October 18, 2004 - Half-Life 2 has gone gold.

Officially.

We'll give you a moment to sit down, take a breath, or catch a breath, or whatever you need to do. But yes, it's as true as it can be, as we received official word from Vivendi Universal Games just moments ago. Even better, we now have a street date: November 16, 2004.

After so much waiting, so much speculation, so many rumors, eager fans watching every online indication, scouring for hints, clues, and details on the status of one of the most anticipated games ever -- well, finally, here we are. The day is upon us. November 16 is not very far away.

Vivendi plans to ship localized versions of the game simultaneously (English, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Traditional and Simplified Chinese, Korean, Thai and Japanese) on that magic date.

Users who have ordered the game through Steam will presumably see the game unlocked on that day as well, though we have yet to receive a confirmed time when this will happen.

"Half-Life 2 has surpassed our expectations in every sense -- its high-quality graphics, ground-breaking physics and immersive first-person shooter gameplay set a new standard for PC action games," said Bruce Hack, CEO of VU Games. "Half-Life 2 will go down as one of the best-selling PC titles, and we are thrilled to deliver this ground-breaking title to the worldwide gaming community this fall."

Excited? Yeah, we're right there with you. It's even okay if you're laughing. Let's start counting the days.