Slashdot Mirror
Half-Life 3 on the XBox 360?
BizidyDizidy writes "According to a slide taken from a spanish XBox 360 presentation, Half-Life 3 will be developed for the new system. Could this be the Halo of the next generation? Combining this with the reported 300 dollar price point and early release date, a rosy picture for XBox seems to emerge. Is a killer-app like HL3 enough to sway you to choose a system?"
HL3 on the XBox 360 only helps if it's exclusive or relatively far in advance of the PC Release of the same game.
Being a hardcore HL player for years, as well as a PC only gamer, this would dissapoint me quite a bit if it was not released on the PC as well.
As long as it comes out for PC, I'm happy.
Pretty Pictures!
... And Valve would throw away all its modders?
It's highly likely that a Half-Life 3 would be ported to at least one console, like with the first two games, but a successful PC game developer chucking away modders, its Steam distribution platform, audience etc.? Hmm...
Tedious Bloggy Stuff - hooray?
Sure, HL3 is reason enough to grab a system........ whenever HL3 comes out, anyway. (2 years? 5 years?)
I mean, imagine if Super Mario 64 didn't come out for the N64 until a few years into the system's life, and you basically have the same opening launch lineup that the XBox 360 is looking at right now.
November fast approaches, Microsoft... where's your killer app?
No - I wouldn't buy an xbox just for HL3. Don't get me wrong, HL2 was good - but by no means a killer app nor has it the swaying power to make me get a single console over another...
Halo was the killer-app for me for xbox 1. Problem was, at the time, I thought there was enough on the xbox to keep me in gaming bliss for a while. Turns out there wasn't, and then my system started to crap out on me(dvd drive isn't reading right anymore), basically leaving me with not only a few games I can't play elsewhere, but I system I almost wish I hadn't gotten.
Prior experience with the xbox will shy me away from buying the xbox 360, but even still, at the time, Halo was enough to get me to buy. I'm sure, Halo 3 will be enough for many people to buy, and if they have HL 3, then it's a whole set of 3's for Microsoft, and they'll get their numbers, with or without me.
I'd buy an Xbox360 for HL 3 if a variety of conditions were met, and I doubt they will be:
1. HL 3 will have to be good (this is probably the easiest condition to meet. Say what you will about Valve, they know how to make a great single player FPS).
2. XBox 360 will have to support usb keyboards and mice. I'm not going to bother with an undersized, overpriced, semi-functional, half-supported pseudo-keyboard/mouse combo. FPSes simply aren't nearly as enjoyable without this method of control (at least not fo me).
3. HL 3 will have to require a significant PC upgrade for me. If it doesn't, then I'll simply get the PC version.
4. Some kind of mod compatibility. This is the most difficult of my requirements, obviously, and I doubt it will happen. But I also don't think 2 or 3 are all that likely.
All in all, I don't think a game not designed for the console's native control scheme is going to be much of a 'killer app'. After all, it's the mods that made the HL series truely great, and I don't see MS supporting the community...
Is a killer-app like HL3 enough to sway you to choose a system?"
:P)
What use is a game console without any games!?!? (and this is coming from a mac user
----
Go canucks, habs, and sens!
Wow, that's some hard-hitting journalism there. You're really going out on a limb with this one.
Usually it's single games that affect my decision. I bought an N64 back in the day just to play Zelda64. It was perhaps the only likable game I had for the system, but it was well worth what I paid for it, even if I only used the console for that one game. Next I got a PS2 in order to play the Final Fantasy games, which was mostly what I did with my SNES. I own other PS2 games, but I haven't played them as much or gotten as much enjoyment out of them.
If I can ever afford a new console, XBox 360 is fast becoming the most attractive option, but I will of course be playing the waiting game. That's what I did with my PS2, and it certainly paid off. I'm eager to see the offerings from every company.
The console that has captured most of my interest, however, is the new Gamepark handheld coming out. I haven't even finished lusting after the GP32, and already they're throwing another in my face!
Hmm, maybe the Spanish translators had issues and its actually just Halo 3 being developed for the XBOX360....
