Demise of Half Life soon ?

[SAJ]

With the latest post in the "info from valve" sticky, I have had an interesting thought.
With "ricochet" now confirmed for a source refit , that pretty much completes the official set of Half Life games and mods.
So , question is this : once source based valve products hit the market, will valve pull the plug on Half Life?

On the surface it would be a reasonable move, HL is coming up to its sixth year in circulation and customers(if they wish to) can continue to play all the old games on the new platform.

If they are planning to remove support for the old engine , it puts a new face on the source conversions of old games.
It becomes a transitional move , less a "we thought source was such a good engine , we want all our games available with it" and more "you can continue to play your old favourites through steam , but you will have to purchase our new software to do so" .

There is an upside however , if valves move to source for all their products is merely a means to an end, then it might suggest that they do have plans for an entirely new line of source based multiplayer products .

Although , I have to admit I could be clutching at straws because I desparately want to see a valve-made multiplayer for source.

 

[Nindoze]

I like ricochet, people dont :<

 

[PriNcE oF SpAcE]

I doubt they will pull the plug on there old engine powered games.

 

[Pi Mu Rho]

They'll just stop updating HL, and try to entice modders to move to HL2 instead. They've already delayed/cancelled a proposed Hl SDK update that was supposed to come after CS:CZ.

 

[-JeZ-]

Good points there SAJ. I'm not sure how they could justify pulling the plug on the old engined games to the gaming public. I can see how it would benefit them from a business point of view. Most interesting :thumbs:

 

[Mr-Fusion]

Some people will NOT leave Half-Life 1 and it's mods. No matter what you do they'll cling to them for dear life and you'll have to pry it from their cold dead nerdy hands for them to finally give in. Valve most likely will drop all support very soon. But lack of support won't get them to change over.

Even if the ports change absolutely nothing, people will whinge scream and whinge some more that the game has been ruined and they'll never play the source port. Clinging to past glories these sad bastards will be stuck in the past.

/END horribly melodramatic rant :cheers:

 

[Kouler]

I doubt HL will be completely gone, I just think it will sell for half it's current price.

 

[Headwires]

well untill mods port into source like BG etc then i'll be usin the old engine. HL2 and CSS mite keep me entertained untill it is ported tho :] only time will tell......

 

[urseus]

Some people will NOT leave Half-Life 1 and it's mods. No matter what you do they'll cling to them for dear life and you'll have to pry it from their cold dead nerdy hands for them to finally give in.

Yep. However most ISPs will stop providing servers for these games in order to provide servers for doom and hl2 mods. Id say within the next 2 years (that is taking into account hl2 is ****ing released in that time) you will only see 3 or 4 servers still running CS and DOD, and they will be fairly empty most of the time.

 

[riTuaL]

I think the Counter-Strike community will be the most stubborn. All of the serious CAL-i and CPL competitors will have a tough time adjusting in my opinion. Even though the gameplay hasn't changed they will still complain about graphics and such. Some of them have even complained that the current models have too many polygons and such.. They would prefer the models frlom the beta versions..

 

[selfdestruct]

/me wonders if his favorite DoD server will make the switch...

I agree with Fusion; most people will switch over, maybe with a little mumbling about new versions (like people with CS 1.5 and 1.6) but they'll accept it (as we all did Steam)...

but there will always be the die hard HL fans that will complain about HL2 and Source and how they ruined the series. They'll end up thinking that a 4 player CS match is "intense" and gradually technologically reverse until they are fragging each other in Doom.

 

[PenaE]

Yup, I'm still cursing VALVe for shutting down WON.. But that would be reaaally too much, if they "shut down" the original engine mods etc.

Then I would have to use Super-Voodoo powers to curse VALVe for destroying my life.

 

[selfdestruct]

Shutting down WON was just phasing out an old, less efficient type of mulitplay in favor of the new.

It also happened to completely fux0r with everyone who wanted to play CS 1.5. If any of you play Descent 3, you know that PXO (our server-listing thing, etc) shut down a while ago. We have to connect via IPX now, and we're doing fine (despite idiots on Descent forums everyone refusing to play and deciding to do nothing else than spam D3 IS DED!11 threads), so I think CS has a chance.

