Fans Bring Back Half Life Game Series: Black Mesa Mod Launches 9/14

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Fans Bring Back Half Life Game Series: Black Mesa Mod Launches 9/14

Posted by samzenpus on Monday September 3, 2012 @09:28AM from the back-by-popular-demand dept.

MojoKid writes "In a little less than two weeks, Half Life fans will have an opportunity to relive Valve's original 1998 title Half Life, albeit reborn and modified using the company's Source engine. The ambitious third-party project is called Black Mesa (previously known as Black Mesa: Source) and it's been in development for eight years. Black Mesa will deliver Half Life as you've never seen it before. It will have all new graphics, maps, a new soundtrack, updated voice acting, support for multi-core processors, hardware accelerated facial animation, and other goodies."

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Colour me a cynic for saying this... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-03 09:30 · Score: 1

Yeah, sure it will.
1. Re:Colour me a cynic for saying this... by The+MAZZTer · 2012-09-03 09:31 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  No really, it will.
2. Re:Colour me a cynic for saying this... by Jonah+Hex · 2012-09-03 09:41 · Score: 1
  
  I've been disappointed that I couldn't download and play early builds every time I've looked at the project. They really should of released early to get more people interested, I'm dying to see it as much as the next original Half Life player (yeah I'm old) but with only soundtracks and demo videos available I'm not as excited as if I'd played a new build every six months or so. - HEX
  
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3. Re:Colour me a cynic for saying this... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-03 10:01 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Therein lies the root of my cynicism. Nearly a decade in the offing, little more than a few trailers and some concept them suddenly *boom*. I wish the team every success, but I'm afraid it will take more than a countdown and a nugget of backstory before I can offer them my congratulations.
4. Re:Colour me a cynic for saying this... by NoSleepDemon · 2012-09-03 10:40 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Anon doesn't deserve a downvote, the mod has been "nearly done" for a while now, it's pretty much the Duke Nukem Forever of mods. I do hope that the wait was worth it, and I shall certainly get the mod and see for myself, but cynicism in this case is quite forgiveable.
5. Re:Colour me a cynic for saying this... by anomaly256 · 2012-09-03 11:41 · Score: 2
  
  Each to their own. I think I would be less interested if I played betas of it every few months. I tried this with Endless Space and although I liked 'having a say' and getting in early, now that it's released it's also old to me and not exciting any more. Still fun for a few hours of a rainy day but it doesn't offer anything new any more. The same would be true of this project had I been in on the dev - by now I'd be tired of it but instead I'm eager for it to be released and see it fresh as a finished product
6. Re:Colour me a cynic for saying this... by hairyfeet · 2012-09-03 11:43 · Score: 1
  
  Well to be fair they are basically releasing the original HL 1 in completely new HD format, so I imagine they had to get a greenlight from Valve before doing any releases. This isn't like some mod where you take the engine and cook up your own stuff, this is HL 1 scene by scene perfectly copied.
  Personally as someone who owns the HL series I hope Valve snatches this up and just adds it to the HL goodness, from what I've seen it certainly looks better than Valve's own HL Source.
  
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  ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
7. Re:Colour me a cynic for saying this... by Baloroth · 2012-09-03 12:02 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Why? A mod is not done until it is done, and when it is being created by fans for free, it tends to take a while and proceed entirely at the pace of the people creating it, which (since they aren't being paid to do it under a certain time) is "whenever they feel like working on it." All properly done video games are "nearly done" for a very long time (years, sometimes) because going from nearly done to actually done is usually the longest part. Sometimes, they never actually do get finished even if they are released.
  And Duke Nukem Forever is rather a bad example, given that, you know, it actually came out. More importantly, to my knowledge the developers of Black Mesa have never announced a release date or given a completion quantity ever, so the fact that they are now means there is no prior justification for such cynicism, since your hopes have never been actually let down. They have only been let down in your mind, which expected it to be finished before now. You really shouldn't be cynical if they've never actually failed yet.
  
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8. Re:Colour me a cynic for saying this... by interkin3tic · 2012-09-03 12:08 · Score: 1
  
  "Nearly done" is a long ways from "It will be here in 11 days." 11 days from release, DNF had already gone from "vaporware" to "whatever the opposite of vaporware is" to "gold." The mediocre reviews had not come out at that point, but it was a real thing.
  
  Was there a countdown that got down to "less than 2 weeks" that was then pushed back for DNF? I can't remember any, but I wasn't waiting for that game.
9. Re:Colour me a cynic for saying this... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-03 12:09 · Score: 0, Offtopic
  
  I really wish people would stop saying fucking 'downvote' here. This isn't reddit. If you want reddit go to reddit.
10. Re:Colour me a cynic for saying this... by Pseudonym · 2012-09-03 12:10 · Score: 1
  
  To be fair, this was a "spare time" project by fans, which means that schedules are inherently unreliable.
  The good news is I won my bet about whether Black Mesa or Ep3 would come out first.
  
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  sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
11. Re:Colour me a cynic for saying this... by hairyfeet · 2012-09-03 12:11 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  What has me worried is TFA states, and I quote "This will include our re-envisioning of Half-Life all the way up to Lambda Core."...uhhh...that's nice, except that is NOT where HL 1 ends, there's four more levels after that, Xen, Gonarch's Lair, Interloper, and Nihalinth.
  So they've spent all these years and its just gonna end before it gets to the climax? What good is that?
  
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12. Re:Colour me a cynic for saying this... by Pseudonym · 2012-09-03 12:13 · Score: 1
  
  Actually, it's not "perfectly copied". It follows the original story, but it updates the way the story is told. Some of the boring bits from HL have been skimmed a bit, the scale of the facility has been widened, and retcons from the later games were incorporated. (Barney is a full-fledged character, for example.)
  
  --
  sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
13. Re:Colour me a cynic for saying this... by Admiral+Justin · 2012-09-03 12:44 · Score: 2
  
  As someone who assisted in making a mod that took 7 years to release for Deus Ex, just because it's taken time doesn't mean the work is done. Volunteer projects have people coming and going, changes in art decisions, changes in tools, etc.
  
