Sounds like that doc is going to miss the 20th anniversary date (i.e. tomorrow) but I'm read some stuff that indicates the Black Mesa team will have something big for the anniversary.
Obviously Valve probably ain't doing anything, but it's nice there fandom is still strong enough to pick up the slack.
At this point I'd take a special Steam avatar or something. Anything, I guess aside from the occasional VR experiment that thus far I have no interest in adopting into.
First they came for the Muslims, and we said NOT TODAY, MOTHERFUCKER!
I've enjoyed the other NoClip documentaries I've seen, so I'm definitely looking forward to this one. Even if it doesn't really end up saying anything that hasn't already been shared over the years (god, decades) in various venues.
I mean, I'd love some new insight into things, but I'm not expecting it.
Forar on
First they came for the Muslims, and we said NOT TODAY, MOTHERFUCKER!
I've enjoyed the other NoClip documentaries I've seen, so I'm definitely looking forward to this one. Even if it doesn't really end up saying anything that hasn't already been shared over the years (god, decades) in various venues.
I mean, I'd love some new insight into things, but I'm not expecting it.
IIRC, Danny wanted this to be originally be more of a documentary about Half-Life itself, but Valve apparently wasn't interested, so the focus shifted to the community and Half-Life's influence.
Well.. I'm still looking forward to it, but that does sadden me a bit.
It's fascinating to see the evolution of media over the course of my life. Sequel hooks are expected, but may or may not actually come to fruition. HL2E3/HL3, or the next Song of Ice and Fire book, or the next Dresden Files book, to name a few off the top of my head. Many consumers don't just expect a standalone IP, but the beginning of a trilogy or larger scale endeavor, but also have to deal with people going too far, and yet the ever frustrating 'they don't owe you anything' stance, which while true, also at times seems to abdicate the companies or creators in question who have engaged across those countless hours of games or books or movies or whatever and then left it dangling.
To be clear, this is more of a jumping off point for a couple of thoughts that have been rattling around for a while now.
First they came for the Muslims, and we said NOT TODAY, MOTHERFUCKER!
Half-Life: A Place in the West (A fan-made digital comic available on Steam) put out an update as well.
Happy 20 Years of Half-Life!
As announced this past weekend, today we are releasing another content pack for A Place in the West! The app has been updated to include the Russian Translation of Chapter 5 (Thanks to Vsevolod Stepanov and Pavel Lapinsky), as well as adding “Containment”, our new interlude that takes us back to Black Mesa, to the place where it all began.
There’s also a new Extra involving “Containment”, for which we give thanks to Rikki "Marphy Black" D'Angelo, that I’ll let you explore for yourself… “Containment” and the Chapter 5 Russian translation are both available in PDF form as well. Finally, we’re releasing Volume 2 of our soundtrack today, with 9 new tracks from Chris Jolley!
It's kind of a bummer reading some of the Steam reviews of Black Mesa. Kids today have no idea how innovative Half Life 1 was at release. I guess in many way it's a victim of it's own influence. So many of the ground breaking things it did are now ubiquitous.
I still think Valve's approach to narrative is unique even in this day and age. I say Valve, because it's a through line between Half Life 1 and 2 to Left 4 Dead. Anyway, remember when Value used to make games?
It's kind of a bummer reading some of the Steam reviews of Black Mesa. Kids today have no idea how innovative Half Life 1 was at release. I guess in many way it's a victim of it's own influence. So many of the ground breaking things it did are now ubiquitous.
I still think Valve's approach to narrative is unique even in this day and age. I say Valve, because it's a through line between Half Life 1 and 2 to Left 4 Dead. Anyway, remember when Value used to make games?
Artifact is due to come out soon and they bought Campo Santo so they'll be releasing In the Valley of the Gods, so they're kind of making games again.
That's what originally got me to buy Half-Life, some boxed edition that included each of the expansions with it. Sure, I got to play an awesome single player but then I got to endlessly enjoy those mods that just never seemed to end.
They missed Natural Selection though, that was it, that was the one that convinced me while playing at a friend's house, I had to get Half-Life.
That Black Mesa Xen trailer is incredible. Very... triumphant feeling? It makes me wonder how the crew feels being this close to the actual, for real end of their project. It's been so long for them.
