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Half-Life Celebrates 20th Anniversary With Fan-Made 'Black Mesa: Xen' Trailer (vice.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the highly-anticipated-remakes dept.

On Monday, developer Crowbar Collective released the first trailer for Black Mesa: Xen, the final act of its long running remake of Valve's 1998 game Half-Life, which marked its 20-year anniversary on the same day. "The finale of Half-Life put hero Gordon Freeman in an alien world, and Black Mesa: Xen's upgraded graphics and redesign makes the original's muddy palette look vibrant and strange," reports Motherboard. "It looks just as exciting as it did at the time of the original game's release." From the report: When Valve unleashed Half-Life, it changed video games forever. The first person shooter from what was then a relatively unknown company starred a silent scientist beating down alien headcrabs and shooting human Marines in a novel sci-fi adventure. It was a triumph. Shortly after, in 2003, the Crowbar Collective began work on a remake that would come to be known as Black Mesa. Fan communities routinely reimagine their favorite video games, often as modifications, or mods, of the originals. Black Mesa began life as a free mod for Half-Life 2, but grew into a proper remake. Crowbar Collective added new voice work, changed animations, and tweaked the original game in hundreds of ways big and small. Black Mesa: Xen has a target release date of early 2019.

82 comments

  1. You people need to STOP BULLYING ME... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    See subject: I'm so sick & tired of /. BULLIES. You shitweasels have nothing better to do than HARASS, STALK & IMPERSONATE little ol' me. I've done absolutely NOTHING wrong & just try to make everyone's lives better w/ my work that stops ads & malware.

    * As soon as I post, I'm CENSORED to -1 w/ ABUSED downmodpoints by bullies like ZIP, who even admit to this. I caught c6gunner mocking then IMPERSONATING me when he forgot to log out. Zontar mailed me a postcard w/ THREATS on it, then LIES & STALKS me. All because you JEALOUS JOWIE "ne'er-do-wells" KNOW I'm World-Class & you're shit. It's why you hide behind FAKE names & UNIDENTIFIABLE ANONYMOUS.

    I'm even improving my already GREAT PHYSIQUE & INTELLECT while you weezils sit around all day on /. STALKING & HARASSING your BETTERS. I repeatedly dust the no-mind bullshit blatherings you BULLIES post to attack me. Like always I WIN & YOU LOSE.

    APK

    P.S.=> This BULLYING of me is SO UNFAIR & I've done NOTHING to deserve it. GROW UP. This is the only comment I'm posting in this article & others signed as me are weezils IMPERSONATING ME... apk

    1. Re: You people need to STOP BULLYING ME... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

      I was hoping not to see this 24 hours a day so I think I speak for everyone when I say Iâ(TM)m terribly disappointed. Unless you want to explain what the hell youre talking about most of the time with apk and etc. of course you could just get the hell off the site unless you continue to lurk and sneak around as you are wont to do

    2. Re: You people need to STOP BULLYING ME... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

      Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm I suppose if you were to make a list of every stupid APK post you would be reading a lot of old posts. Canâ(TM)t wait to hear you whimpering

  2. IM GAYPK and IM GAY by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    Ready to HOST, and get JEALOUSLY JOWLing on your hog... GAYpk

  3. Snore by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    Oh boy, yet another Half-Life fan project revisiting the original material. Snore. I can't wait for two years from now when the next one comes out. Fuck you, Valve. Finish the trilogy, you lazy bitches.

    1. Re:Snore by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Snore is right. Xen is the worst part of Half-Life, because jumping puzzles always suck unless the game is called Portal or Portal 2.

    2. Re: Snore by mermeid007 · · Score: 1

      Minus the profanity I agree

    3. Re:Snore by gman003 · · Score: 5, Informative

      ... you do realize this is the same Half-Life remake that's been in the works since 2005, right? It's not one of those "we remade that train into in [engine] as an art project" things, this is a) an actual remake, b) not done by anyone at Valve, and c) a remake that released every chapter up to Xen in 2015.

      They'd taken an approach of making the game better, not just a high-res reskin, and as anyone who played the game knows, Xen was far and away the worst section of the game. So they decided "fuck it, let's make Xen actually be fun", and that's taken about four years, since they're such a small team building to such high modern standards.

    4. Re: Snore by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      100% of the work was done right

    5. Re: Snore by mermeid007 · · Score: 1

      Some fans were hoping for a series to tie in to the movies but they decided to focus only on movies. That is what I heard on the gamers paradise grapevine, anyway. Itâ(TM)s all good.

    6. Re:Snore by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm still waiting on them to fix Steam so I can play Half-Life. I bought it twice, but have never been allowed to play it.

