Conspiracy Theory: Valve Doesn’t do Threequels

How long have we all been waiting for a continuation in the Half-Life story. It’s been more than three years since Half-Life 2: Episode 2 came out. It was first shown at E3 in 2007. And we all played it towards the end of that year, when it came out in November – which is customary with Valve titles.

Episode 1 came out two years after Half-Life 2, in 2006. The entire point of episodic content was to see that new content was released periodically and within a few months of each release. But after seeing how Valve has handled it, I maintain that episodic content is a failed idea – as far as big titles with high production values, such as the Half-Life series, are involved.

Anyway, everyone knows that everyone likes a good conspiracy theory. And there have probably been many suggestions as to why Episode 3 isn’t out yet. The last I read anything of it must have been last year.

Well, something struck me as I lay in bed one night, thinking on the subject, as one does. And I came up with an idea. Something that might well explain why we haven’t got Episode 3, or Half-Life 3.

It has to do with Valve’s games; the number of Valve games. Let me explain:

Valve’s first ever game was the epic, revolutionary sci-fi FPS, Half-Life. It came out in late 1998, and nowadays is considered one of the greatest PC games of all time. Half-Life went on to spawn two expansions or addons, developed by Gearbox Software, in Opposing Force, and Blue Shift. Decay doesn’t count as it was for the PS2 version only.                    

The next think to come along was Counter-Strike. While not strictly a Valve title to begin with – it used the Half-Life engine, and was eventually adopted by Valve, and released commercially. It became one of the greatest multiplayer-focused games of all time; still played to this day, more than ten years on. Counter-Strike had a sequel of sorts in Condition Zero. Years later Counter-Strike: Source came out, which was CS, but using the Source engine that Half-Life 2 used. It wasn’t a sequel.

Another game that started out as a mod for Half-Life was Day of Defeat. It was the obligatory WWII game that was kind of similar to CS or Team Fortress, but featured class systems that were more akin to those from olden days.

DoD’s developers were eventually picked up by Valve (which is primarily made up of former modders), and Day of Defeat was adopted by the company, and later released as a standalone retail product, requiring Steam to play. Since then it has also had a remake done, using the Source engine rather than the Half-Life or Gold Source engine. This is probably the one game in Valve’s history that has yet to even receive a first sequel, let alone a second sequel (or threequel).

Speaking of said game: Half-Life 2 was released in 2004, and again went on to further revolutionize the FPS genre, and storytelling in games as a whole. The game had planned addons in the form of the Episodes. Initially it was meant to be one big expansion called Aftermath, but Valve opted for the episodic content approach, and decided to release standalone episodes separately. To date, six years later, two of those episodes have been released.

Fast-forward a few years and we get to The Orange Box – one of the greatest packages ever bestowed upon gamers. This contained not only Episode 2, Episode 1, and Half-Life 2 – but also introduced Team Fortress 2 and Portal.

Team Fortress 2 obviously had a prequel released years earlier alongside Half-Life, called Team Fortress Classic. The series’ roots lay in a mod, originally for Quake. TF 2 was notoriously delayed for almost a decade, but eventually emerged with a completely different art style to that of its predecessor, which some didn’t like.

Portal was completely different from most Valve titles, if not most FPS games ever made. You don’t have guns. You’ve just got a portal gun which aids you in traversing through several puzzles. It was inspired by a game made by some college kids, called Narbacular Drop. Portal has an upcoming sequel, named Portal 2, which should be out next year.

In 2008, Valve produced Left 4 Dead – a multiplayer shooter set in a zombie apocalypse. It turned out to be very popular, and a year later a sequel was released in Left 4 Dead 2. This angered the community seeing as they thought Valve had cheated them out of all the promised extra content for the original. Eventually two DLC packs made it out. Two for Left 4 Dead, and one for Left 4 Dead 2. Another one compatible with both games is due out this month. So that would make it three DLCs for L4D - but DLC isn’t a full game or a sequel anyway, and The Survival Pack which contains The Last Stand isn’t even considered canon.

So you don’t really see a three anywhere there do you? Plenty of other franchises out there have threequels, but Valve doesn’t. This doesn’t necessarily make a franchise any better just because it has more games. It can have the opposite effect (see Tomb Raider).

But like I said, it’s something that I noticed, and it looks like Valve has yet to get over the big 3 hump, even 15 years on. This curse will continue until someday, miraculously, Half-Life 2: Episode 3, or Half-Life 3, is finally released. That or else one of their other franchises produces a sequel.

Conspiracy Theory: Valve Doesn’t do Threequels

Features that Every Game Should Have: Full Body Awareness

I remember one of the first times I encountered this feature in a game. It was Thief: Deadly Shadows, back in 2004. Now it might not have been the first to use it (that would be Trespasser: Jurassic Park, apparently), but it was likely one of the first I encountered. Certainly most of the other major titles of that year, like Doom 3, Half-Life 2, or Far Cry, didn’t incorporate it, as far as I know.