Did phasing out WON make it unplayable, or can you still directly connect? Not a big loss either way. GET STEAM!

 

[czrsink]

You could take the Unreal Tournament vs Unreal Tournament 2004 argument as an example, I guess.

Check the server stats for UT and UT2003/4 and see how many people are still clinging on to UT with their grubby paws. Not many, I'll wager.

 

[PenaE]

Nooooo! Never, I don't want Steam!
Well, to be honest, I already have Steam...

But I loved the WON system a lot more than Steam. I'm still not accepting Steam completely..

Oh well, that IP thingy could work thing out. But I think shutting WON down will make teh original HL-mp totally un-playable.

and I think that..

Spoiler

!! STEAM SUCKS BIG FAT HAIRY DONKEY BALLS !!

edit: Oh god, I'm seriously LAME!

 

[oldagerocker]

im wondering if they'll stop selling HL engine mods over steam, or will they replace the original stuff with the source ports for free? otherwise we'll have 2 versions of the same game in Steam and one being supported and one not. very confusing :S

 

[urseus]

STEAM SUCKS BIG FAT HAIRY DONKEY BALLS

What is everyones problem with steam. I mean, i havent even used it for around 10 months, but when i did, it was great. I mean you open it, it checks for updates, then you join a server.

I mean jesus whats the big deal.

 

[PenaE]

I just don't like it. I don't even know why.. It's so.. Well it at least was.. Slow. I don't know if it is now but..

 

[Azrael.]

What is everyones problem with steam. I mean, i havent even used it for around 10 months, but when i did, it was great. I mean you open it, it checks for updates, then you join a server.

I mean jesus whats the big deal.

I agree, I haven't used Steam in a long while... But seriously people what is the big deal? If you have a DSL connection stop whining. I actually enjoyed steam as it was fairly easy to update and such. They also offered some hl2 videos over it if I do remember.

But on the HL "dieing out" in a sense, I have to agree as well. Since it's from like what, 1998 I think...? It's starting to get old, and even though there will still be some hardcore people that won't let go (or people too poor to upgrade their computers). One thing I have to wonder about... is that all these old harcore original cs players... If they are so obsessed with it, why don't they upgrade and play CS:S? I would think they would be the first ones out there "pwning" people or whatever that nonsense is. For me, I can't wait for HL2 and all the Source remakes to be released. I could give a sh*t less about people whining about the old Counter-Strike.

 

[Headwires]

steam is better, i know it has bugs, it goes down often, friends rarely works.......wait steam sux! j/k tbh stop grippin onto the past, its like ur ex, shes not not easy to get over but u have to do it. ok i'll shup up now :]

 

[Liam]

You could take the Unreal Tournament vs Unreal Tournament 2004 argument as an example, I guess.

Check the server stats for UT and UT2003/4 and see how many people are still clinging on to UT with their grubby paws. Not many, I'll wager.

UT: 2556 servers, 2081 players
UT04: 3727 servers, 2641 players

Not all that diff huh?

 

[oldagerocker]

But isnt UT04 backwards compatible with UT, so the people may have bought UT but are playing an old map which doesnt have the vehicles?
:S correct me if im wrong, im no expert.

 

[Liam]

But isnt UT04 backwards compatible with UT, so the people may have bought UT but are playing an old map which doesnt have the vehicles?
:S correct me if im wrong, im no expert.

No, they are totally incompatible.

Not only are they a different generation of engines, but allot of the weapons and maps are very different anyway.

 

[oldagerocker]

okay thanks
I find it amazing that all the games graphics HAVE to have shadows now... when i was flicking through PC Gamer from barely a year ago and none/hardly any of the games had shadows and nobody was really that fussed. Anyway, to move away from making a very newb post... Half-life will never die

 

[Gunner]

I personally would like to see HL and CS 1.6, DOD 1.3 and all the others go away. There's no need for them once the new and improved source versions become available, everyone should play the source ports.

