I got my PCGAMER in teh mail!

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Bunko
TI-83+ Graphing Calculator, 64k Memory, 1" Display
Not good for ninja fights.

Of course you know all about this Blue. Just admit it, you are the cover model for the new Gordon Freeman.

huh? dont play dumb you know what the fuck a escort is

Im Soupkin.
I hope i dont have aids.
s{Postal 2 sucks.

so what you are trying to say is that escorts escort your penis to their orifices?

"The" Dan
Intel 486SX, Trident video, 8MB RAM, 14" Generic Monitor, 100 MB HDD, Windows 3.11
Say NO to LOLi LOLersons

escorts = hookers
and escorts are legal

Im Soupkin.
I hope i dont have aids.
s{Postal 2 sucks.
This comment was edited on Apr 26, 02:43.

hookers aren't legal in ontario

"The" Dan
Intel 486SX, Trident video, 8MB RAM, 14" Generic Monitor, 100 MB HDD, Windows 3.11
Say NO to LOLi LOLersons

hookers are legal here bub, try the yellow pages.

Im Soupkin.
I hope i dont have aids.
s{Postal 2 sucks.

Anyone know where I can get some pretty hookers that are cheap in the Toronto area?

"The" Dan
Intel 486SX, Trident video, 8MB RAM, 14" Generic Monitor, 100 MB HDD, Windows 3.11
Say NO to LOLi LOLersons

Thank god physics are finaly making there way into games, finally we can start seeing some non-linear game mechanics. Even crappy games, Postal 2, are entertaining with decent physics incorperated into them.

You guys realize if you don't want to buy Half-Life 2 then you do not have to buy the game. I dont care what game was best because I don't really get my self-esteem from knowing i'm "on the most popular side." If you liked Half-Life, chances are you'll like Half-Life 2, unless they pull an Unreal 2 on us and then no one will like it. =) (unreal2 is pretty, but so are expensive hookers)

Which seems to be several hundred thousand people..

This comment was edited on Oct 19, 2024, 05:56.

Remember PC Accel? They gave it an 11 out of 10 and said it would be around forever. HL is pulling a Quake 2 type death scene, where it's released in multiple packs, and mods going retail. Till eventually the only people that play are the people who cannot afford to upgrade their system.

you're forgiven... i read that one just for you

"The" Dan
Intel 486SX, Trident video, 8MB RAM, 14" Generic Monitor, 100 MB HDD, Windows 3.11
Say NO to LOLi LOLersons

Actually, my PC Game subscription ran out two issues after I renewed it a year ago, so I refuse to give them any more money.. (Seriously, I sent in my payment, got the next issue with NO renewal stuff on it, and then the issue after that was plastered with "This is your LAST CHANCE TO RESUBSCRIBE!!!1111" Bloody wankers)

Anywho, I just read some scans online.. Really good article though, much better than the CGW one.. (Of course, that's 9 pages vs 4.. Not much of a comparison )

This comment was edited on Oct 19, 2024, 05:56.

Dantastic, you have no idea how sorry I am that you and soupkin don't read my posts, really. {/sarcasm}

Scottsman, thanks for the headsup in the PCGamer article. Did you get your copy already? Mine still isn't here, bah.
It does sound cool, and I'm glad they're apparently not taking linearity lane.

Scott, I assume you are talking about the US version of PCGamer, I was talking about the UK version (which I read until mid 2002), which HAS been putting out a top 100 every year, and had placed Half Life on top every single year since it's release, AND had put Counterstrike at no3 in 2001 (the last top 100 I saw).

Creston

But gaming magazines put Half Life on the number one spot, yapping about amazing single player and fantastic multiplayer MODS...

Gaming magazines simply cannot get over the fact that there ARE games out there MUCH better than Half Life

For the record, PCGAMER gave it's "Best Game of All Time" award to Half-life in 1999.

I don't remember counterstrike getting #3 but if it did it just goes to show they rated them as seperate games.

We don't know if they have changed their views since then because they haven't released another Top 100 list. I know they've rated other games higher than half-life since (Alpha Centauri comes to mind.)

Half-life was used as a benchmark to rate all other FPS to after it was released. I don't see anyone using Jedi Knight 2 as one.

So, like I said, they better come up with some mindnumbingly fantastic gameplay, or they are going to go down mediocre lane.

This is exactly the reason to be excited about this game. Valve did it before, I don't find it hard to believe they can do it again.

First of all, http://collective.valve-erc.com/index.php?go=q1_or_q2 explains what engine Half-Life uses.. Not a big issue, but it still bugs me when people say it was the Quake2 engine.

Secondly, Half-Life's story is a bit more complex that "aliens show up, military goes to kill everybody, alien head honcho gets killed" Especially when you factor the mission packs in. There was the whole conspiracy angle of that the people in charge KNEW of Xen, and how the Military was requested to pull out and a team of Black Ops was sent in to destroy the facility instead of trying to take it back. But I digress...

Anywho, I just finished reading the article in PC Gamer, and I think you'll be pleased with the progess of HL2.. The game is said to be far more open ended and you (And the aliens) will be able to do stuff like destroying ANYTHING that uses a "wood" texture, and being able to pick up just about any object and use it in some fashion. Valve looks to be encouraging problem solving on a real-world level, which should help to avoid the linearity of the original.