What is this feature? Full Body Awareness. And to date only 30-odd games seem to have this feature.

There have been other titles from around the same time that did too, like the excellent Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay, and most of the games in the F.E.A.R. franchise, starting with the progenitor of the series back in 2005, as well as Condemned: Criminal Origins – a game by the same creators of the previously mentioned series. Other more well-known examples would include Dark Messiah of Might and Magic.

Full body awareness is a feature that when, in a game, you look down, and you can see the character’s legs and feet as well as their arms and hands. It adds to the realism of a game. And it seemed to be a big thing a few years ago, but nowadays it just doesn’t really make it in to many games. One exception would be Mirror’s Edge, a game by DICE – but that was released a couple of year ago now… in 2008.

A lot of games released before the time period described above, and a lot of titles today, have that disembodied set of arms and hands holding a gun. When you move the mouse downwards, you see nothing. Some games might have a shadow or something on the ground, but few actually go to the lengths of having a chest and a set of legs which makes it seem less like you’re barely a torso with arms and a camera for a head, floating in mid air. And when you realise this, it kind of lets me down, for one. This is what I call Lack of Legs syndrome, or “LOL” for short.

“Hey, where’s my legs?! I can’t feel my legs!” - Lack of Legs [LOL] syndrome as demonstrated in Metro 2033 [2010]

There are those games that make up for this lack of realism by being able to switch to a third person view – like Fallout 3 or Oblivion – where you can see the character move and so on. But still, it seems like a cop out, especially when you factor in that sometimes the animation of the characters in third-person, or just the animation in general, isn’t all that good; something that a game like STALKER has a problem with.

Some other games cheat in a way by not allowing you to look all the way down to the ground, but less than the full 90 degrees.

A title like Thief: Deadly Shadows does both first-person and third-person, as well as full body awareness to boot. It’s one of those games, that although not recognised as one of the greatest games of all time, or even within the series, does something right; and that was one of them.

Full Body Awareness in Thief: Deadly Shadows [2004] – image courtesy of Giantbomb

I don’t know why this is. It’s a small thing that I often find myself checking with new games from time to time. It’s like a test on my checklist, and I’ll be going along in Modern Warfare 2 or Battlefield: Bad Company 2, and after being wowed by the gunfights, and the explosions, and the destructible environments, I’ll be like: “Okay, this all seems to be in order. I’ll just take a look down here, and… oh, dear. FAIL.”

Like I said, it’s a small thing, but something that I often think about. Full Body Awareness was a small but thoughtful addition to games and realism a few years ago that seems for some reason to have gone out of style, and developers just don’t go to the effort anymore. I don’t know if it’s a lot of effort to put it, seeing as I’m not a programmer or an artist or any sort of game developer, but still. They claim that leaving out the legs is a sacrifice in order to enlarge upon the quality of weapons and items that the player holds.

Needless to say, it’s a little thing that I would like to see make a comeback, and become a regular feature in not only first-person shooters, but in RPGs, and so on, to add that extra little bit, so a game gets an A+ instead of an A- for realism.

Check here over at Giantbomb for more on FBA, or Full Body Awareness.

Features that Every Game Should Have: Full Body Awareness

Dennis Hopper, of Easy Rider fame, Passes Away

We said farewell to one of the 80’s biggest child stars, in Gary Coleman, last week. He died on Friday afternoon in Utah, in the US. The next day also saw one of the greatest and most recognisable stars of the last half-century pass away: Dennis Hopper.

Dennis Hopper battled prostate cancer for a long while before eventually succumbing to it on Saturday. He was 74 years old. He had his last birthday on May 17.

Dennis was mainly known for movies, especially Westerns and the like, but also played the role of King Koopa in Super Mario Bros.: The Movie back in 1993. He also dabbled in photography as well.

And on a personal note related to gaming, Dennis Hopper was considered one of the greatest Dr. Wallace Breen [from Half-Life 2] lookalikes as well, if they ever made a film – which they haven’t. To think that now both he and the voice actor behind Breen, Robert Culp, are dead – in the same year. That’s a big shame.
Rest in Peace, Dennis.

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Source: Dennis Hopper Dead At 74 [Kotaku]

Dennis Hopper, of Easy Rider fame, Passes Away

Video Game Character Lookalikes: Dr Breen [Half-Life 2]

As you all know, and if you don’t I’ll repeat it here quickly: the voice behind Dr.Breen, actor Robert Culp, died last week.

So I’m not making fun of him here. Not at all. I just thought it would be the most appropriate time to compare the looks of some real life stars or people to Dr. Wallace Breen.

