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Half-Life 2: 20th Anniversary Update
- green-salt 2y agoI extremely recommend scrolling all the way to the bottom of the page for this one.
- escapecharacter 2y agonice, thanks for the easter egg
- latentcall 2y agoHeh doesn’t work on Safari for me. edit: on iPhone
- 0cf8612b2e1e 2y agoDoes anything happen if you throw the can at the cop? Experience was kind of bugging out on me.
- barryrandall 2y agoI stopped 2/3 of the way through the announcement. By the time I got to the final 1/3 of the story, I just couldn't imagine the ending living up to the expectations set in the first 2/3 of the announcement, and stopped.
- AdmiralAsshat 2y agoOnly three more years until Team Fortress 2 hits a similar milestone. Which is crazy to think about, because I still play it online at least once a week.
- aphantastic 2y agoAny idea how much earbuds are worth nowadays? I got the originals for being a first-day mac player, then traded them for some absolute nonsense… rip.
- AdmiralAsshat 2y agohttps://backpack.tf/stats/Unique/Earbuds/Tradable/Craftable https://backpack.tf/stats/Unique/Earbuds/Tradable/Craftable 8 keys, I guess?
- aphantastic 2y ago783 keys, rather. $500. Volume looms pretty low though…
- LorenDB 2y agoPortal will hit 20 years in 2027 as well.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- jsheard 2y agoIt doesn't seem to be mentioned here, but HL2 (which now includes the sequel episodes) is completely free to claim on Steam until the 18th, if you're new to the series. https://store.steampowered.com/app/220/HalfLife_2/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/220/HalfLife_2/ Also try clicking on the gravity gun at the end of the anniversary page.
- XorNot 2y agoAlso I highly recommend Black Mesa, which is the remake of HL1 in the HL2 engine. The Xen levels went from what they were to possibly some of my favorite levels in the game, and the music scoring is top-notch. It feels great to play.
- va1a 2y agoMaybe even in a game period. Beautifully done remake.
- jsheard 2y agoBlack Mesa is also 75% off right now, incidentally. Seems like everything Half Life is either free or on deep discount for the anniversary.
- bdjsiqoocwk 2y ago[flagged]
- jsheard 2y agoAnd when you buy an album on CD you just license it for personal use, you can't play it on the radio or in a commercial space. "Buying" a copy of some intellectual property always had strings attached even in the age of physical media.
- bdjsiqoocwk 2y agoSteam can delete a game from your account, they can't delete a cd that I physically have with me. Why does this even need to be spelled out...
- tedd4u 2y agoCool, but do I really feel like buying this game yet again? Still holding out for HL 3. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- marginalia_nu 2y agoYeah I'm also saving my $0 for a better investment.
- hatthew 2y agoI can double your investment in 24 hours. DM for details.
- mplewis 2y agoIt’s literally free right now.
- Kudos 2y agoIt's free for the next few days.
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- SuperNinKenDo 2y agoI think it might be free at the moment. That's what happened on the HL1 anniversary anyway, so maybe check.
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- corysama 2y agoHalf Life 3 is out, dude. It's titled "Alyx".
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- eknkc 2y ago20-25 years ago a handful of companies had a weird hold on me. I’d jump on anything Google made back then. Blizzard could sell me any game they came up with. If it was from Blizzard, it was gonna be great. Lost all of it obviously. Not a single company has my loyalty anymore. Except if valve were to release a mystery black box with faint lambda symbol on it. I’d pay whatever they asked for it.
- balls187 2y ago> Not a single company has my loyalty anymore. FromSoft
- Groxx 2y agoI gotta have my poison bogs
- marginalia_nu 2y agoBesides FromSoft as perhaps the exception to the rule as a subsidary to Kadokawa, private companies seem to be keeping their shit together fairly consistently. Larian and Wube are a pair of solid examples, although Valve is probably the most outstanding example. Game developers and publishers start shitting the bed when they IPO and need to juggle the conflicting interests of managing investor relations as well as customer demands; that or when they're acquired and turned into a subsidiary.
- deanCommie 2y agoThis would be an incredible way to stealth-release Episode 3, but I understand at this point it would be impossible for it to be not a disappointment, so I imagine nobody wants to risk trying to make it.
- SuperNinKenDo 2y agoTrying to spend more time doing leisure activities again, so the developer commentary might make a fine excuse to crack this bad boy out again.
- vardump 2y agoCan't wait to see episode 3. There have been some rumors they might be working on it, but I'm not holding my breath anymore.
