After years of missed launch dates and release mishaps, the Half-Life 2 saga is entering its final chapter. Doug Lombardi, Valve's director of marketing, confirmed to GameSpot today that the release candidate for the game has been sent to its publisher, VU Games, for approval. "Yes, the release candidate went to VUG yesterday," he said.

Word of the submission first came via a forum post from Valve CEO Gabe Newell. "The RC went to VU yesterday," read Newell's one-line post on the hl2fallout.com forums. In light of the recent false postings on the site, shacknews.com attempted to confirm the post's authenticity. "Yes. Getting close," Newell responded.

Submission of a release candidate to the publisher is the final step in a game's development. If VU approves the candidate, Half-Life 2 will "go gold" and be sent to the factory for production. No official release date has been set for the game, although online vendors have given it a speculative November ship date.