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I havn't played the entire game, but I'm wondering if there is a connection between the game Half-Life (by valve), and biological half-life ? Like, I mean, is there something in the game that has to do with half-lives?
Ok Thanks!
well
radioactive materials have a half life
and there are a lot of radioactive materials in half life
also your link takes you to the article for half life, not biological half life
It always seemed to me that they threw radioactive mook in the games just to justify the cool name, although I also imagine that it will have deeper meaning after more is revealed.
I found..."The titles of Half-Life and its expansion packs are all named after scientific terms. Half-Life itself is a reference to the half-life of a quantity (such as a radioactive material), the amount of time required for the quantity to decay to half of its initial value. The Greek letter lambda, which features prominently on the game's packaging, represents the related decay constant, as well as the Lambda Complex featured in the game."
But I don't like the sound of a game being titled after something related to the name of the company the protagonist works at... Anyone have more to add?
You pretty much nailed it on the head really. The Lambda Complex (switching to total Half-Life Game Geek Mode!) focused on extremely theoretical, experimental and somewhat unethical research on strange substances of all types, they sort of gloss over it in the game, but a large chunk of the research focused on that "sample" that you pushed into the reactor to make it go critical.
The reaction was essentially that sample rapidly decaying on the atomic level which caused the dimensional tear into the borderworld Xen (although it isn't explicitly laid out like that, a lot of the background has to be gleaned from the wiki or interviews from the creators themselves, that and we're still not entirely sure "what" that sample of rock-like substance actually was).
Hopefully we'll figure out once the stars align, hell freezes over, and valve finally releases more info on Half-Life 2 Episode 3 (or are they going to say "screw it!" and forego the episode system and release half life 3?) and hopefully we can learn more about what exactly was going on at the Lambda Complex when everything went to hell.
I always took it as a play on words - referring to both the half-life of radioactive materials (since radioactivity was used in the 'scientific' premise of the game) and also the literal meaning of "Half-Life," indicating that the aliens or mutants you were fighting weren't fully "alive" in the sense that they were experiments, mutants, bioengineered creatures, headcrab zombies, whatever.
This, in the same way that the title of the musical "Rent" refers literally to the rent payment that the characters owe, but also means "torn apart" as in the past tense of the verb "to rend."
... After Gordan gets the offer from the G-Man, he basically becomes his puppet and slips in to statis only to be called back when the G-Man needs him. I guess you could call that a half-life.
They called it Half-Life: Opposing Force because Shepard was part of the opposing force of military soldiers.
Yes, yes. But it is also a reference to opposing forces in a scientific sense. Blue shift is called that because it is the policeish security guys on the compound. But it also refers to the scientific concept of blue shift, the opposite of red shift, which means something is moving towards you.
JebusUD on
and I wonder about my neighbors even though I don't have them
but they're listening to every word I say
They called it Half-Life: Opposing Force because Shepard was part of the opposing force of military soldiers.
Yes, yes. But it is also a reference to opposing forces in a scientific sense. Blue shift is called that because it is the policeish security guys on the compound. But it also refers to the scientific concept of blue shift, the opposite of red shift, which means something is moving towards you.
It was called half-life because it sounded like a neat name for a game that involved playing a scientist that shoots aliens.
That realy is as deep and meaningful as it gets.
It's like trying to figure out why Id named a game Doom, or Quake.
Ah this is a good point. I guess I didnt think of this, cause I can see how doom and quake can sound 'cool' to a teenager, but i don't see how half-life can sound cool. Oh well, I'm quite pleased with the amount of replies in this thread.
radioactivity is vaguely 'sciencey' and mysterious
Now someone explain to me reason for the title of sub-mediocre sci-fi racer Quantum Redshift.
If we're going to question sci-fi titles in general then I'd like to throw up Blade Runner. Sure it sounds cool, but in context it makes so little sense that it's just retarded.
It was called half-life because it sounded like a neat name for a game that involved playing a scientist that shoots aliens.
That realy is as deep and meaningful as it gets.
It's like trying to figure out why Id named a game Doom, or Quake.
I guess there was this movie where a character is opening up a briefcase, and a guy says "What's in that briefcase?", and the guy with the briefcase says "Doom".
So id thought it would be cool if a guy was opening a laptop and a guy said "What's in the laptop?" and the other guy said "Doom".
Just what I heard.
And Quake was the in-game military codename of the evil creature who's minions you were fighting in Quake.
It was called half-life because it sounded like a neat name for a game that involved playing a scientist that shoots aliens.
That realy is as deep and meaningful as it gets.
It's like trying to figure out why Id named a game Doom, or Quake.
I guess there was this movie where a character is opening up a briefcase, and a guy says "What's in that briefcase?", and the guy with the briefcase says "Doom".
So id thought it would be cool if a guy was opening a laptop and a guy said "What's in the laptop?" and the other guy said "Doom".
