Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Half-Life 2 Coverage Appearing

Posted by simoniker on from the agonisingly-slow-disclosure dept.

scottcha+4 writes "When it was released in November 1998, Half-Life redefined the action gaming genre by combining fast-paced action and an intelligent, intense story. Players quickly began clamoring for a sequel, but developer Valve Software responded with silence. Five years later, the call for that sequel is as loud as ever. Get the details via this CNN story." The CNN coverage has a couple of amazing-looking screenshots and some brief details, but there's going to be a whole lot more after magazines like this arrive in stores and the press embargo is fully lifted.

48 comments

  1. Give ME this GAME NOW by Loosewire · · Score: 1

    I must PLAY, evaluate, rank, AND WIN!!

    --
    Slashdot - The one stop shop for procrastination
  2. What will they call it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Quarter life?

    1. Re:What will they call it? by Kelerain · · Score: 1

      well since 1/2*2 = 1 "Life" But that was already taken. Hopefully this game will be more interesting.. ;)

  3. Nice by __aafkqj3628 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This has been waited for sooooooo long.

    But how long before this becomes the next TF2? Hopefully, Valve is serious this time and manages to make a great game (like what TF2 could have been). Too bad we'll have to wait until E3 before they break this silence.

    1. Re:Nice by AtOMiCNebula · · Score: 1

      The CNN article said TF2 news would be made available closer or after the release date of Half-Life 2. Wouldn't it be awesome if TF2 was available right as HL2 was released? It'd be absolutely to have this game, and not be able to play your favorite mod on it. Speaking of mods...anyone know if a new version of Counter Strike will be released around the time of HL2? I imagine they'll have some form of CS (their most popular mod) available for it, whether it be in alpha/beta form, or (maybe I'm pushing it) even final form? With the graphics given in the CNN article...this game is going to kick ass. Good thing CNN's servers are immune to the slashdot effect ;)

    2. Re:Nice by __aafkqj3628 · · Score: 1

      No it wouldn't as that would be a horrible marketing strategy to release two games that are going to be very popular at the same time, from the same company!

      CS seems to be slowly dying from it's own problems and I don't think anybody knows when that thing will show itself again (because hopefully valve is focusing on HL2 and not a 3yr old MOD).

    3. Re:Nice by buffer-overflowed · · Score: 3, Funny

      When games are delayed and/or waited for this long, I always think of one game....

      Daikatana.

      Yes, I said it. I appologize for my vulgarity.

      --
      The key to the enjoyment of pop music is to replace any instance of "love" with "C.H.U.D."
    4. Re:Nice by __aafkqj3628 · · Score: 1

      I try to ignore that and think of Neverwinter Nights (much better).

  4. What? by mikedaisey · · Score: 1, Flamebait


    "fast-paced action and an intelligent, intense story. "

    Fast-paced--yes.
    Intelligent--no.

    Give me a break--half-life was many things, but smart wasn't one of them.

    1. Re:What? by MrHanky · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The story in itself was just as stupid as the story of Doom: "There's a portal to some hellish place, and now monsters are swarming around you. You have a crowbar. Can you save the world?"

      That's actually quite unimportant for an action game. I think what people perceive as "intelligent" in the story of Half-Life is the way it's told. It makes you wonder what is happening, what happens next, who are those people and why do they want to kill you?

      Doom and Unreal were just card games with shooting in them: find the key card, find the door, shoot some monsters. I think the story Doom was based on was about the same as Half-Life, but it never made me curious of what was happening. That's the difference of intelligence levels in the "stories". Half-Life had a more intelligent way to tell you what was going on, and that's all you can expect from a story in a game. It's not high literature.

      After all, you don't expect an FPS to be The Brothers Karamasov or Orlando, do you?

    2. Re:What? by The+J+Kid · · Score: 1

      intelligent - yes.

      If I can believe the 3 reviews I've read, the game seems to be really intelligent, not in the story, but the way everything (everyone) around you reacts to you.

      --
      Moderation: +4. Modded 70% Funny and 30% Overrated. 100% Saturated.
    3. Re:What? by mikedaisey · · Score: 1


      There's what we have learned to expect, and there is what could be. Either way, the game wasn't intelligent--and i *do* expect that as games evolve the gameplay should evolve and become more engaging with it. The industry's fascination with rendering and effects has unnecessarily hampered efforts to actually improve game play--and I haven't seen nearly as much improvement in FPS gameplay as we should have over the last 6-7 years.

      I shouldn't be fondly remembering MARATHON; I should be captivated by what has followed it. So far, it isn't really working for me.

  5. Half-Life 2? by Nathan+Ramella · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Merely a means to an end: Counterstrike 2! Lets hope they do some rigid security enhancements to limit cheating.

    --
    http://www.remix.net/
    1. Re:Half-Life 2? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Few thigns required for CS2 to be better than the
      first version.

      a linux client

      no cheaters hasnt any company learnt yet that you
      do all the validation on the server not the client !

      netcode that works
      a short delay to get in / out of sniper mode for
      the awm. This means you can get 1 shot kills but you need to get a good hiding spot since you cannot move for half a second or so.

