It would appear that all of the assumptions of Half-Life 2 going gold were accurate and we even have a release date.
November 16th 2004
Gamespot has posted a news article with all of the information. The big bonus to this is that people that go out and purchase the game at local stores will be able to get the Half-Life 2 Collectors Edition, which includes “Half-Life 2 in DVD-ROM format, Counter-Strike: Source, Half-Life: Source, a free limited edition T-shirt, and a Half-Life 2 strategy guide from Primaâ€
Check out the full article: Half-Life 2 guns for November 16 release date