Category: Half-Life 2

“MINERVA: Metastasis” Finally Polished Up, Re-Metastasized And Re-Released For Free Via Steamworks

May 1st, 2013 · By Vic · 12 Comments

The year was 2005 (you know it’s gotten bad when even 2005 has a quaint and nostalgic ring to it), and the first episode of a little Half-Life 2 mod series charmingly titled MINERVA: Metastasis was released. Metastasis itself only represented the first chapter in a planned MINERVA trilogy (the next chapter, Out of Time, never materialized, though creator Adam Foster isn’t afraid to hint at a possible return in the future), and it was a sequel to Foster’s earlier Half-Life 1 release, Someplace Else. Through exceptional level design, an intriguing narrative and remarkably well-paced gameplay, MINERVA was universally acclaimed and praised not just within the Half-Life community, but all around the greater gaming world.

The Metastasis “trilogy within a trilogy” concluded with the release of the last two episodes in October of 2007, and a year later, Foster began working at Valve, on a strange little game we used to call Half-Life 2: Episode Three. Since then, he’s done significant design work on Portal 2 (and god knows what that means about the aforementioned title), and presumably neglected little old MINERVA, which like many other HL2 mods, did not survive Valve’s May 2010 update for Mac support. Neglected, that is… until now!

J.J. Abrams Collaborating With Valve On Possible New Game, As Well As Half-Life Or Portal Feature Films

February 6th, 2013 · By Vic · 32 Comments

I never thought I’d ever be writing that headline.

Apparently, Valve’s Art Director Jeremy Bennett Wore A Half-Life 3 T-Shirt To Comic Con 2011

December 26th, 2012 · By Vic · 31 Comments

Suddenly, that piece we ran the other day seems oddly relevant.

Five Years Since The Orange Box Was Opened

October 10th, 2012 · By Vic · 11 Comments

Things haven’t been the same since. The doctors say my addiction to Team Fortress 2 (and by extension, my addiction to hats) may never be cured.

Analyzing the Pros and Cons of Black Mesa: Source

September 25th, 2012 · By Mimaz · 35 Comments

This is a review/critique of Black Mesa: Source (a free fan-made remake of Half-Life), co-written by Mimaz (editor here at LambdaGeneration, and former co-host of the Steamcast Podcast) and Vic (lead editor here at LambdaGeneration).

Black Mesa is a difficult game to judge.

Podcast 17′s Let’s Play of Black Mesa: Source

September 18th, 2012 · By Vic · 16 Comments

Things have been a little quiet here – and I am sorry for that! Rest assured that I have been doing far more than simply playing Black Mesa during this time – together with my colleagues Mimaz and David, I am working on both an in-depth essay/review of BM:S, as well as a comprehensive video comparison between the original Half-Life and Black Mesa. And as Gabe Newell once said, these things take time (on a related note, work continues on that review of CS:GO, despite all the more important stuff getting in the way).

However, I won’t leave you guys hanging in the interim. As a matter of fact, I’d recommend you check out Podcast 17′s Let’s Play series of Black Mesa, on YouTube. While I am a part of the podcast staff, I haven’t participated in its creation, but I’ve got to say that it’s probably one of the best Let’s Plays of BM that I’ve seen thus far, since release. William has been a part of this community for a very long time, and is very much a Half-Life historian of sorts – and so, his commentary is constructive, positive, insightful and most importantly, very entertaining. He also demonstrates a lot of unique dialogue and environmental detail that I hadn’t actually picked up on.

Oh, and yes – as he had promised to do when Black Mesa is released, William is actually going to eat part of his beard, and he will do so on the next live episode: #206. I won’t be eating any of my facial hair – no, I’m saving that for when Gunman Chronicles 2 gets released. That’s a bet I can never possibly lose… unless someone at Valve somehow has a grudge on me. But apparently, they do visit once in a while, so let’s hope I’ve not sealed my doom (or rather, the doom of my facial hair) just now.

But if you’re looking for something to tide you over until I tell you all about our thoughts on the mod, then I highly recommend you read CVG’s review, Eurogamer’s, as well as BeefJack’s. They are all quite well-written, balanced, and insightful. And again, rest assured that our review is also on the way, and should drop relatively soon (yes, really)!

Absolutely Anyone Can Play Black Mesa: Source, Right Now!

September 14th, 2012 · By Vic · 80 Comments

I can’t believe I’m actually finally writing this article – but yes, the long-awaited Black Mesa: Source has just been released, as previously announced at the beginning of this month! Oh lord, call the fire department, because I am on fire.

Source Engine 2007′s Source Code Library Leaked

September 12th, 2012 · By Vic · 26 Comments

Valve has never freely released the full engine source codebase for the Source engine – not even its direct precursor, the “GoldSource” engine. In fact, they may never do so, and that’s understandable. It’s imperative that Source remain closed-source, due to its uniquely modular nature. It’s a shame, but it’s the way things have to be if we want Valve’s technology to be secure (especially within multiplayer games).

Although as you may remember, back in early October 2003, German black-hat hacker Axel “Ago” Gembe (or as he would thereafter be known: “Osama Bin Leaker“) leaked the source code for Half-Life 2 and the Source engine, just several weeks after the game had received an infamous and indefinite delay a mere 14 days before the game was supposed to be released on the 30th of September. HL2 only dropped one year later, and by that point both the game and Source had been modified fairly extensively. But still, the repercussions of that incident were felt far and wide at the time, and, arguably, they can still be felt even to this day.

But it would appear we now have a similar mess on our hands. Read on!

« Older Entries