Half Life 2 Beta

[Immortal Genocide]

Why do i see loads of people downlaoding this?
Is it the whole game with unfinished bits in it?
Or is it just like one level showing you a lil bit of the game?

[fred devliegher]

Beta means it's in the final stage of development before going gold. It generally means the software's as good as finished, but needs a few more performance tweaks/features/last minute changes done. Usually playable.

Don't know about the HL2 beta, though.

[121]

Has anyone played the beta?

[Cygnuz-Y]

Originally posted by 121@19 July 2004 - 18:49
Has anyone played the beta?
Yeah i have, and the only thing i have to say is that you better wait for the full release, due to september 2

[Mr. Mulder]

Fans Help Nab Half-life Thieves

Gaming fans helped authorities track down the cyberthieves who stole the game code last year for Half-Life 2, the highly anticipated PC shooter video-game sequel from Valve Software, the British Guardian newspaper reported. In January, it came to light that the FBI, Scotland Yard and the German authorities, along with the Half-Life 2 fan community, had been searching for the culprits since the leak was announced last October. Last month, the thieves were arrested in Germany and other undisclosed countries, the newspaper reported.

Having accessed Valve's server through a security-bypassing loophole in Windows, the hackers were able to download an early and hugely incomplete version of Half-Life 2 and post it on the Internet for downloading via Usenet. A boxed version of the code was even on sale on the Ukrainian and Russian black markets, the newspaper reported. The leak set the project back several months.

The hunt for the hackers centered around two major investigations, one led by the FBI's Cybercrime Task Force and the second by the gaming community. It wasn't long before both parties made inroads into identifying the thieves, with the gaming' community and the FBI independently tracking the primary hacker to Germany, the newspaper reported. The risk of being caught eventually prompted the primary instigator to contact Gabe Newell, Valve's managing director, denying any role in the theft, but naming those responsible for distributing the stolen code. Investigations are continuing, with those involved found to have links with similar crimes. Valve is preparing to sue the hackers for damages, while working towards an end-of-summer release date for Half-Life 2, the newspaper reported.

[cpt_azad]

the ai is well, there is no ai. the E3 demos were all scripted, valve pretty much lied to us about the ai "in action", and yes, i've played the beta, wat a waste of my time. but the full version (once it comes out) will be great.