Strange huh?

[tokin]

Isn't it so strange how we see the previw of HL2 at E3 and think no engine will be better or that any other gaming company is even up to date or being close to what valve has done. Well its kinda strange how all of a sudden Painkiller, FarCry, and im sure another game or two have the exact same physics and graphics and etc. Won't make anything really seem that new when HL2 comes out, except the story line and all....dunno what you do you guys think.

 

[Dalamari]

Could that be why they are pushing it back?.... updates so the game isnt behind the times.

And does it really matter if the game is revolutionary? I would buy HL2 if it had the same graphics as CoD

 

[tokin]

oh the other game...soldner....that also is going to have some crazy physics.

 

[Chris D]

Everything that this generation of games is going to include was just the natural progression.

Everyone's now working with DX9 so the graphical ability will be similar across the board, and things are generally getting realistic so real world physics was bound to make an appearance. There's nothing strange about it.

 

[Stormy]

Could that be why they are pushing it back?.... updates so the game isnt behind the times.

if they done that the game would never come out.

its not ONLY the gfx and physics that are gunna make hl2 great. the story line and puzzle solving side of it will be fantastic (if hl1 is anything to go by). people are in love with it already because they want to know whats happening with all the characters which they have grown to love like the Gman and wanna find out who this administrator feller is.

also the modability is going to make the game last. hl is what 5, 6 years old now and its still going strong, so many different mods to chose from even stratagy games like natural selection.

basicly i carnt wait! hl2 is gunna own!

 

[Direwolf]

If you go back and watch the vids....HL2 still has this "feel" thats much different from anything so far. Its got a cohesive atmosphere that really seems to be unique, much like the first game. HL's graphics and interactivity wasn't great, but it was an amazing game regardless.

 

[kaf11]

i agree with direwolf. its all about "feel." HL1 got it right, and HL2 will carry it on. plus, HL2 i think will be the only game to actually have physics that will play a huge part in gameplay. have you played the farcry demo? im sorry but i think those physics are shite. max payne 2 had cooler physics than that.

 

[Estevan]

half-life 2 isnt going to be good because of the graphics its because of the modding capabliltys!

 

[mrxskinny]

Puzzle solving in HL1?

 

[X-FacToR]

Painkiller is great just played the demo, and I must say the physics are incredible...still wont be the caliber of Half-Life 2. Bassically if your a hardcore fan of Half-Life in general like myself your not gunna be bothered by a second rate game, dont get me wrong Far Cry is great painkiller is great and so on... I am looking forward to soldner (allot) and Battlefield Vietnam. But nothing comes near the quality and amount of replayibility that comes from a half-life game not to mention really easy to use tools that make sence. And quality is unmatched by bassically no one. No other game can compare, its a waste of time trying to.

Now you have the right to disagree with me, but by all means show me something thats better? Matching the same technology is one thing but making EVERYTHING happen in one game... its like this game has braught up a step neat but half-life 2 braught it up a damn staircase.

 

[Mr-Fusion]

Far Cry is to Half-Life 2 as Mary Poppins is to Return of the King.

 

[blahblahblah]

Random Comments:

I thought the graphics in COD were pretty damn spiffy.

I think physics are cool and fun, but I don't see how they will drastically affect gameplay. I mean there are only so many ways to push and lift crates/barrels. Physics are a small piece of the pie, not the whole pie.

If HL is only good for modding, why don't they just release the engine and mod tools for 50 USD?

Half-Life was a puzzle-solving game first, then a first person shooter.

How can you compare the physics to a game that hasn't been released?

I have little doubt that HL2 will be a great game. However, by the time it will be released, it will have been delayed almost a year. I'm betting that HL2 will change dramatically (physics, gameplay, graphics, AI, etc) from what we have seen in the videos.

 

[zdub]

Far Cry is to Half-Life 2 as Mary Poppins is to Return of the King.

:|

 

[JonTheCanuck]

Could that be why they are pushing it back?.... updates so the game isnt behind the times.

And does it really matter if the game is revolutionary? I would buy HL2 if it had the same graphics as CoD

i think they pushed it back because of the beta being released they decided they were going to change a large portion of the game so that they could say u didn't have the full game. Just their sneaky way of trying to make sure u buy it. I would've bought it anyways.

 

[Jhahn2k4]

I think HL will be impressive even if it comes out in 2006. Look how HL1 is doing.

 

[[MLB]Loser]

Now, please don't take my words as gold here. A guy that I am pretty good friends with has a friend/contact who is a contractor working on the HL2 project for Valve. From what my friend has told me, the graphics engine is going through an ENTIRE re-design (from his friend) and my friend thinks that based on that, the game will not be released until 2005. I'm really hoping he's wrong about 2005, although it wouldn't surprise me if they are really rebuilding the entire thing.

 

[Jackal hit]

i agree with direwolf. hl2's graphics and atmosphere (as shown in the vids) has a feel to them that makes the game seem more realistic than others. stalker, doom3, far cry, they all LOOK great(and far cry's demo was really fun) BUT the ambiance just isn't the same in these games. i think the level of immersion in hl2 will be enough to set it apart from other games in the genre.

