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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.
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
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.
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.
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?
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.
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!
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
"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
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 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?