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14. Re:Colour me a cynic for saying this... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-03 14:25 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  They really should of released early
  You really should have used "should've" or "should have". "Should of" is wrong.
15. Re:Colour me a cynic for saying this... by The+Grim+Reefer · 2012-09-03 14:30 · Score: 1
  
  As someone who assisted in making a mod that took 7 years to release for Deus Ex, just because it's taken time doesn't mean the work is done. Volunteer projects have people coming and going, changes in art decisions, changes in tools, etc.
  Thank you for bringing this to my attention! Deus Ex was one of my favorite games. I saw the ReTex project fall apart and thought that was the end of it and haven't looked into it since. .
16. Re:Colour me a cynic for saying this... by McFadden · 2012-09-03 16:03 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  That's the way of things these days. When you have nothing better to say, you whine and bitch about a substantial project, entirely created by volunteers, given away for free, and to which you have contributed nothing... as if they owe you something. I believe it's one of the requirements for the new Boy Scouts "entitlement" badge.
17. Re:Colour me a cynic for saying this... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-03 18:56 · Score: 0
  
  You're talking about the Nameless mod, right? Boy, what an embarrassing, steaming pile of shit that was. Poor textures, poor level design, poor dialogue and poor voice acting made for one of the worst mods I've ever seen for any game.
  
  Maybe it was fun for people from the forum it was based on to see their little one liners being spoken by some badly reskinned DX character models, but it was far too dull and esoteric for any one else to want to play it.
18. Re:Colour me a cynic for saying this... by theArtificial · 2012-09-03 19:46 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Even back when it came out, it wasn't a very good game.
  I realize taste is entirely subjective, however, it won 50 awards. There is no way you can say it wasn't a very good game (did you mean fun?) when many games released over the last decade haven't come close to that.
  
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19. Re:Colour me a cynic for saying this... by NoZart · 2012-09-03 21:27 · Score: 1
  
  Justin Bieber got lots of awards, too. That doesn't mean anything.
  I am on the "not so good" side of it, too. HL got its praise mainly for the presentation and storyline/ambiente. But compared to other shooters of the time, many gameplay aspects were not good.
  The weapon selector was atrocious, the mouse handling managed to feel jittery in spite of high framerates, enemies that pop up like in a shooting gallery via "teleporting" in... and so on.
20. Re:Colour me a cynic for saying this... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-03 21:41 · Score: 0
  
  I place very little value in awards and reviews. I just don't see what was special about the game. The story was little more than what Doom had, the gameplay was boring, the weapons uninspired, the AI was stupid and the graphics were horrid. So you tell me, what made it good?
  The same year Half-Life came out I was playing Unreal and Thief, which had everything that Half-Life didn't. Hell, even Shogo was more fun.
  I am happy with the direction that they took HL2 but HL1, meh, I've played way better.
21. Re:Colour me a cynic for saying this... by somersault · 2012-09-03 23:29 · Score: 1
  
  The good news is I won my bet about whether Black Mesa or Ep3 would come out first.
  Well.. not quite yet :D
  
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  which is totally what she said
22. Re:Colour me a cynic for saying this... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-03 23:40 · Score: 0
  
  Trolling mods: This isn't flamebait, it's an opinion. Seriously, grow thicker skin.
23. Re:Colour me a cynic for saying this... by Custard+Horse · 2012-09-03 23:52 · Score: 1
  
  Each to their own. I was more into HL than Unreal - people tend to prefer one or the other.
24. Re:Colour me a cynic for saying this... by Esvandiary · 2012-09-04 00:35 · Score: 2
  
  They've said they will be releasing the rest at some point; they have this much polished now, and would prefer to give us something now rather than nothing for another however-much time until they have Xen onwards finished.
25. Re:Colour me a cynic for saying this... by somersault · 2012-09-04 00:55 · Score: 2
  
  Are you kidding me? The Unreal single player was incredibly boring. You are fighting the same enemy, with pretty much zero intelligence, over and over. It's the same as Halo. Those games are only fun in multi-player.
  Half-Life was the first FPS that interested me enough to play it through to completion. The Half-Life story is so much deeper than Doom. It makes you feel like you're in some kind of sci-fi-conspiracy-fugitive movie. There is an actual script, and it's quite humorous in places. They both involve multiple dimensions sure, but the involvement of G-Man makes everything in the Half-Life universe much more mysterious and creepy.
  I quite like Shogo it has to be said. So much better than the crappy single player modes that are tacked onto the majority of today's popular shooters (Halo, COD, Resistance..).
  
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  which is totally what she said
26. Re:Colour me a cynic for saying this... by theArtificial · 2012-09-04 05:13 · Score: 1
  
  I just don't see what was special about the game. The story was little more than what Doom had, the gameplay was boring, the weapons uninspired, the AI was stupid and the graphics were horrid. So you tell me, what made it good?
  Level design, where things actually resembled places and you followed signs to those locations (boiler room etc). The signature crow bar, modding (hello Counter-Strike with over 25 million sales (franchise)), the introduction to the game where you travel through the Black Mesa facility was like a movie. The "dynamic" announcement system was cool too. It sounds like your complaints are aimed at FPS in general. What made it good? When you have a chance take a look at the awards to see what the industry and players thought at the time.
  
  The same year Half-Life came out I was playing Unreal and Thief, which had everything that Half-Life didn't. Hell, even Shogo was more fun.
  I have fond memories of Shogo but it's a different game entirely from HL and Thief isn't a FPS, it's first person stealth game. Shogo (using Lithtech, an engine I really like btw) didn't get a sequel because it didn't sell well. Which means it's a niche game, or to the detractors, not popular. Unreal would be the only valid comparison in this case because it's an FPS which also tells a story. Unreal was popular for its AI and multiplayer and spawned several sequels. Half-life is/was popular also for its deathmatch and mods. Just like Unreal there are servers to this day.
  
  I am happy with the direction that they took HL2 but HL1, meh, I've played way better.
  Fair enough. If these games were "way better" why do you think they didn't get nearly as many awards and sell as well?
  
  --
  Man blir trött av att gå och göra ingenting.
27. Re:Colour me a cynic for saying this... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-04 06:30 · Score: 0
  
  Level design, where things actually resembled places and you followed signs to those locations (boiler room etc). The signature crow bar, modding (hello Counter-Strike with over 25 million sales [wikipedia.org] (franchise)), the introduction to the game where you travel through the Black Mesa facility was like a movie. The "dynamic" announcement system was cool too. It sounds like your complaints are aimed at FPS in general. What made it good? When you have a chance take a look at the awards to see what the industry and players thought at the time.
  They did? Duke Nukem 3D had levels that looked like real places. Half-Life looked like some hodge-podge of hastily thrown together empty box rooms and random stuff with signs tacked on afterwards. The environments were utterly bland and lifeless. Even the very first maps I had ever made for Doom, DN3D and the Quake engines were better thought out and detailed than anything in Half-Life.
  You keep mentioning sales figures and accolades, which have absolutely nothing to do with how good a game is.
  
