Half-Life 2

[weta]

Gordon FreemanG-Man
Technically, the G-Man is an ally, since Gordon has been working for him for awhile. But come on, do you honestly think you can really trust this guy?



Alyx VanceEli VanceBarney CalhounScientists
Some former Black Mesa scientists are back, the scientist featured in the gameplay video (and pictured to above) is referred to as "Dr. Kleiner," and he could very well be Dr. Alex Kleiner, who was Gordon's former professor at MIT and the guy who got Gordon his job in Black Mesa in the first place (this is all referred to in the employment letter at the beginning of the original Half-Life manual).
Apparently, all the scientists will look somewhat unique this time around, so you won't be staring at the same four basic types. Perhaps Walter Bennett made his way to City 17?



Father GregoryPlanet Half-Life

[weta]

Combine SoldiersStriderAnt Lion
A new type of Xen alien (we think). They're fairly fast and seem to hunt in packs. You can use these spore grenade things that emit a special scent to fool them into doing your bidding.



Ant Lion Guard
They're basically just bigger, smarter Ant Lions, and they can hit you so hard you'll be thrown into the air. So watch it, bucko.



Zombies
Just as in the first Half-Life, the zombies in Half-Life 2 have a pesky headcrab sucking on their skulls and brainlessly lumber around trying to hurt you. There will probably be more types of zombies in Half-Life 2, as there are a wider variety of people to infest. Joy.



Headcrabs
Ah, headcrabs. They seem to be pretty much the same as they were in the original, except maybe they look slightly beefier. Also, they have the new ability to jump off the heads of infested zombies, so once you kill a zombie the headcrab might de-attach itself from the corpse and try to make you its new host. Also, there are at least two varieties of Headcrab now, the traditional kind and a stronger "heavy" version.



Alien Gunship
The Alien Gunship may be a machine, or it may be some sort of weird alien cyborg. Regardless, it has machine guns and can shoot at you. In the gameplay video, this sucker seemed really tough to kill and maneuvered around very quickly.



Hydra
We think this is an enemy. Apparently it lives in water and likes to impale things with its water... arm... sword thing?

Planet Half-Life

[weta]

Prowler
We don't know jack about this guy, other than the fact he probably doesn't care for you.



Blobby Cheeks
We don't know what to call this thing, but it's ugly and from another planet.



Tank
It's some sort of futuristic tank you'll likely be able to commandeer.



Combine Assassin
We're not even sure if this is a Combine Assassin, we're just guessing.



Man Hacks
These are basically very small, very annoying, robotic flying blades of death. They're kind of hard to describe, but you can see them in action at the beginning of the Tunnels video.



ScannersBullsquid
Bullsquid from the original Half-Life will be back and remain relatively unchanged, we hear.



Barnacle
You know those annoying things that hung from the ceiling in the first game? Well, they're back too, only this time they have "eerily pulsating sacs around their base." Oooh, sexy.

Planet Half-Life

[JSR]

to see how nvidia will respond..............in hands on applications.........but, things could change........i'm still not picking any particular camp

[weta]

GameStop has changed its ETA Pre-Release date for Half-Life 2 to February 2004. :thumbs do

GameStop Half-Life 2 product page

[JSR]

they'll wait through the sale of ati's xt, w/ hl2 bundled w/ the card........but, to not lose the advantage of being a bundled card, the rest of the world has to wait to 2/04............take that, buy an ati card or no game,............hahahahaha, unbelievable :wow:

[The__tweaker]

take that, buy an ati card or no game,............hahahahaha, unbelievable :wow:

'Please buy our friggin' cards..!' :D

No but seriously I'ma get me an Ati card one of those days.. :)

[JSR]

the xt is the last of it's production model............the next rendition is going to be called loki, a nv 40 competitor............so, they need to get this one last blast of cards outta here, knowing they are goin' to step it up............so, that the underlying reason for the addition of hl2, to sweeten the pot.........not me, i'm waitin' for nv40 or loki, just in time for the dual channel version of 64 to arrive, hyperspace awaits :thumb:

[The__tweaker]

All this new hardware makes me drool.. :drool:

LOL

[Mr.Tweak]

All this new hardware makes me drool.. :drool:

LOL

Oh yeah, the next 12 months is going to be pretty fun!