    7. Re: Snore by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I had the same problem. They said it would be at least a few weeks for a variety of reasons

    8. Re: Snore by aliquis · · Score: 1

      This one has been in development for lots of years.
      Does it really have any competition?
      Except for 420 blaze it or whatever it's called?

    9. Re: Snore by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Profanity"? Really? What are you, a five year old religious nutter?

    10. Re:Snore by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Tbh it probably took that long because they suffer from the typical volunteer-driven project dysfunction (see: open source) of having a lot of staff churn + everyone works on it in their spare time (i.e. it ends up having a default priority of 'low') -> they might have a dozen people 'working' on it; but from reading the blog posts over the years, it seems like they are effectively operating at around 1-2 full time positions -> very slow real progress.

      But! I am pleasantly surprised that they seem to be sticking with it. I would have put money on them giving up years ago :-]

    11. Re: Snore by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's how most Americunts come across, so yes.

    12. Re:Snore by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Get the old Half-Life and if it wants a CD key you can use something like 3333-33333-3333

    13. Re: Snore by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That is something I have definitely noticed. When I lived in the US, everybody seemed to have this childish, religious, tip-toe attitude with what they deemed to be "bad" words. When I lived in Europe, nobody gave a shit and just spoke from the heart. Americans are mostly prudish philistines, always whining and trying to instigate conflict.

    14. Re: Snore by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The more offensive language you use, the more you sound like you're speaking from the heart. Swearing makes you sound relatable to whatever group you are trying to be (or become) part of, as long as you swear like they do: same idea as wearing the same clothes, listening to the same music, liking the same food, etc. It's about conforming to your group's expectations to reinforce the idea that you belong to the group.

    15. Re:Snore by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yea, it is. It's hilarious actually. The graphics in it are pretty terrible! OK for 2005 I should say. If you wanted to properly remake it, you'd get an actual studio, spend £100m and get it out within 5 years (use the Doom engine, for old times sake). Vaguely the same plot but with more fleshed out characters, more enemies (if you replay the original, it's striking how few other entities there are throughout the game), etc.

    16. Re: Snore by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Is that the official American take? Because my experience is very different than that. "Swearing" (a religious term for words you personally don't like for..."reasons") has nothing to do with being part of a group, it's used for emphasis. And words cannot be good or bad, it's the intent that matters.

    17. Re: Snore by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      and I've always thought the whole "thou shalt not take the lord's name in vain" commandment mean not using the name of religion for personal gain

    18. Re: Snore by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In this context by "swearing" I meant "using offensive language". Not necessarily religious in nature. Obviously reasonable people can differ on what counts as offensive.

    19. Re: Snore by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But how is it offensive? They are just words. They have no power on their own so you must have some underlying reason, such as religion, to be "offended" by them.

      And if you are offended by mere words then that indicates a problem with you, not the speaker of those words.

    20. Re:Snore by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm sure they would gladly accept your 100m to hire an actual studio, thanks for the offer!

  4. What to shoot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We donâ(TM)t need another FPS. We need another Portal!

    1. Re:What to shoot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ask, and you shall receive.

    2. Re:What to shoot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think he means a real Portal game, not some fanboi crap.

    3. Re:What to shoot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I suggest you try it before you knock it. It has it's flaws, but "Fanboi crap" isn't anywhere near a suitable description. After all, it's good enough to get "Overall Reviews Overwhelmingly Positive (9,885 reviews)" on Steam. I've seen big budget items which were considerably worse.

    4. Re:What to shoot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Cool story, but I don't care. It's still non-canon fanfic that looks like a filler level bonus pack reusing much of the same assets we've already seen and featuring a character that nobody knows or cares about.

  5. LOL! Problem 4U Mr. UNIDENTIFIABLE anonymous by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    I'm only a problem 4U Mr. UNIDENTIFIABLE anonymous - I'll run you dry of downmodpoints & outsmart you as always, loser... obviously I've RUN YOU DRY of them already (& if not, I will, inevitably & I WIN, as always). I'll start these threads WHENEVER I DAMN WELL PLEASE & your kind can't stop me.

    * ... & you KNOW it.

    (YOU? You do ALL you've ever known how to DO in your WASTED LIFE (especially vs. me) - LOSE).

    APK

    P.S.=> Unbelievable - trying to play "victim" like the PUNK you are giving me that BULLSHIT? I'm not the one spamming on hosts OFF-TOPIC - they are & I'll beat them @ it until they SCREAM for mercy (I have before & will again - their 'downmodpoints' are FINITE - my ability to REPOST to nullify bogus downmods, isn't (FAR from it))... apk

    1. Re:LOL! Problem 4U Mr. UNIDENTIFIABLE anonymous by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The only thing you run dry is your dad's cock in your mouth.

  6. Half-Life Celebrates 20th Anniversary With Fan-Mad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Half-Life Celebrates 20th Anniversary With Fan-Made 'Black Mesa: Xen' Trailer

    Cool. Now how about a Valve-Made 'Half-Life 3' game to go with that?

