It appears that the on-going struggle
to get Half-Life 2 to the public may about to be resolved. The latest, unconfirmed, news is
that H-L 2 has gone gold. Considering the hard luck which both developer and publisher have
had during this project, it is not surprising that neither wishes to comment on the
news.
The news of Valve's legal dispute with VU Games had some people worried that
H-L 2 may not see the light of day but this latest news should settle most people down.
Mexican party games aside, proof of H-L 2s recent Gold status is limited but some
developments from the European front have a strong taste of Gold.
It is reported that
in Europe H-L 2 has been sent to the PEGI (Pan European Games Information age rating system)
for classification, then on to the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) for
certification. Under normal conditions, this is the normal sequence of events for a game
that has already gone gold and is preparing for release.
A British Board of Film
Classification spokesperson has confirmed that the BBFC already has a copy of Half-Life 2.
It is however, a bit harder to get the BBFC to tell us what they are doing with it. Since
they are not the gamer types, we suspect that their short under evaluation statement may
back-up the rumor regarding the imminence of an H-L 2 Gold announcement.