  I have fond memories of Shogo but it's a different game entirely from HL and Thief isn't a FPS, it's first person stealth game. Shogo (using Lithtech, an engine I really like btw) didn't get a sequel because it didn't sell well. Which means it's a niche game, or to the detractors, not popular. Unreal would be the only valid comparison in this case because it's an FPS which also tells a story. Unreal was popular for its AI and multiplayer and spawned several sequels. Half-life is/was popular also for its deathmatch and mods. Just like Unreal there are servers to this day.
  Shogo is a first person shooter, just like Half-Life. Obviously there are differences in style, which is one of the major areas where Shogo really shines over Half-Life.
  Thief is a FPS in that you are in first person and you can shoot things. The fact that it had a stealth element doesn't change that.
  Unreal was truly groundbreaking. It had fantastic weapon designs, the controls were tight and responsive, it was the first FPS with truly good AI and it had deeply atmospheric environments that really instilled a feeling of desolation and fear. Unreal set the benchmark for game visuals for years to come and featured an absolutely awesome, dynamic soundtrack composed by ex-demoscene musicians. The game was overall one of the best ever made.
  
  Fair enough. If these games were "way better" why do you think they didn't get nearly as many awards and sell as well?
  I don't know, hype probably.Why don't other desktop operating systems sell as well as Windows? As I said before, I don't place much value in awards and popularity because I am able to form my own opinions without outside help. I could easily rattle off a list of games that weren't as popular but were better.
28. Re:Colour me a cynic for saying this... by theArtificial · 2012-09-04 09:14 · Score: 1
  
  They did? Duke Nukem 3D had levels that looked like real places. Half-Life looked like some hodge-podge of hastily thrown together empty box rooms and random stuff with signs tacked on afterwards.
  It's called early 3D. Things were blocky due to hardware limitations of the day, at least Half Life was fully 3D and not using sprites like Duke 3D and HL supported TCPIP out of the box (Quake came out around the same time ('96) and supported TCPIP). Duke was dated when it came out (see Quake).
  
  You keep mentioning sales figures and accolades, which have absolutely nothing to do with how good a game is.
  Yes, to back up the fact that it sold well because people liked it. Because it was (arguably) better than the other games (Why would you buy something that sucked compared to what was out there at the time?).More so than any of the offerings you've mentioned. You also switch between using good and fun like they're synonyms, they're not. Don't discount that people may buy multiplayer games because of their friends.
  
  Unreal set the benchmark for game visuals for years to come and featured an absolutely awesome, dynamic soundtrack composed by ex-demoscene musicians. The game was overall one of the best ever made.
  The same Unreal which used a software renderer, advanced visuals that only performed well in Glide? Unreal was overshadowed by Unreal Tournement which came out in 1999, which is still played to this day. Quake II beat them to the punch as far as engine tech in many regards. Also in 1999 Quake 3 was released which was the big engine of its day and also supported curves (1999 thread about it). A comparison of vintage screenshots: UT screenshot circa Sept 1999 Quake 3 circa Feb 2000. I'm a fan of the demoscene btw and happen to like 'chiptunes' so while I think this is awesome, in 1996 Quake had CD audio made by none other than Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails fame. Perhaps you know of GL Quake (or the Quakeworld client) which is responsible for many mods, such as Team Fortress. The Quake engines featured many impressive things from lighting to OpenGL support. Unreal featured some really cool texture technology but it only worked well in Glide (remember that?). As for the "The game was overall one of the best ever made" claim I think Mario takes that cake.
  
  I don't know, hype probably.Why don't other desktop operating systems sell as well as Windows?
  I know you're half serious but I'll bite. Because none of the other OS run as many applications (games are applications) as Windows does. Love it or hate it Windows is the first operating system to have an 3D sound API made specifically for games. It runs most hardware, especially high end stuff with little fuss. It's what people know and it has a large well documented API and development tools aplenty.
  
  As I said before, I don't place much value in awards and popularity because I am able to form my own opinions without outside help.
  Perhaps you've forgotten what its like to be young? Many people buy things their friends have to play with them. Online gaming has grown exponentially and so has the culture around it. These multiplayer games made it so that you didn't need a LAN party to have fun, but you could meet someone online and jump directly into the action, this was a relatively new thing for many people at the time and there was the whole modding thing empowering creativity in the community. These factors were also responsible for the popularity - not simply so
  
  --
  Man blir trött av att gå och göra ingenting.
29. Re:Colour me a cynic for saying this... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-04 11:30 · Score: 0
  
  And Duke Nukem Forever is rather a bad example, given that, you know, it actually came out.
  Whoa. Duke came out! When? Oh, you mean the game...
30. Re:Colour me a cynic for saying this... by asdf7890 · 2012-09-04 20:39 · Score: 1
  
  Duke was dated when it came out (see Quake).
  Quake was well ahead of Duke 3D in technology terms, but as a game it never felt "complete" to me. Lots of ideas in there, but it didn't hang together in a way that suggested a thought-through narrative. Duke was hardly high art plot-wise, but at least it had one. Of course complex plot (or much plot at all) is not always needed but as a lot of the discussion above is about the relative coherence of HL's direction I fell it is relevant to subsequent discussion of Duke/Quake.
  
  What the team behind Duke3D did was hack current technology a fair bit (using multiple maps in clever arrangements to get around the not-really-3D limitation with regard to in level design) and implement thir game using that. What iD did was truly push the limits of game engines (and the hardware they ran on) at the time, essentially becoming the first success of the next generation, but lost it a bit in terms of actuall game design. I think it comes down to the prevailing impression of iD: they make great game engines for other people to make great games with.
  
  Don't get me wrong: I liked what I played of Quake (the first episode IIRC - up to the point of killing be big lava fellow with the lightning machine he helpfully never tried to get out of). But at times I think I was as much impressed by the technology as I was having fun.
  
