Prerelease:Half-Life 2 (Windows)

This page details pre-release information and/or media for Half-Life 2 (Windows).

This article is a work in progress. ...Well, all the articles here are, in a way. But this one moreso, and the article may contain incomplete information and editor's notes. Notes: This page barely scratches the surface of this game's development.

Development Timeline

1999

• June - Half-Life 2 begins development. Work on the Source engine also begins simultaneously.

2000

• July - Half-Life 2 gets shown for the first time behind closed doors at SIGGRAPH 2000.

2001

• Late 2001 - Work on a showreel intended for E3 2002 begins.

2002

• September - The team completes a second showreel.
• October - Gabe tells the team that the game will be revealed by next E3 and will release that year.

2003

• E3 2003 - Half-life 2 is announced by Valve.
• September 19th - German hacker Axel Gembe acquires Half-Life 2's source code, after having infiltrated Valve's servers many months prior.
• September 23rd - Valve announces the game has been delayed
• September 26th - The leaked prototype is compiled.
• October 7th - The source code is leaked along with various other files.

2004

• September 29th - A late build of the game included with the Collector's Edition is compiled.
• October 13th - Half-Life 2 is finished.
• November 1st - The E3 2004 trailer is released as a .wmv file.
• November 19th - Half-Life 2 is released digitally worldwide via Steam.

Sub-Pages

1999-2000 Valve's two years of experimenting and secret development on the sequel.

2001-2002 The team works on various showreels and demos meant for an announcement at E3 2002, but ultimately that never happen thanks to the game lacking a release date.

2003 Despite the team's best efforts (and some serious crunch) the game is still not ready for release and gets delayed, with an infamous leak making matters more difficult.

2004 In wake of the leak and now with the new release date, the pressure is on to deliver Half-Life 2.

Xbox Version Shown in E3 2005, along with Lost Coast.

Characters & Scenario The game's plot was once quite different.

Marketing Material

To do: Add screenshots from the game's physical release box. One of the screenshots has the gasmask civilians with a Strider. Some promotional art, like the character art of Gordon, Alyx and G-Man used for the game's Steam Trading Cards appear to feature cut locations.

Likely as a remnant of the game's development, some of the game's marketing material still features cut content.

These screenshots are still used on the Steam page of the game.

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References

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-Life_2#Development
• The Final Hours of Half Life 2 by Geoff Keighley.
• Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar strategy guide from Prima Games.