  7. IMPERSONATING ME AGAIN? apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    gweihir KNOWS u IMPERSONATE me https://it.slashdot.org/commen... c6gunner proves it https://linux.slashdot.org/com... forgetting to SUBMIT BY AC & f'd up using his registered 'lusrname' instead (just because he tried to mock me both BEFORE & after I FAIRLY challenged him to show he's done better work - he had ZERO).

    & NO WAY I'd "cry" like you to "ne'er-do-wells" on /. (TROLL /.ers, not all) OR post on hosts offtopic.

    YOU HELPED ME https://science.slashdot.org/c... (& you quit trying to make me look bad trying to "tell lies" on hosts as "ME" IN YOUR IMPERSONATIONS of me e.g. https://tech.slashdot.org/comm... & regarding Intel speculative execution attack? Hosts DO PREVENT THEM)

    "Don't worry Sidney - I've HUSTLED a HELL of a LOT BETTER players than YOU before" - Woody Harrelson to Wes Snipes "White Men Can't Jump"

    APK

    P.S.=> I KNOW that 2nd to last link above's KILLING YOU that YOU ACTUALLY HELPED ME .... apk

    1. Re: IMPERSONATING ME AGAIN? apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      APK has gone off the deep end. His host file engine was discovered to have a bitcoin miner. Now he is reduced to paranoid rants and trading CP over TOR. I'd cut it out if I were you. The feds are watching.

    2. Re: IMPERSONATING ME AGAIN? apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Fuck sake, you really know how to hold a grudge.

      Why don't you just go to some other web site and post your intelligent, witty observations where there are people who appreciate you?

      If you hate everybody on /. so much, why the fuck do you keep loading the web page and looking at it?

      Seriously, fuck off and let us all concentrate on discussing the actual subjects that these discussion forums are based on.

  8. Re: Half-Life Celebrates 20th Anniversary With Fan by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Done your homework, eh? ;)

  9. FUCK OFF APK. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    See subject.

  10. mermeid007 = fake name massive human fail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    See subject: Your MASSIVE FAIL in this life is you're nothing more than a chattering little do-nothing "ne'er-do-well" online & you know it...

    * Is that the best your "phantasyland FAKE NAME" (for your fake lie of a so-called 'life') can manage?

    When a FAKE NAME do nothing like YOU does better than I have? Then talk (you're all talk & no action)...

    You can't help you're an immature little BUTTHURT no-mind, lol! I blew you away in TONS OF PLACES and easily dust your no-mind bullshit blatherings.

    APK

    P.S.=> The TRUE PRICE of your UNIDENTIFIABLE FAKE NAME do-nothing selves like you that I can ALWAYS CASH IN ON (lol) is that I can use FACT/TRUTH on them to SHATTER their all TOO fragile delusional egos that they actually know A DAMN THING in computing, lol... apk

  11. As someone who bought the original... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And opposing force, each basically at release (I got HL with a new laptop back in the era of SOFTWARE RENDERING) and Opposing Force a while after, I have to call 'meh' on this. It was a good game for its era, the team AI for the enemies was certainly cool after Doom and most other non-RTSes, but honestly it wasn't REVOLUTIONARY. SiN (the 90s original) was far more interesting, as was TekWars and lots of other games, each of which had computer terminals, or unique weapons, and many of which also had cutscenes of various better or worse qualities to Half-Life.

    By all means a remake might be fun for new players or real fanboys of the original, but honestly like so many games from the 90s, it was a product of its era and played outside of that era it doesn't hold up well. Most of the games I can think of that do have complex mechanics behind attractive but plain 2d graphics, and only hold up because of a high level of replability, something that HL1 lacked.

    1. Re: As someone who bought the original... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      Alright, I'll bite.

      HL was revolutionary for many reasons, most of those were not to be found in SiN, a tragic abortion of an FPS with criminally long loading times and some truly ugly graphics among other problems, like a terrible level editor and a bizarre scripting language for tying interactions among objects together.

      So here we go, a list of HL's innovations that cement it as the best FPS of all time. And I do mean HL1, not any of its sequels which are good, but not *that* good.

