The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Half Life 2 leak means no launch for Christmas

'Almost impossible' to exploit

Vivendi Universal Entertainment has canned the Christmas launch of Half Life 2 in response to last week's leak of source code onto the Internet.

In a statement today, the games publisher said that Half Life 2, an expected blockbuster, will now contribute to 2004 results.

VUE says that crackers scooped up a third of the code of Half Life 2, making it "almost impossible" for bootleggers to exploit the leak.

Crackers obtained the code probably by exploiting a vulnerability in Outlook and installing keyloggers, according to Valve, the company which develops Half Life. Valve's account of the leak is here. ®

Free research: Application platforms, the state of play

Don’t Miss

Win a Samsung C6625!

Reg Lucky Draw Windows Mobile handsets up for grabs

Palm_Pre_001_SMIs your cameraphone an oxymoron?

Pic Review iPhone 3G v iPhone 3GS v Palm Pre

Reg black vulture logoReg Mobile and Wireless newsletter is go! go! go!

Site news Email-tasm

Sign up, sign up for The Register IT security newsletter

Narrowcasting for the email classes