A post by Gabe Newell on the H2fallout.com forum has confirmed that Valve has met the, previously announced, September 15 delivery date for its Release Candidate to Vivendi. The news was confirmed by Doug Lombardi and Newell himself in order to avoid the possibility of another Fools Gold fiasco.
This news story does not, in any way, mean that Half-Life 2 has gone gold. It is extremely significant however, as the delivery of the RC means that a version of the game deemed by Valve to be fit for release is now in the publisher's hands.
Knowing the troubled history of H-L 2, it is easy to see how things may go wrong. For starters, Vivendi could reject the RC for a wide variety of reasons, more cynical reporters would suggest timing as another possible reason for an RC rejection. If that becomes the case, Valve will have to address its publishers concerns in another RC and so on.
The best case scenario involves Vivendi accepting this RC quickly which would take us to the next step, the Gone Gold announcement. One possibility is that bugs or errors discovered are allowed to remain in the game and rectified in a quick patch. Once Gold the game could (potentially) be immediately delivered to those who have already preloaded it using steam.
However uncertain, Mr. Newell's announcement marks a significant step forward in the game's development cycle and indicates that this troubled title is about to make its eager fans, very happy gamers. To join in the forum discussion follow the download tab above.