Vivendi to publish Half-Life 2

Although we still await the obligatory back slapping official press release, it appears that Vivendi and its Sierra subsidiary have retained the rights to publish the blockbusting sequel to Half-Life.

The waters had been muddied by the fact that Activision recently announced it is to publish Valve’s Day Of Defeat, and future Valve projects, leading many to assume that Half-Life 2 was also going to be part of the deal. Not so, it seems.

Even more confusing was the fact that none of the recent Half-Life 2 features in the US listed publisher details.

But in an interview with Valve’s Gabe Newell posted last night on CNN’s website, the report confirms Vivendi will handle publishing duties, which will certainly be a huge boost to the embattled firm, after all the rumours of takeover bids that have been doing the rounds lately.

Mysteriously, however, the game will not be shown off on Vivendi’s stand at E3, with Valve choosing, instead, to demonstrate Half-Life 2 in a “non-interactive theatre” on the ATI stand. Nvidia must be gutted – first ID, and now Valve get into bed with the Canadian graphics chip giant.

Whatever. We’ll be there like salivating chimps rushing to the ATI stand the second the E3 doors open and queuing like the tourists we are to get a first look at the game. Suffice to say we’ll let you know how it runs as soon as we’ve picked our jaws up off the floor.