Let’s line ‘em up:



This is him: Dr. Breen from Half-Life 2, who was the Administrator of Earth, and has his headquarters in City 17 during the events of the game.



Dennis Hopper – not bad, maybe a little less hair than Breen, and wrong colour eyes, but nothing a couple of contacts can’t fix. The beard is a little wrong though too. But if you want him to play Breen in a HL film or anything, you’d better hurry. The poor guy currently has cancer.





Bill Murray – Hang on. I know what you’re thinking. But listen to this. Not only does Bill have the look… sort of, but a similar,  calm sounding voice to Breen if I’m not mistaken, and not to mention he’d have no problem giving the odd laugh which Breen sometimes does too. And not to mention the charm. Just ignore the flowers on his beard here, and you’ll be more convinced.



James Coburn – Yes, I know, this guy died a few years ago now. But still, although a bit of a big chin, at least he looks better as an old guy than he did when he was young. The sort of role he played in The Nutty Professor demonstrates the sort of character that would be needed to play Breen as well.



Roger Guay – I saw this on the Half-Life wikia, and boy, if you thought that Dennis Hopper was good, then this guy is a dead ringer! That’s because Dr. Breen’s face was supposedly modelled on this guy’s.

Video Game Character Lookalikes: Dr Breen [Half-Life 2]

It was Just a Joke! An April Fool’s Day Joke!

Like I has to explain last year, and will every year: the thing about Half-Life 2: Episode 3 was just a joke; an April Fool’s Day joke! HL 2: E3 is still is still in development, or development hell, as far as I know.

I just thought I’d send out a little note today after yesterday, seeing as that post got some attention – more than I thought it would.

You know, some people choose not to play April Fool’s Day jokes or pranks. They say it’s improper for a news outlet to do so. But then again a lot of other people do it. I think those who don’t and are all sour about the day should just lighten up, and actually take a look at the calendar, and realize that likely some things, or a lot of things are going to be false – all in the spirit of this fine day.

Anyway, you all know that AAA isn’t a news outlet. There are some news posts, but there is a lot of other crazy stuff as well.

It was Just a Joke! An April Fool’s Day Joke!

Half-Life 2: Episode 3 has been Cancelled [Shocker]

Yes, that’s what it says, bright, wide-eyed readers. The third instalment in the Episodes for Half-Life 2, known also as Half-Life 2: Episode 3, has been cancelled. It was confirmed by Gabe Newell, head of Valve Corporation, himself recently.

Reasons as to why this has happened aren’t very clear, but Gabe Newell says that it’s not the end of Half-Life at all. The series will continue, but probably as the true sequel in the series: Half-Life 3.

“A lot has gone on in the last few years, since Episode 2 came out in 2007, and much of it we’ve kept under wraps. And it’s all for a good reason.

We here at Valve have been working on Half-Life 3 for longer than anybody else thinks, even while the episodes were in development. The episodes will end with Episode 2, but the series is far from over.”

Half-Life 2 was released in 2004, with Episode 1 following in 2006, and E2 in 2007. It’s been about two and a half years since then, and no sign of Episode 3, after many expected to see it at E3 last year. And it looks like now we’ll not see it at all.

But it’s not all doom and gloom, as the effort that has been put in to Episode 3 is not lost. It will just be incorporated into Half-Life 3… probably. Details of Episode 3 have been scarce over the years, with a news piece last year revealing details about a deaf character appearing in the game, which will be Alyx Vance’s long lost friend, and eventual lover. Apart from that and a few pieces of concept art: not much else.

 

                          

Although there was talk from Gabe recently who said he wanted Half-Life to return to the days of scaring people. Mission accomplished, after you read the headline of this post I suppose.

One thing that can be said about the whole situation, is that episodic content, a great idea years ago, seems to have failed after all, especially when applied to major titles, such as Half-Life 2.

I don’t know what Valve will do about HL 3 and the Source engine. It’s aging now, and I don’t really expect they can use it for much longer, especially not with HL 3. It might be time to say goodbye, and think of switching to a new engine. Unreal Engine 3, anyone?

Source: “Gabe Confirms Episode 3 Cancelled” [Rock, Paper, Shotgun]

Half-Life 2: Episode 3 has been Cancelled [Shocker]

Half-Life 2 Actor, Robert Culp, Dies at Age 79 [News]

The actor who played the egomaniacal villain, Dr. Wallace Breen in Half-Life 2, Robert Culp, has passed away.

He apparently died after taking a fall just this week in his home in Los Angeles, reportedly on the 24th – my birthday of all days. He was 79 years of age. Culp was taken to hospital, but later pronounced dead.

One of Culp’s most memorable appearances to many people was in the 60’s show, I Spy. And I saw this mentioned on Twitter accounts like that of Tom Hall’s, but I didn’t even know what I Spy was, or who Robert Culp was, admittedly. That was way before my time.