      1. Software mode 16 bit lighting. This meant people with crappy software renderers could enjoy coloured lighting. No other FPS supported this at the time.
      2. Cinematic cut scenes which never leave the player's point of view. No crappy floating camera cuts with bad motion. Everything happened from Gordon's perspective. Again, a first for FPS games.
      3. Seamless level design. Every area in HL occupied a real, physical space. Levels were connected by transition zones that transported the player AND any nearby NPCs to the exact mirror location on the next map.
      4. An extremely capable level editor shipped with the game. No GTK Radiant bollockry here, Worldcraft (later Hammer Editor) was a hell of a mapping tool. It would later gain excellent texture mapping support and a mouse look mode.
      5. AI that was actually intelligent. They would fight you, or each other, or help you, or run from you, or gang up on you. Marines knew when to toss grenades and many NPCs would also interact with the environment. All this and more for a single info_node type entity level designers placed in areas of interest.
      6. Fully voiced NPCs, conversing NPCs, ambient sound effects with reverb effects, pitch shifted effects, and a CD soundtrack added a level of aural realism unheard of at the time, save for possibly FMV based games.

      That's a small list off the top of my head. I do believe you are trolling, or too young to have played the game, or a fucking imbecile. If it's not the latter, I encourage you check the game out again, much of its design endures even today. Especially as it turns out, when compared to the Black Mesa mod, whose level designers felt that the best way to update HL's maps was to just add more clutter and broken stuff. BM is a poor remake of HL, but it is unfortunately all there is.

    2. Re: As someone who bought the original... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So what it was a copy of quake 2 and unreal. HL was not the real prize. Counterstrike and TF were. And valve does not give a shit about HL so why should we praise it.

    3. Re: As someone who bought the original... by aliquis · · Score: 1

      The multiplayer titles sure last longer and maybe sell better but that doesn't make the single player game bad.
      Also it's modded quake(1) engine right?
      And we had TF in Quake already.

    4. Re: As someone who bought the original... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      1. Software mode 16 bit lighting. This meant people with crappy software renderers could enjoy coloured lighting. No other FPS supported this at the time.

      Bullshit. Unreal engine was superior in every single way. Pretty sure the id Tech 2 engine could handle colouring lighting in software mode too.

      2. Cinematic cut scenes which never leave the player's point of view. No crappy floating camera cuts with bad motion. Everything happened from Gordon's perspective. Again, a first for FPS games.

      That's an indication of incompetence, not some masterful design choice. They lacked the talent to do proper cutscenes, that's why they didn't do them.

      3. Seamless level design. Every area in HL occupied a real, physical space. Levels were connected by transition zones that transported the player AND any nearby NPCs to the exact mirror location on the next map.

      Many games were built this way. System Shock from 1994, for example.

      4. An extremely capable level editor shipped with the game. No GTK Radiant bollockry here, Worldcraft (later Hammer Editor) was a hell of a mapping tool. It would later gain excellent texture mapping support and a mouse look mode.

      Spoken like someone who has never used GtkRadiant, QuArK or UnrealEd.

      5. AI that was actually intelligent. They would fight you, or each other, or help you, or run from you, or gang up on you. Marines knew when to toss grenades and many NPCs would also interact with the environment. All this and more for a single info_node type entity level designers placed in areas of interest.

      Half-Life AI was a joke compared to Unreal AI.

      6. Fully voiced NPCs, conversing NPCs, ambient sound effects with reverb effects, pitch shifted effects, and a CD soundtrack added a level of aural realism unheard of at the time, save for possibly FMV based games.

      You mean the same three NPC characters saying the same three things over and over?

      The original Half-Life was not revolutionary in any way, sorry.

    5. Re: As someone who bought the original... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

      Just a few things in your sea of shit there, id tech 2 could not handle software mode 16 bit lighting, Unreal required a monsterous PC to run. Cutscenes were purposefully rendered from Freeman's viewpoint, how on Earth could you assume they lacked talent for cutscenes when allowing the player to move about in them made them far more complex? Also, they continued this approach throughout the Half Life series. Quark and GtkRadiant were unbelievably bad level editors, Quark especially was prone to crashing and had the UI was a pain in the ass to use. There is a reason that HL has such a rabid following, it's because the game was years ahead of its time. It still is.

    6. Re: As someone who bought the original... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Unreal was little more than a Tech demo, its AI was moronic. If you were wowed by sidestepping creatures I don't know what to tell you. That's all they did, that and run away. In HL the AI actually worked together, sometimes it worked against other groups of AI without you having to do anything but watch. The story in Unreal basically didn't exist, it was a series of set pieces. Funnily enough so was HL initially, so they hired Laidlaw to actually write a story. The cohesiveness of the HL experience is unmatched even today, it's endlessly replayable similar to like a good film is.

    7. Re: As someone who bought the original... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      id tech 2 could not handle software mode 16 bit lighting

      At least it didn't look totally fullbright/ambient lit most of the time like Half-Life did. It's also a year older than Half-Life. Unreal, however, most certainly supported coloured lighting in software mode and that came out a full 6 months before Half-Life.

