PCGamer UK editor on HL2 Mag previews!!!

[CreedoG]

I think that's stretching it Apos. I doubt the editor was thinking:

"Well, I played this brand spanking new level called 'WhatHaveItUnderBlahdyBlah', but at the end of the level, I ran into alyx's dad, and he looked like he was in the same position as that rare screenshot that shows alex's dad, so that isn't really a "new" level"

I think this sums it up the best:

So what you can look forward to in both mags is the player's description of what it's like to play the game.

We're going to get first hand info of how the game plays (albeit the same levels), and a nice long interview with Gabe, which is always a good read. No doubt, I can't wait hear about the playtest, to read the interview, and see the "sorta" new screenshots. With as dry as info has been for so long, I welcome the info.

But this doesn't bode well for E3. They may just make one or two of those levels playable at E3. That may be it. So then we may get a new E3, but NO new maps and NO new enemies and NO new screenshots. That'll be coupled with NO new release date info ("it'll be out summer wink wink"), NO multiplayer info, NO BENCHMARK info (they already said we'd hear something AFTER E3), NO SDK info, and NO TF2 info. If it wasn't for the strider and buggy vids being on the Condition Zero cd, we would have never gotten them either. Valve isn't very good with following through with their promises.

 

[Lobster]

Have you ever watched a cow giving birth in reverse... heres a tip.

DONT

 

[FictiousWill]

*is gripped by spirit of the perverse*

ugh! why'd I watch that?!

Honestly, I'm not sure if I want new info. This is how I ruined the matrix sequels for myself. (not that they were any good anyway) But I knew where every fight scene was before they started fighting just by watching all the previews and online media. Yeah I know valve's holding some stuff back, but tbh I've seen enough. They've got my cash.

...although some new media would be nice...

*ahem. steps over newborn calf*

 

[blahblahblah]

*is gripped by spirit of the perverse*

ugh! why'd I watch that?!

Honestly, I'm not sure if I want new info. This is how I ruined the matrix sequels for myself. (not that they were any good anyway) But I knew where every fight scene was before they started fighting just by watching all the previews and online media. Yeah I know valve's holding some stuff back, but tbh I've seen enough. They've got my cash.

...although some new media would be nice...

*ahem. steps over newborn calf*

I hope the Matrix doesn't qualify as precedence for HL2.

*shudders*

 

[Mechagodzilla]

If you watch a lot of the more complex videos though, You can see that a whole lot of the various alternate paths are skipped over. Watch 'traptown' for example.
What if you went up the stairs after the swinging beam, instead of down?
Did anyone really get a good look at the inside of the laundromat in 'bugbait'?

Also, we could get closer pictures of the enemies; see how they changed the AI from "point at gordon" to "shoot at gordon" for the combines.

Essentially, this gives us a chance to see what the actual game is like, instead of relying on the linear perspective of the videos from a year ago or the bugged-up incomplete beta. I'm looking forward to it.

 

[Spiffae]

Now, we've seen a grand total of 20 minutes of gameplay footage and about 15 odd screenshots.

From PC Gamer, May 2003 - "...massive single-player linear storyline composed of 12 chapters, each with a rough estimated length of three to four hours, providing a minimum of 36 hours playtime"

Ok, so by that rationale we're looking at roughly 2,160 game minutes. (for 3 hours per chapter) i certainly don't think 20 minutes of gameplay on 7 levels is showing much at all.

It's much easier to spoil a movie, as even the longest movie is only about 200 minutes.

 

[FictiousWill]

All true. I guess I'm just spoiler-paranoid.

 

[blahblahblah]

Now, we've seen a grand total of 20 minutes of gameplay footage and about 15 odd screenshots.

From PC Gamer, May 2003 - "...massive single-player linear storyline composed of 12 chapters, each with a rough estimated length of three to four hours, providing a minimum of 36 hours playtime"

Ok, so by that rationale we're looking at roughly 2,160 game minutes. (for 3 hours per chapter) i certainly don't think 20 minutes of gameplay on 7 levels is showing much at all.

It's much easier to spoil a movie, as even the longest movie is only about 200 minutes.

But I am willing to bet that you will spend a good chunk of your time running down some hallway.

 

[Orange]

thanks for the compliments on my last post :]

Most of HL1 gametime wasn't exposition on the plot. it was running or killing like blahblahblah said. So as long as the footage that gets out before hand is along the lines of gameplay rather than exposing of the storyline, I think we'll be fine.

(easier to do in games that have tons of non-plot oriented playtime, rather than 2 hour films where scenes have been cut to keep important details)

Fragmaster's leaving is forboding. I thought the whole delay mess was over. But I am getting the sense that people are expecting this summer to be the release (esp. after the e-mail), but why would Fragmaster leave NOW?

Sees something coming and doesn't want to catch hell for yelling about it?

troubling indeed. But all we can do is wait : /
EDIT: little grammatic and clarification changes

 

[Spiffae]

yes. but not the majority of the game. And is driving a buggy across a desert or finding your way across a boat's catwalk really wasted time? Not if it's half-life 2, it's not.

