Who doesn’t remember E3 2003? The entire gaming community, caught by total surprise with amazing footage of HL2? A release date just 4 months away? It seemed like a dream come true, really. Until July rolled around, and Vivendi announced that the game would not make September 30th. Gabe responded with the legendary: “First time I’ve heard about this.”
And oddly enough, it seemed as though HL2 might make September 30th. At least until Valve went into what seemed to be a total media blackout towards the end of summer. Apart from mentioning that HL2 would make the previously announced release date, no footage or details on the game were released. It seemed almost surreal… well, until September 23rd rolled around, and Valve announced that HL2, just one week before its planned release date, would be delayed until the holidays. Immediately, the fans went crazy. But one thing people weren’t expecting was one fan leaking the entire game and its source code onto the Internet.