HL2: Episode Two delayed till 2007
Valve Software has been one of the main proponents in the push for episodic gaming, a fact which quickly comes to mind in light of Half-Life 2: Episode Two getting its own push into the future. Releasing Half-Life 2 expansion episodes in lieu of Half-Life 3 was supposed to curb development time, something which Valve is always struggling to keep on a leash before it wrecks the office and eats all the calendars. Alas, it has run amok once again, causing Episode Two to slip to February 2007.
In other words, the release gap between the first and second "episodes" has now grown to 8 months. Valve's Doug Lombardi tells Eurogamer that the delay is simply "classic Valve being overly aggressive on our dates" and that the title will likely end up being a "little longer" than the first title. A further point of consideration is that Episode Two is being developed in conjunction with several other included games (Portal, Team Fortress 2) and console versions.
Lombardi also states that the extra games will result in a slightly higher price than that of the single Episode One release ($19.99), with the all-inclusive console releases expected to retail at full price. With any luck, this will be the last delay in store for Valve's upcoming release -- otherwise, we'll have to start questioning just how far the word "episodic" can stretch.