 

[Styloid]

Technology doesn't make a game. Most of the games I enjoy were not the state of the art tech games, but the actually well designed games: HL1, Deus Ex, Thief, Planescape Torment, Grim Fandango, Monkey Island series, Duke3d, WarCraft2, etc. (I suggest you go through your list of favourite games and see if they were the technology leaders at their release). Right now it just seems like these tech features like 'physics' or 'normal maps' are the key draw because these games just aren't out yet. What I find strange is how people can overlook this and start calling these games dated before they've played them.

 

[Brian Damage]

Well, put it this way: I finally downloaded and watched the "Docks" Bink video the other night, and I still went "Woah!", even though I'd recently seen Doom3 gameplay footage...

 

[Brian Damage]

Now, please don't take my words as gold here. A guy that I am pretty good friends with has a friend/contact who is a contractor working on the HL2 project for Valve. From what my friend has told me, the graphics engine is going through an ENTIRE re-design (from his friend) and my friend thinks that based on that, the game will not be released until 2005. I'm really hoping he's wrong about 2005, although it wouldn't surprise me if they are really rebuilding the entire thing.

So it's info from a friend of a friend, then?

Mmmm. I'd take it with a grain of salt.

Besides that, I don't think the standard of the graphics is out of date, it's just not unique.

 

[Mr-Fusion]

Now, please don't take my words as gold here. A guy that I am pretty good friends with has a friend/contact who is a contractor working on the HL2 project for Valve. From what my friend has told me, the graphics engine is going through an ENTIRE re-design (from his friend) and my friend thinks that based on that, the game will not be released until 2005. I'm really hoping he's wrong about 2005, although it wouldn't surprise me if they are really rebuilding the entire thing.

Someone email Gabe or another Valve guy this info, to see if it's true.

No reply constitutes as a "Yes the graphics engine is being completely re-designed and the game will be released in 2005. Doug Lombardi is a bitch who talks out of his ass."

 

[RandomPING]

Now, please don't take my words as gold here. A guy that I am pretty good friends with has a friend/contact who is a contractor working on the HL2 project for Valve. From what my friend has told me, the graphics engine is going through an ENTIRE re-design (from his friend) and my friend thinks that based on that, the game will not be released until 2005. I'm really hoping he's wrong about 2005, although it wouldn't surprise me if they are really rebuilding the entire thing.

I doubt they'd rebuild it, it's still ground breaking and new and they've pumped a lot of money into the engine, and a lot of research to make it backward compadable. With HL1 it makes sense that they did a redesign, after all, they were using the original quake engine as the base and it wasn't working out for them like they hoped, so it wasn't like they built an engine from the ground up and then scrapped it.

I think they're just looking to get it out the door at this point with everything working and the whole game being polished.

 

[Crusader]

People keep bringing this crap up about HL2 being somehow out of date already, I don't know about you, but when I visit the shops these days I don't see anything thats even close to on a par with HL2.

 

[slicktick]

I dont think they are redoing the engine because they have talked about how, they have built it to make it last and how they are even doing all with it that the engine is capable of, in anything thye amy redo content stuf to keep up with some things.

Also i dont think that graphics are the most important thing either, sure if a game looks amazing it adds to it, and i think we will be surprised how good hl2 actually looks when its done, even though it may start to look lacking now.

 

[Styloid]

I'm not sure what they would rebuild in the engine anyways... If they wanted new effects, like shadows, tone mapping, motion blur, etc.,they can use shaders. Modders can write their own shaders (of course Valve are professionals and have help from ATI). I'm not even sure of any other thing beside graphics that some people might want 'updated'.

 

[Mechagodzilla]

I'd buy HL2 if it were only another one of those expansion packs like Op4. Graphics are the least of my concerns when it comes to games.

 

[Moto]

Now, please don't take my words as gold here. A guy that I am pretty good friends with has a friend/contact who is a contractor working on the HL2 project for Valve. From what my friend has told me, the graphics engine is going through an ENTIRE re-design (from his friend) and my friend thinks that based on that, the game will not be released until 2005. I'm really hoping he's wrong about 2005, although it wouldn't surprise me if they are really rebuilding the entire thing.

Dude, there is no way anyone in hear has to believe what you say. Anybody can say whatever the hell they want on the internet. People can easily lie about their personality, friends, gender, and can give false information. What makes you think that you can be trusted when It's a friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend?

Eh, I won't trust anything that anyone says about HL2's current status, unless the information is delivered to my house by mail in the form of a sincere written letter signed by Gabe Newell and all of the VALVe staff...and even then I still wouldn't trust it 100%.

 

[[MLB]Loser]

All I was doing is supplying information that I was told, whether it is true or not remains to be seen. The reasoning that was given for the rebuild was due to the code leak. He said the entire graphics engine was leaked, again, I personally wouldn't know if thats true or not, just passing along the info. I'm not asking you to believe it based on what I'm saying, just don't say that I didn't warn you ahead of time.

• Edit

Just a bit of extra info that I find interesting. In the April-May timeframe of 2003, EB Games changed the "ship date" of the game from 9/30/2003 to 11/19/2003 then finally in August it was switched to 3/31/2004. It is now February 18th, and its "ship date" is still 3/31/2004. I have found EB to be a pretty reliable source for release dates in the past. Guess we'll have to continue to wait & see.