      Unreal required a monsterous PC to run

      Bullshit. Unreal's minimum system requirements were a Pentium 166MHz (in contrast, Half-Life's minimum was a Pentium 133MHz, not much difference), which was already a two year old CPU. I had a Pentium MMX 200MHz (which was released one year prior in 1997 and wasn't considered high-end like the Pentium II of the same era) when Unreal came out and it ran fine on that. You're just some poseur kid who wasn't even alive at the time so you don't have a clue what you are talking about.

      Cutscenes were purposefully rendered from Freeman's viewpoint, how on Earth could you assume they lacked talent for cutscenes when allowing the player to move about in them made them far more complex?

      This ignorant statement here tells me you don't know shit about building levels, model animating, camera pathing or game scripting. Creating cutscenes involved MUCH more work than simply leaving things alone and having a few audio clips play. I know because I have worked extensively in these areas with the various id Tech and Unreal engines and their tools. Just more crap spewing from the anus in your face.

      Also, they continued this approach throughout the Half Life series.

      Yes, because they claimed that it was intentional, so if they added proper cutscenes to HL2, they would have been exposed as hacks so they ran with it to keep up the lie.

      Quark and GtkRadiant were unbelievably bad level editors, Quark especially was prone to crashing and had the UI was a pain in the ass to use.

      LOL. GtkRadiant was by far the best editor for the id Tech engines. QuArK had features that no other id Tech editor had, such as showing the effects of light placement in realtime and I never had any stability issues with it. You just don't know what you are doing or, more likely, you have never used them in any meaningful capacity.

      There is a reason that HL has such a rabid following, it's because the game was years ahead of its time. It still is.

      First it didn't have a rabid following. You're only seeing what you want to see. Second, the people who claim that Half-Life was some kind of breakthrough only do so because they had limited exposure to the games that were available. You're just like the kids who thought Goldeneye or Halo were the bestest ever FPS games because they had never seen anything else.

      The environment detail, character detail, AI and gameplay in Half-Life were bland garbage. Unreal was objectively better in every way.

    8. Re: As someone who bought the original... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Which must be why Unreal and its AI were critically acclaimed by everyone, with its bots being the first in any video game to be compared to real players, right?

      Unreal was a pure game and didn't pretend to be anything else. It had optional story elements but it wasn't filled with the pretence that Half-Life had which locked players into rooms to unload more shitty, unimaginative expository excrement on them. Unreal had good gameplay, Half-Life didn't. Hell, Half-Life didn't even have any good weapons.

    9. Re: As someone who bought the original... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Unreal was a game you played for the pretty and the big spaces, esp. if you had a 3dfx Voodoo2. Otherwise it was just an FPS and we mostly forgot about it when Unreal Tournament replaced it.

      It originally only supported software rendering and 3dfx while Unreal Tournament added the Direct3D support (which didn't support the detail textures, which are also a strong point of Unreal 1 graphics). So Unreal wasn't too demanding but needed a 3dfx Voodoo 1, 2, Banshee or Voodoo 3. Maybe it got patches but you had to know about it back then, and even have Internet access in the first place to download them.

      I found "old" Voodoo2s to buy for peanuts so I upgraded to SLI and sold one to my friend (who had an AGP ATI Rage Pro soldered to the motherboard), he got Unreal 1 and it was the perfect showcase (then he played RTCW and that worked, though slightly below official requirements!)

      Half-Life probably worked on ATI Rage Pro i.e. cheap mostly incompetent GPU with barely working OpenGL support.

    10. Re: As someone who bought the original... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Unreal was a game you played for the pretty and the big spaces, esp. if you had a 3dfx Voodoo2. Otherwise it was just an FPS and we mostly forgot about it when Unreal Tournament replaced it.

      Which is why it still has active servers to this very day? Unreal had the most advanced AI until Unreal Tournament, fantastic gameplay and the best weapons in any FPS. That's why we played it.

      It originally only supported software rendering and 3dfx

      Which were the only things that mattered at the time because OpenGL and D3D still sucked. Unreal received OpenGL and D3D renderers before Half-Life hit the shelves.

      So Unreal wasn't too demanding but needed a 3dfx Voodoo 1, 2, Banshee or Voodoo 3.

      Actually the Unreal software renderer worked very well. That was one of the most impressive things about the engine.

      Maybe it got patches but you had to know about it back then, and even have Internet access in the first place to download them.

      By 1998 I had cable modem service at home that provided 500 kB/s (kilobytes, not kilobits) up and down. Most PC gamers had internet connections for years by that time, even if they were on 56k or 33.6k dial-up. Again, it didn't matter because most gamers were either running in software mode or Glide.

      Half-Life probably worked on ATI Rage Pro i.e. cheap mostly incompetent GPU with barely working OpenGL support.

      And Unreal ran fine both on Glide with my dual Voodoo 2 cards and in software mode on my Matrox Millennium II.

