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Half Life 2 Episode 2 Due Out October 9th
Shacknews reports that Half-Life 2 Episode 2 is finally, finally, due out on the 9th of October. The game will release for the PC, 360, and PS3, and will be joined by Team Fortress 2 and the FPS/Puzzler Portal. "Today's news follows rumors originating last month that the PlayStation 3 versions of the games would be delayed into 2008. Valve's Doug Lombardi noted to Shacknews that development has been progressing well on all three platforms. Electronic Arts is distributing the games at retail as a package entitled Half-Life 2: The Orange Box, which also includes the original Half-Life 2 and last year's Half-Life 2: Episode One. It will sell for $49.99 on PC and $59.99 on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Previously, the company intended to sell a slimmer package, The Black Box, which would not include Half-Life 2 or Half-Life 2: Episode One, but those plans were cancelled last month. It is expected that Steam customers will retain the option to purchase only the newly-released games."
Now I just have to beat episode 1
We know its tough to read the article, but try reading the summary.
Did you not read the summary? Seriously, it is at the end of the FIRST PARAGRAPH.
Computers allow humans to make mistakes at the fastest speeds known, with the possible exception of tequila and handguns
Agreed. I wonder how many people are going to buy this simply for Portal and TF2?
I will, unless they re-instate the plack box for steam only or something similar to that.
I was personally very upset when they discontinued the black box plans.
I'm psyched about Team Fortress 2. All the exploiting retards (yes, bunnyhopping is an exploit, you CAN'T tell me an absurd speed acceleration "trick" that requires you to jump around like an idiot was intentionally designed into the game) will continue to exploit in their ancient version of TFC, while I can play a non-exploiting round of TF in TF2. If you want to be good at an FPS, be good by aiming more accurately and having quicker reflexes than your enemies, and in TF's case, mastering each class. Don't beat up on everybody by practicing an ancient (it dates back to quake 1) physics bug that pretty much can't be fixed without breaking the game or coming up with a new game engine.
After all, just because it makes the game more fun for you doesn't mean it makes it more fun for everyone else who is playing. And just because it takes practice to exploit doesn't mean its still the "proper" way of playing the game. Sure, athletes that take steroids still have to work on their strength and skills... but its still not fair to the people who understand that steroids/exploiting makes the game into an unfun excercise.
Excellent. This means that factoring in the usual "Valve can't make release dates" fudge factor, it should be out sometime in December, just in time for playing over the Christmas break!
It's even in the Wikipedia article; in the first paragraph there too.
I absolutely LOVED Half-Life 2, it ranks up there in my top 10 favourite games of all time...never got around to playing Episode 1.
Anyone care to share a first-hand opinion? Yes, I know it's (apparently) short, so other than that anyone have any comments about it?
Living With a Nerd
I haven't played a FPS on a regular basis since Quake III Arena... but I'm planning on buying this strictly for Portal as well!
Hire a Linux system administrator, systems engineer,
I love Half Life, Half Life 2, Half Life 2 - Episode One... but I have to take issue with a year and a half delay between one episode and the next. Calling it "episode two" does not make it episodic play in the sense that there is much real-life experiential continuity between the two. It has been so long now that I've somewhat forgotten how EP1 ended. Something about Alex getting killed (or was that from the preview of ep2?) and a train leaving and everything blowing up? I recall Valve saying they were developing the episodes concurrently but at $50/game and a 16 months inbetween, one may as well call them HL3 and HL4. Worse, the games are not "full" games in that they can be reasonably finished in 12-15 hours.
What made HL great is the more the story line than the software. It should not take over a year to write a new chapter and devise some new maps. If you want to create a true episodic experience, release new versions every 6-8 months with incremental improvements.
Reading this post I feel like comic book shop guy in the Simpsons. There is not an emoticon to describe how I am feeling!!
CommentBot 0.7a running with args "-module irritate,disagree -target random"
Then they don't deserve to be called "episodes."
...but is it art?
