Released in 1998, Half-Life set the stage for story-driven first-person shooters. While games like Halo have been praised for thrusting the genre into the modern age, its cinematic nature couldn't exist without stepping through the doors burst open by developer Valve. Widely considered one of the best games of all time, the original Half-Life is a welcome addition to our list of classics.
If you're a Half-Life (or Left 4 Dead) fan, and you haven't yet seen the recently released fan-made short film, Beyond Black Mesa, do yourself a favor.
We reached out to get some more information about how the project came together from Brian Curtin, who directed, produced, wrote, edited, acted, and art-directed the film, among other things. Making a high-quality fan-film on a shoestring budget (while working full-time) isn't an easy task, but Curtin and his cabal of film and Half-Life enthusiasts persevered to pull off one of the better bits of cinematic fan-fiction based on video games that we've seen to date. Read more »
I have it on good authority that a certain well-known developer is going to announce something related to a popular franchise at E3. I don't, you must understand, but when one inevitably does I'll look like an ace industry insider. Even if nothing is announced and E3 is all original properties, I have already whipped excitable readers into a frenzy, speculating wildly and imagining its the sequel they've already dreamed off--yes, James Pond is being rebooted in the God of War mould--and they'll be telling all their friends how brilliant I am. After E3, I can pretend it never happened or play for keeps and say that the announcement is being saved for a later date, extending my amazingness.
By now you have deduced that I dislike the tedious torrent of rumours flooding the Shacknews Newsdesk. Yes, some are no doubt from actual leaked insider info but the deluge of pointlessness renders those essentially worthless until they're announced. Read more »
The Mac OS version of Valve's digital distribution platform Steam will be released on May 12, the company confirmed today.
No other details on the launch were given--the announcement was a brief two sentences--though it will presumably debut alongside the native Mac versions of Left 4 Dead, Left 4 Dead 2, Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike, Portal and the Half-Life series originally slated to launch with the Mac client in April 2010. Read more »
After some heavy-handed hints, Valve today confirmed that it will be bringing its previously Windows-only digital distribution platform Steam to the Mac in April 2010.
Said the company: "Steam and Valve's library of games including Left 4 Dead 2, Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike, Portal, and the Half-Life series will be available in April." Read more »
Beloved developer Valve has released lifetime retail sales figures for some of its more popular games, including the Half-Life and Counter-Strike series, revealing that the studio has sold over 32.8 million games since the 1998 release of the first Half-Life.
Sales from Valve's digital distribution client are not factored in, with the figures only accounting for worldwide retail sales. With Half-Life 2, Valve began simultaneously releasing all of its PC games at retail and via Steam. The numbers were originally printed in the November issue of Game Informer, then republished by Gamasutra. Read more »
Back in September we reported on the sighting of a rather suspicious-looking scientist at CERN, the site of the Large Hadron Collider particle accelerator, which was then in preparation for its historic first test. In the test chamber.
Sensing imminent invasion, alarmed gamers at Reddit took the initiative, mailing CERN a wrecking bar, headcrab hat and Half-Life strategy guide. Read more »
In honor of the tenth anniversary of the original Half-Life (PC), developer Valve has put the game on sale on its Steam digital distribution service for 98 cents, a nod to its 1998 release.
The oft-delayed Half-Life was Valve's first release and went on to receive countless Game of the Year awards and high-ranking spots in several publications' "best games of all time" lists. The studio has followed up the adventures of silent protagonist Gordon Freeman with a sequel and two episodic mini-sequels, with Episode Three on the way. Read more »
Ever watch the same disaster movie twice and find yourself trying to warn off the actors? Some gamers might be doing the same after checking out this photograph (left) provided by Popgive, which appears to show an unwitting Gordon Freeman standing in the CERN test chamber. Read more »
PapaBoo is a long-time Shacker (that's him up above) but, interestingly enough, not a gamer. He hangs around the Shack community for the ever-addictive absorbing discussion and camaraderie it provides, not because of the gaming nature of the site.
So, in order to better relate to his Shack brothers, he is attempting to play through a game that is near and dear to the hearts of the Shacknews readership: Valve's classic Half-Life. Read more »
According to the Steam website, a new update is now available for players of Half-Life 1 and the original Counter-Strike. The engine now allows you to set 2560x1600 as your screen resolution.
Read more »According to the Steam website, a Steam client update is now available. It fixes an occasional hang on startup, IP sorting, responsiveness of the favorites list and a few other items. Updates are also available for Half-Life 1 and Source engines.
Read more »Over at Computer & Video Games you can find a Q&A with Valve's Marc Laidlaw. Questions focus on the Gordon Freeman and G-Man characters, and characters cut from the first Half-Life.
Read more »1UP's Valve coverage concludes today with a two part (one, two) Gabe Newell interview in which he talks about his company, the industry and the next generation of systems. Yesterday they had a story about the history of Valve.
Read more »As expected, Half-Life Blue Shift is now available on Steam. It is available for people who own Half-Life 1, the Half-Life 2 Silver package, or the Half-Life 2 Gold package.
Read more »Valve has released updates for the original Half-Life and Counter-Strike, offering some game changes and exploit fixes as outlined on the Steam news page.
Read more »The Steam website notes an engine update is now available for Half-Life 1. It fixes several exploits, and also changes the master server query protocol.
Read more »The final release of Natural Selection 3.0 is now available, offering a ton of changes over beta 5 (full changelog is here). You can find a mirror on FileShack.
Read more »Also on Computer Games Magazine's website today is a Q&A with Charlie Cleveland of Unknown Worlds. Version 3.0 of the company's Natural Selection mod for Half-Life is coming soon, and Ward also talks about NS: Source and the difficulties of running Unknown Worlds.
Read more »A new update for Steam has been released, updating both the application itself, the Source engine in general and the Half-Life 1 Dedicated Server. As always you have to restart Steam to get the update.
Read more »The guys at Unknown Worlds Entertainment have released the latest Natural Selection 3.0 beta, whicn you can grab from FileShack. The new release offers a ton of gameplay, cosmetic and other changes, adds two maps, and updates several older ones.
Read more »Over at Halflife2.net you can find two screenshots which show you what the Source engine port of Half-Life 1 will look like. The game hasn't been totally overhauled like Counter-Strike: Source, but HL1 on the Source Engine will still benefit from shader graphics, the physics and other new engine features.
Read more »We received an email from Valve, announcing that WON authentication servers will be shut down soon. After this operation is done (should be by July 31), you can no longer use of the online features of non-Steam Valve products, such as Counter-Strike 1.5. People who haven't already done so are encouraged to download Steam so they can continue to play.
Read more »Version 2.9 of the Firearms mod for Half-Life has been released, adding three new maps and two new weapons among other things. We have the Windows client and Linux server files mirrored on FileShack.
Read more »Valve sent along a note announcing that Codename Gordon is now available on Steam. Codename Gordon is a side scrolling game featuring levels inspired by Half-Life and Half-Life 2. You can find out more about the project at http://www.halflife2d.com/.
Read more »
"Bringing up the shooter landscape in which Half-Life launched is pretty important. People who ..."
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