EA to distribute Half-Life 2, Counter-Strike: Source

**MIG-31** · Jul 18, 2005, 08:31 PM

Multiyear agreement sees publisher take over retail duties on storied shooter franchise, EA publishing Xbox HL2 in October.

Just over three months ago, one of the most contentious relationships in game history came to an end. On April 28, after months of overt legal disputes and covert bickering, VU Games and Valve Software announced they were ending a half-decade-long publishing deal. The arrangement saw the former publish the latter's groundbreaking PC first-person shooters Half-Life, Counter-Strike, and Half-Life 2.

However, Valve's next console game--after the PlayStation 2 Half-Life and the Xbox Counter-Strike--will be distributed by one of VU's main rivals. Today, Electronic Arts revealed that as of this fall, it will be the international publisher of the forthcoming Xbox version of Half-Life 2, which will now ship in October 2005. EA will also assume distribution duties of a new Game of the Year edition of Half-Life 2 for the PC, which will include Half-Life 2, Counter-Strike: Source, plus Half-Life 2: Deathmatch, and Half-Life: Source in a single box.
_______________
Read More: Gamespot

Ev!L-aLphA · Jul 18, 2005, 09:03 PM

oh em ef gee

you got to be kidding me

**MIG-31** · Jul 18, 2005, 09:13 PM

Looks as though EA is on a mission to take over the game world..

ericdrum · Jul 18, 2005, 10:09 PM

Holy crap. This story is HUGE. I think that this will cause quite a few ripples in the gaming sea.

daRk_heLmet · Jul 18, 2005, 10:41 PM

WTF IN THE NAME OF GOD...

/jumps in a well

/ok climbs out

http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/7...lambada3yp.gif

teh_moleman · Jul 18, 2005, 11:37 PM

So I guess we can expect huge billboards with ads for the next NFS and Battlefield games to be added throughout both games?

Yeah, I'm being sarcastic on that, but I still wouldn't be the least bit surprised if that did happen.

calidan · Jul 18, 2005, 11:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by daRk_heLmet

WTF IN THE NAME OF GOD...

/jumps in a well

/ok climbs out

http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/7...lambada3yp.gif

It should say 'Dominate Everything.'

Kemal · Jul 19, 2005, 12:43 AM

In other news, EA buys the United Nations for eleventy billion dollars.

TJ- · Jul 19, 2005, 12:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kemal

eleventy

Lakevren · Jul 19, 2005, 01:04 AM

ok, i don't get it.

Ditch the evil called "VU", in order to partner with a greater evil called "EA".

Why?

Well, gaming is gonna die soon.

Unless of course we just quit playing HL2 and its mods and look to something new.

Edit:

Don't forget EA's agreement with nvidia. So does that mean HL2 is no longer ATI favored?

Kemal · Jul 19, 2005, 01:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by [zi0n]aXe

SNL.

Drakon · Jul 19, 2005, 01:14 AM

Valve had to be some of the dumbest people to walk this forsaken earth

BiGBrOwNPimpsta · Jul 19, 2005, 03:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lakevren

Don't forget EA's agreement with nvidia. So does that mean HL2 is no longer ATI favored?

i doubt it, they simply publish it. lots of games have a similar deal.

Mazuko · Jul 19, 2005, 03:13 AM

It just means EA is manufacturing the game discs, than they are putting the game disc's in pretty boxes and shipping them.....

**dj_stick** · Jul 19, 2005, 05:00 AM

i highly doubt any of the game's contents will be changed at all, at least the PC version

Drakon · Jul 19, 2005, 05:31 AM

This is EA we're talking about, right?

**dj_stick** · Jul 19, 2005, 05:56 AM

EA are just distributors - i don;t think they have any right to modify the code

Resistor · Jul 19, 2005, 07:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dj_stick

i highly doubt any of the game's contents will be changed at all, at least the PC version

That's what I had though in my mind when I first read the first post...

Don't think EA will change anything..hopefully

yoda133113 · Jul 19, 2005, 09:22 AM

ARG, I HATE EA, this really bites, but for all of you like me that don't want to support EA, just buy the game on Steam, it goes straight to Valve, no stop at the great evil that is EA.

Jul 18, 2005, 08:31 PM	#1
MIG-31 HardwareHeaven News Mod Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Nottingham,UK Posts: 56,844 Rep Power: 471 System Specs	EA to distribute Half-Life 2, Counter-Strike: Source Multiyear agreement sees publisher take over retail duties on storied shooter franchise, EA publishing Xbox HL2 in October. Just over three months ago, one of the most contentious relationships in game history came to an end. On April 28, after months of overt legal disputes and covert bickering, VU Games and Valve Software announced they were ending a half-decade-long publishing deal. The arrangement saw the former publish the latter's groundbreaking PC first-person shooters Half-Life, Counter-Strike, and Half-Life 2. However, Valve's next console game--after the PlayStation 2 Half-Life and the Xbox Counter-Strike--will be distributed by one of VU's main rivals. Today, Electronic Arts revealed that as of this fall, it will be the international publisher of the forthcoming Xbox version of Half-Life 2, which will now ship in October 2005. EA will also assume distribution duties of a new Game of the Year edition of Half-Life 2 for the PC, which will include Half-Life 2, Counter-Strike: Source, plus Half-Life 2: Deathmatch, and Half-Life: Source in a single box. _______________ Read More: Gamespot __________________ Please Post Your News Submissions Here

