Topic: Half-Life 2: Episode Two to be around EIGHT hours of gameplay

[MysterD]

HL2: Ep Two will be around 8 hours of gameplay

Valve: Half-Life 2 Episode 2 Will Be Longer

For all the Half-Life 2 fans out there that are bummed about the next installment of HL2 Episodes being delayed until the fall, I have some news that might cheer you up a little: you’ll get more content and gameplay in Episode 2.

According to Doug Lombari, director of marketing at Valve, the next Half-Life 2 episode will be noticeably longer than the first. “Episode 1 was about six hours of gameplay, and Episode 2 will be closer to eight hours of gameplay,” Lombardi said. Valve also said that despite the delay of Episode 2, the development cycle for the episodic content was getting shorter.

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“Episode 1 took 18 months to complete and Episode 2 will end up being about 13 to 14 months, so we’re trimming it down,” he said. “I think we’ll get closer to a year and be on a 12 month cycle. We’ll see how it goes after this trilogy is done.”

In other Valve news, Lombardi said Steam will be getting some enhanced community features such as personalized stats and scores rankings for player profiles. “The idea is to add features so that people can build a community in Steam,” he said. “We’ll be rolling out the changes some time this spring.”

And finally, Valve will be releasing the long-awaited Team Fortress 2 later this year via special Half-Life 2 bundles in color-coded boxes. The Orange Box will feature Half-Life 2, Episodes 1 and 2, Portal, and Team Fortress 2, while the Black Box will features just Episode 2 plus Portal and Team Fortress 2. No specific release date for the boxes has been announced but they are expected sometime in the fall.