Just what I heard.
And Quake was the in-game military codename of the evil creature who's minions you were fighting in Quake.
From the book Masters of Doom, Doom comes from a quote from The Color of Money, and the character was opening a pool cue case, not a briefcase.
And Quake was the name of John Romero's D&D character.
I skimmed (and I mean SKIMMED) the topic but didn't see any mentioning of how Gordon Freeman is named after a real scientist. The real Gordan Freeman came and lectured at my University, but I didn't get the chance to see him If he comes back, I'll ask him about how he feels to have such a popular video game character named after him (I'm sure he's aware - if not, I'd love to be the one to break the news to him!)
Just skimmed this thread... But the game got the name just as a cool sounding science related title. Just like the expansions were called Opposing Force and Blue Shift. Nothing that deep behind it.
As for Quake, as someone brought it up, that was also just a cool name. It only became a sci-fi shooter late in the development process. Originally it was a medieval themed first-person RPG. They just kept the code name since it sounded cool.
EDIT: I didn't know about the D&D character origin for Quake. Still, it probably would have been called something else if they kept it as an RPG.
Now someone explain to me reason for the title of sub-mediocre sci-fi racer Quantum Redshift.
If we're going to question sci-fi titles in general then I'd like to throw up Blade Runner. Sure it sounds cool, but in context it makes so little sense that it's just retarded.
Blade runners is just a slang term for the special police who hunted down and 'retire' replicants. In that context, it makes perfect sense to call the film that. Makes more sense than it would've done to name it after the novel, saying as the whole existential question of whether androids dream of electric sheep was ommited from the screenplay.
Posts
well
radioactive materials have a half life
and there are a lot of radioactive materials in half life
also your link takes you to the article for half life, not biological half life
GT: Tanky the Tank
Black: 1377 6749 7425
You pretty much nailed it on the head really. The Lambda Complex (switching to total Half-Life Game Geek Mode!) focused on extremely theoretical, experimental and somewhat unethical research on strange substances of all types, they sort of gloss over it in the game, but a large chunk of the research focused on that "sample" that you pushed into the reactor to make it go critical.
The reaction was essentially that sample rapidly decaying on the atomic level which caused the dimensional tear into the borderworld Xen (although it isn't explicitly laid out like that, a lot of the background has to be gleaned from the wiki or interviews from the creators themselves, that and we're still not entirely sure "what" that sample of rock-like substance actually was).
Hopefully we'll figure out once the stars align, hell freezes over, and valve finally releases more info on Half-Life 2 Episode 3 (or are they going to say "screw it!" and forego the episode system and release half life 3?) and hopefully we can learn more about what exactly was going on at the Lambda Complex when everything went to hell.
Wud yoo laek to lern aboot meatz? Look here!
This, in the same way that the title of the musical "Rent" refers literally to the rent payment that the characters owe, but also means "torn apart" as in the past tense of the verb "to rend."
See how many books I've read so far in 2010
That realy is as deep and meaningful as it gets.
kpop appreciation station i also like to tweet some
Yes, this. Anything else is adding explanation after the fact.
That's what I think.
It's like trying to figure out why Id named a game Doom, or Quake.
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Yes, yes. But it is also a reference to opposing forces in a scientific sense. Blue shift is called that because it is the policeish security guys on the compound. But it also refers to the scientific concept of blue shift, the opposite of red shift, which means something is moving towards you.
but they're listening to every word I say
That's the joke.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
radioactivity is vaguely 'sciencey' and mysterious
kpop appreciation station i also like to tweet some
I get the feeling this is one of those "Once you see it..." moments.
If we're going to question sci-fi titles in general then I'd like to throw up Blade Runner. Sure it sounds cool, but in context it makes so little sense that it's just retarded.
I guess there was this movie where a character is opening up a briefcase, and a guy says "What's in that briefcase?", and the guy with the briefcase says "Doom".
So id thought it would be cool if a guy was opening a laptop and a guy said "What's in the laptop?" and the other guy said "Doom".
Just what I heard.
And Quake was the in-game military codename of the evil creature who's minions you were fighting in Quake.
From the book Masters of Doom, Doom comes from a quote from The Color of Money, and the character was opening a pool cue case, not a briefcase.
And Quake was the name of John Romero's D&D character.
GT: Tanky the Tank
Black: 1377 6749 7425
As for Quake, as someone brought it up, that was also just a cool name. It only became a sci-fi shooter late in the development process. Originally it was a medieval themed first-person RPG. They just kept the code name since it sounded cool.
EDIT: I didn't know about the D&D character origin for Quake. Still, it probably would have been called something else if they kept it as an RPG.
Blade runners is just a slang term for the special police who hunted down and 'retire' replicants. In that context, it makes perfect sense to call the film that. Makes more sense than it would've done to name it after the novel, saying as the whole existential question of whether androids dream of electric sheep was ommited from the screenplay.