Half-Life 2 Appears at WinHEC 2004

[Chris D]

Valve's got a pretty busy few weeks at the moment. What with E3 next week, Half-Life 2 being finalised in time for summer and this week's WinHEC 2004 convention.

Once again showcasing the capabilities of ATi's graphics card, this time the brand new Radeon x800, Gabe Newell appeared with a Half-Life 2 demonstration, stated that the Radeon x800 will be 40% faster (for Half-Life 2) than nVIDIA's equivalent card and once again confirmed Half-Life 2 will be out for the summer.

Whereas there isn't any new footage in the new video, it struck me instantly that even though it's just a "shakey cam" video, you can still tell that the graphics seem to be even better with this new card.

Download the WinHEC 2004 Half-Life 2 Demonstration (20.8 MB)

Special thanks to creamhackered over at NeoWin for the video.

 

[Neutrino]

Whereas there isn't any new footage in the new video, it struck me instantly that even though it's just a "shakey cam" video, you can still tell that the graphics seem to be even better with this new card.

Download the WinHEC 2004 Half-Life 2 Demonstration (20.8 MB)

I could very well be wrong, but I didn't notice any graphical difference at all.

 

[Chris D]

I might have been seeing things but I thought the graphics were a bit sharper.

 

[Neutrino]

Ya, I don't know. Like I said, it looked the same to me, but we'd really need to run both videos, old and new, side by side to tell. Maybe I'll download the old one again to compare sometime.

 

[Glo-Boy]

The animation appeared a bit smoother - however, it would be a placebo effect.

 

[Mikey Canuck]

The animation appeared a bit smoother - however, it would be a placebo effect.

Where do we get these placebos?!

 

[Neutrino]

Alright, I redownloaded the old bink video and played both of them. It's of course hard to compare as the bink is high quality while the new on is small and shaky, but I couldn't see any differences myself.

I'm sure we'll see if there has actually been any graphics upgrade at e3. I'm doubting it, but hey you never know.

 

[azz0r]

The chester draws broke this time round, thats the only diffrence really.

I love seeing Valve getting applauded, Gabe loved it

 

[Chris D]

The chester draws broke this time round, thats the only diffrence really.

I love seeing Valve getting applauded, Gabe loved it

The drawers broke in the other vids too.

 

[TheNightStalker]

Summer release of Half-Life² and a summer release of the X800 XT. This is gonna be an awesome summer. Gonna grab them both. Glad I held out on spending $499 for the 9800 XT. Good things come to those who wait.

 

[[RDH]MastahFrag]

....nothing new. spotted nothing unlike the E3, which is exactly the same. i don't know what you guys were thinking about that vidcard, but i cannot tell the difference... please tell me wrong.

 

[SubKamran]

I'm not sure how you could come to that conclusion if you don't have BOTH a BINK in on the old card and the new one. Why would a video card make the animations change? *roll*

Anyways, if Gabe says it's 40% faster, than NVidia's, good. Too bad I bought a 9800 Pro...but at least I'll still be able to enjoy HL2 in full glory.

 

[Mac]

yah i dunno about the graphics looking better. maybe its just a better display screen than the one at e3.

 

[Nezill]

I dont care, I'll just run it with OpenGL, it runs better then with Nvidia cards.

 

[Varsity]

But then you'll miss out on every DX feature. Including water and PS2.0 IIRC.

 

[FISKER_Q]

Chris even though source is in the movie you should still give out the sources, now you're just using other peoples bandwitdh without even giving the source.

 

[henrym]

I'm pretty sure Gabe has said that Half-life 2 won't support OpenGL rendering.

 

[$niper]

You're correct. Half-Life 2 is a directx9 game. There is no opengl.

 

[Edcrab]

If I wasn't on 56k I'd a) stop whining and b) download that video to check for myself. Still hoping E3 gives us all some definitive content and information (as well as more videos. Weee!)

 

[SLI_Fallen]

What I want is the rest of the presentation (video)!!

Right at the end he says "here is what we have learned about the X800" "snip"

Must be Nvidiots doing the filming.

Note: The above is a JOKE. IE: a humorous jab, ribbing, teasing, whatever. Dont get your glutious maximus in a clench.

Have a great day!

 

[madFive]

even if the clips look to have all the same content, i'm sure the demo was simply meant to show how much smoother the game was running - i thought i saw some new lighting efects personally... in case you guys hadn't seen the benchmarks, the gf6800 has been beating down the 9800xt by around 40% in all the benchmarks i've seen, so if the x800 was even beating that card by another 40%...well you get the idea, its going to be one sweet ride either way...

;( i'm still mourning the fact that my shitty e-machine has no agp slot on the board...anyone happen to know if the x800 will come in pci format?

 

[Nezill]

Yah, but 60% if what fps will I get? 60% of 30? that would mean 18 fps my friend, and it would only go down from there.

 

[Mac]

;( i'm still mourning the fact that my shitty e-machine has no agp slot on the board...anyone happen to know if the x800 will come in pci format?

no, high end cards need agp to take advantage of the extra bandwidth

 

[Mac]

Yah, but 60% if what fps will I get? 60% of 30? that would mean 18 fps my friend, and it would only go down from there.

i think they mean 60% more which would mean you add it to the 30, not subtract..?

 

[FISKER_Q]

i think they mean 60% more which would mean you add it to the 30, not subtract..?

That's some quantum shit right there brother :thumbs:

 

[Seppo]

Yah, but 60% if what fps will I get? 60% of 30? that would mean 18 fps my friend, and it would only go down from there.

Jezus, you have got to be kidding me

 

[Kifpe]

Hmm, I can't tell the deffirence either. I got The E3 shaky cam/screener and this new WinHEC film and it is the exact same movements and so on. The only deffirence I see is a changed light sitting (the WinHEC vid i sharper and got a more natural light sitting) and this fact is not reliable when it is those shaky cams... I don't know - We'll see the supposed changes in next week... hopefully...

 

[x84D80Yx]

well umm i hope hl2 is bundled with ALL xt-pe's, as i plan on getting the HIS x800xt iceQ w/ VIVO if they make one