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Half-Life 2 - Aftermath
Eurogamer.com has word that the expected expansion pack for Half-Life 2 is already in the works. Reporting on information gleaned from PC Gamer UK, the site has learned that the expansion will be entitled 'Aftermath' and is currently slated for a summer release. Aftermath will deal with the fallout from the events at the close of the PC title as the residents of City 17 make for the hills in an attempt to get to safety. Alyx Vance, heroine and robot wrangler, will play a larger role in the expansion, but the article doesn't give specific details on what exactly her relationship to you as the player will be. From the article: "The reason we're able to do this, and why it's so exciting is because of Steam. If we were doing this without Steam we'd have to put it in a box, we'd have to start figuring out shelf space over a year beforehand. You'd see it six years from now..."
If they followed the lead of Epic Games, and gave out their expansions for free, then they wouldn't have to preach about the virtues of using steam to sell their content rather than putting a box on the shelf. It's not ever caused them any problems...
I really hate steam and the direction in which video game distribution is headed, it's the whole reason I refuse to buy games like Half Life 2. I would be willing to pay a little extra if I got a nicely packaged product with a large dead tree manual and the reassurance that I will be able to play it years down the road.
I wouldn't be surprised if the next generation of consoles use a steam like system as well, ala the Phantom Console. Count me out.
Will it have an ending? Because Half-Life 2 sure as hell didn't.
While I'll grant that steam is a wonderful phase of water. I'll stick with ice thank you...preferably with some scotch over it.
Even tho many of its early users hate steam, its an interesting way of pushing out software. Saves the gamemakers money, and the gamers legs.
The system had the verbosity of HTML combined with all the readability of compiled assembly viewed as bitmap images
Harper also admits later Gamer's feature that he's "desperate" to work on a mod based on Lemarr, the little headcrab.
I'm interested to see where this goes. First person crabber?
Steam is probably the most hated delivery system currently in existence.
The real reason Valve decided to release HL2 expansion packs is because it has the name "Half Life" preceding it. And if Valve had decided to release it six years later, there would be no interest, atleast not nearly anywhere as it is right now, and they would have to infact "fight" for shelf life. Right now, retailers would love to offer shelf space for a product, that they know will sell half a million copies, especially for a game which left us all hanging.
In six years, a lot of things can happen. Valve wouldnt be so stupid to wait six years.
Rapid Nirvana
Will Gordon finally say something?
hello dear sirs my name is jamesh i are india (bihar) can u guide me install red had linux 9?
The end of the game left the question and the real only possibility was she died -- So she lived? Does anyone have a storyline write up about all this? I did find a few sites that tried to piece together everything, but anyone know anything else?
Proceed with Format (Y/N)? Y
One of the few annoying bits of HL2 was keeping Alyx and Barney from getting killed when they charged blindly ahead into danger. The same goes for the other NPCs, but at least their deaths didn't end the game...
The Army reading list
"Half-Life: Aftermath" sounds pretty eerie but "Half-Life: After P.E." would really bring out all sorts of long buried terrors of heading to the locker room showers after a game of kill the nerd with the ball.
Well you have to think about the developers. Systems like steam are ideal for them. It allows them to cut out publishers and middle men entirely.
And when they want to stop support for a game, they can just yank it. That's bad for you, but good for them. I mean they're really only selling "licenses" to the game anyway, right?
What? Steam is the only direct-to-consumer internet-based game delivery service. Insomuch as a direct client-to-server experience with direct payment capacity in the client. You trash it because it is the only one available and the only one that has performed.
Like it or not, Steam has been a huge success and through the sale of HL2 (and subsequent server almost-meltdown) they have learned a lot of lessons. I never have problems playing any Valve games, from HL2 to Counter Strike. Any and all patches are applied quickly and easily with no input needed from me.
Call me what you like, but I -love- Steam and being ingrained in the independent game industry, I really like how it has been accepted, sometimes begrudgingly, by the game-buying public and geeks at large. I see its flaws, but I'm more of a silver lining guy myself.
This is the kind of service/platform that independent developers need, not shelf space. Games are becoming risk-adverse, and that means creativity suffers. Don't slam a great leap in technology and delivery. Instead, use it, provide some constructive criticism, but don't dismiss it.
I'll keep waiting for Day of Defeat for HL2. I can't stand all that hippie crap in HL2
If you aren't part of the solution, there is good money to be made prolonging the problem
The reason we're able to do this, and why it's so exciting is because of Steam. If we were doing this without Steam we'd have to put it in a box, we'd have to start figuring out shelf space over a year beforehand. You'd see it six years from now...
They managed to release about 900 jillion addons for the first Half Life, even without Steam, and they didn't take 6 years to hit the shelves. They hardly took 6 weeks.
See how much you love Steam when they decide people shouldn't play Half Life 2 or it's addons anymore, because it'll cut into the market for Half Life 3.
Just say no to crappy schemes like that. Sorry, I want to know the game will be playable 10, 20 years from now, provided I still have the right hardware to play it on.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
As long as they don't call anything "Yuri's Revenge" I guess I'll be happy...