  6. Ending by MBCook · · Score: 3, Insightful

    All I'll say is that I sure hope that Half-Life 2 has a better ending that the origional. Half-Life was one of the best games I've ever played, but it had one of the worst endings I've ever seen.

    --
    Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
    1. Re:Ending by torpor · · Score: 1

      I forget, how did it end?

      --
      ; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
    2. Re:Ending by dslpwr · · Score: 1

      Gordon Freeman is on a Black Mesa Tram going nowhere, and the G-Man offers him a job. If Gordon takes it, credits roll. If he doesn't, he gets teleported into the middle of a pack of Xen-ites, with no weapons.

      --
      www.robot-invasion.com smart-assed political news, humor, and commentary
    3. Re:Ending by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It was a great ending!! I even played the final level twice just to see what the outcome was when you took GMans offer AND put cheats on to explore the dark Xen level and see what could be done(sad I know). In fact, aside from C&C, it's the best ending for a PC game I've ever seen...

    4. Re:Ending by chemical55 · · Score: 1

      Which I guess in a way sets up a sequel perfectly. At least that is what I was thinking the first time I saw it.

  7. engine? by Khopesh · · Score: 1

    there seems to be nothing available out there...
    what sort of engine will hl2 use? quake3? castlewolfenstein? doom3? ut2k?
    when will counterstrike 2 follow?

    --
    Use my userscript to add story images to Slashdot. There's no going back.
    1. Re:engine? by Hadlock · · Score: 1

      half life 2 uses an in house engine. counterstrike 2 *cough* condition zero *cough* will be out in august

      --
      moox. for a new generation.
    2. Re:engine? by storem · · Score: 1

      From the site:
      The new engine is called the Source Engine.

      --
      StarTrek.org Free Webmail
    3. Re:engine? by dreadstar · · Score: 1

      I think valve wrote a new engine for the game. That would at least partially explain what took them so long. Of course they did mod Q2 engine the first time... Bah, now I'll have to buy a Radeon 9700 or something.

      --
      [In the deep dark forest of Hyrule...]
    4. Re:engine? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That would be the Q*1* engine they modded although it had networking components from the Q2 engine by the time it shipped.

  8. Name of the game... by dbirchall · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Half-Life 2 == Whole Life, but "Life" was already taken by a cellular automata game, and "Whole Life" sounded too insurance-oriented.

    1. Re:Name of the game... by $rtbl_this · · Score: 3, Funny

      "Whole Life" would be quite an honest name though, as that's what it's likely to consume.

      --
      "Are you being weird, or sarcastic?" said Emma. I said I didn't know because I get the two feelings mixed up.
    2. Re:Name of the game... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, the second half-life would not be the whole life, since it's fairly obvious they're talking about radioactivity here. it'd operate on a quarter of the material of the whole object (before decay). It's exactly equal in duration to the first half-life though. So therefore:

      Half-Life 2 == Half-Life 1, except with only half as much content.

  9. Just out of curiousity... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Is this section hidden from the majority of users? This is the first time I've seen the "games" section (in all of its purple and black glory), and the 3 previous articles have < 10 comments on them. What gives?

    1. Re:Just out of curiousity... by LeninZhiv · · Score: 1

      There are a number of sections like this (e.g. Apple, Developpers, Science) some or all of which which one must turn on in one's user preferences in order to see. The different colour schemes are the (relatively) new way of showing these "sections" of slashdot.

  10. color scheme by Sibelius · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    I like it a lot, actually. I never really had much to say about Slashdot's original near-grass-puke green.

  11. Screens from article by br0ck · · Score: 5, Informative

    For those that haven't seen them, 12 full size pics here and 30 more here.

    1. Re:Screens from article by Pup5 · · Score: 1


      Jeez, one subtitle is "Shock and Awe" and one is "Mother of All...". It's good to see that we take these middle-east wars seriously.

    2. Re:Screens from article by Alan · · Score: 1

      Looks like the 30 are just cut out from the 12 magazine scans....

  12. slaps Sierra round the face with a large trout by DrSkwid · · Score: 1

    We have detected that you do not have a recent version of Flash.
    To view this site you must have Flash 5 or newer.

    To download the latest version of Flash, click here

    oh, that's that sketch knackered then

    --
    There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
  13. Some more HL2 info from today by SolubleFrank · · Score: 1

    here.

    --
    Feed me a stray cat.
    1. Re:Some more HL2 info from today by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      More here on www.ferrago.co.uk

  14. Original HL Linux port....ever? by mahdi13 · · Score: 1

    With "Half-Life 2", Valve will once again offer the source code to modders.

    So when will they let the guys from icculus.org re-write the code for Linux? I know Valve has been asked but they seem to ignore the requests...maybe they won't be as rude with HL2?

    --
    "Some things have to be believed to be seen." - Ralph Hodgson
    1. Re:Original HL Linux port....ever? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thats unlikely to be the "engine" code, its most likely the "game logic" portion of the game excactly like Half-Life 1....