    11. Re: As someone who bought the original... by gman003 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I think you missed the biggest impact of Half-Life: while it presents a single narrative, as a game it's more like an anthology. Each chapter uses the same low-level gameplay elements (same guns, same movement, same enemies) to create a different feeling game. "Unforeseen Consequences" was a lot of ammo conservation, a bit survival-horror influenced. "We've Got Hostiles" throws much more dangerous enemies at you, with the squad AI you correctly identified as revolutionary. "Blast Pit" was mostly puzzles, with stealth interludes. "On A Rail" was all about the rail carts. "Residue Processing" focused on platforming, timing and conveyor belts. "Gonarch's Lair" was a single continuous boss fight.

      This was not the first such "ludic anthology" - Nintendo had been doing it since around Super Mario Bros 3. But it was an innovation in the first-person shooter realm, and absolutely essential for making games that don't get boring or tedious. I wasn't a shooter player during that era, but I've gone back and played the major titles (I'm a game designer, I'd better learn my history). Quake 2 gets repetitive within the first two hours. Unreal is a bit better by alternating between cramped corridors and large areas, but doesn't really evolve the core gameplay. Sin might have thrown more variety at you, but most of it was bad.

      I sort of compare it to Citizen Kane. If you ever take a film history class, and watch landmark movies from the invention of film moving forward, Citizen Kane is the first one that feels like a modern movie. Like if you went back in time and gave the camera and editing crew modern equipment, and changed nothing else, you could release it in theaters today and nobody would bat an eye. There were good movies before that, but they feel undeniably primitive; there were better movies after that, but they all take cues from it.

      Same with Half-Life. Every linear shooter of the modern era uses those same tricks to preserve variety. Some do it to a greater or lesser extent - Titanfall 2 used the technique heavily, really an underrated and unexpected gem, while the new Wolfensteins are fairly limited in their variety. The only games that don't are the open-world shooters, which can't really have that level of focus, and even they tend to dole out new gameplay at set points.

    12. Re: As someone who bought the original... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But if you replay Unreal now it is so piss-easy to beat all the NPCs, there is no challenge in the hardest mode, it was a one-off walk thru of pretty scenery. There was no reason to ever replay it.

    13. Re: As someone who bought the original... by jeffporcaro · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I love this analogy - I've been talking about "The Citizen Kane Effect" for years, although my take is slightly different from yours. The premise is that groundbreaking work looks banal in retrospect, and Citizen Kane is the perfect example. Everything in that movie was a fairly radical departure from the movies that came before it (the acting, the lenses, the camera position, its use of point-of-view, etc), and it changed everything that came after.

      Because of that, when modern audiences watch it, they don't see anything new or interesting or groundbreaking - it just looks like a normal movie. We've absorbed all the lessons it taught us, it's become the new normal. The same thing happens in all forms of art - watch Hill St Blues or (especially) Peyton place for TV examples, or see the work of Andy Warhol, or read Tropic of Cancer - I could go on.

      This leads to a bit of a disconnect when parents try to get their kids interested in whatever blew their minds when they were young, because whatever it was is no longer likely to be mind-blowing. The pace of change has increased, which just magnifies this effect.

      Anyhow, sorry for the tangent, I was just very excited to see the reference.

      --
      It is not the doing of things that is difficult. What is difficult is getting in the right mood to do them. ~~ Brancusi
    14. Re: As someone who bought the original... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You really don't have much experience playing the game then. The nice thing about Unreal and something that carried into UT is that things can be customised (or mutated) to create new gameplay situations. In addition to that, many Unreal servers have a lot more enemies, some with tweaked AI, than in single player. You can also play against other humans.

      There is a reason that many Unreal servers are still in operation today. It's because Unreal is a great game.

  12. Re: Half-Life Celebrates 20th Anniversary With Fan by mermeid007 · · Score: 1

    But can I watch it on GNU Linux?

  13. I remember that by Snotnose · · Score: 1

    Built a new PC just to play the game, had a top of the line graphics card. There was a scene in HL2 where you were crossing a bridge, over an ocean. I just sat back and watched that for a while. First time computer graphics impressed me.

    1. Re:I remember that by antdude · · Score: 1

      I remember my ATI Radeon Pro AIW kicking arse with HL2. :D

      --
      Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
    2. Re:I remember that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Over an ocean? That's a long bridge!!

    3. Re:I remember that by ledow · · Score: 1

      Yes, same.

      There are only a few games that have ever really impressed me, and that scene is one of them. I remember being annoyed at the enemy appearing and shooting because I wanted to just look down and look around at it. The sights, wind noise, the "depth" of the bridge, it all worked perfectly.

      I can only imagine what's possible nowadays with modern graphics hardware, a VR headset an story-tellers / scene-setters like that. But without something like Half-Life 3 most of us will never buy the equipment and so never know.