 

[Dr. Freeman]

Good points there SAJ. I'm not sure how they could justify pulling the plug on the old engined games to the gaming public. I can see how it would benefit them from a business point of view. Most interesting :thumbs:

there are benefits for players to move onto the source ports.

1. source engine is hella more secure than HL1's engine
2. cheating is minimal because of Steam's ability to update any time
3. with everything the source engine offers, its nice change in gameplay

sure some pple may have a hard time accepting it...but these 3 things are well worth it in the end.. besides.. they say.. "all good things come to an end" HL is no exception

 

[dura]

Of course, "EVERYONE" is going to be able to handle the source engine based games.

 

[KagePrototype]

I always wondered how they were going to organise all of these source ports to avoid confusion. Some people probably won't know the difference between counter-strike, counter-strike: source, and condition zero. Are they just gonna list them as usual? Seems a bit disorganised and clumsy to me. I honestly think they should rethink how the games menu is laid out if they keep adding games to it, especially if they intend to sell games over Steam.

 

[Gunner]

Of course, "EVERYONE" is going to be able to handle the source engine based games.

Well they should, if they can't then it's time for an upgrade. And if they can't afford it then too bad, because the majority will make the transition without upgrading.

 

[chimpmunk]

Well they should, if they can't then it's time for an upgrade. And if they can't afford it then too bad, because the majority will make the transition without upgrading.

You're dumb
it's not because your parents paid you an upgrade that everyone can afford it all the time...

 

[SubKamran]

Some people will NOT leave Half-Life 1 and it's mods. No matter what you do they'll cling to them for dear life and you'll have to pry it from their cold dead nerdy hands for them to finally give in. Valve most likely will drop all support very soon. But lack of support won't get them to change over.

Even if the ports change absolutely nothing, people will whinge scream and whinge some more that the game has been ruined and they'll never play the source port. Clinging to past glories these sad bastards will be stuck in the past.

/END horribly melodramatic rant :cheers:

It may have been melodramatic, but it's totally true. See what's happening to CS 1.5. What are these people going to do when CS:S comes out?!

 

[oldagerocker]

Atleast in CS:S they've taken the Shield out, wasn't that the biggest complaint of the 1.5 users?
And hello Subkamran you sexy beast :imu:

 

[FoB_Ed]

Atleast in CS:S they've taken the Shield out, wasn't that the biggest complaint of the 1.5 users?

Well alot of the 1.6 servers have the shield disabled, so I don't see what the big stink is.

 

[KagePrototype]

I liked the shield. It wasn't hard to kill people with a shield, all you had to do was throw a grenade at them. It added a (albeit small) tactical depth that had since been removed from CS, thanks to it's upsurge in popularity and "streamlined" gameplay i.e. taking the exact same route over and over, blindly shooting anything you see.

 

[sHm0zY]

i think i will be done with cs 1.6 eff it and paly cs s

 

[staddydaddy]

You're dumb
it's not because your parents paid you an upgrade that everyone can afford it all the time...

uh I bought my whole rig by paying for it and building it myself. Just because some people have jobs and save money doesn't mean you should lash out.

 

[JackKerouac]

By half-life 3's release it will be safe to say half-life 1 community will have died out.

 

[Gunner]

You're dumb
it's not because your parents paid you an upgrade that everyone can afford it all the time...

And you're ignorant, besides being totally wrong you're also oblivious to the FACT THAT HALFLIFE 2 WILL HAVE HIGHER REQUIREMENTS.

 

[donkeyhumper]

I must apologise but i haven't read all the info on HL2 or even this thread so i've no idea if this has been discussed already (search wasn't very useful). I also apologise if this is a terribly naive suggestion but perhaps HL2 will be able to run all existing HL1 mods (kinda emulate / just have big chunks of HL1 code).

 

[chimpmunk]

uh I bought my whole rig by paying for it and building it myself. Just because some people have jobs and save money doesn't mean you should lash out.

hey, i've got a job, i just spend my money elsewhere, on music (records and stuff, like a guitar)...