The Gamer's Quarter

disneyland · . Joined: 16 Jun 2005 Posts: 131 Location: Shinsei

God, Ep.1 is so well designed. I was late to play it, having spent summer in a late alpha purgatory. I had actually just completed Prey the day of its release, and decided it was 'OK'. Certainly worth the jaunt, but nothing to blow your mind. Then I played and completed Ep.1 the following night. The six hours with Episode 1 easily destroyed the whatever-hours (more than six) spent completing Prey. Great talent will always find a way to kick ass, I suppose, at any length...

The later Half-Life 2 Episodes on PS3 and 360 will be $19.99 boxed in retail. Equivalent distribution range of EA's own AAA titles. A company that puts as much labor into its games (they're meticulous) as Valve deserves sprawling retail distribution, even if it's provided by everyone's favorite industry Satan figure. Tally-ho.

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

SuperWes · Posted: Sat Sep 09, 2006 3:12 pm Post subject:

There's a new video out with the Ziff-Davis people checking out Half-Life 2 and Portal. Holy crap does this pair of stuff look amazing. Portal looks like something I could easily become obsessed with, and apparently it's A: being done by at least one really hot girl and B: Part of the Half-Life universe, with the Portal gun potentially being added to Gordon's arsenal.

Awesome.

-Wes
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Lestrade · Posted: Sun Sep 10, 2006 7:06 am Post subject:

Yes, the Portal team definitely gets 12 points for the good-looking spokeswoman. The whole video demo looks so damn impressive; see, if this was coming out this fall, as it was meant to, I would have bought that 360 yesterday!

SuperWes · Posted: Sun Sep 17, 2006 3:35 pm Post subject:

More Half-Life 2 videos from Ziff-Davis. This time it's of people playing the Japanese Half-Life 2 arcade game. Man does it look awesome! It's like Half-Life 2 without any of the "getting lost" or "story" portions of the game! They added in glowing icons on every important doorway and item box to let you know where to go next, making the game even more scripted. I'd love to play a version of the game with these things added in to see how they affect the overall experience.

-Wes
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Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

Half-Life 2: Survivor is quite the oddity. Is the franchise already that popular in Japan, or Asia in general? Will this arcade game make it to the West?

I'm also curious to know the history behind it. Did Valve had this idea in mind or what?
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

SuperWes · Posted: Sun Sep 17, 2006 6:15 pm Post subject:

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

Cryoburner · . Joined: 27 Jul 2006 Posts: 27

I heard about a Half Life 2 arcade game a while back, but didn't see any footage of it until now. It doesn't appear have the same feel as HL2, with all those glowing neon indicators all over the place, and a countdown timer ticking away. I suppose it's necessary to make it faster-paced for arcades though, since most people won't be willing to sit in an arcade playing the same game all day. : )

According to its Wikipedia entry, the game does have a lot cut out in its single player mode, including the gravity gun, physics puzzles, and most of the story. I don't think it would be very representative of Half-Life 2, but it could still be fun to play.

There are more videos available at the game's official site, which also show the multiplayer modes in more detail.

SuperWes · Posted: Sun Sep 17, 2006 10:49 pm Post subject:

disneyland · . Joined: 16 Jun 2005 Posts: 131 Location: Shinsei

Valve had already done plenty of culling with HL2: Deathmatch in mind. Some of these module assets (all based on the campaign maps’ architectures) were apparently used by Taito during the slim down process. Then they bubbled-up the interface/HUD and fluffed-up contextual indicators to keep the player moving to compact objectives, and fighting...and dying, and continuing.

dhex · Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 10:40 pm Post subject:

so i was playing coastline to atmosphere, a mod whose host page is down right now, and uh, it's the weirdest fucking thing i've ever played. half of it is an overly long, enemy heavy reimagination of episode 1, and the other half is silent hill with a drug-induced fugue in the middle of it.

then it crashed. but like, it's worth checking out. easily weirder than mistake of pythagoras, at least in the weird part.
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Nana Komatsu · weak sauce Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1293

At the suggestion of just about everyone ever, I started playing this yesterday. It was the xbox version since none of the computers I own can run the PC game, and about an hour in I had to stop due to a horrible headache that the game had given me. I had the same problem with Half Life 1 and never played it as a result, but other games (Team Fortress Classic, Halo 2, Unreal Tournament) haven't given me this problem.

Any suggestions?

Lestrade · Posted: Tue Oct 24, 2006 8:57 am Post subject:

Drink a few and go at it again?

Nana Komatsu · weak sauce Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1293

Yeah that seems especially like a bad idea.

dessgeega · Posted: Tue Oct 24, 2006 9:04 am Post subject:

that's Lestrade's solution to everything.
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dhex · Posted: Tue Oct 24, 2006 9:21 am Post subject:

change your distance from the tv? (i.e. move back more)
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Nana Komatsu · weak sauce Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1293

I will try that tonight (and if it doesn't work, I will throw back a few).

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

Harveyjames · the meteor kid Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636

Are you playing it with an Atari Mindlink?

Nana Komatsu · weak sauce Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1293

Alcohol helps a lot.

The boat part is silly and was very hard to control.

Ravenholm is resident evil in first person shooter mode? It's scary and all, and I'm running out of ammo.

Robert Guillaume is the shit.

either I'm not drinking enough (I've had four beers so far) or I'm not having much fun yet.

Harveyjames · the meteor kid Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636

Lestrade · Posted: Wed Oct 25, 2006 5:41 am Post subject:

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

Mother of bigamous toadfuck!
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

Mr. Mechanical · Friendly Stranger Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 1276

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

This is truly a "Valve Motherfuckers" moment.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

dessgeega · Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2006 8:36 pm Post subject:

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

I have no idea where the super developer tag came from, myself. Valve have released a great deal of brilliant material, and I'd venture them as being the most successful "indie" game developer yet, but missing a deadline is still badly seen, especially when they made a habit of it.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

dhex · Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2006 10:13 pm Post subject:

yeah, that's valve alright.

though at the same time they always deliver, so maybe they should keep their fucking mouths shut?
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Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

It'd be almost preferable, as far as their long-term reputation goes.

I suppose that goes for practically anyone really, though.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"