That's what originally got me to buy Half-Life, some boxed edition that included each of the expansions with it. Sure, I got to play an awesome single player but then I got to endlessly enjoy those mods that just never seemed to end.
They missed Natural Selection though, that was it, that was the one that convinced me while playing at a friend's house, I had to get Half-Life.
I played Sven Coop, Natural Selection, and The Specialists every day for a very very long while. The Specialists was amazing.
Christ, I stared at this Tweet for several minutes, convinced it was from 2015 or earlier.
As in the past, long story short: VR in the franchise Half-Life is hamstrung by a all the usual concerns, and then more. Make it a VR exclusive, and you've pretty much guaranteed you'll get a fiftieth of the potential sales (this is very little exaggeration), because you're expecting people to pay ~$400 for a sequel that should've come out ten years ago, on top of the ire of people who avoid VR for practical or physical considerations instead of just financial ones.
Make it VR optional, and you've basically made another VR tie-in game with the giant anchor of "How do you make a Half Life sequel at this point?" around its neck. Maybe it moves some headsets if you're lucky. There's a strong argument to be made that even if a new Half-Life 3 or similar title was successful beyond Valve's wildest dreams, the profit it would make after costs would barely register compared to the massive money-generating machine is Steam. A lot of evidence suggests Valve doesn't really want to make massive blockbuster games that have to survive under the scrutiny of Metacritic, they want to make Steam work better (or at least even more profitable) with the minimum amount of human effort they can manage.
So, they make a VR "experience"--just like they've already done with Portal--for the franchise. Minimum risk, maximum promotion of the device in question, which (like all VR headsets) has massively short of initial sales expectations from the time of is launch. That's what I'd expect.
This would all be problematic even if Half-Life 3, or even episode 3 back when Valve insisted episodic gaming was totally the future, wasn't subject to a vast mountain of hype.
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KoopahTroopahThe koopas, the troopas.Philadelphia, PARegistered Userregular
Wonder if the meh reaction to their card game has made Valve rethink some things.
They immediately changed a large selling point of the game after the release player-base drop, which was that cards would only be rotated and never updated or nerfed. Now that they're nerfing cards, the cards have artificial value and not 1-to-1 value like they originally intended. It's basically the HearthStone marketplace instead of the IRL Magic marketplace.
Honestly, I miss the single player story driven experiences by Valve. Even a new L4D update would be fun to go through at least once. It's just Portal 2 is such a mammoth to follow up on. How would any company even go about it?
Christ, I stared at this Tweet for several minutes, convinced it was from 2015 or earlier.
As in the past, long story short: VR in the franchise Half-Life is hamstrung by a all the usual concerns, and then more. Make it a VR exclusive, and you've pretty much guaranteed you'll get a fiftieth of the potential sales (this is very little exaggeration), because you're expecting people to pay ~$400 for a sequel that should've come out ten years ago, on top of the ire of people who avoid VR for practical or physical considerations instead of just financial ones.
Make it VR optional, and you've basically made another VR tie-in game with the giant anchor of "How do you make a Half Life sequel at this point?" around its neck. Maybe it moves some headsets if you're lucky. There's a strong argument to be made that even if a new Half-Life 3 or similar title was successful beyond Valve's wildest dreams, the profit it would make after costs would barely register compared to the massive money-generating machine is Steam. A lot of evidence suggests Valve doesn't really want to make massive blockbuster games that have to survive under the scrutiny of Metacritic, they want to make Steam work better (or at least even more profitable) with the minimum amount of human effort they can manage.
So, they make a VR "experience"--just like they've already done with Portal--for the franchise. Minimum risk, maximum promotion of the device in question, which (like all VR headsets) has massively short of initial sales expectations from the time of is launch. That's what I'd expect.
This would all be problematic even if Half-Life 3, or even episode 3 back when Valve insisted episodic gaming was totally the future, wasn't subject to a vast mountain of hype.
Honestly, now that it's becoming apparent that VR really isn't going to escape niche status -- NPD reports that even the $200 PSVR bundle last Christmas didn't make any real waves -- a new Valve VR thing is looking like a real boondoggle. Especially since their HTC partnership didn't sell well even with attracting hard-core Valve fans. I mean, maybe if Valve VR is dirt-cheap, but that ain't Valve.
