Half-Life 2 Returns

[illuminati]

Half-Life 2 is on track to arrive this summer, to the delight of many.

"The game is very close to completion," says Doug Lombardi, Valve's director of marketing, "so the only difficulty in pulling this year's demo together is narrowing down the scenes to show in the two Half-Life 2 theaters." (Both Vivendi Universal Games and ATI have theaters in their E3 booths.)



http://www.e3insider.com/articles/insid ... BJOU5U.htm

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[Tombstone]

Ahhh...Half-Life.

I've been around for a few years. Used to play binary Star Trek on our University's VAX oh so long ago. (After I finished my Quantitative Analysis projects on (what else) - a punch card machine.)

Half-Life, I believe, is still the best first person shooter game ever to be published. Engrossing and addicting.

Halo is nice for the XBox, but nothing compared to the realism, feeling, and just plain immersive nature of Half-Life.

I'll be at the store to buy the first copies. See you there!

[CVX]

I agree wholeheartedly. It was the first game I ever played that made me feel a part of the novel, the story. Better yet, it was like a Stephen King novel.

Here are some screenshots to wet your whistles.

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[CVX]

And a few more...

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[CVX]

Valve Opens Counter-Strike Source Beta

Phase 1 of the Counter-Strike: Source beta has opened at cyber cafes that subscribe to the Valve Cyber Café Program. A full listing of those venues can be found here: http://www.steampowered.com/?area=cafe_directory

Later this month, the beta will be extended to owners of Counter-Strike: Condition Zero and ATIHalf-Life 2 video card bundle owners.



Counter-Strike: Source Beta Pre-Loading to Cyber Cafés

Pre-loading of the Counter-Strike: Source beta to cyber cafés begins today. On Wednesday, this first phase of the beta will open and the game will be playable at all cyber cafes that subscribe to the Valve Cyber Café Program. Later this month, the beta will be extended to owners of Counter-Strike➢: Condition Zero➢ and ATI Fulfillment Coupon holders.

This beta serves as a compatibility test of the Source engine as we near the completion of development on Half-Life 2 and Counter-Strike: Source. During this limited-time beta, issues can be reported using the in-game bug-reporting tool. In addition any crashes will automatically generate a report back to Valve’s bug database. We thank everyone for their participation, and we hope Half-Life 2 and Counter-Strike: Source live up to your expectations.

[Tombstone]

This thread is really getting me pretty jazzed about the upcoming release!

Taken from: http://www.planethalflife.com/half-life2/

Gordon Freeman is back! Along with scientist Eli Vance and his daughter Alyx, your mission is to save the world from total alien domination. See, that little incident in Black Mesa was just the beginning: now those pesky Xen invaders and a new threat called the Combine have spread across the whole Earth, causing massive amounts of death and destruction. It’s up to you to set things right.

Half-Life 2 picks up some time after the original Half-Life left off - with Gordon working for the G-Man - and takes place in and around an eastern European-type city called City 17. Multiplayer with "at least 32 players" will be included, but Valve hasn't disclosed much additional info about online play at this time (although we do know there won't be built-in co-op). For more information, check out GameSpy.com's Half-Life 2 preview.

Half-Life 2 is powered by Valve's new internally developed "Source" engine.

As for the release date... nobody really knows, and any release date estimates you see online are only guesses. This CNN Article has more:

While still shying away from giving a firm date, Doug Lombardi, Valve's director of marketing, told me the company "is currently targeting this summer for the completion of Half-Life 2".

Valve does not plan to reveal any additional information until the time surrounding the E3 trade show, where the game will once again be shown this year. E3 will be held in Los Angeles May 12-14.

To see what Half-Life 2 looks like in action, check out our extensive collection of screenshots and videos!

[anastrophe]

something to keep in mind is that if you want a really excellent playing experience for half-life 2 (or doom III which is just out as well), you really need a top-of-the-line video card. and i mean top.

since i can't afford such a beast, i'm deferring both half-life 2 and doom III for probably a year. by then, this year's top end will be budget-bin.



i'm mostly looking forward to Halo 2, which will be out november 6th, for the Xbox. there, i won't have to upgrade anything.

[Tombstone]

A few magnificent screenshots.