 

[Rupertvdb]

must play game.....must wait for E3....so hard......

 

[Apos]

Ok, so by that rationale we're looking at roughly 2,160 game minutes. (for 3 hours per chapter) i certainly don't think 20 minutes of gameplay on 7 levels is showing much at all.

Well, remember that games tend to repeat things a lot. It's not like there's going to be a new enemy every single minute of gameplay: there will be a lot of the game spent with the same enemies that we've already seen. That makes the spoilers bigger than just the areas we've seen. And certainly I would had loved it if I had never known about the striders at all and was shocked by them crawling out of the woodwork for the first time as a surprise.

 

[Spiffae]

Well, remember that games tend to repeat things a lot. It's not like there's going to be a new enemy every single minute of gameplay: there will be a lot of the game spent with the same enemies that we've already seen. That makes the spoilers bigger than just the areas we've seen. And certainly I would had loved it if I had never known about the striders at all and was shocked by them crawling out of the woodwork for the first time as a surprise.

true, but for all we know, there's a few even cooler enemies we won't see until the first confrontation in the game.

 

[Orange]

hope so. certain. . .things that were posted on the net showed other enemies, but nothing incredible. . . then again didn't see striders among them. so here's hoping.

 

[Apos]

I hope so, though the striders are pretty singular and amazing, and I doubt anything could really top them in terms of pure "aw man, that's freakin cool"

 

[kaf11]

i think the implementation of thing that we know will be more impressive than we think, plus every other new enemy will have a wow moment im sure.

 

[Quixote]

How's this impressive? Couldn't the less scrupulous already do this with the illegal beta?

 

[Rupertvdb]

yeah but **** those people. On the strider front i had my awesome! moment when i saw the video and it crawled along created massive destruction, i think playing the game itself will bring back that feeling of awe because it will be in a whole different situation.

However! i agree that i don't want too much new stuff just a speedier release because it was a spolier and the more they show the more it reduces the surprise's that could be had.

 

[Varsity]

HL2 + NDAs = trouble.

 

[A.I.]

How's this impressive? Couldn't the less scrupulous already do this with the illegal beta?

True, but that version was from more than a year ago (the maps shown at laste year's E3 aren't finished in the stolen build). A lot of things must have changed in the game since then...

 

[crabcakes66]

I hope so, though the striders are pretty singular and amazing, and I doubt anything could really top them in terms of pure "aw man, that's freakin cool"

I wouldnt sell valve short in that area. I expect some amazing creatures beside what we have already seen. There is no way valve would show us the coolest monster in the game a year+ before its released.

 

[Falcon(Nate)]

So many unanswered questions. Conspiracy theories, Fragmaster's post, how much of the game is actually finished, how good the game is going to be... It makes my head swim. I really hope Valve actually answers some stuff at E3.

I'm trying not to let myself get hyped up again, but I had SO much fun playing the original HL and I still play the mods. Plus, I really want to get started on my own mod but my fellow modders and I want to play through the game first to get some ideas of what the engine is capable of.

 

[GOoch]

We also knew that Valve are very active in the community and actually reveal little snippets of information about the game all the time.

writern by that Mark Bloke..


I must be looking in the wrong places..what snippets of information is this plonker talking about.?

 

[Pseudonym_]

He sis obviously talking about the Valve info thread, since it is the only interaction valve has with the community really.

 

[iamaelephant]

Awesome, so screenshots from levels we've already seen and no new info from Gabe

it's always great to hear what Gabe has to say, but he was naturally very careful not to give anything new about the game away

 

[PvtRyan]

Ah well, look at the bright side: at least Valve sorted out those scripting issues. Because when someone plays it, they're not so predictable anymore as in the E3 vids.
But I'd be very pissed if they show the same rehash of videos of last years E3 at this E3....

EDIT: not trying to be a cynic like everyone else after Fragmaster's farewell post..

 

[iamaelephant]

I've always been a cynic so it's all good

But seriously Valve, is this all you can offer? Jeez I hoep you have something amazing at E3.

 

[PvtRyan]

I've always been a cynic so it's all good

But seriously Valve, is this all you can offer? Jeez I hoep you have something amazing at E3.

I hope so too, that's gonna be HL2 D-Day for me. Come on, I can understand you don't want your fans to see too much of the game, but then atleast make a few custom maps to show off stuff like AI and physics. And I'm sure you can pick out atleast 10 min worth of non spoiling new gameplay from a 35 hour game.
But I'm still trusting Valve on this one, they'll hopefully make the right decisions, for there is 40 million dollars at stake.

I also still hope there's some little surprise in the hands on previews, I can't believe Valve flies over many magazines to the US to show them the same thing again. They could have shown them this at any point, but why now again?

 

[zx7rp3]

Well I'm damn happy that nothing new will be shown. The full product will remain a surprise.