  Back closer to topic: HL did something more akin to Duke3D: take the best of current engine tech, with a few hacks/improvements, and use it to implement a relatively interesting game. HL2 pushed the boat out quite a bit further in terms of game engine technology, but it was still not a "next generation" revolution but again pushing the current tech a bit and using that to implement a good game.
31. Re:Colour me a cynic for saying this... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-05 14:49 · Score: 0
  
  It's called early 3D. Things were blocky due to hardware limitations of the day, at least Half Life was fully 3D [gamershell.com] and not using sprites [mobygames.com] like Duke 3D and HL supported TCPIP out of the box (Quake came out around the same time ('96) and supported TCPIP). Duke was dated when it came out (see Quake).
  Which makes games like Duke 3D and Dark Forces all the more impressive. They made you feel like you were in the places that they depicted. Half-Life didn't accomplish that, for me at least. You're also neglecting the fact that several other fully 3D games out at the same time as Half-Life featured much better visuals.
  
  Yes, to back up the fact that it sold well because people liked it. Because it was (arguably) better than the other games (Why would you buy something that sucked compared to what was out there at the time?).More so than any of the offerings you've mentioned. You also switch between using good and fun like they're synonyms, they're not. Don't discount that people may buy multiplayer games because of their friends.
  Sales numbers don't usually reflect upon quality. And as far as games go, "fun" is "good". That's why I can still enjoy a game of DN3D to this day, but am loath to ever install Half-Life again.
  
  The same Unreal which used a software renderer, advanced visuals that only performed well in Glide? Unreal was overshadowed by Unreal Tournement which came out in 1999, which is still played to this day. Quake II beat them to the punch as far as engine tech in many regards. Also in 1999 Quake 3 was released which was the big engine of its day and also supported curves (1999 thread about it [beyondunreal.com]). A comparison of vintage screenshots: UT screenshot circa Sept 1999 [mobygames.com] Quake 3 circa Feb 2000 [mobygames.com]. I'm a fan of the demoscene btw and happen to like 'chiptunes' so while I think this is awesome, in 1996 Quake had CD audio made by none other than Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails fame. Perhaps you know of GL Quake (or the Quakeworld client) which is responsible for many mods, such as Team Fortress. The Quake engines featured many impressive things from lighting to OpenGL support. Unreal featured some really cool texture technology but it only worked well in Glide (remember that?). As for the "The game was overall one of the best ever made" claim I think Mario takes that cake.
  You're forgetting that Glide was arguably the best API around at the time. That's why so many games supported it. I owned a lot of different 3D accelerators and the only ones that I can remember being worth anything back in 98 were the 3Dfx Voodoo cards and the Rendition Verite cards. Further, the software renderer in Unreal was actually quite good.
  
  As far as Quake engines, Unreal surpassed id Tech 2 in every way. id Tech 3 surpassed Unreal in many ways, but was not as much of a technological leap as Unreal was from Q2. The comparison shots you've linked aren't equal because they show Q3 at maximum detail, while the UT shot is clearly someone playing with settings turned way down.
  
  Games had been using redbook audio for years by then (ie. Mechwarrior 2, Super Street Fighter II, Little Big Adventure, FX Fighter, etc.), but it wasn't always the best choice because you couldn't have seamless transitions for dynamic music as you could with MIDI and MOD like formats.
  
  "One of the best ever made" is not the same thing as "the best ever made". And I disagree with you about Mario. Star Control II is my personal choice for best ever.
  
  I know you're half serious but I'll bite. Because none of the other OS run as many applications (games are applications) as Windows does. Love it or hate it Windows is the first operating system to have an 3D sound API made specifically for games. It runs most hardware, especially high end stuff with little fuss. It's what people know and it has a large well documented API and development tools a
32. Re:Colour me a cynic for saying this... by theArtificial · 2012-09-05 19:19 · Score: 1
  
  You're forgetting that Glide was arguably the best API around at the time. That's why so many games supported it. I owned a lot of different 3D accelerators and the only ones that I can remember being worth anything back in 98 were the 3Dfx Voodoo cards and the Rendition Verite cards. Further, the software renderer in Unreal was actually quite good.
  Glide was only supported by a single manufacturer. For an interesting read on Unreal 1 tech and various bugs and issues with various cards take a look here. It details things like lines of code required to support DirectX, Glide, OpenGL etc. I have fond memories of my Voodoo 3 2000. I also owned a 5500 (didn't buy it new) and the glorious Sound Blaster AWE64. And I'll agree with you that the Unreal Software renderer was very good and supported (nearly?) everything the hardware one did. It's a tough sell to say hardware will be slower than software (on identical setups).
  
  Sales numbers don't usually reflect upon quality.
  Very true! But, awards and peoples' (professional and amateur) reviews do which is why I mentioned them. Failing that there are always screenshots, which may not tell the entire story but help validate claims.
  
  As far as Quake engines, Unreal surpassed id Tech 2 in every way. id Tech 3 surpassed Unreal in many ways, but was not as much of a technological leap as Unreal was from Q2. The comparison shots you've linked aren't equal because they show Q3 at maximum detail, while the UT shot is clearly someone playing with settings turned way down.
  Surpassed them in every way? Perhaps you're not aware that when Unreal was released it featured poorly performing netcode and no OpenGL support (Directly from Tim Sweeny's own mouth and low hanging wiki fruit). Quake II came out before Unreal and ID Tech 2 beat them to the punch with multicolored lighting. Unreal's strengths were Unreal Script and their texture technology (which only worked with Glide, even then it was problematic thread lamenting the fact circa 2000). As far as the screenshots I didn't cherry pick them, you're welcome to find some better vintage shots along with hardware specs.
  
  Games had been using redbook audio for years by then (ie. Mechwarrior 2, Super Street Fighter II, Little Big Adventure, FX Fighter, etc.), but it wasn't always the best choice because you couldn't have seamless transitions for dynamic music as you could with MIDI and MOD like formats.
  Red book audio is not the same as an API provided by the Operating System. A specification enables you to write an implementation whereas an API is already implemented. Needless to say it isn't 3D nor is it specific to games, it's the specification for audio CDs developed by Phillips and Sony describing the CD's physical specifications, such as the tracks, sector and block layout, coding, and sampling etc.
  
  "One of the best ever made" is not the same thing as "the best ever made". And I disagree with you about Mario. Star Control II is my personal choice for best ever.
  I'll raise you a Robotron 2084.
  
