[UPDATE 2: Chris “StormSeeker” Horn, also on the Black Mesa team, says we “might be surprised at just how short” of a time we’ll have to wait for Black Mesa. Still think nothing’s going on?]
[UPDATE: Anthony “OnboardError” Stone, currently doing level design for Black Mesa… says the mod is coming “very soon”, in an e-mail exchange not even one day old, courtesy of Reddit. Interesting, to say the least.]
Black Mesa (or Black Mesa: Source, if you’re old-fashioned) is a mod that needs no introduction. But we’re going to give it one anyway. It’s a complete remake/reimagining of the original Half-Life, in the modern Source engine. Best of all? It’s a completely free Source modification. It’s been in development since late 2004, and it’s only ever had one projected release date: “2009”. As we all know, they missed that date, and since then, they’ve “submerged” with regards to their PR practices, and they have reverted to the classic “When it’s Done” release date.
Last year, back in 2011, Black Mesa’s composer and sound designer, Joel Nielsen, announced that the Black Mesa soundtrack had gone gold. This meant that work on it had been completely finished, but it didn’t mean that the soundtrack was to be released any time soon. Instead, it was stated by the developers that the soundtrack would eventually be released prior to the mod’s release, and that the mod itself would be released exactly 2 weeks after the soundtrack is released. Obviously, 2011 came and went, and while the Black Mesa devteam is still active on their forums and their Wiki, the soundtrack has, obviously, not been released. However, turns out the soundtrack’s release, and the mod’s release… might not be too far now!
The Black Mesa developers are asking the community to like their facebook page, they’re gonna release some big update once it reaches 20 thousand likes!
http://www.facebook.com/BlackMesaDevs/
Yeah, I heard. I’ll discuss it here when I see exactly what they release. I don’t want to get people excited over nothing.
Yeah, I’d really like to think that the mod is going to come out soon, but honestly, after this many years of seeing nothing but a forum full of complete asshats, ANOTHER post about a something supposedly maybe happening in the relatively near future of never isn’t very interesting.
Honestly, if these guys were doing this mod to show themselves off to the gaming industry, all they’ve proved is that they are too retarded or too lazy to make what amounts to a big mod based off a game that was already made for them.
Sorry to be so blunt, but that’s my honest take on the matter.
What a joke. What is the point in trying to revive a mod that everyone knows they STILL won’t finish?
Is this true? Can you really trust this? Because if you can I would be really happy!! And is there a release date for the soundtrack?
What if these guys were working with Valve secretly, and the mod will release when EP3 releases?
LMAO
This is very exciting! I’m glad that there is some word on the mod’s progress. I figured that the Black Mesa: Source project had crashed due to the lack of updates. It might as well have been what we thought happened to DOTA 2.
Yeah, look:
http://forums.blackmesasource.com/showpost.php?p=443308&postcount=34
:/
Yeah, no offense to these guys, but it seems like there’s some serious communication issues not just within the team, but outside of it as well. If Hubi did not have anything important or official to say, then I honestly don’t see why he even said it in the first place.
Proper conduct, as he put it, should not be exclusively applied to their “official announcements” – it should be applied to everything the dev team ever says. Because there are people APART from the die-hard BMS fans reading their forums.
Welcome to Black Mesa Source, king of vapourware.
I should clarify, Vic… this isn’t the first time and you know it:
http://forums.blackmesasource.com/showthread.php?t=2416
http://n4g.com/news/670170/black-mesa-release-date-moved-again
http://wiki.blackmesasource.com/History_of_the_Mod
http://csnation.net/showthread.php?182034-Is-Black-Mesa-Source-Released-!
http://www.gamersmint.com/rumour-black-mesa-source-releasing-on-jan-4-2011
http://pixelsmashers.com/?p=6893
http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread.php?id=122924
Honestly… I could go on, but I don’t want to waste any more time on a mod that’s never going to be released.
You’re not making sense, William. First time for what? What’s with the links? All I’m seeing is stuff for the 2009 release date, a stupid rumor, two status updates from a dev, and a timeline page.
Nope
Regardless of whether this was an official statement or not, I’m still excited and hopeful. I just deeply wish that the mod won’t turn out like Spore. It was in development for long enough that my fantasies about it were way better than the actual game.
RELEASE VERY SOON
“Soon enough” is relative. I’d sooner get hyped up by a statement by a lead developer than by the site’s webmaster anyway.
Long time reader, first time commentator (commenter?). Thank you for the article, this recent development has gotten me properly excited again.
I emailed Carlos, the project leader, just to make sure that this isn’t an isolated case of premature optimism, as we’ve seen many times before, that such a statement was approved by the team leaders.
Greetings, supernaut! Good to see you commenting – we’ve spoken on SPUF before. Let’s hope you get an insightful response.
GOD DAMN IT!
http://i41.tinypic.com/hwe7mr.jpg
Still, he’s their Webmaster, he should have a pretty good idea of when a new website is being worked on. Either bs or damage control. After 7 years, this stuff just shouldn’t happen.
Yeah, this is really strange. Don’t know what to make of it for the time being.
The funny thing is, I only heard of its existence a few months ago. I feel bad for not having to wait as long as some others have… but yeah, so excited! Hope my crappy old computer can handle it!
Will it be available on Steam as well?
Oh , i that answers my question…
// Black Mesa is a free modification; The developers will never charge you for playing mainly because we wouldn’t want to make people pay to play, but also because it would be illegal to do so. As long as you have a copy of any source engine game on steam, Black Mesa will cost you nothing.
I don’t see it becoming a Steamworks mod, like Insurgency and Zombie Panic: Source, but hey, stranger things have happened.
I hope that they put it on Desura (a la No More Room in Hell), at least, so that we can get auto-updates and such.
Well, seems like Black Mesa: Source will be shipping before EP3 afterall, not sure if I should be happy for that, but have something this good released will cheer me up for sure.
You can always play the CinematicMod, right?
Ew. Dear god, no.
I never quite understood the seemingly universal hate for this game. I’ve played through Half Life 2 many, many times. It’s fantastic. The cinematic mod adds a new level of detail to it. While I would,of course, rather play through vanilla HL2, I feel as if the Cinematic mod was a unique, fun new way to experience the same game. Why does everyone despise it so much?
I personally think they changed the character models too much (last time I looked at it, atleast). Plus it changed Half-Life’s artstyle, and meh. I am fine with the orangebox source engine. The graphics are fine.
It completely dilutes the atmosphere, the art style, and the very themes and feel of Half-Life 2. And it does it all just so it can be more like a Michael Bay-esque Hollywood film. While it’s enjoyable as its own little experience, it IS NOT a worthy next-gen successor to HL2.
never mention that monstrosity again.
Yeah…. no, just no.
😀
Can’t wait!