 

[flupke]

I hope so too, that's gonna be HL2 D-Day for me. Come on, I can understand you don't want your fans to see too much of the game, but then atleast make a few custom maps to show off stuff like AI and physics. And I'm sure you can pick out atleast 10 min worth of non spoiling new gameplay from a 35 hour game.
But I'm still trusting Valve on this one, they'll hopefully make the right decisions, for there is 40 million dollars at stake.

I also still hope there's some little surprise in the hands on previews, I can't believe Valve flies over many magazines to the US to show them the same thing again. They could have shown them this at any point, but why now again?

Good point there! Anyway, i just sent a mail to Gabe and i was 'crying' to get just one screenshot, and I gave many good arguments... Let's see

 

[el Chi]

There's now way that Valve won't show something new at e3 or what would be the point in showing up?

 

[kkevin666]

There is absolutely no new material whatsoever in either mag.
Its just a rehashed play test using sshots from the material weve seen already.
What valve showed them and let them play with is still tech demo stuff - possible unscripted this time - exactly the same scripted level stuff valve showed LAST E3.
The magazines have an nda until after E3 - anything in the mags will be the stuff shown at this years E3 (so no exclusives the whole worlds seen in anyway).You people are waiting for new stuff-sorry not this time around.

All valve has done is restart the hype machine by allowing so called exclusives to mags - this is in its simplest form PR BULLSHIT.

 

[clarky003]

PR Bullshit..? who cares. :angel: its always like this with big games,, needs to happen eventually, atleast it shows us the proccess of advertising is rolling again, which is a good thing!

What valve showed them and let them play with is still tech demo stuff - possible unscripted this time

again just because thats all they have said, how then do you know exactley what they have played?, thats only what they mentioned because its recognisable stuff to us. Valve would of told them what not to talk about, and what to talk about, unless PCG UK want to risk infringement of privacey.

well anyway unfortunately for us its the game makers that dictate how much material they expose, not the games magazines. Anyway they'll be fresh screenshots and stuff in Part 2, next month, after E3 , so that tells us that there 'WILL' be new stuff being shown at E3 . So its all happening in May .Cross your fingers and keep your cool hats on, it looks like a June release to me :smoking:

 

[Xenome]

Pczone said: "brand new screenshots"..

I could've figured they would mean "brand new screenshots" from levels we've already seen. omg

 

[ComradeBadger]

Calm the **** down. We may well see something new at E3 you know, even if the magazines have nothing new for us. Let's hope it's June eh

And just remember. It's a game

 

[burnzie]

if they show up to E3 with the same stuff from last year i will have lost all hope in this game,

god hoping they blow us away at E3 and then come out with "ohh by the way, its gone gold"

 

[Element Alpha]

I was going to post something that made sense, but screw :angry: that.

Give me the HL2! give me give me!

I'm losing it. I am. I truely am...

*Element Alpha looks around himself*

Oh no, they're a comin', I can hear 'em. Someone get me out of here! Where? WHAT? is it? It's not, is it? YES! NO! maybe?! where? when? when?! WHENNNN ?!
"AAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!"

*Element Alpha dies* ;(

 

[Sporky]

Personally whatever finally shows up in the gamer and zone magazines I will still be slightly cautious about letting myself believe the game's nearly done, or even about to go gold. That scepticism will treble if they've only played levels that we have seen before.

Ho hum.

I'm going to quote a friend of mine who was a programmer on CoD, so presumably has some insight into the publicity machine from that end -

I wouldn't trust gaming magazines to know when a game's going to be done unless they get to play the game start to finish. If the developer chooses what you see by picking the level and controlling the path through it, then usually its because the game only works for what they show you. This can be because the game is buggy or because its incomplete.

At E3 last year, valve only showed pre-recorded demos. I saw it several times, both as a normal person and as a potential licensee developer. Never did they show anything that wasn't prerecorded, and they only showed 5 or 6 levels (including test maps).

I haven't looked at the leak, but it wouldn't surprise me in the least that there was no way for Valve to ship on Sept 30, yet they fooled the press and most of the world into thinking they were going to, even up to a few weeks before the date. I don't particularly trust the press to see through these smoke and mirrors.

 

[Lobster]

For a start, you cant play through the E3 maps, there just not made that way, (yes im basing this on beta knoledge so sue me) each of them is a compacted section of a larger map, they have drastic changes from there real gameplay equivilants (which turns out to be a good thing believe me), If PC Zone and PC Gamer have "played" through maps then it must be actual gameplay stuff.

Now the editor said 'screenshots' not movies, we have seen screenshots of a whole range of areas we havnt seen moving, that Ship for instance, and various locations around the city, if they played the areas seen in the E3 demo, they will still be drasticly different from what we have seen, And im personaly looking forward to seeing this preview, to see whats changed,.

 

[Mikey Canuck]

The lack of faith is disturbing. Of course there will be new media on the game since there hasn't been much for a whole YEAR. Probably enough to spill into two issues of game mags... oh wait... HUZZAH!