- cubefox 2y agoKotaku: > In a new two-hour documentary from Valve, current and former members of the company talk openly about the creation of Half-Life 2 as well as finally spilling the beans on what happened to Episode 3, and even showing gameplay of early prototypes of the canceled game. The two hour documentary was just uploaded like an hour ago, so presumably nobody has watched it completely yet.
- z7 2y agoHaven't most of the old writers left Valve by now?
- cubefox 2y agoDirect link to the 20th anniversary documentary: https://youtube.com/watch?v=YCjNT9qGjh4 https://youtube.com/watch?v=YCjNT9qGjh4
- oDot 2y agoNice, I wonder when the third documentary will be out
- benbristow 2y agoValve can't count to 3!
- account42 2y agoYes, that was the joke.
- mgh2 2y agoRelated: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42152003 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42152003
- archagon 2y agoOne of the few mainstream game companies that cares deeply about their legacy and community. Kudos.
- jjcm 2y agoIf you want a fun way to revisit the game but don't want to replay, the 50min "Developers React to 50 Minute Speedrun" is a ton of fun: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sK_PdwL5Y8g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sK_PdwL5Y8g It highlights some of the architectural decisions (and how players exploit them), and has gems such as one of the commentators having their entire section skipped by the speedrunner.
- inasio 2y agoIt would be nice if it was again possible to run it in current Mac OS. The original Half life still lists Mac OS but with incompatible information (newer versions of Steam require recent versions, but HL only runs on old 32 bit OSX)
- mrpippy 2y agoIt should work in Wine, although I haven't tested this update yet. (disclaimer: I work for CodeWeavers, we sell CrossOver which should be a great and easy way to play) edit: tested out the 20th anniversary update on M2 Pro, it works great!
- inasio 2y agoAll, or at least most of Valve's games used to run natively on Mac, and now they don't (even on Intel Macs)
- Zamiel_Snawley 2y agoRunning native or emulated doesn’t really matter if the performance is good enough. Better translation layers are what made the Steam Deck possible.
- satvikpendem 2y agoGood enough doesn't mean optimal, though. Every layer adds a performance penalty and that's how we end up in situations where we have layers and layers of abstraction eventually making all programs slow even on ever increasing hardware. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_and_Bill's_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_and_Bill's_law
- brnt 2y agoIn fact, Windows gamers are using DXVK to reduce overhead. One needs to realise graphics APIs have historically not been terribly efficient.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- endoblast 2y agoMy claim to fame on the 20th anniversary (84 views thus far) is to have completed Ravenholm without inflicting any deaths or receiving any injury: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_XN_RwjnqM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_XN_RwjnqM
- shermantanktop 2y agoI watched the whole thing. Impressive!
- endoblast 2y agoThank you. There was a lot of repetition and problem-solving. The headcrabs were the worst. Well, and the fast headcrabs/spiders. The final segment from the exit of the mine to the end of the level is also done however that posting is waiting for a rainy day.
- derbOac 2y agoI've played through HL2 and its expansions so many times as a kind of meditative relaxation thing I couldn't tell you how many times. I could never get used to Ravenholm though. Thinking about it even now years later stresses me out a tad.
- kartoffelsaft 2y agoFor whatever reason, Ravenholm didn't particularly unsettle me. I don't know what it is, maybe expectation from the praise it receives left me underwhelmed, or maybe it's the fact that I was quite literally a toddler when the game came out and only first played it in 2019? To be fair, I did enjoy it and could feel the intent of it being the horror section. I could see it usettling me if I played it at the time, but I see a lot of people saying it holds up really well so I still feel I've missed out on something.
- BigJono 2y agoIt holds up well in gameplay because the gravity gun is still fun. But I think most of the hype was multiplied by HL2 being such a massive step up in graphics. Nobody in my friend group played Doom 3, so for us it was going straight from HL1 and CS 1.6 to HL2. Compare the 2 games side by side and HL2 literally looked futuristic, like it shouldn't even be possible with the hardware at the time. (And to be fair my graphics card burst into flames trying to push 15 fps in the canals section so maybe it wasn't).
- imiric 2y agoIf there is any game worthy of a remaster or remake it's HL2, and all of its episodes. It remains one of my most memorable gaming experiences, and not just because of nostalgia. The story, writing, characters, dialogue, environments, gameplay, graphics, audio... Everything was pretty much revolutionary back then. I remember being awed by the physics in the demo, and couldn't get enough of the gravity gun once I got the game. It was so brilliantly versatile and satisfying to use. And yet these days we get "remasters" of games that are not even 5 years old. Most of the AAA industry is just putting out lazy cash grabs and predatory live service garbage. Valve itself has profited immensely from the live service business model. I just wish they would get back to development, or sell someone else the rights to their single-player franchises. Spinoffs like HL: Alyx and Aperture Desk Job don't really cut it for me. Anyways, this update looks alright. I'm looking forward to the new commentary.