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[anastrophe]

simply amazing.

[Tombstone]

And a few more choice screenshots.

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[Tombstone]

Sad, but OH SO True. What about the alternative? Play on your xbox?

Half-Life 2 is planned to be released for the Xbox. Let me see if I can dig up some screenshots so we can all compare between the Xbox version and the PC version.

I'm curious. I'll be back.



anastrophe wrote: something to keep in mind is that if you want a really excellent playing experience for half-life 2 (or doom III which is just out as well), you really need a top-of-the-line video card. and i mean top.

since i can't afford such a beast, i'm deferring both half-life 2 and doom III for probably a year. by then, this year's top end will be budget-bin.



i'm mostly looking forward to Halo 2, which will be out november 6th, for the Xbox. there, i won't have to upgrade anything.

[anastrophe]

oh, i'm quite certain the xbox version will lack much of the detail of the PC version, since the graphics engine in the xbox is several generations old. but because the xbox doesn't need to support an operating system, more of the GPU's horsepower is available, so in relative terms, it does better than an equivalent power PC. does that make sense?

[Tombstone]

Yes it does. I will bet that xbox will have a super nice implementation though.

We purchased CounterStrike for Xbox - and it is much nicer quality than the PC version.

Still looking for those screenshots!

By the way. Here is some relevant information:

* Like the original Half-Life, Valve currently has no plans for a pre-release demo (Half-Life: Day One wasn't an official demo).

* Barney is back, and all the voice actors from the original Half-Life are reprising their roles. Also returning is Half-Life's original writer, Marc Laidlaw.

* While the new engine has all sorts of fancy features, it's still designed to scale and work on lower-end machines. Apparently a 700mhz processor and a video card capable of running DX6 is enough, although a 2ghz with a GeForce4 is recommended. Rumors about NVidia or ATI exclusivity are unfounded.

*Alyx is not a playable character. You're still Gordon Freeman, and Gordon doesn't talk. Nor will there be cut scenes.

* Scripted Sequences will be more interactive.

*ALL objects in the game world are affected by the physics.

* Movement speed of HL will be retained.

* There will be drivable vehicles in both single and multiplayer.

* Known locations: City 17, a harbor, a jail, the suburbs, a dried up ocean, an icebreaker ship.

* An upgraded Hammer editor should ship with the game, but instead of just editing maps it's now described as a "complete development environment" for maps, mods, and more.

* Valve is apparently already working on a Half-Life 2 expansion pack.

* Half-Life 3 is planned, so expect another cliffhanger ending.

anastrophe wrote: oh, i'm quite certain the xbox version will lack much of the detail of the PC version, since the graphics engine in the xbox is several generations old. but because the xbox doesn't need to support an operating system, more of the GPU's horsepower is available, so in relative terms, it does better than an equivalent power PC. does that make sense?

[Tombstone]

Valve reveals what it will take to run Half-Life 2 (PC)

Valve's Gabe Newell today gave us a glimpse of what it will take to run their highly anticipated sequel Half-Life 2.

By Rainier Van Autrijve | July 12, 2004

Valve's Gabe Newell today gave us a glimpse of what it will take to run their highly anticipated sequel Half-Life 2.

The basic specs will require you to have a 1.2Ghz processor, 256Mb of RAM and a DirectX 7 enabled graphics card, although to really enjoy the bells & whistles of the game Valve recommends a 2.4Ghz processor, 512Mb of RAM and a DirectX 9 card.

Earlier Valve has claimed that Half-Life 2 would be playable on really minimalistic system specs (700mhz cpu, TNT2 gfx card), but apparently those were aimed a bit low, although the revised minimum specs are still on the low end of the gaming spectrum.

[Tombstone]

Half-Life 2 Pre-Loading Begins

August 26, 2004, 6:55 pm · cliffe



Half-Life 2 pre-loading begins to Steam account holders today. Over the coming days, those who have selected the pre-loading option will have encrypted Half-Life 2 files delivered to their PC. No purchase is required to pre-load HL2, but is required to activate the game. Purchase options will be released soon. Then, the moment the game is made available, those who have pre-loaded and purchased Half-Life 2 via Steam will be authenticated and ready to start playing. For more information, please visit www.steampowered.com.