But no doubt gamers all know Dr. Breen, the main antagonist in HL2 who was the administrator of City 17, much like he filled the same title at Black Mesa Laboratory, although you didn’t see him much in the first game, if at all. You heard about him though early on in Half-Life.

He played a major role in Half-Life 2, though, taking the blame for ending the 7 hour war, selling out humanity, which led to their imprisonment on their own planet. The last we ever saw of Breen was in Half-Life 2: Episode 2, where one of those big, ugly Advisor things killed Eli Vance, but spared Gordon Freeman and Alyx.

It didn’t look like him, but you’ll remember that near the end of Half-Life 2, when Breen was fleeing, he was offered a host body by the Combine. This host body also made an appearance in Episode 1. It’s my feeling that this is Breen, albeit transformed.

Robert leaves behind his wife, five children and five grandchildren.

You see Valve? This is what you get when you don’t hurry up with Episode 3! How many more people have to suffer? How many more people have to die? *Sob*
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Source: Half Life’s Dr. Breen Dead at 79 [LazyGamer]

Half-Life 2 Actor, Robert Culp, Dies at Age 79 [News]

Portal 2 Officially on the way, Some Details Floating Around

 

                                   April Issue Cover of Game Informer

Portal is a sequel of sorts to Narbacular Drop, which was developed by a bunch of college kids, before they were typically recruited by Valve, famous for employing modders and the likes, and the game was released in the form and under the name it’s known as today.

It was released in the Orange Box, along with Team Fortress 2 and Half-Life 2 Episodes 1 and 2. The game was praised as a witty, humourous, and ingenious take on the puzzle game genre, and although it lacked guns of any sort, besides the portal gun, it still managed to win over many fans.

Well, if you’re not the sort of person who was bored to death by the game, then you’ll be pleased to know that a sequel, Portal 2, has officially been announced by Valve, and Game Informer is the lucky one to get the first details on it in their magazine. The April edition will have a cover story on the title [1].

Some details that have been leaked so far include "a stand-alone, full-price retail release" (unlike the preqeul), "new gameplay mechanics, storyline, and some surprising new twists."

Details were also deciphered in some Morse code messages hidden in updates for Portal 1, and have revealed that the baddie in the game will be one Cave Johnson [4].

GameStop says that the game will feature separate two-player cooperative campaign, as well, and the retail price will be $60 for the console version, and $50 for the PC one [2].

“Coming this holiday. Portal 2 is the sequel to 2007's Game of the Year and draws from the award-winning formula of innovative game play, story, and music that earned the original over 70 industry accolades. Features single and multiplayer co-op modes.

The single-player portion of Portal 2 introduces a cast of dynamic new characters, a host of fresh puzzle elements, and a much larger set of devious test chambers. Players will explore never-before-seen areas of the Aperture Science Labs and be reunited with GLaDOS, the occasionally murderous computer companion who guided them through the original game. The game's two-player cooperative mode features its own entirely separate campaign with a unique story, test chambers, and two new player characters. This new mode forces players to reconsider everything they thought they knew about portals. Success will require them to not just act cooperatively, but to think cooperatively.”

Portal 2 should be out this holiday season (November, early December, probably), 2010, and it will be available on PC, Mac, and Xbox 360 [3].

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Source: [1] Game Informer - [2] Kotaku - [3] Eurogamer – [4] MTV

Portal 2 Officially on the way, Some Details Floating Around

Video Game Character Lookalikes: Dr. Isaac Kleiner from Half-Life 2

You see, the model for Kleiner was originally present in Half-Life, but Kleiner only really became a character with a story and so on in the sequel, Half-Life 2.

You remember that HL2 cast picture that was on Digg months ago? I thought that putting Harold Ramis as Dr. Kleiner wasn’t the best choice, seeing as they don’t look that much alike.

Now, I don’t want a Half-Life movie, and Gabe Newell said he would only make one if there was a decent script. Until then, it’s a no-go. So, this is about a Kleiner lookalike.

Here’s Kleiner:

And here’s the lookalike:

Simon Cowell from Pet Rescue, Wildlife SOS.

Video Game Character Lookalikes: Dr. Isaac Kleiner from Half-Life 2

More on Half-Life Beta: Ivan the Space Viking, and Company

Do you remember that picture that was on Digg a while back, which showed a model of Gordon Freeman from Half-Life, in his early stages?

 

Well, I was doing a search the other day for Half-Life stuff, like one does, and came across this.

There’s Ivan again

Surprisingly, unlike the first image, which got much more publicity, this one above was only dugg once on digg, and yet according to the dates on deviantart, where I saw it, it looks like it was added sometime in 2008.