One example given is that you could pick up a grate and use it as a shield against an auto-turret, then use the grate to smack the turret, knocking it over so it can't shoot vertically.. Other examples included an alien who knocks doors down (Which was hinted strongly at as not being a scripted event) and being able to drop an item onto a machines gears, jamming them (Again, not scripted, but a product of the physics engine)

Extremly cool stuff...

This comment was edited on Oct 19, 2024, 05:56.

I'll beat Soupkin to the punch: I'm not reading that essay. He would then call you a nerd but I'll skip that and leave him a little scrap of complaining.

"The" Dan
Intel 486SX, Trident video, 8MB RAM, 14" Generic Monitor, 100 MB HDD, Windows 3.11
Postal 2 sucks LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOOOOOOL

Lots of good comments here.

First of, let me reiterate that this is in my opinion. Obviously my tastes run differently than most other players on this board, since I thought Jedi Knight 2 was fantastic.

At the time, when it was released, Half Life was amazing. It was BY FAR the best game that had been released in its genre (although you DID need to be an FPS fan in order to think so), and it stayed on top for a long time. I merely mention the original System Shock because it had (once again in my opinion) a better story and a much better sense of urgency to it (Ever tried playing it with that seven hour time limit? You think those Gatorade guys in those commercials sweat bad, you ain't seen nothing yet). And seriously, what WAS the story in Half Life? Scientists open portal to strange world, demons come through. Scientist geek gets guns, fights off demons and Bad Government Black Ops and shuts down portal. It wasn't all THAT earthshaking was it? The way it was TOLD was great, but the story itself didn't earn any special merits in my book.

However, pretty much all of the mods that have made Half Life the no1 played game over the Internet are now rated by themselves, hell, they are GAMES by themselves and are released as such. Therefore, saying "Half Life is the best ever (because of these Mods)" is in my opinion not fair. In fact, if we did that, we'd have to say Quake2 was the best game ever, because Half Life was made with that engine. Right?

And the five games I mentioned (little separate column for the original system shock) in my opinion innovated and improved JUST AS MUCH as Half Life did, and since they were a lot newer, looked better, played better, weren't AS linear as Half Life, better levels etc, they deserved to be mentioned.
But if I get really technical about it, hell, pretty much every FPS released by Raven and Monolith since 1999/2000 is better than Half Life. (which is my "a lot" of games) That's simple aging. Doom was the best game ever, but eventually it does get surpassed, and those fond memories dwindle away until you fire it up again, then realise how annoying it is that it doesn't have mouselook, and no jump, and fake 3d levels etc (although I still get thrilled by having 50 monsters killing each other ).

So that's my opinion on Half Life. Great engine, great netplay, great Mods (even though I hardly play any of them, not much into online deathmatch etc), great single player game for its time, but it HAS BEEN BETTERED.

Valve has waited, in my opinion, way too long to bring this out. So, like I said, they better come up with some mindnumbingly fantastic gameplay, or they are going to go down mediocre lane.

And it's not so much that I'm not a big fan of Valve, but it's more that even fandom ages after awhile if the object of your fandom doesn't produce anything. I don't think anybody is a fan of the Blue Jays anymore because they won two World Series back to back during those days, right?

Hey, I'll be honest, will I buy this? I probably will, although it does depend a lot on what else comes out during that time. If this gets released for Xmas together with Doom 3, well, let's just say that I think the marine kicks a lot more ass than Gordon Freeman ever did

Creston

JK2 had some cool moments, but I didn't find anything as immersive as HL;

I would finger three major reasons:

1. Third person view blows the 'view it via your own eyes' thing.

2. The level design seemed forced at times.

3. One way to make a story seem deeper than it really is to lay down plot lines that terminate prior to resolution. While JK2 may have done this to some extent (the Jedi fighting in the academy) HL did this to an extreme (the leak of radioactive material in the opening, the MIB arguing a point with a scientist behind glass, etc...).

If JK2 had preceded HL then maybe I would have a higher opinion of it. It lacked polish. I hated the long wait for the saber. If they do that again.....who am I kidding, I'll still buy it.

-TPFKAS2S
http://www.braglio.org
I woke up today and wished for tomorrow
I don't want to be like anyone else
I woke up today and wished for tomorrow
I don't want even be myself

Sorry, I was being a bit vague. I was referring to the "Half-Life high definition Pack" that came with Half-Life: Blue Shift. Essentially, (pre-007) Gearbox went back and replaced the original weapon and character models with higher-definition, higher-polygon versions. It is not a profound change, but it is a nice difference. Ultimately, it makes the models look more like the newer, updated console models.

Half-Life: Blue Shift is not worth the price for just the (short) expansion pack, but it is good as an "all-in-one" package containing Blue Shift, Opposing Forces, and the high definition pack.

Thinking this looks like a great year for gamers,
Ray

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Do you really blame the children? Not yourself?
http://users.ign.com/collection/RayMarden
Currently playing: Emperor's Tomb (shut up), IGI 2, Raven Shield, Tenchu 3, and Wind Waker.