  But how did Windows get to that point? It didn't always have that huge library of applications and it wasn't always familiar to people. It gained popularity despite being a worse product than competitors (ie. GEOS and OS/2) in much the same way as Half-Life.
  I provided some examples, which I'll refine and add to: it ran on a wide variety of hardware, it was easy to develop for, it ran DOS games which many people had and were quite familiar with (didn't require you to buy new everything). Dire
  
  --
  Man blir trött av att gå och göra ingenting.
Details... by The+MAZZTer · 2012-09-03 09:32 · Score: 5, Informative

They haven't completed it yet but still plan to. They are releasing up to the Lambda Core, so Xen and Multiplayer support will come later. That's still most of the game right there.
1. Re:Details... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-03 09:45 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Couldn't they just skip the lame Xen stuff & make it an improvement on the original?
2. Re:Details... by 0123456 · 2012-09-03 10:16 · Score: 2
  
  Mod parent up. After the first play through I always just quit when I hit the tedious Xen crap.
3. Re:Details... by antdude · 2012-09-03 10:21 · Score: 1
  
  I am going to wait until they finish the mod fully so they can work out bugs and I don't have to replay with newer versions. :)
  
  --
  Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
4. Re:Details... by Stormwatch · 2012-09-03 10:27 · Score: 1
  
  Maybe they will actually make Xen fun to play, who knows.
  
  --
  Circumcision is child abuse.
5. Re:Details... by EdIII · 2012-09-03 10:55 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Geeez, I need to take a vacation or something. My first thought was, "What the fuck does virtualization have to do with a Half Life mod?"
6. Re:Details... by fragMasterFlash · 2012-09-03 11:23 · Score: 1
  
  Crank the difficulty up to hard (as you should with any 14 year old game) and riding the backs of space birds in the land of Xen is as much fun as any other part of the game.
  
  In other words, get off my lawn unless you are going to mow it.
7. Re:Details... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-03 11:51 · Score: 0
  
  Why does everyone hate on the Xen parts when they were one of the main things separating HL from a billion other corridor shooters? This might be the minority opinion but I thought they were imaginative, particularly well designed, compelling and believable, for a bizarre alien dimension. And the sense of anticipation when you know you're approaching the end of the game (and whatever it is you have to kill) has not been out done in any other game to date, out of the many I have played.
8. Re:Details... by gman003 · 2012-09-03 12:03 · Score: 1
  
  That's probably what they're doing, to some extent. They've already said that their goal isn't a 1:1 remake of Half-Life (that's what Half-Life: Source is for after all), but that they're aiming to improve on the few places where Half-Life could use improvement.
  Xen being the section most in need of improvement, I think they're fully justified in releasing right up to that section now, and finishing it later. It's even a decent point, story-wise, to cut out - if Half-Life were a TV episode, jumping into the portal to Xen would happen right at the 20-minute commercial break (the 10-minute commercial break being that part where he's captured and left to die by HECU).
  Now, Xen does need to stay in, for story reasons, but they can definitely do all they can to improve on it. Less platforming would be nice.
9. Re:Details... by interkin3tic · 2012-09-03 12:13 · Score: 1
  
  Gman comes out and says "Doctor Freeman... we're just... ah... going to skip this (clears throat) next bit."
10. Re:Details... by Chryana · 2012-09-03 12:29 · Score: 1
  
  I liked the Xen personally... You want more of the same old tactical shooting which is offered everywhere? Then pick up one of these tactical shooters instead, they're a dime a dozen.
11. Re:Details... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-03 13:00 · Score: 0
  
  Except it wasn't a particularly well done attempt. Undying did the whole Xen thing better (Oneiros and Eternal Autumn dimensions), as it used the same mechanics but looked like a place with a history, whereas Xen looks like it sprang ex nihilo, and there's no reason to care about what happens there.
12. Re:Details... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-03 16:06 · Score: 0
  
  I'm seeing your opinion a lot around here & on reddit, but I *loved* the Xen area. The decreased gravity, the mood lighting, the otherworldly feeling of dread that you're doing something no other human remotely has experience with.
13. Re:Details... by dywolf · 2012-09-04 00:50 · Score: 1
  
  Xen never bothered me. It was a logical consequence of the story.
  
  --
  The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
14. Re:Details... by MrNiceguy_KS · 2012-09-04 02:35 · Score: 1
  
  I didn't mind the overall atmosphere. I can't speak for others, but what I hated most about it was the platforming. Frankly, platforming in First-Person games needs to die. If I look down and can't see my own feet, I shouldn't have to do precision jumping.
  
  --
  Redundancy is good And also good.
15. Re:Details... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-04 02:47 · Score: 0
  
  No, you just need to turn in your geek card on the way out.
16. Re:Details... by tlhIngan · 2012-09-04 03:53 · Score: 1
  
  That's probably what they're doing, to some extent. They've already said that their goal isn't a 1:1 remake of Half-Life (that's what Half-Life: Source is for after all), but that they're aiming to improve on the few places where Half-Life could use improvement.
  HL: Source is i just a port of HL to the Source engine. A good goal, but it also means the graphics of HL Source are a bit low-res purely because they're just using the same textures. In fact, this who mod started as a way to improve the HL graphics just a bit to look better.
  And probably fix a few issues that came up.
  
  Do, however, resist the urge to jump right into Opposing Force and Blue shift. They're decent, but not as good, a bit tedious if you've JUST played HL1, and never reaches the heights of HL1 or HL2.
  
  Blue Shift and Opposing Force aren't by Valve, but by some other company, so they won't be as good. But they are canon I believe (Blue Shift is about the the Black Mesa security guards - it starts out by being the guy you see on HL trying ot open the door. Opposing Force is about the guys sent in to kill Freeman).
17. Re:Details... by gman003 · 2012-09-04 04:39 · Score: 1
  
  Not sure where your second section came from (meant to reply to someone else, perhaps?) but I'll respond anyways.
  Blue Shift, Opposing Force and Decay were made by Gearbox, a rather respected game company (they see a lot of work building off other games, doing the PC port of Halo (which was awesome) and finishing Duke Nukem Forever (less so); on their own they're famous for Brothers in Arms and Borderlands).
  Opposing Force is easily on par with Half-Life - the puzzle elements and level design were weaker, but there was less Xen platforming. The shooting, if anything, was better than in Half-Life. The story kind of ties in to Half-Life 2, but there's debate about it (whether "Race X" are Combine soldiers, or some new faction). After Half-Life 3, there's a lot of fan clamor for an Opposing Force 2.
  Blue Shift was OK. Not by any means a bad game, but it had some weird development - it was supposed to be just a little extra mission for the Mac port of Half-Life, but when the port got canned, it was "upgraded" into a full game, and it shows - it's the second shortest game in the Half-Life canon, after Lost Coast (a single-level tech demo). Only really good thing about it is that it had an HD model pack which helped make the game look less dated.
  Decay was only officially released on the PS2, but there's a fan-made PC port. It tried to bring co-op to Half-Life, did not do too well at all. Still not a bad game per se, just not up to the standards of Half-Life.
And by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-03 09:36 · Score: 0

Once again the game companies will not learn the valuable lesson shown here.
1. Re:And by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-03 09:47 · Score: 0
  
  What lesson?
2. Re:And by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-03 10:07 · Score: 1
  
  What lesson?
  People will wait for Forever.
3. Re:And by Tarlus · 2012-09-04 03:17 · Score: 1
  
  What game companies?
  