Since when has a Half Life ever even been an exclusive among consoles? HL1 was released on DreamCast, PS2 AND XBox. There is absolutely nothing even hinting at that Valve wants to make this an XBox exclusive. It's simply the case of the first man spilling the beans, most likely too early (it's in Spanish, right? Then most likely they don't have the best ties with Valve (you know, 'cause they speak English and all) and therefore could easily have slipped up when they were supposed to make it secret).
I would buy a 360 just for Half Life 3(that's after the game is reviewed). The thing though is that I will already have a 360 just for PGR3 and Gears of War. I don't game on my computer. I do everything but game on it. Though playing GBA games doesn't count.:dodgy:
Small correction - HL1 was not released for Xbox (although Counterstrike, possible a version identical to source, was).
"Is a killer-app like HL3 enough to sway you to choose a system?"
Not if I can't use a mouse and WASD!
-ubuntu others as you would have others ubuntu you.
Valve is not stupid enough to abandon Steam. Steam is their vision and plan for the future, without HL3 they would lose a lot of money. Obviously Valve is very close to MS with Gabe Newell being a former employee and all, so perhaps we'll something like HL3 being exclusive to the Xbox360, among the consoles only.
I really hope this was parody. The language is no better than that of the obnoxious kids you meet on Counterstrike.
It is always your option to find a properly moderated server that suits your needs. I find them all the time without looking that hard. I certainly don't see anything in CS that "corrupts our children" since the game encourages teamwork and planning.
Besides this, I don't see what this has to do with Half-life 3, which would presumably be primarily a one-player experience like the previous two games. Or how it would keep CS out of the hands of kids, who will presumably also have consoles.
As for the idea of "unauthorized modifications," Valve encourages mods. As a matter of a fact, they make their bread and butter off of selling a moddable game and hiring up the best modders to fill out their portfolio.
And if you want to "buy American," maybe you should be concerned with more high volume or high cost products like clothes and cars. It's not as if the PS2 is suddenly taking jobs away from the US. I don't care much where something is made as long as it isn't overpriced or a product of slave labor, but if I did I think my priorities would go beyond what game console I choose.
HL1 also wasn't released for the DC, though they ported it (but didn't finish debugging) and you can find an almost-entirely-working version (including Blue Shift) on various P2P services.
Slashdot - Mutual Assured Discussion
This simply won't happen. It would take Valve YEARS to develop a sequel to HL2. It is taking them well over a year to develop Lost Coast. Moreover, still under development is TFC2 and CS2. More likely is that HL2 will be ported to the 360 rather than the XBox so that no loss of quality (other than controls) is necessary (see Doom3 for example of quality loss). Unless the XBox 360 will be able to run Steam I highly doubt HL3 will be released for it anytime near the PC release.
-illumina+us "I put on my robe and wizard hat..."
My answer is no. I waited till November of 2004 to get my first X-Box. I was able to buy it new for $180 and got four games and a racing wheel from a Toys'R'Us sale. I'll wait a few years until a deal like that comes around for the 360.
Is a killer app like HL3 enough to drive me to buy an XBOX 360?
No. Half Life has never been a killer app. HL2 is not either. They are both incredible games. Great stories. But I would never make a hardware purchase based on them alone.
A series of killer apps or really good games is what it would take me to buy any console. I did not buy a PS2 until recently. It now has a very solid base of very good games. I did not buy it because of any one game.
Yes, I too can not see the logic in an exclusive deal for any future versions of Half Life. But thats not the question at hand.
Bet you can guess who's not going to be an early adopter for this platform.
Valve would be doing a service to the entire online gaming community, and for the children of America, if they went to Xbox 360 exclusively (an AMERICAN made console BTW).
Ummm... American Made?
The ATI GPU is being manufactured by TSMC is Taiwan. The hard drive is being manufactured by Seagate in Singapore. The memory is being manufactured by NEC in Japan. The DVD drive is manufactured by Toshiba in Japan. The connectors are being built by FoxLink & Ji-Haw in Taiwan. The final assembly is being done in China. Just about the only thing in the whole damn console being made in the US is the CPU's coming out of IBM's fabrication facility in New York.
