What interesting things caught your eye in the e3 clips?

[Feath]

Is it just me or do NPCs only talk to you when you look at them? That seems pretty cool if they do.

 

[Mr. Redundant]

I think they will try and get your attention if you arent... at least I think thats what Valve/Gabe has said.... IIRC.
to further the story etc.

 

[Brian Damage]

I've been wondering if they'll take a cue to give you info about an interesting item if you stare at it for a while...

"Whatcha' looking at? Oh, that thing? That's the...."

 

[SLH]

That would be cool if they did.

 

[Andy]

I totally loved the crane scene (and not just the bit where the guy cartwheels through the air on the bad end of a rocket!). Swinging that crane around and picking up and dropping that container... FANTASTIC. I'm getting visions of wreckingballs and a tall ... abandoned buildings full of scientists....

 

[Mr. Redundant]

I totally loved the crane scene (and not just the bit where the guy cartwheels through the air on the bad end of a rocket!). Swinging that crane around and picking up and dropping that container... FANTASTIC. I'm getting visions of wreckingballs and a tall ... abandoned buildings full of scientists....

yeah that was pretty cool, I loved how there actually was stuff INSIDE the big container, and it reacted realistically as it got tossed about and spilled out when gordon dropped it.

 

[Brian Damage]

I want to drive a Source-made Bulldozer! That would be cool...

 

[we11er]

I liked the wooden rectangular tiled floor effects in the house area, where th combine kick the door down. Same sort of effects as the hdr vid, but it just looks so friggin real, some of the little tiles are more 'shiny' than others, sort of in patches. Unfortunatly I doubt my computer will even run HL2, but that's life I suppose

 

[el Chi]

I loved the scene with Eli and seeing a Vortigaunt (best aliens in HL1). 'twas a marvel of the highest proportions. And the very oppressive air in the house with all the worried people.

PLus, I don't think I'll be able to set fire to the zoimbies. Not if they make that noise... <shudders>

 

[Mr. Redundant]

PLus, I don't think I'll be able to set fire to the zoimbies. Not if they make that noise... <shudders>

heh, thats the reason Im gonna go outta my way to set em aflame... different strokes

 

[Mountain Man]

There really is no exact timing for a grenade. Standard US combat fragmentation grenades have a fuse dely between 4 and 4.8 seconds. You count on it being 4.

And real life pros don't cook off the fuse, either. Way too dangerous! Once it's armed, you throw it without hesitation.

 

[Feath]

PLus, I don't think I'll be able to set fire to the zoimbies. Not if they make that noise... <shudders>

Same here. In fact, I don't even like watching that part of the video because of it.

 

[Spiffae]

WOAH!

at 6:44 (the IR Gun in the 2nd floor of the house) watch it frame-by-frame. the one shot from the IR gun (which is like a big glowing ball) shoots from the gun, and hits the first combine - THEN it bounces back, and hits the second combine. then it bounces off the floor in a shower of sparks, and then goes off the screen.

Also, in an unfinished moment, all the rifle grenades go out the barrel sideways, rather than straight.

I'll upload some screenshots in a sec.

I said I would upload screenshots, and then the board went down... oops

here they are.

 

[Brian Damage]

Cool...

Heh, the rifle grenades do look a bit weird doing that...

 

[A.I.]

The eye of the G-man in the beginnig looks soooo real. It just makes me watch it over and over again...

 

[Xcellere]

At 10:35 into the Gamespy movie, I LOVE how the Stryder impales one of your squad members, and doesn't shake him off his leg immediately. The squad member just dangles from the leg for a little while as the Stryder is walking around with the human still attached. Then he finally shakes him off.

 

[Sandman]

Actually, I thought it was interesting that in the crane part of the video, if you watch the shadows under the cargo container, you can see major clipping between the container's shadow and the magnet's shadow. Check it out if you haven't noticed that before. I better not see that kind of crap in the final game :-P

 

[DjBourgeoisie]

I wonder if that huge magnet that lifted the trailer and was dropped could be used to pull the weapons out of the enemies hands.

 

[Spiffae]

Actually, I thought it was interesting that in the crane part of the video, if you watch the shadows under the cargo container, you can see major clipping between the container's shadow and the magnet's shadow. Check it out if you haven't noticed that before. I better not see that kind of crap in the final game :-P

this has been discussed to death.

The crane and crate's shadows occlude, yes, and it's a shame, but shadow culling is very costly in processor cycles, and I'd rather have the physics of a crate getting dropped on guys than worry about a little shadow overlapping. also, notice that those shadows are projected directly down, instead of relating to the light source. though not realistic, i think this is good, as it allows easy aiming of containers you drop/move... just like in mario 64 - shadows are both for looks and useful.

EDIT: HOLY CRAP! 1,000 posts!

 

[XJR]

how about the bit when your walking around those apartments and you see them combine soldiers bust into that flat and mr breen is on the tv repeating himself like in the station/place thing =)

 

[UKchaos]

I loved the way the manipulator is used to drag discarded weapons and ammo towards you for easy collection. The best example is at 15:33 of the gamespy movie. Has a Jedi Knight 'force pull' feel to it - very cool.

 

[Feath]

I loved the way the manipulator is used to drag discarded weapons and ammo towards you for easy collection. The best example is at 15:33 of the gamespy movie. Has a Jedi Knight 'force pull' feel to it - very cool.

Right. Remember the really old Planet Half-Life April Fool joke where they did a fake preview of Half-Life 2. In which the main character has super powers and stuff. Well, in the mail bag for that week (http://www.planethalflife.com/features/mailbag/mailbag40499.shtm) here's one of the reactions to it.

