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.