[Mr.Tweak]

Oh yeah, the next 12 months is going to be pretty fun!

Come to think of it - I think I said the same thing 12 months ago, but I think the following 12 months will be even better.

:D

[The__tweaker]

Come to think of it - I think I said the same thing 12 months ago, but I think the following 12 months will be even better.

:D

Very true!!

Sometimes I wonder what kind of games we will be playing 15 years from now.. :eek:
By then we' probably look back at doom3 as we do on the god ol' duke nukem today.. LOL

[weta]

Half-Life 2 SKU Confusion

In an attempt to alleviate my frustration and confusion regarding all this SKU hoopla coming out of Valve, I took it upon myself to contact Gabe and ***** him out (which we all know I do a lot). Well, I must say - I have been corrected. I can't claim that I still like the idea entirely, but it makes a lot more sense.
I can't believe you guys are actually considering doing what you are doing regarding the multiple SKUs for HL2. This is a most terrible idea that I can only guess was developed out of greed. The main problem I see with this is the fact that many people will not realize they are buying a castrated version of the game and subsequently will feel duped and pissed because they thought they were buying a game that could be played on the internet and with mods. Why on earth are you making different versions of the game?

Stop this idea in its tracks please. This is one of the lamest ideas out of Valve I have ever seen. I have lost a lot of respect for you guys because of this. I may even just decide to boycott the game myself.

His Response
Well, there's the regular priced version that has the regular features of MODs and multiplayer.

Then there's the less expensive version without those.

I'm missing the greed part.

For people who buy the less expensive version, they can always upgrade to MOD and multiplayer using Steam. The price difference will be about the difference there was between the two versions.

The theory is that it helps out retailers like Walmart who have very broad reach into customer bases that don't care about multiplayer and who are very price conscious. Rather than having to wait a year for the product price to come down, there's a special version for them on day one.

My Response
Hmmmm, I was under the impression that after buying the single player version that the user would be effectively hosed if they wanted the multiplayer/MOD functionality. I have been corrected. I figured they would have to buy the game all over again to get the missing functionality. If what you say is true, and I have to believe you since you are the head honcho there, then I have a lot less big of a problem with this. My only concern is: Will the general public (which isn't that bright) know that they are buying a stripped down version? Will this fact be displayed and easy to see on the box?

Do you see where I was getting the greed comment from now? I hope so. I still have to say, I don't like the idea personally, but maybe thats because I can afford to buy a 50 dollar game. Whats the price difference going to be? 10 bucks? 20 bucks?
His argument is sound, and I guess it's not really greed to begin with. I just don't like confusing the customer. Nvidia has been doing this with their MX line for a long time. I don't like it when consumers buy something thinking they are getting the full kit-and-kaboodle when they aren't.

GNS Project

[JSR]

out of this thing...........we'll see, if all is true................believe me weta........leave the greed part in, for sure, that's true, just not in the context you thought they were going to gouge people, but just not missing any faction of the population to sell to...............so, whatever you can afford, they have a game for you, hehe :laugh:
ps.....here are some hl2 benchmarking scores http://techreport.com/etc/2003q3/hl2bench/index.x?pg=1

[minibubba]

so if you buy the cheaper SP verion and then upgrade to the Mod/MP version though steam... what happens when you need to reinstall the game for whatever reason? Do you get shafted since you would have to re-download the rest of the game again, possibly paying for it if you can't 'proove' you already payed for it once? Personally, I would like to know how they are going to handle that before i even consider buying the striped down version. I only plan to buy the full version when the price drops a little, but I'd still like to know...