GonkH8er Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 dont say i never do anything for ya At long last! The sequel to the best PC First Person Shooter of all time has been announced at a press conference with Valve in NY this afternoon. Having been present at this meeting of developers and media, I got to witness the first running preview and in-game demo to leave the walls of Valve's Design Studios since development began way back when, after the release of Half-Life. And I must say, I was no less than awestruck! At a glance, you could mistake this game for a DVD movie. The Half-Life 2 engine, built from the ground up, and boasting cinematic quality graphics at blistering frame rates, looks like it will easily topple Doom3's engine before ID even releases it! The Dev team showed us a demo of a working alpha just to prove that the game's cinematic-style graphics were in-fact, being rendered real time. It was nothing short of amazing, especially considering that it was cutting 70fps in highest detail on a 1.7ghz processor and Geforce 4 Ti4200! "We've tried to accommodate for the widest range of users possible. We felt that allowing gamers with lower end PCs to play with the highest settings would greatly increase the multiplayer potential and encourage the online community to really get behind Half-Life 2." commented Willam Sykes, source programmer. As some people may also know, the tactical aspect of Half-Life 2 has been greatly increased over its predecessor. Weapons are now fully functional with gun jams, dirty barrels, overheating and weight. For example, in any in-game mission, one is expected to clear bullet casing jams, hold weapons steady (counteracting against weight) and perform maintenance tasks such as stripping, cleaning and polishing of weapons. The Team are excited with the new tactical aspect which includes missions of the following varieties: Radio operator missions where you take on the role of 'behind the main lines' support crew, skills in tuning radio frequencies and counter-acting for static will be essential in giving the fighting troops accurate bearings on targets Co-ordinating scouting missions into unknown regions. Again, these require the player to stay at base with a radio and satellite uplink, communicating with fighting soldiers during battles. Weapon Maintenance missions are completed before every main mission. In these preparation segments, players must ensure their firearms are fully functional and well kept. Failure to successfully maintain one's weapon reults in demotion and 'less action' in main missions. Of course the above is only a TASTE of whats to come in the retail package. Expect a lot of the features that made HL1 so popular, like the adventure aspect and of course, slaughtering a LOT of ultra high resolution baddies! While I looked on at valve's demo, I thought it a shame that these baddies were ceasing to exist by Gordon's well-maintained firearm, as they were so extremely detailed it was a pleasure to watch them! The models were so realistic in-fact, that whilst watching the demo, I noticed the following: All models have rising and falling chests/areas where lungs are used (this is helpful when you are unsure if enemies are dying, dead, sleeping or pretending! All models are fully destructable in an unlimited number of ways. Say goodbye to shooting the whole head off an enemy. Depending where you hit it, the skull will fragment accordingly, and differently every time! The sheer detail is ridiculous: actual hair/fur (not textures), sweat, dirt, cuts (can be made anywhere and of different severity Eg: a cut on the skin, right up to a limb coming off or an opening into the abdominal area etc) Along with the overwhelming abundance of eye-candy, this game has quite a few never-before-tried features incorperated into the adventure. Players may be at first shocked to find that Valve has taken the standard mouse look of FPS and added in a 'turn head' type feature. This feature allows the player to look around while keeping the body and weapon aimed in a particular direction, and is controlled by the mouse (as are the body movements). This system, for example, will allow the player to observe an environment around them whilst still keeping a weapon trained on the many prisoners that are taken during missions. Keeping in line with the new weapon detail systems (cleaning, unjamming, maintaining etc) a sidebar will be added that will allow the player to access his weapon cleaning kit quickly by toggling and then using the mouse to grab and apply tools to clean the firearms. After battles, it is quite common to 'take 5' and make use of the weapon maintenance kit in a quiet corner. The most impressive feature of the weapon maintenance kit is that the player will take control of the tools with the mouse. For example, when cleaning the barrel of a firearm, the player must move the mouse back and forth to move the wad inside the barrel. Players must also take care not to spill cleaning solvents with the mouse when applying them. Move the mouse too fast and you'll waste some good fluid. Our first look at Half-Life 2 was an exciting experience to say the least. The team here at Deepgame Online News are looking forward to the inevitable flow of screenshots and movies that will spill forth from Valve's Studios over the coming months, and will keep you up to date with all the latest developments as the title progresses. Keep an eye out this Friday as we will be releasing the first screenshots of Half-Life 2 for all to marvel at. 'mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!' just simply doesnt do:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pnut_Man Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 Can you say: Counter Strike Kickass Realism Version? Awesome news! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle_e7 Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 Sounds amazing. Thanks for the news GonkH8er. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StormHammer Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 Gonk...you really do have a secret hotline somewhere, don't you? Thanks for the great news. It all sounds great...except for the weapon-cleaning, which sounds rather dull. If it really does look better than Doom 3, mr. Carmack is going to be mighty p'd off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leXX Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 One word - wow! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BCanr2d2 Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 Any of the supposed rumours that it will heavily favour the NVidia line of cards, or is this in the same league as the Doom 3 for XBOX first(or even exclusively).....? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_One Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 Can't wait to see some screenshots Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StormHammer Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 Originally posted by The_One Can't wait to see some screenshots You and me both. I'm starting to seriously wonder what they mean by never-before-tried features, though? The mind boggles... BCanr2d2...I just love your sig. It cracks me up, man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckcsaber Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 Oooh, thank god its finally been announced! I need more info on the storyline! More Black Mesa! More Black Mesa! Hey, why is Gordon still around? How can he be in Half Life 2? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_One Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 Gonk, do you reckon we could have a link to this article please? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XERXES Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 i heard about that earlier this week actually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyrion Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 Holy sweet mothering motholes! No wonder Valve took so long, they're making a really good Half-Life! Woo-hoo! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jokemaster Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 The sheer detail is ridiculous: actual hair/fur (not textures), sweat, dirt, cuts (can be made anywhere and of different severity Eg: a cut on the skin, right up to a limb coming off or an opening into the abdominal area etc) that means it will probable be rated.... M NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO *pants for breath* OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO BTW i've played half-life, but my parents don't like too much gore so i had to turn the blood off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StormHammer Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 Originally posted by ckcsaber I need more info on the storyline! More Black Mesa! More Black Mesa! Oh, God, please NO! Black Mesa has been done to death in Half-Life/Opposing Force/Blue Shift and even some SP Mods that came out. I really hope they've set the game somewhere completely different this time around. jokemaster...gore doesn't make a game. I've got SOF2, and I've actually turned the gore right down because it didn't really add anything to the experience. But that's just me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jokemaster Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 Originally posted by StormHammer jokemaster...gore doesn't make a game. I've got SOF2, and I've actually turned the gore right down because it didn't really add anything to the experience. But that's just me. [/b] I know, that's what i did in the store, but when they see blood and gore on the ratings box they won't let me get it unless i can prove it doesn't have that much, or can be turned off. Anyone got any ideas for smuggling it in or to delay it until August 2004 or 2005? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StormHammer Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 Originally posted by jokemaster Anyone got any ideas for smuggling it in or to delay it until August 2004 or 2005? What, you mean Half-Life 2? Well, you can hope they implement a system similar to SOF2, where you can switch off the gore and password protect it. Why not send them an email asking for the feature? Your parents would probably go with that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pedantic Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 Hmmm...some of the gameplay issues sound...intriguing. Like the gun-cleaning. Won't that make for an exciting game--shoot some aliens...whoops, gun jammed again, time to field-strip and clean it again. I wonder who the boss'll be in the field-stripping mission? The head turn thing sounds...interesting as well. Also, cinematic images at 70fps on a 1.7GHz CPU w/ Ti4200? That sounds extremely suspect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
X-Vector Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 Nice hoax, Gonkh8ter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_One Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 Yeah, the more I look at it, the more I think it's a hoax. I've been round every Half-Life website on the internet today, and found no mention of this. If there was a press conference in which the sequel to (arguabely) the best game ever was announced, don't you think other places would have it featured? Then I decided to go and look for this Deepgame Online News place. Using every search engine known to man turned up no results. Either they don't exist, or they are lying when they call themselves "Online". Using a million combinations of searches, I found nothing. Unless Gonk has some special insider Valve knowledge, this article is not authentic. Or you can get me a link and prove me wrong... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jokemaster Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 Hmm, now that i read it through, probably a hoax, i just pressed cntrl F and looked for different types of violence an then I posted, still it would be cool if it were real Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
X-Vector Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 It's not just the fact that the name "Deep Game Online (News)" is made up, the guncleaning, radio-tuning and looking better than DooM III with half the required system specs are far too over the top to even make this a convincing hoax. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
X-Vector Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 Originally posted by jokemaster still it would be cool if it were real No, actually it wouldn't. What is described above doesn't look like a game I'd like to play and I'm one of Half-Life's (SP) biggest fans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_One Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 It's just someone trying to capitalise on the fact that everyone knows there will be some Half-Life 2 news very shortly. When I think about it, why the hell would I want to polish my gun? For five minutes? Be careful not spill the fluids? What? Sounds bloody stupid now if you ask me And if that system could render proper hair at 70fps, I would eat my computer. For films like Monsters Inc., they have to leave their computers rendering for hours to acheive graphics of that calibre. Highly unlikely. Why the hell I even believed it for a second now, is beyond me. *Hits head* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jokemaster Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 Originally posted by X-Vector No, actually it wouldn't. What is described above doesn't look like a game I'd like to play and I'm one of Half-Life's (SP) biggest fans. well, if you take the cleaning/unjamming/i dunno what with your weapon and the boring Radio operator, Co-ordinating scouting, and Weapon Maintenance missions it could be pretty cool Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Gnarly Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 i can say one word Hackers with new game comes new hackers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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