Hm.. Super Powers for the main character sounded pretty stupid at first. But then i thought about it some more and realized that it could be a cool thing to have. These "super powers" could be like the powers a jedi has with "the force." For example imagine this. There is a monster heading for you and the only gun in sight is that mp5 on the other side of the room. But you can't get it because the monster is right there. So you use your power of attract by pressing f6 or some other key binded to "attract" and poof the gun slides across the floor to you. You woop it out and pop the monster in the head. (snip)

It's weird how true that turned out to be.

 

[FoB_Ed]

I wonder if that huge magnet that lifted the trailer and was dropped could be used to pull the weapons out of the enemies hands.

Even better, would be if the magnet could pick up the combine themselves and then disengage the magnet and let them fall to their doom, or just leave them stuck to a magnet for all eternity :thumbs:

 

[UKchaos]

Even better, would be if the magnet could pick up the combine themselves and then disengage the magnet and let them fall to their doom, or just leave them stuck to a magnet for all eternity

PCZ mentioned using that crane to lift the buggy up. How cool would it be to lift up a combine vehicle and have its occupants stranded in mid air

 

[|Jz|]

What pretty cought my eye was that there is actually a "energy bar" when Gordon runs. Didnt know that before, I don't like that =)

The shadows on that "crane" scene seem kinda buggy to me, because you can see the shadow of that crane thingie through the other one. But that didnt even bother me.

 

[Dalamari]

THe train, that was so cool how they lead him back to a room to be "interrogated" or the apartment, so damn realistic. I can't believe that this game will be for real soon.

 

[iamironsam]

I got an eyelash caught in my eye while watching the e3 video. That was interesting.

 

[Punzz]

How well zombies the caught on fire LOL.. and their screams made me

 

[Lobster]

Im happy to see the return of the storage crate! wouldnt be a half-life game without some wooden crowbar fodder.

And im glad to see gordon uses BOTH hands to hold the python, somthing that pissed me off a little in half-life 1, im sure u can hold that gun with one hand in real life, but frankly it felt to loose, and painfull on the shoulder! :O

Also when he shoves the wardrobe into that guy in the house, which inturn bumps the shelf unit, and all the stuff on it falls off, I know its just the physics as usual but it looked so cool.

 

[enthused]

i love when he shoots the rollermine out of the door and it hits the cone laying in the street. it spins in a very believable manner. also, i remember when i first saw them enter that house and i heard the coughing (obviously from viewers at E3) i was like "wow, the combine coughing is so realistic"

yikes.

 

[B_MAN]

for me it was definately the tour through the gates at the beginning
and then being called into the interrogation room
the opressive atmosphere was simply undeniable

 

[Viperidae]

I liked it how in the train sequence after you go through the spinning gate and the civie walks ahead of you, he takes a glance back to see who you are, then takes another glance to make sure you're not following him (or something).

Loved the Ant Lion vid, esp. the part where he drags the mp7 across the ground, plus how the mp7 has a shadow (detail!). I also liked the reflection, a few seconds before he shoots the rocket, of the crane against the ground.

And the music caught my ear. Absolutely awsome music.

 

[hype.db]

I didn't really think soundscapes were going to be as affective as they were in the E3 2k4 videos; I was pretty impressed. Though.. I am sort of a trance fiend. I loved the way the music moved you through intense action situations. The part that I can't stop watching is the toolshed sequence for no other reason than the physics. Man that's awesome.

Btw good catches spiffae.

 

[B_MAN]

i also went nuts when the player used the 'grav' gun to toss that grenade back at the combine soldier
great stuffffff

 

[Mechagodzilla]

I like how, at the end of the 'house' sequence, you can hear the buckles on the Combine's suits jingle even before they open the door.

 

[Jadewolf5675]

Loved the part where the scanner takes a picture of you and flashes the bright light in your face right at the beginning

 

[OCybrManO]

Some things that I haven't seen mentioned that I noticed in the E3 footage.

HL2:

* The working speedometer (or tachometer) on the buggy and hover bike.
* The way the helicopter disturbs the water (may have been mentioned, but it's cool nonetheless).
* The flock of birds flying above you before you and Father Gregori (sp?) get into a fight with the zombies that run on 4 legs... and before the shed scene.
* The stuff happening in the background (reminds me a bit of the pods in the machine city of the Matrix) of the G-Man scene after Gordon dies.
* The movement of the crane really feels like it has a lot of weight.
* The way the boxes inside the big red crate reacted when it was being moved and later dropped (sure, it was just physics but it was cool).
* The vortigaunt playing with some type of energy beam (most likely, fixing something) when you are speaking with Eli.
* It showed that the Source engine can do dark, moody levels (when the zombies jump down in front of Father Gregori and when Gordon plays with the handing half-corpse).
* None of the characters popped into the light like in parts of the E3 2003 videos.

CS Source:

* Gabe (or whoever is doing the CS demo) makes a typo in the console.
* It showed off some of the neat demo playback features (like zooming across the map from the current view to the view of the player you are switching to).
* On the C4: The LCD shows the correct numbers (7355606?), then they all turn to asterisks. Is this a form of VGUI2 on a weapon?

 

[JonTheCanuck]

k, i read up to page 4 and dont know if anyone mentioned, but i think the best part is where gordon sends the rpg at the combine on the crane and sends that mofo airborn.

 

[Peks]

the shadow seen through the box might be for gameplay purposes, so you can gauge where the magnet is.

 

[Figaro]

I don't know if it has been mentioned previously, but I loved the difference in the way gunfire sounded depending on the distance it was from Gordon. Instead of the violent "crack" "crack" from nearby Combine, Combine's further away give off a more dull, popping sound.