-- Steve
Half-Life was delivered on paper tape, in several 50 lb boxes. And if the paper tape tore while you were reading it in, then you just didn't get that weapon or that sound effect.
Kids these days, they got it too easy...
here
"I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey
You'd see it six years from now...
Seriously, why six years? Is this why we haven't seen Duke Nukem yet? They've finished the game but they're taking 5 years to print up a stupid box?
You will probably get dozens of people replying to this post claiming that you're just another person whining about nothing. Ignore them, because they're unable to see the future of where this kind of distribution is headed.
I'm not so against online distribution in general, but I don't see it necessary to install this extra chunk of software on my machine that then connects to the net for the duration of my playtime.
Oh yeah; paranoia. Sorry about that, but I guess thousands of other peices of similar softare designed to monitor end-user behavior wouldn't be a good enough reason to fear this change. It doesn't matter that the developers have a goldmine worth of interest in pursing a path like that themselves, considering all the potential consumer research data and advertising possibilities once they have an established user base of apathetic and willing targets.
So, for people who are okay with Steam:
Why would Valve lie to you about these things? Take a look at the last several decades of the master-slave relationship between production of goods and consumers; the ads that fill your television, your web browsers, your news paper and your drive to work. Companies are greedy. They will not stop there when they can pipe it onto your desktop.
Wasn't the lack of physical distribution supposed to lower the price of this game? Why was it the same price when purchased online? Why did you ignore that fact and buy it anyways?
Because you are all tools.
...Valve's Gabe Newell simply refused to comment.
You can hold down the "B" button for continuous firing.
All Hail Glorious Steam! The answer to and cause of most of Valves problems it would seem...
crazy dynamite monkey
Because this technology is not balanced. It allows the creator much more control over it than the end user, which is the problem.
Here is a fact: Right now Valve is watching you every time you play, and gathering information on your user habits, play times, durations of play, PC settings, hardware configuration, and storing it for market research data.
It's so much not the distribution method as it is the software in question. There is no reason for me to have their software running on my desktop with an active connection while I play. There is no reason for me to have to activate a store-bought version of the game online. Oh yeah, I forgot I might be a potential thief!
Now let's look at it from their side. Here's a group of people who now have an administrative piece of software on your machine. What else can they send through its active connection? What can they take away?
The liberties awarded to Valve when their software is installed on your PC are too much to ignore.
I guess I should count myself as fortunate that I apparently don't seem to have problems with immersive 3D games, or reading in cars. Now if I had a computer that would run HL2 well... and space to put the giant case in which I'd have to put the hardware.
Honor Among Slackers. A veri
Really? Who is going to pay the designers, graphic artists and musicians who are needed for the content? Unlike programmers, they aren't stupid enough to work for free.
Oh wait, I forgot - they can sell tshirts or support. Or the engine could be free and the graphics/music etc could be pay! Thats great! We still don't have to pay those pesky programmers!
"The reason we're able to do this, and why it's so exciting is because of Steam. If we were doing this without Steam we'd have to put it in a box, we'd have to start figuring out shelf space over a year beforehand. You'd see it six years from now..."
Boy they must really think we are retarded.
Much less than a year after HL2 is released and its going to be ready, but we'd see it 6 years from now if it wasn't for steam.
I'm well aware he is exaggerating but it still doesn't remove the bullshit quotient.
So, the fact that at the launch I couldnt play the game I bought, the fact that months later at a LAN party only half the people could log in because steam puked, all that is supposed to be instantly negated by the wonderfull fact that Steam saves Valve some work.
That will mean a lot when they ditch steam and I can no longer go back and play my "vintage" copy of HL2.
"The saddest words of mice and men, are not those which were, but should have been."
Enable console, and type fov 90. 'nuff said.
I actually acknowledge the convenience of Steam for some folks, but requiring Steam-based activation is abhorrent. While I am supportive of any company trying the counter piracy, there are limits to what they should require of customers. I know it's easy to sit here and complain without offering another solution, but it's not my job to come up with a solution that makes customers happy, it is the developer's/publisher's and they would be much better of if they were to work out a more sensible solution. I bought HL2 and I'll probably pay for the addon, but if there were a method that did not require Steam (and were legal) I would use it in a heartbeat. But it is really not all bad, when I reformatted my machine and reinstalled HL2, I only needed to reinstall Steam and Steam did the rest. Now I can play HL2 without the CD and without using a no-cd crack, so I have done nothing immoral/illegal. So it's in interesting blend of freedom and restriction, in my opinion.
Got sushi? The Sushi FAQ
The issue with Half Life 2 was that it largely relied on action. For example, you'd spend X amount of time running around sewers/canals, and would be happily playing the game...
Only to be thrust into a ridiculous scene where you must shoot dozens of combine/aliens to progress (this happened a LOT more during the second half of HL2, culminating in the ironically unconclusive conclusion), compared with the very short scripted scenes in HL1 with the soldiers (which actually made me hope for more action!).
If Aftermath could somehow integrate the more "old school" system of HL1, and perhaps even introducing alternate routes throughout the game, which generally happens little in FPS's, then it could be an expansion worth having. If its just new uber-aliens and C&C Renegade-like combat then it will be of less value.