Here’s some comments from the guy:

“1.The guy holding the gun is what Gordon Freeman looked like in the early betas.
2.The girl is a character from Half-Life Decay.
3.The small purple thing is a Chumtoad (Only seen in Blue Shift).
4.The thing that looks like a penis is A ACTUAL ALIEN PENIS! When it attacked you it would knock off Gordon's glasses and tentacle rape him (FOR REAL).
4.It is the beta version of a Advisor.”

In any case, that monster on the far right looks as though it would have been some scary sh!t to face off against. Certain parts of it remind me of Madonna! I remember seeing some images like these in a Half-Life review in NAG magazine years ago, just when the game was released, and long after Valve had gone past the beta stage.

I decided to search more for Half-Life beta stuff, and found a thread that’s started a few years ago that contains some interesting stuff on Half-Life Beta, with pictures of several character and all the stages they went through before the final version. Read this thread. It’s awesome. I promise…apart from the constant cursing all the time. But hey, forums, you know.

Mainly I decided to post about this, even though it’s nothing new, because I’m going through a Half-Life stage at the moment. I think I might actually play the games for the first time in years. By that I mean Half-Life, Opposing Force, and Blue Shift.

You can even check out some stuff about the Half-Life 2 beta on wikia while you’re at it.

More on Half-Life Beta: Ivan the Space Viking, and Company

No Half-Life Games Coming This Year at all

It was noticed in an issue of Game Informer, and originally reported on Cinemablend that it was rumoured that there would be no Half-Life games coming out this year. That means no Half-Life 2: Episode 3, and definitely no Half-Life 3 (as if that would happen anytime soon).

"Loose Talk has learned that there won't be any game from the franchise in 2010, and what will finally come out is still unknown. Will it be Half-Life 2: Episode Three? Or will it be a full-on Half-Life 3?"

Valve is working on Episode 3 though:

“Yes, of course we’re doing Episode 3.” – Gabe Newell

Some details of Ep3 have leaked over the last while, like the rumour about the game featuring a deaf character, and sign language.

I had no doubt in my mind that we wouldn’t see the game this year, so it’s hardly surprising. Episode 3 has been featured in some articles titled “Games that won’t see 2010”, including my own article.

Half-Life 2: Episode 3 Concept Art:

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Source: Cinamablend

No Half-Life Games Coming This Year at all

Black Mesa Source Delayed Some More

An interesting mod that I’ve been following for years, Black Mesa Source, was destined for a 2009 release. Big Download posted recently news that the mod has been delayed into 2010, after reading a forum thread over at the website’s forums.

Black Mesa Source, if you’re not in the know, is a mod for Half-Life 2, whereby using the  source engine, the original Half-Life is being recreated. Nicer graphics, better physics, better gameplay, and some cool weapons if you check out the screens in their media section.

“We come to you once again with an update. It's now the end of 2009, and we know many of you have literally counted the days down until this fateful month. We are floored by the level of support you have given us and are very excited we're so close to reaching our goal.

Unfortunately, to our great disappointment, Black Mesa will not make a 2009 release.

Once again we apologize for what has to be very disappointing news. We placed a 2009 deadline on ourselves to motivate us and bring this 6 year project to a close. And while we didn't quite make it, we have come very close, and you can expect a complete, polished game to hit your hard drives in the near future. We'll be sure and update if anything changes. Until then, hang tight, it's coming!”

6 Years! That’s longer than the Dark Mod which recently saw a beta release. Some people are all ready re-naming this mod “Half-Life Forever”. Yes, there’s a full 20 pages of b*tching over at the thread if you’re interested.

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http://forums.blackmesasource.com/showthread.php?t=2416

Sorry; no Black Mesa Half-Life 2 mod in 2009

Black Mesa Source Delayed Some More

Wolf and a Half: Wolf 3D mod for Half-Life 2, Demo out now

I read about this on Bluesnews as well as N4G.com. I had a change to have a look at it today, this Wolfenstein 3D mod for HL2.

There’s not a whole lot of detail, certainly not as much as you’d expect from a mod built in the source engine, but it does retain a kind of Wolf 3D feel to it, when I look at the screenshots. And I like that, because I’ve always liked Wolfenstein 3D.

I’ve heard of this mod before, and now this time the big news is that a demo including 5 maps has been made available for download.

Also, this guy is in need of some new team members for his mod company, S.D.A., so if you know something about modding, help him out.

So there’s a Wolf 3D mod for HL2, but I also know of a Wolf3D mod for Doom 3, which looks even better, I think, although this mod, the last time I read about it, was “put on ice”.