  --
  /* No Comment */
No Xen. by Hsien-Ko · 2012-09-03 09:37 · Score: 2, Funny

Because that would require creative imagination and energy.
1. Re:No Xen. by wonkey_monkey · 2012-09-03 09:46 · Score: 2
  
  No, it requires time.
  
  --
  systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
2. Re:No Xen. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-03 09:47 · Score: 0
  
  You're honestly disappointed that there's no Xen?
3. Re:No Xen. by VGPowerlord · 2012-09-03 10:08 · Score: 1
  
  You're honestly disappointed that there's no Xen?
  You mean we should be happy that the last third or so of the game, including the final boss, is missing?
  
  --
  GLaDOS for President 2016! "Well here we are again. It's always such a pleasure." -- GLaDOS, 2011
4. Re:No Xen. by Narishma · 2012-09-03 10:23 · Score: 1
  
  No Xen is a feature, as far as I'm concerned.
  
  --
  Mada mada dane.
5. Re:No Xen. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-03 10:25 · Score: 1
  
  No Xen.
  Because that would require creative imagination and energy.
  Past experience says otherwise.
6. Re:No Xen. by 0123456 · 2012-09-03 10:28 · Score: 1
  
  There is a Half Life: Source port, but it uses the original graphics and models. How often does a game developer go back and re-release an old game with brand-new graphics? Tomb Raider is the only one I can think of.
7. Re:No Xen. by MindlessAutomata · 2012-09-03 10:39 · Score: 2
  
  Uh, Nintendo does/did this heavily.
8. Re:No Xen. by Stormwatch · 2012-09-03 10:44 · Score: 1
  
  Haven't you ever played Super Mario All-Stars?
  
  --
  Circumcision is child abuse.
9. Re:No Xen. by bjorniac · 2012-09-03 11:26 · Score: 2
  
  Croteam did this with the HD versions of Serious Sam, they're actually quite nice.
10. Re:No Xen. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-03 11:43 · Score: 0
  
  If you're paying nothing for it, then yes.
11. Re:No Xen. by Pseudonym · 2012-09-03 12:16 · Score: 1
  
  Oh, you must be young. The advent of VGA resulted in a huge number of re-releases of older games.
  
  --
  sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
12. Re:No Xen. by Admiral_Grinder · 2012-09-03 12:55 · Score: 1
  
  Isn't it easier to update sprite pages than remodel entire levels?
13. Re:No Xen. by 0123456 · 2012-09-03 14:23 · Score: 1
  
  Must have taken a whole ten minutes to replace CGA sprites with VGA. Comparing it to building a 2012-era 3D environment is just silly.
14. Re:No Xen. by Pseudonym · 2012-09-03 15:50 · Score: 1
  
  Must have taken a whole ten minutes to replace CGA sprites with VGA.
  Actually, it usually required substantial rewrites of the codebase. We're talking about an era where abstracting away the hardware wasn't as easy as you might hope without incurring a significant performance hit.
  
  --
  sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
15. Re:No Xen. by Scoth · 2012-09-04 06:39 · Score: 1
  
  Not to mention most of these were complete rewrites in just about every sense of the word. For example, King's Quest 1 and Space Quest 1 were both redone from their original low-res EGA to high res EGA and VGA with mouse support and such. This would have been sprites and backgrounds and animations and everything. There wouldn't have been much able to be reused between the two (though I don't know the internals of the AGI/SCI stuff, maybe they could import some of the scripts and such).
  On the other hand, given the continued functioning of some glitches in Nintendo's stuff, it's clear that some of their updates are abstractions running on top of original ROMs.
16. Re:No Xen. by Spacelem · 2012-09-04 09:25 · Score: 1
  
  How about Resident Evil on the GameCube. A fantastic update over the Playstation original.
All new voice acting? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-03 09:40 · Score: 1

So we'll get a glimpse into Freeman's Mind, yes?
Please?
1. Re:All new voice acting? by Anaerin · 2012-09-03 09:52 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Here you go. You're welcome. https://www.youtube.com/user/freemanmind?feature=results_main
2. Re:All new voice acting? by Svippy · 2012-09-03 09:54 · Score: 0
  
  Freeman speaking? You must be new here.
  
  --
  Clicked pie.
3. Re:All new voice acting? by newcastlejon · 2012-09-03 10:10 · Score: 1
  
  Freeman speaking? You must be new here.
  Freeman talks a lot, just not out loud.
  
  --
  If God forks the Universe every time you roll a die, he'd better have a damned good memory.
Yes! by pak9rabid · 2012-09-03 09:57 · Score: 1

I've been following this project since 2009 and am extremely happy they have, what looks like, a legitimate release date.
Linux? by cococonut · 2012-09-03 10:52 · Score: 1

Does Source run on Linux yet?
1. Re:Linux? by tibman · 2012-09-03 11:07 · Score: 2
  
  Valve has shown pictures of l4d2 running on Linux. But i doubt they will be ready soon.
  
  --
  http://soylentnews.org/~tibman
2. Re:Linux? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-03 16:05 · Score: 0
  
  Just be cause the Source engine runs on an OS that doesn't mean the mods will run. The source engine doesn't use a platform independent script like most engines use. All mods need to be compiled for their specific platform.
Only One Question... by tunapez · 2012-09-03 11:10 · Score: 2

Won't get excited or RTFA until I know, will it require a connection?

--
Imagination drew in bold strokes, instantly serving hopes and fears, while knowledge advanced by slow increments...
1. Re:Only One Question... by Nyder · 2012-09-03 11:15 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Won't get excited or RTFA until I know, will it require a connection?
  Yes, it requires that your computer is plugged into a power socket. If you have a laptop, it will drain the battery.
  