American made? Walter. Tango. Foxtrot.
Enough of this price point jargon. Just say PRICE you richard craniums.
Actually they use Western Digital Hard drives made in Thailand. And DVD-ROM drives from Korea.
Seagate from Singapore is probably just way too spendy.
Also don't forget the assembly and packaging in Mexico or China! mmmm hmmm made in America!
It'll come down to just how much money Microsoft is willing to dangle in front of Valve up-front for exclusivity (or at least semi-exclusivity).
Valve, of all companies, knows what a huge sales driver the mod / aftermarket community is. Just look at the record sales of Halflife 1 Game of the Year, Counterstrike, Opposing Force, Day of Defeat, etc. Packs, which basically involved NO development cost on Valve's part. These packs were either retail packaging of community created mods (Counterstrike, Day of Defeat) or low cost additional content created by third party studios. (Opposing Force). The primary impetous for purchase however was the ability to play any of the literally hundreds of other mods available free for download.
Now with Steam (admitedly forcibly) in place, Valve has a great system for distribution of other worthwhile mods and "content" packs.
I doubt seriously that Valve will be willing to dampen this revenue stream by moving to a console unless Microsoft offers them enough money to compensate.
"42"
According to microsoft it's Seagate
---- Den ene knappen er powerknapp, den andre er Bender voice knapp "Bite My Shiny Metal Ass"
The list with HL3 on is a list of engines not a list of games... for example it also includes Crytek...not Far Cry
The PS3 and 360 are both going to be FPS/sports/big-name developer/licensed content consoles. They are just too expensive and lengthy to develop for. Only the big fish are going to be developing for them which means more of the same with no innovation. Who can afford to innovate when games will be moving into the 7-8 digit range in costs?
HL3 and all the FPS titles in the world are not enough to draw me and my gaming dollar.
http://teasphere.wordpress.com - A little spot of tea
Apparantly he's another one of those flag-waving blind patriots who equate "American company" with "American made."
Kinda like those folks with "Buy American" bumper stickers on their Dodge Rams, probably unaware of the fact that many of them are assembled in Mexico. Oh yeah, and let's not forget that Dodge is owned by DaimlerChrysler, a primarily German company.
No. Otherwise, I would be running Windows so I could play all of the great and exciting games that come out and are never ported to my platform of choice. Maybe it is just me, but I think the idea of purchasing a piece of hardware, particularly a console, on the sole basis of a single game is insane. Wouldn't it make more sense to buy the system that is more likely to have the games that you want? Maybe even support a company that has always delivered the games that you want?
It took Valve nearly five years just to create Half-Life 2, and they still haven't even released the expansion level (Lost Coast) for that game yet. There's no concievable way they could have Half-Life 3 ready for the Xbox 360 release. Not to mention the massive investment they've made into their content delivery system Steam. This is just an incorrect rumor.
FPS games should be confined to the PC, and possibly systems that have some other way to control it, because dual analog just isn't worthy in comparison to mouse and keyboard. Too bad people don't have this common sense.
"Buy American" - maybe they're referring to the continent rather than the country?
:)
More likely they just forgot the punctuation. It's supposed to say "Buy, American!" - a friendly message from your corporate overlords
I quit!
No 360, period. I just don't like controllers for FPS or TPS games. I have an Xbox now, and have bought several titles (and rented several more) that are not fun at all to play because of the controller. Some people can blaze away with the Xbox or other controllers, but I can't. Keyboard and mouse are simply more ergonomic for me.
If HL3 (or HL2, anything that uses Steam) was released on a console, wouldn't that be the first time crippleware was released for a console? It's not even that common on PC is it? Windows XP, Norton and HL2 are the only ones I know of personally.
Could such activation even work on a console, they all have Internet access these days, but AFAIK HL2 requires mass downloading to unbreak on first use? Does the 360 have a HDD as standard?
half-Life 3 would be a good edition to the xbox 360 line up.