In short, games shouldn't have to rely on action which, while expensive/time consuming to create, ultimately leaves dissapointment in part of the audience. (Please don't mistake this for a troll, its just a reterospective opinion.)
Due to problems experienced at previous LANparties hosted by the Texas Gaming Festival, the upcoming 1,000-person lanparty in Austin, Texas will not feature any tournaments based on games that depend on Steam technology. This means no CounterStrike.
$5 / month hosted VPS on linux = awesome!
"I also heard stories about people getting sick when playing the first Descent game, which I guess was among the first full freedom full 3D games."
In Descent you flew a robot ship through tunnels and mines. There was no gravity and you could rotate on every axis. It was extremely easy to get disoriented in the game, see there wasn't really any true up or down. I never had a problem with space oriented games that used this type of control, but I guess it had something to do with the enclosed spaces.
I never threw up but I do recall bouts of nausea. I remember one head to head match I was playing over direct modem connection with a friend. After a particularly hairy match he just had to stop and go lie down, being on the verge of puking.
Sometimes my arms bend back.
...but a lot of people feel safer with [technology that works and doesn't take away your freedom].
Needing to authenticate to play a game offline is the greatest crime against gamers I can think ok. Fact is if this wasn't Half Life for that reason alone the game would have tanked otherwise.
But I suppose next your going to tell me how DRM is just the next "logical progression" to "protect users" and that people who buy will only buy CD's are just being silly for hanging on to the past.
If you wanna get rich, you know that payback is a bitch
I can understand why people hate Steam. But I have rarely had any problems at all with it, and furthermore, I am delighted to be able to give the entire price I paid for HL2 to Valve, and not a penny of it to a publisher.
that in order to play a game where you battle a hive-minded alien overlord you must subscribe to a hive-minded server overlord?
I thought the game was ok. Yeah a little linear and stuff. My biggest complaint was the ending. Was that just the biggest let down or what? I thought Dr.Freedman and Alyx where going to get some going....hell she was flirting with ya the entire game....
Insert funny smart-ass comment here.
I was one of the poor people that paid for the colectors edition.... I choose not to think how much i wasted on that. Then when i go home to play it, I'm not able to play it until the day after i buy it because of decrypting the game... And yes i had pre-downloaded it on steam also for you that are wondering.
Then on top of that I'm not able to play without a disc, but yet my friends that bought it on STEAM are able to do that? I can't say i remember the last time i had to put a disc in my computer to play a game. I have ISO backups i just mount in a virtual drive to do that. Makes life simpler.
Granted all you that claim you've never had a problem with STEAM, Have you ever gone to a big LAN and tried to use it?? Can you say disaster??
Granted if a LAN does have Internet half the time its limited and all the STEAM Clients just kill it. And if you don't have internet well... lets just hope you remembered to saver your client information.... I know i don't because i have different accounts for my different games.
For those of you that have said the patching works great. Have you actualy tried to play right after a patch? usualy something is always wrong that they have to release a patch for the patch. I also remember at least 2 instances where they had to re-call the update because it actualy messed more stuff up than it fixed.
What about when the authentication servers went down?? Half of the STEAM users were not able to log in for a day or two. I consider that a big issue.
Also I play Counter-Strike in online leagues. Steam creats so much more hassel than counter-strike ever caused before Steam was released (version 1.5). Your clientregistry.blob is bad. oh well time to restart and delete all your content on your computer so it downloads correctly again.
Also lets look at STEAM's Friends list. Now i must not have any friends cause i dont remember the last time that piece of coding worked on the system.... I haven't been able to log into the friends server for the past month, maybe month and a half. I've just given up on that.
For the casual gamer its ok for. But for those of us that enjoy playing it on a daily basis, we're punished for wanting to play a game we love. They refuse to give us other options, (they took the WON Servers down) and so we're stuck with the STEAM'ing pile of Coding they call an inovation....
Any Game developer can look at STEAM and realize this is what not to do.
One of the reasons Vivendi is allowing Valve (or not been able to stop them, or whatever) to distribute Half Life 2 over Steam, is because Valve has agreed to keep the price the same as the retail price.
Vivendi is a humongous company. They handle all the grunt work of packaging it, promoting it (in-store posters, etc), and getting it to the stores. Steam worries Vivendi, because it completely eliminates them (and any publisher) from the picture, because with Steam, publishers don't exist. If people had an incentive to buy Half Life 2 through Steam, as opposed to at retail, Vivendi would be pissed.
Valve would love to lower the Steam price, but there's a contract in place saying they can't. All the HL2 fan sites covered the lawsuit between Valve and Vivendi about HL2 publishing rights and Steam a few months before HL2 hit stores. There's a lot more to the pricing scheme than you realize.
I only use this PC for gaming, and I didn't install any new hardware or software - or even used the pc between my last successful gaming session and when this situation started. I know my account isn't hijacked or banned, because I was able to reset my password multiple times.
W T F?
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Will they give a discount of ~$5+ for people who d/l it off Steam? I didn't mind paying full price for HL2, but for the expansion
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