      If you really really want to have a native half-life for your OS flavour, I suggest taking one of the improved quake 1 engines, and make them run HL bsp,`s (including the scripted seqences) wad`s, pak`s and models. The original quake engine was valve`s starting point, with its source under GPL and many incredible improvements already there I see no reason why it can`t be yours. If you would want half-life compatible multiplayer you would need to do some serious reverse engineering though, the netcode is all new.

      On the game design front you would be in heaven! No chance of getting the counterstrike source (valve would be crazy, it would make CS free as in beer) but the source code to many other community mods might be available. Game dll`s are there and the server side is always ported to linux for the dedicated server. I would say if succesfull this project would give linux users instantanious acces to the work of *huge* community of mappers, mod-ers and other artists. It would add about anything fps players can wish for in linux gaming, just pick a mod in your style and port it!

      Nice as this dream may be, I also used to dream about half-life 2 being stricly realistic (including the alien part, no more 2 legs 2 arms big green head asking to be taken to our leader!). I dream on about it being powered by a doom 3 engine that had the same work on it as the quake 1 engine for HL1. I wanted to feel the fear of headcrabs again while walking down a narrow coridor next to a huge particle accelerator, with the incredible lighting seen in doom3 (sorry JC, I just HAD to peek). Also I would not be able to get out without knowing how to operate that very particle accelarator, no more jumping puzzeles, real SCI in SF! And this time the non player character actually could fight, but ddn`t for reasons fluiently woven into the story line so you can still have the chilling lonly feeling when entering a big room, knowing its filled with hidden creatures with their own tactiv for survival, their own tactic for killing you! Just think back to the first time you encountered female assasins... and think realistic shadows and bumpmaps... Hey I can always dream, the engine doesn`t look "doom3" and the heads of the human models are mounted awkward, sugesting skeletons/animations bellow the UT2003 quality... but hey how can a game live up the the legacy of Half-life?

  15. Bah, forget the single player... by pdboddy · · Score: 2, Informative

    Bring on the multi-player! Nothing more satisfying than hearing the crunch of your crowbar thudding off the skull of some poor sap who missed you at close range with a rocket launcher. Woo, and thanks /. for the games section!

    --
    Julie Moult is an idiot.
  16. Why TF2 was delayed by johannesg · · Score: 1
    I have a copy here of PC Gameplay (the Belgium magazine featuring HL2). It has a long interview with Gabe Newell, and he states that TF2 was delayed because it uses the HL2 engine which they did not want to reveal before HL2 itself was revealed.

    As for a date, all he says is "coming soon". I'm sure that makes you feel better ;-)

  17. For the IQ lacking out there. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    HL2 is NOT based on anyother engine.

    valve started work on TF2, which was planned to be based on the HL engine. They then started the project and then foundout that the HL engine had too many limitations. They then started work on a fresh new engine. But, alas, along came Battlefield1942, which is VERY VERY similar to what valve had planned TF2 to be (except TF2 wouldnt be set in WW2) so i understand they pushed aside the idea of TF2 and started on HL2.

    as for the cheating problem, they better have written some VERY solid code, because VAC is just bullshit...

    thedoublehelix

  18. What The? by fatboyslack · · Score: 1

    Alright, I'll bite, as in I disagree. Back in the day, Half-life had an amazing and intelligent story line, especially when compared to most games. I mean, the whole problem was more or less caused by yourself (Freeman) and his nutty scientist co-workers meddling with stuff they didn't understand and Freeman shoving in that unusual material that he was testing in too far. For computer games, the story was intelligent. Or are you comparing it with Shakespeare, Twain and other authors of note? But, I digress. You've got the Army, coming in to wipe out the aliens, and scientists alike. You had goofy security guards, who helped/hindered you. You were captured and lost everything... you had the large monster that could hear sound and where ever you walked it would split you in two... then you had the whole g-man x-file"ish" conspiracy. I loved the story, and I thought it was well thought through. Hell, the whole situation was the Freemans fault, and I find that an amusing irony. Which brings this ramble/rant to humour (proper spelling, UK/AU!) which was superb in HL, with the scientists trying to escape into the air duct and then the next thing you see is a couple of bones fly back out, and Barney and his wise-cracks... Half-life was many things, and smart was one of them.
    Actually if you want to get pseudo-intellectual, the whole scientific dilemma of playing around with things in an unprofessional manner, and the results, as well as the military response to the crisis were intelligent comments relevant in todays society.
    Man, I feel like I'm writing my honours project again... If I wasn't at work, I'd spend more time. But really.

    --
    Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself. -- Leo Tolstoy
  19. any bets on which game is ... by GldisAter · · Score: 1

    ... going to be the next Sin?

    1. Re:any bets on which game is ... by JDWTopGuy · · Score: 1

      Duke Nukem Forever!

      --
      Ron Paul 2012
  20. Re:engine? No, silly! by judowillreturns · · Score: 1

    Castle Wolfenstein uses the Quake 3 engine! (Which is old now anyway)
    The UT2k3 engine usually is a preface to cluttered levels with lots of snags. This can lead to all sorts of graphical courruption with lower end cards.
    Doom 3 isn't out yet, so I doubt that they'd license thier engine alredy.
    By process of elimination, they'll most likely make thier own engine....or you could just read that comment above....