Valve & VUGames In Court

Ev!L-aLphA

GameSpot has a lengthy update on the Valve vs Vivendi Universal lawsuit that has been going on since 2002 when Valve sued Sierra (part of VUGames). The Half-Life developer originally sued Sierra because the publisher put Valve games in Internet cafes in the US and around the world, which Valve alledges is a copyright infringement. Vivendi later counter-sued, saying Valve had made misleading statements to them about their online distribution plans. Vivendi also wants Valve to honor a previous agreement and publish whatever Valve is going to work on next, and they would like to be awarded ownership of the Half-Life franchise as well. Various motions will be heard by the court October 8 (the trial won't be until March 2005). How all of this will affect the release of Half-Life 2, we won't know for a while (though Vivendi Universal Games sure could use the money).

In court filings, Sierra/VUG says that the current distribution of Half-Life 2 via Steam exceeds the scope of the current software publishing agreement between the two parties. It is apparently seeking the court's assistance in compelling Valve not to use Steam as an avenue of distribution. On Friday, when asked if Valve was remained intent on making Half-Life 2 available to gamers via Steam, regardless of what was determined on October 8, Lombardi replied, "Yes."

Source: Shack News

jsx[ifl]

ffs just release the damn game

jeffro29

No Sh*t what the heck are they doing if their going through all this they should of not even made the damn game this is bull Sh*t I'm tired of waiting screw halflife 2 theirs better games coming out to play. Just like they made Doom3 sound so good i think that game sucks my opinion. Back to halflife 2 this game better be good if it does ever get released. Well Later yall

kelston

They're just trying to figure out how to make another "legit" reason why the game is delayed till 2005.

Paladine

Sounds like they are following in 3dGames footsteps in releasing Duke Nukem Forever. ....what? Forever, that is a good point. It is a game built on an ancient gaming engine that they say will rock our world with quotes like this;

"It will be done when it is done!" Yes we know, but that may also be when Commodore computers come back in style!

Monkeyboy

There is more on this on The Inquirer - quite damaging for Gabe Newell if found to be true.

I'm thinking of returning my 9800XT and HL2 voucher - surely there's some law against buying something and having to wait a whole year (or more!) to actually get the goods?

If this delays HL2 again, they might as well forget releasing the game altogether!

pr0digal jenius

i'm definately with VU on this one...Valve gave them the shaft and needs to step up to the plate a publish the f***king game!

Alto i must say VU will have no trouble making it through the year once tribes: vengeance hits shelves, and they also are the ones publishing F.E.A.R. are they not?

phishdude

seriously i dont see why people are so angry about hl2 being or not being released. i am anxious to play it, but i am not mad at valve or VUG. they have no real obligation to the public to release the game at all (except loss of reputation). I really don't care when the game comes out. I hope VALVe beats the megacorporation and can do whatever the F*** they want, i mean it is thier game. I'm not going to be the asshole consumer who demands everything NOW.

kelston

There's just that little matter of them coming to us every few months saying "We got it. We got it! Really this time." And then making up some bs a few weeks later about why they don't have it done. It's like reading the Duke Nukem Forever FAQ. Blah blah blah we want to make the best FPS ever, blah blah quality takes time.

Imagine a doctor doing that to the family of a patient. "Yeah your mom will be out in 5 minutes! No wait, I think i'm going to sue the X-Ray manufacturer first."

Monkeyboy

Quote: There's just that little matter of them coming to us every few months saying "We got it. We got it! Really this time."

Precisely. I couldn't have put it better myself!