this game looks awesome

fun to play around with for a few seconds. i'm waiting for cooler mods, which i know are coming.

Translation: The developers have played through STALKER over and over again, and they realize that while they have a game that has some good parts, they don't have something that can compete with GTA:SA, Halo 2, and Half-Life 2. They are going to hold the game and fine tune it until those games are a ways in the past, then they will release their game.

I think that's fair enough, I know that STALKER would be the first to go if i had to pick three out of four. It never seemed that impressive to me. A whole living world is only impressive as a technical feat unless it makes great gameplay, and I haven't seen any great gameplay in those videos that have been released over time.

Just my $.02

Admin/Editor - http://www.beyondhalflife.com

wow, that's the most embarrassing thing i've ever seen.

Admin/Editor - http://www.beyondhalflife.com

...and let me know if it's worth the DL

Admin/Editor - http://www.beyondhalflife.com

from the PC Gamer Review:

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But the core process of this new physics, the key to the success of the game, is to be found in the Gravity Gun. Once you’ve experienced vehicular action and got to grips with combat, Half-Life 2 introduces a new concept – the idea of violently manipulating objects with this essential tool. The gun has two modes: one drags things towards you and can be used to hold, carry or drop them. The other projects them away and can be used either to smash and punch or, if you’re already holding something, hurl it with tremendous force. A filing cabinet becomes a flying battering ram, dragged towards you and then fired into enemies, only to be dragged back and launched again to hammer your foe repeatedly, or until the cabinet is smashed into metal shards. Pick these up and you can blast them through the soft flesh of your enemies. Killing the bad-guys with nearby furniture becomes habitual, instinctive. Or perhaps you need cover from a sniper – picking up a crate will give you a makeshift shield with which to absorb some incoming fire. Likewise, you immediately find yourself using the gravity gun to clear a path through debris-blocked passages, or to pick up ammo and health packs, or to grab and hurl exploding barrels at encroaching zombies, setting them ablaze and screaming. You can even use it to grab hovering combine attack drones and batter them into tiny fragments on concrete surfaces.
Soon, the gravity gun is proving useful in solving puzzles, or knocking your up-turned buggy back onto its wheels. Yes, a buggy. I’ll come back to that. The gravity gun isn’t just another weapon, it’s the soul of Half-Life 2. Do you try to bodge the jump over that toxic sludge, or take the time to use the level’s physics objects to build an elaborate bridge? Do you waste ammo on those monsters or pull that disc-saw out of where it’s embedded into the wall? Of course, you always know what to do. When there’s a saw floating in front of your gravity gun, and two zombies shamble around the corner, one behind the other, well, you laugh at the horrible brilliance of it. Yeah, I think that was the moment I sat back and laughed. It’s just too much.

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Look, you guys can all piss and moan, but that sounds like a shitload of fun to me.

Admin/Editor - http://www.beyondhalflife.com

did someone pay you to write that? it sounds like you need to actually try steam before you start bringing out the tinfoil hat brigade.

I use steam, think it's great, etc.

your points are all factually wrong, and if i had the time and energy, i would disprove them.

Admin/Editor - http://www.beyondhalflife.com

think i'm gonna be playing this one at 800x600. oh well...

HL2 should run just fine though.

P4 2.8 - 800FSB
1 gig PC3200 ram, dual channel
Radeon 9700 Pro


Admin/Editor - http://www.beyondhalflife.com

trent quit the D3 project a while ago... that's why no one is talking about it.

I agree that sound is the most underrated part of games though.

Admin/Editor - http://www.beyondhalflife.com

... is dated May 9, 2004.

Admin/Editor - http://www.beyondhalflife.com

This is kind of a cool phenomenon. I was an IL-2er for a while, played it every day for longer than any game I can remember other than Quake 2 DM, learned all kinds of stuff, joined a squadron, learned a hell of a lot about World War II aviation - All thanks to Oleg Maddox and the IL-2 team.

He's become something of a game god in his own right. He's involved with the community, has an unparalelled devotion to historical accuracy, and has singlehandedly re-invigorated the Flight Sim genre.

Not a bad thing to put on your resume

Now his team is making a Battle of Britain game, to be released in 2005-2006, and I can't even imagine how cool (and what a system hog) it's going to be.

I the mean time, half the IL2 team is making an RTS, and Oleg is working on a Pacific Air War add on for IL2. the man is amazing.

Admin/Editor - http://www.beyondhalflife.com

man, that tornado footage is cool... i've seen stuff like that on TV before, but not online. all the online tornado footage i can find is crappy and low-res. anybody know where to find some?

Admin/Editor - http://www.beyondhalflife.com

as opposed to every other game guy who just makes a game and then takes two years off... yeah, right. most devs are working all the time. carmack is just more high profile.

Admin/Editor - http://www.beyondhalflife.com

this sounds like a gimmick.

an expensive gimmick.

and who is going to by a mobo developed by Alienware? I'd take abit or asus first.

Admin/Editor - http://www.beyondhalflife.com

nope, you haven't seen this before. It's all new footage, and while it's small, no sound, and hard to see, it's all new stuff. new weapons, new enemies, new maps, and the first two videos are filmed in a preview pane of Adobe Premiere... aparently they are cutting one of the E3 videos in Premiere, and these kids got to see a part of it.

Admin/Editor - http://www.beyondhalflife.com

they delayed it after it was supposed to ship? i thought HL2 was bad.

Admin/Editor - http://www.beyondhalflife.com

here are the shots... the chopper and the zombie are both cool.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/j.palethorpe/HL2/

Admin/Editor - http://www.beyondhalflife.com

um, try again. HL was supposed to be one of the biggest titles of 1998, was covered very closely by magazines, and then was delayed an entire year. the fans were pissed, but when the game came out, everyone bought it.

just like hl2

Admin/Editor - http://www.beyondhalflife.com

sorry to see blues news posting hypothetical speculation as news of a delay... this is an old interview, and real news will be at E3

Admin/Editor - http://www.beyondhalflife.com