I have noticed that a few sites are now saying the HL2 is finished and has been sent to the publisher for testing. The premature speculation that this game will be released on a November release date which no-one has officially confirmed is ridiculous. It does appear though that creating all this hype has only made it more difficult to get the game finished as for me I am sick of all the hype that is being thrown about with screen-shots, videos, interviews. And still no game? Slip, Slip, Slip and excuse after excuse. Does this mean that Valve can't deliver? Let’s face hard facts that the game might be finished but still require 3 or 4 months of testing, no body Knows? no body is talking, if Valve were pretty certain that it was all done surely they would have the confidence to set a release date.

With this in mind i am feeling less and less enthusiastic about buying HL2 and there are so many other up and coming titles that may steal a lot of HL2's thunder when it is finally released. Consumers are more discerning these days and will vote their feet if they think they are being mislead. Although I hate to say it EA have always been very good in the way they deliver top titles to customers and maybe if Valve had worked with a bigger publisher they might have had greater support to get the job done.

The ultimate question is will you buy HL2 or will Stalker or Republic Commando steal away your affections?

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Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And when you look long into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you.

Friedrich Nietzsche