- mynegation 2y agoMissed the chance to call it “Actinium”
- shadowtree 2y agoIn the video doc they talk about the failure to execute on Episode 3 or even a Half Life 3. Has a weird tone to it, the whole thing ends on a depressing note. As Gabe says, they didn't fulfill their obligation towards their customer and fan base to complete the story. Alyx is cool, but niche. Oh well, Half Life 3 not confirmed, yet again.
- entropie 2y agoFixes > Reduced chances of birds getting stuck in the world. I really think I give it a replay. It was such a great game and truly started a new area of gaming.
- benreesman 2y agoThe black bar means someone died. A real computer scientist. I hope it’s not a legend like ken or something, but it’s not obvious from the front page and #1 is a video game. Tell me we’re not handing out black bars for anniversaries of software now?
- wvbdmp 2y agoThomas E. Kurtz of BASIC fame https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42141761 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42141761
- benreesman 2y agoRIP. Legend.
- zf00002 2y agoWonder if these bugfixes mean new speedruns?
- honeybadger1 2y agothe article is stupidly short and unhelpful and people here still didn't read it
- ZiiS 2y agoSo 3 is soon?
- donatj 2y agoIn 2007 when The Orange Box was released, Half-Life 2 took forever to load on my dual-core Athlon 64 X2. It would run but the levels would take a solid minute to load. At the time I figured it was some incompatibility with the multiple cores as that was still rare and a lot of other software gave me trouble with it at that time. I tried to play it much more recently, maybe six or so years ago on an Intel MacBook before they broke 32-bit, and once again even on modern hardware the game took FOREVER to load. Maybe this is just my experience? I haven't heard anyone else complain about the terrible load times?
- rightbyte 2y agoDo you mean the start menu screen where they render a level in the background because why not? +map_background none No go back in time and relive a joyfull hl2.
- deeringc 2y agoI don't think dual core was that rare in 2007. Conroe was released the year before. For gamers, dual core was the standard at that point (at least from what I remember of the time).
- et1337 2y agoThis was my experience too. IIRC they raytrace the lightmaps for the whole map on demand during loading instead of baking them ahead of time. But I might be misremembering
- mrpippy 2y agoIt looks like the Mac and Linux ports are now gone
- Maken 2y agoThe Mac port seems to be missing, but the updated HL2 definitely has Linux support.
- bsimpson 2y agoIt makes me really happy to see old games getting remastered. I was a Mac kid. There were a whole bunch of games that I wanted to play but didn't have access to. (At least we had Marathon!) American McGee's Alice was at the top of that list, with the Arkham Trilogy close behind. The Steam Deck is giving me a chance to catch up on all the computer games that I didn't have the hardware for when they were popular. I've now caught up on Arkham, but I just can't get into Alice. The graphics and the controls are so bad from a modern perspective that it distracts from any desire I have to explore that world. I had to download a mod to even unlock the original Alice, because they don't sell the complete collection on Steam any longer. Seeing that the Half Life games have been recently remastered, maybe it's time for me to give them a play through. I'm going to be spending lots of time on airplanes over the holidays!
- karim79 2y agoI can never understand why they haven't made a HL3. Given that they could literally make approximately 3.88 bajillion dollars from it in 24 hours. I suppose this is the very definition of developer integrity.
- HatchedLake721 2y agoThey already make 7.76 bajillion dollars every hour from Steam, they don’t need to make anything for money.
- cubefox 2y agoExactly. They probably make more profit from most Steam games than the publishers of those games themselves. Basically like Apple with the App Store. Steam exemplifies a failure mode of capitalism: Rent seeking.
- danpalmer 2y agoFor a while their stated reason was that they felt they couldn’t live up to the hype and the gaming community was too toxic and would have crucified them for it. True or not, I can see why they’d think that. However it’s also worth noting that they were spending that time on other projects making them likely even more money. HL3 isn’t going to have live service or esports applications that make money like their other games do. It probably won’t be a big earner compared to those other games. Valve are also a privately held company and the rumour is the top people there are crazy rich, and even those further down the ladder earn a lot more than they would elsewhere. They don’t need HL3.
- Angostura 2y agoExcitedly checks to see whether it has been updated yet to support 64 bit Macs. Sadly slinks away
- mrpippy 2y agoYeah, nope. But you can run it in CrossOver/Wine.
