no later than February 19, 2005.

All motions in limine must be filed by February 21, 2005.

Agreed pretrial order due March 9, 2005.

Pretrial conference to be held at 4pm on March 11, 2005.

Trial briefs, proposed voir dire questions, jury instructions, and findings of fact and conclusions of law [due]...March 16, 2005.

Trial date: March 21, 2005.

 

With the next hearing date set by the court of October 8, 2004 (to hear the cross-motions of summary judgment), you can be sure the parties will have little time to check out the run-and-gun fun of Half-Life 2, but that doesn't mean they don't have their legal weapons drawn, fingers on the triggers.

 

A VUG spokesperson declined to offer any comment for this article, saying the company was "not able to comment on pending litigation."

 

GameSpot will keep readers posted on further developments.

 

 

Thats it folks... who knows when we'll be getting our HL2...

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doc_newstead

doc_newstead

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I'm not sure when and where this turned into the colossal joke it now is. It seems like Valve are intent on getting hopes up, then dashing them again. Even *I* was starting to get swept up in it all, pre-loading on Steam as I was.

 

People will write books about this shambles now :P

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TMC

TMC

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HL2 is a bloody joke.

 

"OMG! WE GOT HACKED! WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO REWRITE THE ENTIRE GAME NOW!"

 

later...

 

"OMG! WE GOT HACKED AGAIN!"

 

Personally, I believe that they were lying on both occassions, just because they hadn't finished the damned game and didn't have the guts to own up.

 

By the time HL2 is out, DNF2 and Halo 4 will be on the shelves.

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TMC

TMC

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nah, Halo ends with Halo 2. Bungie already said so. Maybe they will remake the Marathon games tho?

I was using that as a form of sarcasm. Exaggerating the date of release for HL2. I mean.. I put "duke nukem forever 2"... the first is due year 3001. :)

TMC, what I don't get, is how did getting their code stolen push the release date back? Did they only have ONE copy of code? lol...fools, all of them.

Valve said it was copied, not stolen. They then said "We had to rewrite everything!" From what I remember, the HL2 source was 'stolen' very close to release date... and the stolen code was very incomplete. I would go as far to say that they wouldn't of been able to complete the code by the given date.

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sp00n

sp00n

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Hahahahaahahahahhahahahaahahahahhahahahahahaha

 

 

::gasp::

 

 

 

hahahahahaahahahahahahahahaahahahaahahaha!!

 

 

 

I wonder what all the HL2 fanboys are saying about Doom3 now. HL2 is like Duke Nukem Forever if you ask me, never going to get released. Valve is almost as lame as EAgames. EA would be lame-er but they accually release the games, even though they are ususally pretty crappy.

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Foxtrot

Foxtrot

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Doom 3 and UT2k4 is what I've been playing constantly..

 

 

I beleive UT2k5 is going to come out before HL2, and the unreal 3.0 engine that it's using is going to kick HL2's *albatross*.

 

 

Though, I admit, I am a bit down because HL2's not going to be released. But, HALO 2 and World Of Warcraft will hold me over till Doom 3 gets some good mods and UT2k5 is going to come out.

 

All well, I thought I'd post this for you.

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Foxtrot

Foxtrot

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Yes, HL2 will have fallen behind, especially if other head line games start to beat it, remind you PC, not console. Two different items, two different type of gamers.

 

 

PC Gamers are loyal to their PC's, Console gamers are loyal to consoles. 'Nuff said.

 

HL2, as I said, if it is released after UT2k5 (If they get the engine done for it.) will have fallen behind, thus not making as big of a splash.

 

 

Alot of us PC gamers were hopeing to see both HL2 and Doom 3 on the shelves at the same time for couple of reasons.

 

Doom 3 - Awesome single player graphics

 

Half Life 2 - Awesome Multiplayer/Mods right off the bat, where doom 3 is going to catch up now since they have time.

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Tripod

Tripod

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I own a PS2 and an XBox, boy. =)

 

PS2 owns when it comes down to game play, everything else goes to the XBox hands down. Call of Duty has been butchered. It used to be so much funner when I first played for the first month or so but now I go on and it's just blah. I really don't play many games anymore =/.

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doc_newstead

doc_newstead

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For the record, I didn't really take to Halo either. By the time it came out on the PC, it was pretty outdated, and I was much more taken by UT2004 at the time. There was nothing really wrong with it, it' just didn't grab me like I thought it would. I also thought the 'working with a team' aspect didn't work as well as I'd hoped.

 

I didn't much like HL either! It's just that I got this voucher, and it's been sitting here since February :D

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