      I no longer chase top-end hardware for games. I'm just constantly disappointed in the breaking of the mood with silly races, grinding, collect-this-stuff and XBox controls popping up over everything. None of them tell a story any more. HL/HL2 did. I'd go back and replay it constantly but there's a bit in HL2 that always crashes my machines... where you're being bombarded inside a town as you try to enter a building? That always breaks the mood and I struggle to continue through to the non-ending after that.

      There aren't many moments in gaming that I truly remember. Some of them are quite odd (e.g. I loved Trine when I first saw it). But HL and HL2 and even the little HL2 teaser for HDR they put out... I remember those. And Quake. Most other things are just play-it, complete-it, never-touch-it.

    4. Re:I remember that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I no longer chase top-end hardware for games. I'm just constantly disappointed in the breaking of the mood with silly races, grinding, collect-this-stuff and XBox controls popping up over everything. None of them tell a story any more. HL/HL2 did.

      Recently, I found that games that tell a real story are not action/fps genre, or not only that. "Life is strange" and "The last of us" come to mind.

    5. Re:I remember that by Greyfox · · Score: 1
      Oh, VR is quite amazing. I guess there's a program to do demos at some Microsoft stores, you might want to check around and see if you can find one in your area.

      You put the headset on and you're there. Gamers like to talk about immersion, well I'd go so far as to say I never actually experienced it until I tried out a vive. Most of the stuff out for it now are crappy little demos, some of which work better than others, but Project Cars alone might be worth it if you have the space where you can set up a force feedback steering wheel and pedals. Turns out I drive like a granny in that scenario -- I hit 80 on the track and that's as fast as I want to go.

      --

      I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?

    6. Re:I remember that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      One story-based FPS was the original Star Wars : Dark Forces. I'm thinking of it because it passes your test, do I truly remember it. Has a doom/duke 3D type of engine but really does a great job of using it. Like 90% of the enemies are just vanilla stormtroopers but the game is varied otherwise, it is mission-based (a bit like Goldeneye on the N64), has a unique way of playing these levels - like Goldeneye you can't save in a level, but you have a few lives per level and invisible checkpoints so you don't start over and replay the whole, big level.

      It also reuses elements from other Lucas Arts games like the dynamic music system, 2D cutscenes like in Xwing or adventure games, also has a few real 3D robots or enemies in the otherwise 2.5D environment (drawn similar to the old Xwing and Tie Fighter games), voice acting. The voice acting was translated, too, like adventure games of that era (Full Throttle, The Dig) or later Half-Life. If you're in an English-speaking country this won't matter but if you're not and have another mother tongue this made a game all the more immersive.

      You get to see Vader in a cutscene at the end, you don't meet with him but he comments as he's watching stuff blowing up from his ship afar

    7. Re:I remember that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Strife is another story-based FPS/RPG hybrid. It's probably one of the more advanced games based on the Doom engine and still holds up pretty well today. Best of all, GOG sells it (and an enhanced version) DRM-free.

    8. Re:I remember that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Overclocking Celerons FTW!

    9. Re:I remember that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Whenever someone publishes the phrase "VR" in a comment even vaguely associated with an FPS, I immediately start to feel intense nausea and dizziness. I'm feeling it now!

    10. Re:I remember that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I played it perhaps till the half of the game or so. It's not easy, makes you choose who you want to trust and work for, and you can all so easily ruin your game any time by shooting NPCs. You have to understand the dialogs in spoken English while figuring if the leader of "the resistance" is lying to you. Otherwise it is well done and unique. It's much the point of the game, you have to choose where to go and who you gun down

      Another game from that era : Powerslave, also called Exhumed, it's just a more traditional open door and kill monster game but it made good use of the Duke Nukem 3D engine, there was some mood to it.

    11. Re:I remember that by bgrahambo · · Score: 1

      Ah, yes. Overclocking my little 300MHz celeron to 450MHz with just a bios adjustment was glorious

    12. Re:I remember that by bgrahambo · · Score: 1

      Adding to that, it was the famous Celeron 300A: https://www.anandtech.com/show...

    13. Re:I remember that by LesFerg · · Score: 1

      I haven't yet bought a VR game which even approaches good story telling in that way. The most imagination they seem to have is jump-scares in dark places. Tho Farpoint was close to a great game, it had the movements and play immersion just right, but was fairly basic in story, very short, and no real interaction with the world or objects. The depth of some of the mountain-side scenery did make you want to stop shooting and look about too.

      --
      If I had a DeLorean... I would probably only drive it from time to time.
    14. Re:I remember that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I played it perhaps till the half of the game or so. It's not easy, makes you choose who you want to trust and work for, and you can all so easily ruin your game any time by shooting NPCs. You have to understand the dialogs in spoken English while figuring if the leader of "the resistance" is lying to you. Otherwise it is well done and unique. It's much the point of the game, you have to choose where to go and who you gun down

      You should try the enhanced version then. It fixes a lot of issues from the original.