- Askaban77 2y agoHalf life 3 ffs
- timnetworks 2y agoIf you tried to pick up the crowbar at the top of the page and were disappointed, scroll all the way down, pick up the portal gun thing, and scroll back up, destroying the whole webpage in the process. Props to the webmaster (do people still say that?), I love seeing easter eggs like this.
- throwaway314155 2y ago> pick up the portal gun thing Didn't play Half Life 2 I gather?
- markus_zhang 2y agoFor anyone who wants a creative hobby, grab the game, download the SDK and start making maps/mods. It took a lot of effort to craft beautiful map, but comparing to later engines, HL2 is still easier to learn and make maps for. (DOOM and Quake are also good targets and both have a large community)
- IYasha 2y agoHL1 is also good for a hobby, if not better. There are open-source alternatives to the engine and better editors, and the off-steam community still delivers!
- markus_zhang 2y agoYeah that's also good. I used to play with Worldcraft a lot back in the 00s, such memories!
- cojo 2y agoWow, seeing this made me surprisingly emotional as I realized that downloading the pre-release leaked source code for some testing levels of HL2 (which included an early version of what would become Steam, as well) - and then debugging / figuring out how to hack together a version that would compile in Visual Studio (back when you had to have a license… in theory…) as a preteen - had a way bigger impact on me than I gave it credit for at the time. I think seeing the sheer scope of that codebase and realizing how much I didn’t understand and still had to learn is part of what put me in my path into both the game industry and software startups. I found both Valve’s and Gabe’s stories that much more compelling after gaining an appreciation for how much there was under the hood. Cheers to everyone who has worked on this engine, this project, and this company over the years. I suspect your influence runs deeper than you know.
- LarsDu88 2y agoI remember flipping through that Raising the Bar book at Barnes and Noble 20 years ago and playing HL2 with min setting on my paltry Geforce 2 Ti. I am so getting the reissued book!
- liontwist 2y agoIt's extremely rare to revisit a game like this for fear of new regressions. I'm sure every game goes out the door with 10-20 bad bugs that would be easy to fix, but it's just too late to touch. It also sounds like the fixed a lot of art/ambience regressions introduced by newer source engines over the years. Anyway, it's exciting to see an update like this, and a testament to their prior engineering that they can turn up all these dials without weird repercussions.
- account42 2y agoThey already upgraded the game a couple of times since release. A big one was the Linux port which also saw many changes to the Windows version. Regressions do happen which is why they opened a (public) bug tracker at the time, which is still in use: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Source-1-Games/issues https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Source-1-Games/issues If you have any HL2 issues, now is probably a good time to get them fixed before the developers responsible for the update get bored and move to another project.
- MaximilianEmel 2y agoYou know it's a good remaster when no one complains about it overwriting the original. (yes it is called an update, but I think that proves my point)
- shark1 2y agoI never played it. What makes it being rated so good?
- jiggawatts 2y agoIt's a bit dated now, but at the time it was revolutionary. A bit like the genre-defining movies such as Star Wars, the Matrix, or Terminator 2. It's hard to put a finger on it, but it was a combination of a truly imaginative setting on-par with a decent science fiction movie or novel and the "show, don't tell" style of proper world-building. It presented a uniquely interesting dystopia, discoverable through a game instead of a movie or book. I think it was one of the first games I played that was dark. For example, the "police" are cybernetically enhanced, but in a disturbing way ("transhuman"). The low-ranked troopers "just" have permanently worn facemasks a bit like Darth Vader, with an implication that they may not be functional without them. The higher-ranked shock troops have increasing levels of augmentations until some have only a single central "eye" in their visor. You shudder to think what's hidden underneath.
- tomburgs 2y agoIt was revolutionary when it came out due to its physics engine, character facial animations, graphics, and most of all it had a captivating story and great gameplay.
- nathanasmith 2y agoWhen Half-Life 2 came out it caused me to break a video game addiction I'd had since being a teenager. I was so awestruck by the quality and enjoyment I derived from the game that after playing through it any other game I tried later paled in comparison to the memory. It got to the point that I couldn't make it more than 30 minutes into a new game without losing interest and eventually I just stopped buying games altogether and that was it. I'm still not sure if this is a good or bad thing.
- apple4ever 2y agoThis is awesome. I've only ever played Portal and Portal 2, so playing the games they came from finally would be neat!
- IYasha 2y agoFor those living under rock (me): did they finally update the HL1 SDK to catch up with HL1 Anniversary edition? I was really anticipating lots of positive changes, but kind of lost track in the chaos of life.