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http://www.moddb.com/mods/sda

Wolf3D in Half-Life 2

Wolf and a Half: Wolf 3D mod for Half-Life 2, Demo out now

Yowl! Cat-Life: a Mod for Half-Life

I came across this on RPS. They seem to post about these mods. The last one was a cool mod for Crysis, called DeLorean Time Machine. This time it’s about Cat-Life, a mod for Half-Life which allows you to play as a cat.

“Cat-Life is an original concept for Half-Life and the GoldSource engine.Players will experience the Black Mesa incident from the view of a stranded pet cat.

Using claws and teeth and the natural prowess of a cat, players will travel through the bowels of Black Mesa.Xenian beasts roam the corridors and laboratories and... surprise... cats are conveniently bite-sized for those in-between-meal munchies.”

This is so weird, because it’s the game I’ve always thought about, but knew that nobody would ever venture there. I mean, making a game with a cat as the main protagonist! But, here it is, and strangely using HL1 instead of HL2 for the mod.

I have a cat, and I once attempted to make a point and click style game in AGS involving the cat. Hell, I once thought about how cool it would be to have Rainbow Six, except instead of counter terrorists, put dogs in there as they take down tangos, which be the cats.

Anyhow, back to Cat-Life, the demo for this mod is out now. Instead of using a crowbar, the main weapon is the cat’s paw with sharp claws and such.

The main consensus, or theory, is that the cat in this mod is the one who is mentioned in Half-Life 2 when Alyx was about to enter the teleporter in order to reach Black Mesa East.

Isaac Kleiner: Right you are. This is a red letter day, we'll inaugurate the new teleport with a double transmission.

Barney Calhoun: You mean it's working? For real this time? Because... I still have nightmares about that cat.

Alyx Vance: What cat?

Isaac Kleiner: Now, now, there is nothing to be worried about, we have made major strides since then, major strides.

Alyx Vance: [more anxiously] What cat?

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http://www.moddb.com/mods/cat-life

http://www.moddb.com/mods/cat-life/downloads/cat-life-demo

Gordon Feline: Cat-Life

Yowl! Cat-Life: a Mod for Half-Life

Meet the Cast of the Half-Life 2 Movie…*sigh*

Well, this was on Digg, and it’s done the rounds elsewhere too, like on Kotaku. It’s meant to be an imagining of the cast of the HL2 movie. Please Gabe, if you have any sense, don’t let them make that movie, because as great as the game is, you just know the movie would suck. They always do.

It’s funny how people naturally search for lookalikes to be cast in a role. This makes some sense, but just because a person looks like someone doesn’t necessarily mean that they’ll do the role any justice at all.

First off, Hugh Laurie is too old to be Gordon Freeman, and he’s balding.

Who the heck is Rosario Dawson again? I thought they would have picked Halle Berry.

I always thought that Ray Liotta or that other guy, Rob Lowe, would make a better G-man if we’re talking lookalikes. Walken’s got the creepy thing going on though.

Harold Ramis has too much hair to be Kleiner.

I hate Jeremy Piven.

Dennis Hopper isn’t bad as Dr. Breen.

Of course you’d pick Morgon Freeman to be Dr Vance. He ends up as every central black character. People worship that guy. I’ve got better ideas on who could play Vance.

Never heard of Julianna Marguiles.

Jean Reno was cool at one time. Not bad.

I think I know that guy at the end too. I saw him in that one Christmas movie with the Griswolds, recently, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

Meet the Cast of the Half-Life 2 Movie…*sigh*

Apocalypse Then: Half-Life

11 Years of Half-Life

Well, recently I covered Half-Life 2’s five year anniversary. Today is its older prequel’s 11th anniversary. I would have covered it last year, but I only started the blog this year.

Half-Life, a sci-fi FPS title, was developed by Valve Corporation, published by Sierra, and distributed by Electronic Arts for retail and Steam online. The game initially had trouble finding a publisher seeing as people claimed it was too ambitious. Originally for PC, it was later released on PS2 along with Half-Life: Decay, a PS2 exclusive addon, until recently when a team ported the addon to the PC. An unofficial Dreamcast port was leaked onto the internet, and there was also a Macintosh port too.

Released on the 19th of November 1998, it was Valve’s first game, in development since 1996 when Valve was founded by Gabe Newell and Mike Harrington. The game has since been praised several million times as revolutionizing the FPS genre in areas such as AI, gameplay involving puzzles, and story, written by Marc Laidlaw. The game was hugely influenced by Doom in story and otherwise. It’s naturally won many “Game of the Year” awards, and scored high in reviews, to say the least.