At any rate, given that Valve will likely lock Half-Life VR to the new hardware instead of sharing it with the other VR platforms, that'll really limit its audience.
Christ, I stared at this Tweet for several minutes, convinced it was from 2015 or earlier.
As in the past, long story short: VR in the franchise Half-Life is hamstrung by a all the usual concerns, and then more. Make it a VR exclusive, and you've pretty much guaranteed you'll get a fiftieth of the potential sales (this is very little exaggeration), because you're expecting people to pay ~$400 for a sequel that should've come out ten years ago, on top of the ire of people who avoid VR for practical or physical considerations instead of just financial ones.
Make it VR optional, and you've basically made another VR tie-in game with the giant anchor of "How do you make a Half Life sequel at this point?" around its neck. Maybe it moves some headsets if you're lucky. There's a strong argument to be made that even if a new Half-Life 3 or similar title was successful beyond Valve's wildest dreams, the profit it would make after costs would barely register compared to the massive money-generating machine is Steam. A lot of evidence suggests Valve doesn't really want to make massive blockbuster games that have to survive under the scrutiny of Metacritic, they want to make Steam work better (or at least even more profitable) with the minimum amount of human effort they can manage.
So, they make a VR "experience"--just like they've already done with Portal--for the franchise. Minimum risk, maximum promotion of the device in question, which (like all VR headsets) has massively short of initial sales expectations from the time of is launch. That's what I'd expect.
This would all be problematic even if Half-Life 3, or even episode 3 back when Valve insisted episodic gaming was totally the future, wasn't subject to a vast mountain of hype.
Honestly, now that it's becoming apparent that VR really isn't going to escape niche status -- NPD reports that even the $200 PSVR bundle last Christmas didn't make any real waves -- a new Valve VR thing is looking like a real boondoggle. Especially since their HTC partnership didn't sell well even with attracting hard-core Valve fans. I mean, maybe if Valve VR is dirt-cheap, but that ain't Valve.
At any rate, given that Valve will likely lock Half-Life VR to the new hardware instead of sharing it with the other VR platforms, that'll really limit its audience.
Aside from the HTC Vive, Valve's reputation for hardware--Steam machines, anyone? those controllers that everyone was going to use?--seems generally characterized by mediocre hardware at uncompetitive prices. The best reviewed Steam machine being sold cheaper with Windows bundled with it to try and cut Alienware's losses is a perfect metaphor. Even dirt cheap VR from Valve...probably wouldn't be much cheaper than the economy W.M.R. options (which still have better visual resolution that the original Vive does), or Google Cardboard/Phone VR across VR devices in general.
Still, the Vive successful muscled in on the Rift in shockingly little time (relatively speaking), and even at a higher price point. Always bet on Gabe, or something. Though that has more to do with Rift and Vive sales being a drop in the bucket though.
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Shame he couldn't get enough time with Valve to make a Half-Life production doc, but I this is probably the next best thing.
Obviously Valve probably ain't doing anything, but it's nice there fandom is still strong enough to pick up the slack.
I wonder if the Valve VR set is even real or if it’s just another dead end?
https://forums.blackmesasource.com/index.php/Thread/45522-Half-Life-is-20-Xen-Trailer/?postID=650054#post650054
I mean, I'd love some new insight into things, but I'm not expecting it.
IIRC, Danny wanted this to be originally be more of a documentary about Half-Life itself, but Valve apparently wasn't interested, so the focus shifted to the community and Half-Life's influence.
Which says a lot about modern Valve, IMO.
It's fascinating to see the evolution of media over the course of my life. Sequel hooks are expected, but may or may not actually come to fruition. HL2E3/HL3, or the next Song of Ice and Fire book, or the next Dresden Files book, to name a few off the top of my head. Many consumers don't just expect a standalone IP, but the beginning of a trilogy or larger scale endeavor, but also have to deal with people going too far, and yet the ever frustrating 'they don't owe you anything' stance, which while true, also at times seems to abdicate the companies or creators in question who have engaged across those countless hours of games or books or movies or whatever and then left it dangling.
To be clear, this is more of a jumping off point for a couple of thoughts that have been rattling around for a while now.
I still think Valve's approach to narrative is unique even in this day and age. I say Valve, because it's a through line between Half Life 1 and 2 to Left 4 Dead. Anyway, remember when Value used to make games?
