Half-Life Turns Ten Today

[News Reader]

Half-Life Turns Ten Today
Yep, Valve's unfortgettable opening salvo officially gets a decade under its belt on this very day. This terrifies me in ways I can't quite vocalise.
Said terror is not simply because it makes me feel so very aged, but also because it's been so long and yet still most FPSes seem entirely ignorant of what [...]

Author: Alec Meer
Category: RockPaperShotgun Half-Life Mods Valve
Publish Date: Wed, 19 Nov 2008 09:20:25 +0000



Yep, Valve's unfortgettable opening salvo officially gets a decade under its belt on this very day. This terrifies me in ways I can't quite vocalise.

Said terror is not simply because it makes me feel so very aged, but also because it's been so long and yet still most FPSes seem entirely ignorant of what HL did with setpieces, incidental detail, gaming-specific narrative style, pacing and world-building. The straight line to most of today's shooters that started with Doom seems to almost bypass Half-Life. Fortunately, there is one huge, positive side-effect which does ensure HL's legacy is unassailable: modding.

(...)
Read the rest of Half-Life Turns Ten Today (127 words)

Posted by ento. |
27 comments |
Donate or subscribe to RPS |
Post tags: Half-Life, Mods, Valve

This article is from Rock, Paper, Shotgun. If you're reading it on any other website, they're stealing it from us without permission.



Read more... - Read comments...

Source: Rock, Paper, Shotgun
Description: The PC Gaming site: it's a fun time.

[buzzmong]

10 years?

I feel so very low to think I've done fuck all with my life in 10 years apart from bumbling from place to place.

I remember when I first played a swept version of the full beta, when the glock used to hold 18 bullets if you reloaded with a new clip, along with a number of other bits and bobs.

Fuuuuuuuuuuuck.

[HereComesPete]

10 years eh? That's a fucking long time that is.

I've also bumbled from one place to another, not even slightly annoyed at that, I regard it as living my life.

I suspect even the most driven and ambitious people will always feel a need to try harder, I'll let them take my share of effort and stress whilst I enjoy myself.

[Dr. kitteny berk]

10 years eh? That's a fucking long time that is.

I've also bumbled from one place to another, not even slightly annoyed at that, I regard it as living my life.

I suspect even the most driven and ambitious people will always feel a need to try harder, I'll let them take my share of effort and stress whilst I enjoy myself.

I remember playing HL1 through the first time, I was using a single hifi speaker bodged into the soundcard, and got a good 8fps at best

[Dr. kitteny berk]

Also, HL1 is only $1 on steam right now

[FatherJack]

Happy Birthday Half Life

Best game ever, taking into account the tech for its time and the way it made you feel playing it (scientists plummetting down lift shafts) - I don't think it's been surpassed.

I played it on a Techworks 12MB 3Dfx Voodoo2 at first, and later a GeForce 256 which was made by some tin-pot outfit out of Santa Clara no-one had ever heard of. lol

[Dog Pants]

I asked for HL for Christmas (I could have bought it, but my Dad was desperate to get me it for Christmas). He got me a pirate copy sent from my cousin in Kuala Lumpur and gave it me as soon as it arrived. I was quite pissed off at that, especially since it needed a code. Luckily his mate had the original and let me try that, which worked (and his probably didn't work online after that). Years later I bought it with Opposing horse and Blue Shift, even though I'd played and beaten all of them, just because I felt they deserved my money.

For me RPS hit the nail on the head with incidental detail. In games and films it's what makes something believable for me.

[Dr. kitteny berk]

For me RPS hit the nail on the head with incidental detail. In games and films it's what makes something believable for me.