  --
  Be seeing you...
2. Re:Only One Question... by tepples · 2012-09-03 14:15 · Score: 1
  
  Then let me rephrase: Does it continue to require two connections, one to power and one to the Internet, even after purchase is complete?
3. Re:Only One Question... by mactard · 2012-09-03 15:39 · Score: 1
  
  It's a free mod for Half-Life 2. So, yes. Steam.
4. Re:Only One Question... by Narishma · 2012-09-03 21:10 · Score: 1
  
  What purchase?
  
  --
  Mada mada dane.
5. Re:Only One Question... by tepples · 2012-09-04 00:35 · Score: 1
  
  How often does Half-Life 2, the basis for this mod, have to contact Valve to renew its license to run on a given machine?
6. Re:Only One Question... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-04 00:37 · Score: 0
  
  Zero
A timeless classic by GodfatherofSoul · 2012-09-03 11:27 · Score: 5, Insightful

I played HL for the first time a few years ago; years after I'd played HL2. The game had tons of content, ingenious puzzles to solve, and maybe the best final boss I've ever fought in a FPS. Even with the low-end graphics, I still found this one to be a blast to play. Don't let the age of the game detract you from revisiting it.

--
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
1. Re:A timeless classic by interkin3tic · 2012-09-03 12:16 · Score: 1
  
  Do, however, resist the urge to jump right into Opposing Force and Blue shift. They're decent, but not as good, a bit tedious if you've JUST played HL1, and never reaches the heights of HL1 or HL2.
  
  A bit like going back to foreplay after really great sex, except you know for a fact that it won't really go anywhere.
2. Re:A timeless classic by isorox · 2012-09-03 12:24 · Score: 1
  
  I played HL for the first time a few years ago; years after I'd played HL2. The game had tons of content, ingenious puzzles to solve, and maybe the best final boss I've ever fought in a FPS. Even with the low-end graphics, I still found this one to be a blast to play. Don't let the age of the game detract you from revisiting it.
  I stopped playing games when I went to uni, shortly after HL came out. In my mind it's a modern game, and it's things like Quake and doom that are old.
3. Re:A timeless classic by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-03 14:26 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  Don't listen to this guy - Opposing Forces was almost better than the original game. Do not skip it. Blue Shift, on the other hand, sucked.
4. Re:A timeless classic by jones_supa · 2012-09-04 10:06 · Score: 1
  
  I stopped playing games when I went to uni, shortly after HL came out. In my mind it's a modern game, and it's things like Quake and doom that are old.
  Heh. I somehow tend to count Quake as a "modern" game and Doom an old one. My division is really about the full-polygon engine, a technology which we are still using. Of course the new titles have taken it to completely new levels in regard of detail and physics simulation. Unfortunately sometimes the complex world is just props and a tube run in which you must press X when the game tells you to. :S In a way HL2 was one of the games that really started this trend.
Color me a grammar nazi... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-03 11:49 · Score: 0

... but the main page of the website should have an additional comma: "THEY'RE WAITING FOR YOU, GORDON..."
1. Re:Color me a grammar nazi... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-04 10:08 · Score: 0
  
  You are correct about that.
Is it worth it? by westyvw · 2012-09-03 13:07 · Score: 3, Interesting

I recently played through Half Life 1. What fun! I introduced my son to it, he loved it too. Then he went to half life 2. He quit in about half an hour. We have talked about it, and while he is used to hi-res graphics and neat scenery, Half Life one, just the way it is, had atmosphere that just doesnt need an upgrade.
Sure I will play the mod, but I just dont think it will improve on Half Life one at all, in fact, I think it will detract from it.
A test of Valve's character by DoofusOfDeath · 2012-09-03 13:08 · Score: 1, Interesting

Now we find out if Valve is a gamer's company or not. If they're about gamers, they'll embrace this and use it to stoke interest in HL3. If they're all about lawyers (I'm looking at you, new-Blizzard), they'll kill this with C&D letters regarding trademark / copyright infringement.
Golly, do I hope for the former.
Test already passed by daveschroeder · 2012-09-03 13:53 · Score: 5, Informative

Valve has already "blessed" this effort, and the Black Mesa devs have said as much. There will be no C&D letters.
From Valve (in January 2007...)
Congratulations to the Black Mesa for Half-Life 2 MOD team for picking up the Most Anticipated MOD Award for the coming year from Mod DB. Over 80,000 votes were cast for MODs built for a number of different games, and they have been crowned this year's most wanted. More information on this ambitious project to recreate Half-Life 1 from scratch in the Source engine is available on their site. We're as eager to play it here as everyone else.
The only thing Black Mesa did was remove "Source" from the mod name, but Valve allowed them to keep the domain because of fan base recognition.
1. Re:Test already passed by Extremus · 2012-09-03 22:07 · Score: 1
  
  ... and Valve had already embraced other HL mods before.
2. Re:Test already passed by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-03 22:51 · Score: 1
  
  "We're as eager to play it here as everyone else."
  Valve, waiting to play the mod? Oh, the irony.
  [Grumbles about lack of HL3]
3. Re:Test already passed by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-03 23:06 · Score: 0
  
  The Black Mesa team probably thought Valve would care enough to hire them or something. Valve does not.
4. Re:Test already passed by Shimbo · 2012-09-04 00:17 · Score: 1
  
  Everyone would just whine that Valve were wasting their time on remakes, instead of getting on with HL 3.
Xen is the former trope namer for... by tepples · 2012-09-03 14:08 · Score: 3, Insightful

except that is NOT where HL 1 ends, there's four more levels after that, Xen, Gonarch's Lair, Interloper, and Nihalinth.
There's a reason why the "disappointing last level" page on TV Tropes used to be called "Xen syndrome". Perhaps they intentionally set out the parts not widely thought to suck.
1. Re:Xen is the former trope namer for... by CaseCrash · 2012-09-04 03:56 · Score: 1
  
  except that is NOT where HL 1 ends, there's four more levels after that, Xen, Gonarch's Lair, Interloper, and Nihalinth.
  There's a reason why the "disappointing last level" page on TV Tropes used to be called "Xen syndrome". Perhaps they intentionally set out the parts not widely thought to suck.
  Thanks a lot, I just lost three hours to TV Tropes again.
  
  --
  No, that link you posted to a web comic we've all seen a hundred times is not "obligatory."
easiest way to play? by fikx · 2012-09-03 15:33 · Score: 1

As a linux person, any advice on the easiest way to play this? I played half-life in the day, but since then I think the only Valve games I've played are on consoles....I doubt this will be available on my xbox....
Does Source run on Linux? How do you get the source engine? available by itself or does it have to come bundled with some other game?
Looks like a fun game to play, but worried I can't get to it....