It involved the player taking the role of Gordon Freeman, a man in his late twenties, graduate from University of Innsbruck and MIT, and scientist involved in Theoretical Physics at the Black Mesa laboratory, an abandoned missile base out in the desert, in New Mexico, USA. Gordon gets involved in a teleportation experiment in the anomalous materials department, and “things go awry”, and creatures from another dimension start pouring out in to the base. Gordon’s main aim initially is to fight his way to the surface, and after that make his way to the Lambda Complex whilst fighting the aliens and zombies all the way, as well as marines and black-ops assassins whose main goal is to kill everyone, even the marines. You get to team up with security guards and other scientists who will help you along the way, and not to mention you are aided by your HEV suit which provides protection as well as access to your HUD, and a boost while jumping.

Many people think that the game used the Quake II engine, when in actual fact it was mainly a heavily modified Quake engine, with some elements from Quake II, called GoldSrc. The game also had no cutscenes and employed scripted sequences, unlike most FPSs of that time. It came with a level editor, WorldCraft, which was notoriously hard to use. Unlike most games, especially of the build era of the mid-late nineties, Gordon didn’t speak at all.

The game received two expansion packs for the PC and one for the PS2, namely Opposing Force, Blue Shift (originally meant o be packaged with the Dreamcast port), and Decay for the PS2. And the sequel, Half-Life 2, which I covered the other day, came along a few years later, taking about double the amount of time to develop, and has been followed by the episodes which chronicle what happens after the fall of City 17.

Half-Life has also spawned many mods over the years, some of which have since been ported to or recreated in HL2's Source Engine. Valve is also very pro-modding, and Gabe Newell claims that half of Valve is made up of former modders.

Interesting things and my experiences with the game:

• Memorable moments while playing the game many times over the years include the tram ride at the beginning through sections of the base, the Surface Tension level with the marines, and the ending with the G-man in the tram. A few of the earlier levels weren't really to my liking, and neither were some of the later levels either. Some of the best parts were in-between.

• Best weapon in the game, besides the crowbar- probably the MP5 (later M4A1 with the HDP), which could shoot grenades from the attached launcher, and probably the crossbow as well, which could kill most of the low to mid enemies with one shot.

• Favourite enemies were the marines, in all their different forms.

• The entire series contains double meanings when it comes to titles, such as Half-Life, Decay, Opposing Force, and Blue Shift.

• The lambda symbol almost looks like a crude drawing of an arm holding a crowbar. This I never really knew or thought about before.

• The scientist models that were pretty common (only about 4 all in all), came back in Half-Life 2 as Isaac Kleiner and Eli Vance. The other 2 still need to be made into characters in HL2 as far as I know.

• The one variation of the security guard came back as Barney Calhoun in HL2.

Apocalypse Then: Half-Life

Apocalypse Then: Half-Life 2

5 Years of Half-Life 2

Well, it’s hard to believe, but it has indeed been five years since the release of one of the most critically acclaimed FPS titles ever, Half-Life 2. It’s the sequel to yet another well-known and loved game, Half-Life.

Half-Life 2 was developed by the renowned and lately somewhat controversial Valve Corporation, and was released on November 16, 2004 for the PC, after being in development nearly since the original game came out over five years before it, with console versions of the game following lin years later. It was the first in a line of controversial Steamworks games; titles which involve Steam, Valve’s online digital distribution service, and require online product activation. This caused a lot of public outcry, especially for players without a broadband connection. The game was later included in The Orange Box compilation pack along with Team Fortress 2, Portal, and the Half-Life 2 Episodes. Half-Life 2 continued the science fiction story of the mute scientist known as Gordon Freeman, as awakens from approximately twenty year of stasis and he finds himself in City 17, a strange Eastern European-looking place in the future under alien control; the Combine having assembled forces consisting of transhumans, as well as other methods of maintaining compliance, like using headcrabs as part of their biological warfare arsenal. You remember those from Half-Life, right? Gordon found himself yet again being manipulated by the mysterious G-man, and fighting alongside resistance members as well as some old friends from Black Mesa to take on the powers that controlled the City, as well as possibly many other cities of its kind across the world. Dr. Wallace Breen was one of the chief enemies in the game.

Half-Life 2, although arguably not the most graphically advanced game in the world at the time years ago, was still beautiful, and a marvelous game, with great AI and revolutionary physics, animation, gameplay, and story, and was applauded for its immense use of technology, unlike one of its main competitors of that year, Doom 3. It won numerous Game of the Year awards. If people thought that Half-Life was great, then Half-Life 2 was excellent, and is on many lists of greatest FPSs of all time, and its protagonist, Gordon, has been voted as one of the best heroes of any game, despite being a man of very few words, if any at all.

I have played this game at least a few times over the years, as well as the Episodes. When I originally got it, I couldn't wait until Christmas- I had to play it then and there. I remember for a whole few days during the summer holidays of 2004 I was stuck there playing it, just glued to the screen.

