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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taos Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 O.O Half Life 2! I knew this day would come!!! :D You're a good man Gonk! 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! MUST. SEE. SCREENSHOTS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi Apprentice Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 Excellent news..... Half-Life provided so many fun times, I can't even imagine what number 2 will be like. *writes on game-to-get list* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
X-Vector Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 It's a hoax, people (the article, not HL2). Move along, nothing to see here... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GonkH8er Posted April 18, 2003 Author Share Posted April 18, 2003 Rofl.... It appears that the forum goers at jkii.net are by far the most gullible on the network Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taos Posted April 18, 2003 Share Posted April 18, 2003 *holds up fist* I'm going to get you for this Gonk! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi Apprentice Posted April 19, 2003 Share Posted April 19, 2003 *chases after Gonk* Dirty little rascal...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Com Raven Posted April 19, 2003 Share Posted April 19, 2003 Lol, faking press stuff is great fun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swat Posted April 20, 2003 Share Posted April 20, 2003 here's some gd news for those who has nVidia graphics cards, but sad for those who dun http://spong.com/index.asp?art=4697 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Treacherous Mercenary Posted April 22, 2003 Share Posted April 22, 2003 Originally posted by Swat here's some gd news for those who has nVidia graphics cards, but sad for those who dun http://spong.com/index.asp?art=4697 Exclusive for nvidia? Give me a break! Yes, I do have nvidia, but I think it should be catered to most cards out there, not just one company... As for the press, I never heard about it. I only saw a cover of a mag with that guy on it... Somehow, I feel it may not be as good as HL, but I didn't like HL much either. I only got it for the mods out there instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Treacherous Mercenary Posted April 23, 2003 Share Posted April 23, 2003 Curtesy of Alientank in this forum, I present to you some screenies! Enjoying drooling folks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taos Posted April 23, 2003 Share Posted April 23, 2003 That page is a DNS error....for me anyways. I saw some screenies yesterday though.....it looks pretty cool! They have these new alien creatures that look like they're from Starship Troopers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uber_Saber Posted April 23, 2003 Share Posted April 23, 2003 Originally posted by Swat here's some gd news for those who has nVidia graphics cards, but sad for those who dun http://spong.com/index.asp?art=4697 That is so stupid... Are they gonna start making them AMD and Intel exclusive too? What about sound card exclusive? It makes no sense. Part of the beauty of PC's is the modulareness. Just because I want a game doesn't mean I'm gonna buy another graphics card. I mean, come on. Oh well. Too bad I've got an ATI. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Treacherous Mercenary Posted April 23, 2003 Share Posted April 23, 2003 Originally posted by Leemu Taos That page is a DNS error....for me anyways. I saw some screenies yesterday though.....it looks pretty cool! They have these new alien creatures that look like they're from Starship Troopers. (Ok, PM me instead for pics!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Com Raven Posted April 23, 2003 Share Posted April 23, 2003 Guys, these links are copyright infringements, as there is a press embargo on anything Half-Life 2 that is lifted on may 28th... Till that date, linking to any pics is illegal... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Treacherous Mercenary Posted April 23, 2003 Share Posted April 23, 2003 Originally posted by Com Raven Guys, these links are copyright infringements, as there is a press embargo on anything Half-Life 2 that is lifted on may 28th... Till that date, linking to any pics is illegal... I guess I'll use PM in that case Raven. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Com Raven Posted April 23, 2003 Share Posted April 23, 2003 Sure, that is noting that can be blamed on the boards, so feel free to Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Simpson Posted April 23, 2003 Share Posted April 23, 2003 Just because I want a game doesn't mean I'm gonna buy another graphics card. I mean, come on. No kidding. If it ever happens, you can bet it's gonna get cracked in a second though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Com Raven Posted April 24, 2003 Share Posted April 24, 2003 Accoring to nVidia sources, this is only the first of many such deals to come. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi Apprentice Posted April 24, 2003 Share Posted April 24, 2003 Com, if you don't mind, could you explain to me all this legal stuff of why they can't put the links to the pics? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Treacherous Mercenary Posted April 24, 2003 Share Posted April 24, 2003 Originally posted by Jedi Apprentice Com, if you don't mind, could you explain to me all this legal stuff of why they can't put the links to the pics? And besides, I think they were screens from a mag... Would that still make it illegal Raven? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Com Raven Posted April 24, 2003 Share Posted April 24, 2003 Valve allowed several magaznes to visit them, among them PC Gamer, Gamestar and a dutch mag... They were allowed to report on Half-Life 2 AFTER may 28th, the embargo date... Now someone obviously scanned some of these reports and put them on the net.... Both PC Gamer and Valve contacted several hoempages and asked them to take the pics of unless they wanted tio face legal action... Also, scanning the pages in itself could already be considered copyright infringement by some So please, feel free to share them among yourselves, but not on these boards, at least not till next week Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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