      Another game from that era : Powerslave, also called Exhumed, it's just a more traditional open door and kill monster game but it made good use of the Duke Nukem 3D engine, there was some mood to it.

      I don't know anything about Powerslave except for Sega fanboys boasting about how the Saturn version uses its own custom engine that is somehow better than the Build version.

      Urban Brawl is a pretty nice Doom-based game. The cartoon style works well with the engine.

    15. Re:I remember that by LesFerg · · Score: 1

      Try Farpoint with a Aim controller then.

      --
      If I had a DeLorean... I would probably only drive it from time to time.
    16. Re:I remember that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I had the 500MHz, socketed version of same. Spent its life at 75MHz bus (~562MHz), ran at 83MHz bus so 624MHz or something but this gave it a dangerous 41.5MHz PCI bus speed. This would always end up crashing but at an unpredictable time.
      I wish I still had this system, to find out if a Celeron 400 or 433 works at 100 bus on it!

    17. Re:I remember that by DethLok · · Score: 1

      On the Abit BH2 motherboard? That's what I had, it annoyed my friends who owned the much more expensive Pentiums no end! :)

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  15. Frost pi5t!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    Failure, its corpse world. GNvAA members

  16. as someone who bought Black Mesa, pre-xen levels by Quake1v1 · · Score: 1

    If you were a fan of the original, it's absolutely worth every penny. It gave my nostalgia a raging crow-boner.

  17. Re: Half-Life Celebrates 20th Anniversary With Fa by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    GNU/Linux: The OS of choice for the INCEL,community.

  18. Re:as someone who bought Black Mesa, pre-xen level by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I might consider it if they brought it to GOG.

  19. Re:as someone who bought Black Mesa, pre-xen level by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Will never happen, they have a deal with valve where valve get a much higher percentage of the sale revenue to allow them to use the IP.

  20. IMPERSONATING ME AGAIN? apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    gweihir KNOWS u IMPERSONATE me https://it.slashdot.org/commen... c6gunner proves it https://linux.slashdot.org/com... forgetting to SUBMIT BY AC & f'd up using his registered 'lusrname' instead (just because he tried to mock me both BEFORE & after I FAIRLY challenged him to show he's done better work - he had ZERO).

    & NO WAY I'd "cry" like you to "ne'er-do-wells" on /. (TROLL /.ers, not all) OR post on hosts offtopic.

    YOU HELPED ME https://science.slashdot.org/c... (& you quit trying to make me look bad trying to "tell lies" on hosts as "ME" IN YOUR IMPERSONATIONS of me e.g. https://tech.slashdot.org/comm... & regarding Intel speculative execution attack? Hosts DO PREVENT THEM)

    APK

    P.S.=> I KNOW that 2nd to last link above's KILLING YOU that YOU ACTUALLY HELPED ME getting me to see if hosts stop more than portsmash (& Meltdown + Spectre too) & "lo & behold" - hosts WORK on 'em - U LOSE (& U STOPPED TRYING IT in your impersonations of me) .... apk

  21. IMPERSONATING ME AGAIN? apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    gweihir KNOWS u IMPERSONATE me https://it.slashdot.org/commen... c6gunner proves it https://linux.slashdot.org/com... forgetting to SUBMIT BY AC & f'd up using his registered 'lusrname' instead (just because he tried to mock me both BEFORE & after I FAIRLY challenged him to show he's done better work - he had ZERO).

    & NO WAY I'd "cry" like you to "ne'er-do-wells" on /. (TROLL /.ers, not all) OR post on hosts offtopic.

    YOU HELPED ME https://science.slashdot.org/c... (& you quit trying to make me look bad trying to "tell lies" on hosts as "ME" IN YOUR IMPERSONATIONS of me e.g. https://tech.slashdot.org/comm... & regarding Intel speculative execution attack? Hosts DO PREVENT THEM)

    APK

    P.S.=> I KNOW that 2nd to last link above's KILLING YOU that YOU ACTUALLY HELPED ME getting me to see if hosts stop more than portsmash (& Meltdown + Spectre too) & "lo & behold" - hosts WORK on 'em - U LOSE (& U STOPPED TRYING IT in your impersonations of me) .... apk

  22. Re:as someone who bought Black Mesa, pre-xen level by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Maybe GOG should negotiate a deal with Valve then. Valve lets GOG sell some of their games (or licensed IP) and GOG lets Valve sell some of CDPR's games, like the Witcher series (which are available on Steam, but GOG could pull them if Valve doesn't want to be nice) and the upcoming and highly anticipated Cyberpunk 2077.

    But yeah, I doubt it will happen too.