There was an expansion pack rumoured in 2005, called Half-Life: Aftermath, but this turned out to be a series of addons called the Episodes, which so far consists of Half-Life 2: Episode 1, Episode 2, and the yet to be released Episode 3, which is still in development. These episodes were part of a supposed revolutionary concept called "episodic content", which means that the masses don’t have to wait for the next game in the series, which in this case would be Half-Life 3. In a sense, the episodes are Half-Life 3, although some argue that Valve would have been able to develop and release a proper sequel in the last five years, and that the episodic content idea, although promising, hasn’t worked too well. In addition to the episodes, another addon called Lost Coast was also released for the game.

Besides this, Half-Life 2, using the Source engine has inspired many games which use the same technology, a lot of which Valve or teams hired by them, has made, as well as fan-made mods, including a remake of both Half-Life (Black Mesa Source), and the expansion, Opposing Force (Operation Black Mesa).

Games that used the Source engine include Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, SiN Episode 1: Emergence, and Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, as well as a Source engine version of They Hunger, called They Hunger: Lost Souls, which is yet to be released. They Hunger was an excellent three part mod for Half-Life.

So Valve, come on and hurry up with Half-Life 2: Episode 3 all ready!

Apocalypse Then: Half-Life 2

Did you Know that November is Valve/Half-Life Month?

Yes. It looks that way. It's just something I've noticed over time. If you look at the dates like this, you'll see what I mean:

• November 1, 1999: Half-Life: Opposing Force
• November 1, 2000: Richochet
  
• November 3, 1962: Gabe Newell
• November 8, 2000: Counter-Strike (Retail)
• November 14, 2001: Half-Life (PS2 release)
• November 14, 2001: Half-Life Decay (PS2)
• November 15, 2005: Half-Life 2 (Xbox)
  
• November 16, 2004: Half-Life 2
• November 17, 2009: Left 4 Dead 2 (TBR)
  
• November 18, 2008: Left 4 Dead
  
• November 19, 1998: Half-Life
• November 20, 2000: Gunman Chronicles
• November 22, 2007: Half-Life 2 Episode 2 (PS3)
• November 22, 2007: Team Fortress 2 (PS3)
  

So, it looks like a number of major titles, including both Half-Life and Half-Life 2, among other titles were released in this month in years past. Recently I posted about the tenth anniversary of Half-Life: Opposing Force, and also Gabe Newell's birthday. I guess the next one I'll post about is the upcoming 5th anniversary of Half-Life 2, and perhaps the 11th anniversary of Half-Life. I can't believe how many years have gone by.

You could argue that they are all bunched together because it's right there near Christmas, or perhaps it's because Gabe's birthday is in the month, or there could be some other conspiracy theory as to why this is, but still. Interesting...

Did you Know that November is Valve/Half-Life Month?

Half-Life 2: Episode 3- Left 4 Deaf

After many people were disappointed at the lack of a showing by Half-Life 2: Episode 3 at E3 in June, now, it's been revealed that the game is still alive, and may well add a deaf character in to the mix, who will be a long lost love interest of Alyx Vance. And I thought she was only interested in Gordon Freeman. Oh well, I never liked that little Halle Berry wannabe anyway.

But to see sign language and deaf people and stuff implemented in a game. I can't say I've ever seen or heard of that before.

Other funny comments on this story:

"So, now they are going to have Alyx teamed with a deaf and a mute."

Sources:

Half-Life 2: Episode 3 to include deaf character?
Valve to implement sign language in Half-Life 2: Episode 3

Half-Life 2: Episode 3- Left 4 Deaf

Gabe Newell Wants Your Money, and More Money

Maybe I took this the wrong way, but when I saw this headline over at several sites (I think it was GamePro first, as well Kotaku- originally Kotaku AU), I thought, "What the hell?"

Gabe Newell of Valve Corporation says he's interested in fan-funded games. He says that instead of going to fickle publishers for approval when it comes to games, he wants fans to give their money over to fund development.

One person over at Kotaku said that it wouldn't be practical with AAA games that cost tens of millions.

It's not usually how things work, but then again, Valve has brought new things to the table before. Think of Half-Life, and Half-Life 2, and how they both changed the way we looked at games. They became games that people aspired to- almost like measuring sticks of their respective eras, if you will.

Then there's Steam, the digital distribution platform, also by Valve, and DD is set to be the future of games.

But this...now fans have to fork out money for a game to be developed, and might even have to pay for the finished product as well.

I think this is going to be a controversial topic, and might even further alienate former and current Valve fans- the ones he's considering reaching out to. Remember L4D2, and how it was announced about five years too early?

All I want to know is, how did Gabe become so greedy, in addition to all ready being a fat b@stard?

He probably learned it from spending time working at Microsoft.

Sources:

Kotaku AU
Gabe Newell - Valve Software
Valve: Let Fans Fund Games Development [Valve]
Valve interested in fan funded projects

Gabe Newell Wants Your Money, and More Money