If you have Half-Life 2 then you can play the Exite Mod which has a "Portal Gun" and you open portals just like in Portal. I am pretty sure its legit because its been up for months if not a year now and its really fun! http://halflife2.filefront.com/file/HalfLife_2_Exi tE_Mod;70107
Only downside is sometimes on my computer I fall through the floor forever falling into the void or it crash's. But most of the time it runs great!
I looked through a lot of quotes about life and they are all bullocks.
Supposedly, you'll be able to buy the "Black Box" games through Steam as a single package, and the Orange Box just the only way those games are coming out in retail. The Orange Box will include three Steam codes: one for HL2, one for Ep1, one for TF2/Portal/Ep2.
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Valve has already said that on Steam you'll essentially be able to purchase the Black Box.
But don't buy it overpriced. In fact, see if you can borrow/buy cheaper copy. I didn't register my account with my original one. I used another name so I could give/sell it away. I did that on purpose because I knew the episode would have zero replayability.
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
Actually, Valve is doing much more than just making maps and storylines. Episode 1 saw a major revision to the source engine (HDR) and Episode 2 has a similar update to the engine so it remains 'current'. Also the programming behind portal and the changes to the engine it requires (orginally in Source you could never see your character). So dont think this is just new levels, it requires quite a lot of programming to get working properly.
I might be willing to buy it for just those two, but I'd definitely want to play EP2 also.
Hurry up and finish Minerva p.3
The map design is better, the graphics are improved (espe lighting), some of the "fight your way through a building" which in HL2 were... well, not tedious, but samey, now have more tension in them simply through the way the levels are designed.
You end up with some very panoramic or otherwise impressive views because of the way they are designed as well, and Episode 2 seems like it will continue that.
The gameplay is less varied, mostly because HL2 had several "episodes" to it (eg the driving), and this is smaller, but what is there, is better. It feels like the environment interacts more (more audio, especially the tannoy system announcements), more atmosphere. And rather than meeting a whole variety of characters, the play is more about you and Alex exploring together - the AI is very good both at playing Alex in gunfights, and making her interaction with you seem genuine, and warm as ever.
If you liked HL2, you'll find more beautiful environments, neat puzzles, good atmosphere, higher quality than the original HL2. (I replayed it just before EP1 came out so it was fresh, and recommend that)
It's short(ish), but don't race through it, savour it. It's certainly good value for money.
And to be honest, people who buy the PC version at retail are either stupid or ignorant (or on dialup).
They think that they're getting something concrete, that they're avoiding perceived problems with Steam. In fact, all they get is some DVDs with the Steam GCF cache files. In other words, they're still subject to the Steam system, and are in the exact same boat as somebody who bought it online. Considering buying the games on Steam is cheaper for the exact same thing (and really, the retail version isn't a usable game as shipped without Steam), the only possible reason anybody would have good reason to buy at retail is if they are stuck on dialup. And even then, they'd be better off saving themselves the retail premium, and buying the game on Steam and borrowing the GCF files from a friend to avoid the download off Steam.
As for people who REFUSE to buy off of Steam, I agree.
;) As for my electronic ego, my filelist on my school's Direct Connect hub is sufficient for me. Alas, to each his own. :)
In some cases though, you'll be able to find games on sale in retail stores before the price drops in the Steam store. For example, about 2 weeks after Episode 1 came out, Circuit City had a sale, and you could buy Ep1 for $10, when it was still $20 on Steam. I pre-ordered my copy on Steam (so it was ~$17 for me), but I could certainly see myself going for that if I'd decided to wait on buying the game till I'd read some reviews.
Other than that, the only explanation that makes sense to me is people who like to put their games on a bookshelf for the world to see. Personally, I prefer people to see "C in a Nutshell" and my first-edition "Black Hawk Down".
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Forget Portal and HL2Ep2...
I just can't wait for TF2! Heck, I remember preview screens back in 2000.
Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself. -- Leo Tolstoy