Jul 18, 2005, 09:03 PM	#2
Ev!L-aLphA \| n f e c t e D Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: California Posts: 4,111 Rep Power: 0	oh em ef gee you got to be kidding me __________________ R.I.P 8/8/04 4/21/08

Jul 18, 2005, 09:13 PM	Thread Starter #3
MIG-31 HardwareHeaven News Mod Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Nottingham,UK Posts: 56,844 Rep Power: 471 System Specs	Looks as though EA is on a mission to take over the game world.. __________________ Please Post Your News Submissions Here

Jul 18, 2005, 10:09 PM	#4
ericdrum DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: The SLC Posts: 149 Rep Power: 0	Holy crap. This story is HUGE. I think that this will cause quite a few ripples in the gaming sea. __________________ AMD Athlon 64 3500+ MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum nForce3 Ultra 2 gig Corsair XMS 3200 eVGA 6800 GT SB Audigy2 w/ KX Project Drivers 2-80 gig Western Digital SATA 7200 RAID 0 200 GB Seagate Barricuda 7200 for Storage Ultra Xconnect 500W Power Supply Windows XP SP2 Antec P160W case

Jul 18, 2005, 10:41 PM	#5
daRk_heLmet Keep firing, assholes! Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Death Star Posts: 1,072 Rep Power: 0	WTF IN THE NAME OF GOD... /jumps in a well /ok climbs out http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/7...lambada3yp.gif __________________ [color=white]My Blog[/color]

Jul 18, 2005, 11:37 PM	#6
teh_moleman DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: FL Posts: 103 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	So I guess we can expect huge billboards with ads for the next NFS and Battlefield games to be added throughout both games? Yeah, I'm being sarcastic on that, but I still wouldn't be the least bit surprised if that did happen.

Jul 19, 2005, 12:43 AM	#8
Kemal DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Nov 2002 Posts: 166 Rep Power: 0	In other news, EA buys the United Nations for eleventy billion dollars. __________________ ASUS A7N8X Rev 2.0 AMD Athlon XP 3000+ 1gb PC3200 DDR (512mb PC3200x2) + 256mb Radeon X800 Pro Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Windows XP SP 2

Jul 19, 2005, 01:04 AM	#10
Lakevren MedicalEntropy Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: New Jersey Posts: 294 Rep Power: 0	ok, i don't get it. Ditch the evil called "VU", in order to partner with a greater evil called "EA". Why? Well, gaming is gonna die soon. Unless of course we just quit playing HL2 and its mods and look to something new. Edit: Don't forget EA's agreement with nvidia. So does that mean HL2 is no longer ATI favored? __________________ [COLOR=darkorange][COLOR=SeaGreen]Opteron 170 @ 2500 MHZ (In Need of Better HSF)[/COLOR] [/COLOR] [COLOR=darkorange][COLOR=Yellow]DFI LanParty UT SLI-DR Expert[/COLOR] [/COLOR] [COLOR=red]HIS IceQ3 X1900XT @ 680/785 [COLOR=YellowGreen]Corsair XMS Pro DDR 400 1GB[/COLOR][/COLOR] [COLOR=royalblue]CoolerMaster WaveMaster Case[/COLOR]

Jul 19, 2005, 01:14 AM	#12
Drakon DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Floatin'... Posts: 4,957 Rep Power: 0	Valve had to be some of the dumbest people to walk this forsaken earth

Jul 19, 2005, 03:13 AM	#14
Mazuko DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Fredericksburg, VA Posts: 1,008 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	It just means EA is manufacturing the game discs, than they are putting the game disc's in pretty boxes and shipping them..... __________________ E-bay feedback: http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAP...me=STRK:ME:UFS

Jul 19, 2005, 05:31 AM	#16
Drakon DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Floatin'... Posts: 4,957 Rep Power: 0	This is EA we're talking about, right?

Jul 19, 2005, 09:22 AM	#19
yoda133113 DriverHeaven Addict Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Virginia, USA Posts: 309 Rep Power: 0	ARG, I HATE EA, this really bites, but for all of you like me that don't want to support EA, just buy the game on Steam, it goes straight to Valve, no stop at the great evil that is EA. __________________ [color=Yellow]Guild Wars Character: Corrupted Bubbles[/color] "The muffin isn't picky, Timmy. Nor is it tasty! But it is powerful. All hail the muffin!" Cosmo, Fairly Odd Parents "Everyone is entitled to his own opinion. He is not entitled to his own facts." Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan [color=Sienna]Gateway M680X P-M 750 1.86 GHz Alviso Mobility Radeon X700 128 MB 1 GB 400 MHz DDR2 60 GB 5400 RPM Hitachi HD QSI DVD+-RW DL 17" Widescreen [/color]