--
AB HOC POSSUM VIDERE DOMUM TUUM
1. Re:easiest way to play? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-03 18:24 · Score: 1
  
  pirate windows.
2. Re:easiest way to play? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-03 23:04 · Score: 0
  
  pirate windows.
  Arrrrr you serious?
3. Re:easiest way to play? by Dunge · 2012-09-04 00:40 · Score: 0
  
  Just install windows on another partition/hd...
4. Re:easiest way to play? by sproketboy · 2012-09-04 02:56 · Score: 1
  
  Mod parent up.
5. Re:easiest way to play? by Tarlus · 2012-09-04 03:35 · Score: 0
  
  Buy windows.
  Slashdotters will have downmodded this into oblivion, but it's really the best advice that could be given for the question. Yes, with enough blood sweat and tears you might be able to get something shaky (and maybe even somewhat playable) rigged up via Wine but that is far from easy.
  Unless Valve's efforts in bringing Source to Linux make it easy to incorporate existing mods, having a Windows partition is really your best bet.
  
  --
  /* No Comment */
6. Re:easiest way to play? by Tarlus · 2012-09-04 08:52 · Score: 1
  
  Heh, even this got downmodded. Welcome to Slashdot.
  
  --
  /* No Comment */
7. Re:easiest way to play? by jones_supa · 2012-09-04 10:12 · Score: 1
  
  I know, it's crazy.
I will get excited when I can use it with my OS by jopet · 2012-09-03 21:08 · Score: 1

which happens to be Linux on all the computers I and my family own.
1. Re:I will get excited when I can use it with my OS by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-03 23:06 · Score: 0
  
  ZOMG it doesn't run on my TI-83 graphing calculator. It's all I use and force the world to adapt.
  - posted from my TI-83
2. Re:I will get excited when I can use it with my OS by Tarlus · 2012-09-04 03:36 · Score: 1
  
  Cool story bro
  
  --
  /* No Comment */
3. Re:I will get excited when I can use it with my OS by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-04 04:15 · Score: 0
  
  The source engine can run on Linux via Wine rather nicely on all boxes I've tried it on. Just get the right startup option flags and you may even find better performance than on Windows for the same box.
Your one-word comment by tepples · 2012-09-04 00:45 · Score: 1

How often does Half-Life 2, the basis for this mod, have to contact Valve
Zero
As I understand your one-word comment, one can buy HL2, put Steam in offline mode, and play five years later with no connection to Valve's servers over the Internet in the meantime. When did this become the case?
1. Re:Your one-word comment by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-04 06:27 · Score: 0
  
  This specific scenario has been possible since HL2 originally released in 2003. Steam has always supported an indefinite offline mode, at least for Valve's games. For this specific mod, you'd have to download the Source SDK 2007 or something, and might have to be connected while installing it, I'm honestly not sure how HL2/Source mods work these days. Purchasing HL2 (or indeed giving Valve any money at all) is not necessary to play this mod.
Never. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-04 01:00 · Score: 0

Steam itself will require updating and will do so. You will also need to connect again if you have to reinstall.
Given it's still entirely Steam, I'm not in the least bothered, it means no more to me than the next episode of Eastenders.
Half Life 2 by Fnord666 · 2012-09-04 01:01 · Score: 3, Informative

If you are interested in playing this mod, you will need a game that uses the Source game engine. If you don't already have one, Steam has Half Life 2 on sale right now for $3.40. It looks like this deal will be available until 1pm EDT.

--
'The tyrant will always find pretext for his tyranny.' - Aesop's Fables
1. Re:Half Life 2 by Iniamyen · 2012-09-04 03:42 · Score: 1
  
  People would rather bitch about the oppressive M$ and $team than pay a paltry $3.40. Don't take that away from them.
2. Re:Half Life 2 by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-04 04:09 · Score: 0
  
  Team Fortress 2 is free...
3. Re:Half Life 2 by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-05 04:29 · Score: 0
  
  You can actually download it for free (the source engine). Just go to Downloads in Steam and choose Tools. I think they released it a couple years ago, but I may be wrong on the timing.
4. Re:Half Life 2 by incongruency · 2012-09-05 08:32 · Score: 1
  
  From the Black Mesa wiki, you don't need to buy any games to play the mod, as the Source SDK Base 2007 is free to download through steam.
I wish I could play Half-Life by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-04 05:08 · Score: 0

But motion sickness just doesn't allow it.
I did manage to play Doom windowed, centered at the screen, but Half-Life is just too much for my dumb brain.
And yes, I tried changing the FOV, it didn't do any good.
Back? It never left TF,TF2 CS, Natural Selection.. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-04 05:31 · Score: 0

Half-life spawned an entire online service it made so much damn $ for valve. (You HAVE heard of Steam, right?) Why would somone think HL left?
Hell "Natural Selection" itself a mod was one of the more popular things on Steam a year or so back, And it spawned an entire genre of management/fps games.
Steam4Linux by escaped+apperture · 2012-09-04 06:12 · Score: 1

But will it work under Linux :)
Then where did I get these misconceptions? by tepples · 2012-09-04 06:49 · Score: 1

Steam has always supported an indefinite offline mode, at least for Valve's games.
I seem to remember stories about A. needing to be online in order to enable offline mode, or B. having offline mode tokens expire after 30 days, or both. Where might I have come by these misconceptions?
1. Re:Then where did I get these misconceptions? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-04 07:20 · Score: 0
  
  If Steam closes abnormally while online, it might not be possible to enter offline mode without first going online and switching to offline mode manually. That was a long standing bug, but I think it was eventually fixed. The normal behavior is that if you start up steam and it can't connect, it should ask if you want to enter offline mode and do so without problems. In general, I believe offline mode is only possible if you've told Steam to save your login information the last time you launched it in online mode, but I'm not 100% sure.
  Steam never had offline "tokens" or expiration dates. I have no idea where you heard that one. I know some other online DRM solutions with an offline mode require this, like Starcraft 2.
2. Re:Then where did I get these misconceptions? by tepples · 2012-09-04 09:24 · Score: 1
  
  If Steam closes abnormally while online, it might not be possible to enter offline mode without first going online and switching to offline mode manually. That was a long standing bug, but I think it was eventually fixed.
  Thank you. Whether the "long standing bug" was indeed an unintended defect or an unpopular feature that Valve retconned as a bug, that makes Steam not quite so onerous, possibly comparable to XBLA from the player's point of view.