Artifact is due to come out soon and they bought Campo Santo so they'll be releasing In the Valley of the Gods, so they're kind of making games again.
Just not the ones you want.
I was super curious what FPS that Cory Balrog worked on in 1998. I think it's Requim: Avenging Angel, which I had no idea he was an artist on that.
That's what originally got me to buy Half-Life, some boxed edition that included each of the expansions with it. Sure, I got to play an awesome single player but then I got to endlessly enjoy those mods that just never seemed to end.
They missed Natural Selection though, that was it, that was the one that convinced me while playing at a friend's house, I had to get Half-Life.
I played Sven Coop, Natural Selection, and The Specialists every day for a very very long while. The Specialists was amazing.
Twitch: KoopahTroopah - Steam: Koopah
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
Damn I have to try some of these. I never got too deep into HL mods, but a lot of those look awesome.
https://steamcommunity.com/games/362890/announcements/detail/1715207569423590279
Hmm... not the first person I've heard that's returned to Valve recently.
Twitch: KoopahTroopah - Steam: Koopah
Christ, I stared at this Tweet for several minutes, convinced it was from 2015 or earlier.
As in the past, long story short: VR in the franchise Half-Life is hamstrung by a all the usual concerns, and then more. Make it a VR exclusive, and you've pretty much guaranteed you'll get a fiftieth of the potential sales (this is very little exaggeration), because you're expecting people to pay ~$400 for a sequel that should've come out ten years ago, on top of the ire of people who avoid VR for practical or physical considerations instead of just financial ones.
Make it VR optional, and you've basically made another VR tie-in game with the giant anchor of "How do you make a Half Life sequel at this point?" around its neck. Maybe it moves some headsets if you're lucky. There's a strong argument to be made that even if a new Half-Life 3 or similar title was successful beyond Valve's wildest dreams, the profit it would make after costs would barely register compared to the massive money-generating machine is Steam. A lot of evidence suggests Valve doesn't really want to make massive blockbuster games that have to survive under the scrutiny of Metacritic, they want to make Steam work better (or at least even more profitable) with the minimum amount of human effort they can manage.
So, they make a VR "experience"--just like they've already done with Portal--for the franchise. Minimum risk, maximum promotion of the device in question, which (like all VR headsets) has massively short of initial sales expectations from the time of is launch. That's what I'd expect.
This would all be problematic even if Half-Life 3, or even episode 3 back when Valve insisted episodic gaming was totally the future, wasn't subject to a vast mountain of hype.
They immediately changed a large selling point of the game after the release player-base drop, which was that cards would only be rotated and never updated or nerfed. Now that they're nerfing cards, the cards have artificial value and not 1-to-1 value like they originally intended. It's basically the HearthStone marketplace instead of the IRL Magic marketplace.
Honestly, I miss the single player story driven experiences by Valve. Even a new L4D update would be fun to go through at least once. It's just Portal 2 is such a mammoth to follow up on. How would any company even go about it?
Twitch: KoopahTroopah - Steam: Koopah
Honestly, now that it's becoming apparent that VR really isn't going to escape niche status -- NPD reports that even the $200 PSVR bundle last Christmas didn't make any real waves -- a new Valve VR thing is looking like a real boondoggle. Especially since their HTC partnership didn't sell well even with attracting hard-core Valve fans. I mean, maybe if Valve VR is dirt-cheap, but that ain't Valve.
At any rate, given that Valve will likely lock Half-Life VR to the new hardware instead of sharing it with the other VR platforms, that'll really limit its audience.
Aside from the HTC Vive, Valve's reputation for hardware--Steam machines, anyone? those controllers that everyone was going to use?--seems generally characterized by mediocre hardware at uncompetitive prices. The best reviewed Steam machine being sold cheaper with Windows bundled with it to try and cut Alienware's losses is a perfect metaphor. Even dirt cheap VR from Valve...probably wouldn't be much cheaper than the economy W.M.R. options (which still have better visual resolution that the original Vive does), or Google Cardboard/Phone VR across VR devices in general.
Still, the Vive successful muscled in on the Rift in shockingly little time (relatively speaking), and even at a higher price point. Always bet on Gabe, or something. Though that has more to do with Rift and Vive sales being a drop in the bucket though.