Late last month, the Call for Communication announced “A Red Letter Day”, a group event that would bring tens of thousands of Half-Life fans together in playing Half-Life 2, for half an hour on the 4th of February. That was yesterday, and it turns out… it did!
It’s now 2012. What are we all looking forward to? Well, we’re looking forward to another disappointing E3, for one. We’re totally not looking forward to a war in the Middle East, because it might end up being a war in Middle Everywhere. And we’re somewhat looking forward to the end of the world, because the Mayans told us about it, and they had ancient aliens on their side. Not the Combine, though. They might be ancient, but they’re not into sun gods or anything like that – they just want to steal our plants. Oh, and our water.
So what can we do? Well, we can ready our emergency supplies for the war in Middle Everywhere. We can ready our games for a disappointing E3. But when it comes to the apocalypse, at the hands of the long-lost Mayan army, returning to Earth with the power of a thousand rayguns and an ancient alien battle corps, then all we can do is… play Team Fortress 2, I guess.
Half-Life 2 lends itself to a lot of different styles and moods. As such, it seems as if you could almost put just about any soundtrack behind it, granted it fit properly. But, of course, the prevalent atmosphere in the Half-Life 2 series is melancholia. After all, the Earth has been invaded by a totalitarian multi-dimensional alien empire picking Earth to the bone for its now-dwindling resources. There are no more children, and genocide has taken most of the world’s population.
So while you could, in theory, make an improved HL2 soundtrack using Haddaway’s “What Is Love”, the HL2 series really does lend itself to more somber sorts of music. Which brings us to…
Every now and then, a video game pops up that is so breathtaking, not just in its graphical design or in its execution, but in its most basic idea, that it affects us as people, not just players or customers. Dear Esther is one of those games, and instead of an idea, it has a message. A message conveyed through non-linear interactive story-telling. Long ago, in mid-2009, master level designer Robert Briscoe took it upon himself to create a Dear Esther remake.
Fast forward to early 2011, when this re-imagining had become so beloved, and so impressive in graphics and production value, that it was decided to turn it into an independent Source game. Since then, using the current Source codebase (the Portal 2 engine), Robert and co. have done even more amazing things with Dear Esther. In December, they announced that the game would be released on Valentine’s Day 2012. But that doesn’t mean they’re cutting us off from new media! Not at all, as they have just released an incredible new launch trailer!
Gearbox’s infamous cancelled Dreamcast console port of Half-Life 1 (although it was also developed by Captivation Digital Labs) has been shrouded in mystery for many. Troubled by delays, it was originally slated for release in summer of 2000, then fall of 2000, then late 2000, then pushed back to early 2001 and eventually, mid-2001, then finally put out of its misery in a controversial cancellation. The ill-fated port was hilariously close to release – Prima strategy guides and other promotional materials were made available (and can still be found on online auction sites for various prices), and a near-complete beta build was leaked to the Internet. Concurrently, it seems that the only way to experience the port is to download this leaked build.
But, no longer! Dedicated modders have just released a mod port of the Dreamcast version for Half-Life 1, which means that right now, you can experience the unreleased Dreamcast port for yourself! Read on for more info on the release.
Here’s one for the history books: the world’s fastest HL: Blue Shift speedrun. And another one for the history books: this thing was released almost 3 months ago. So the only logical conclusion here is… quadrazid is fast, Vic is slow. It’s funny, you see, because I can’t strafejump for s**t. Hell, I can barely tell the difference between strafejumping and bhopping. But I still manage to dominate Portal 2′s Challenge Mode on my Friends list.
A very, very long time ago, in February of 2007, CaLeB (or, as he is now known… oxcjae) released a lovely little Garry’s Mod comedy video, UnKnown Moments. A crazy collection of all sorts of weird and surreal comedy sketches, UKM was a hit, and just half a year later, it got an even better sequel. But we had to wait one whole year for part 3. And another whole year for part 4. While we got some holiday-themed shorts during 2010, last year brought us absolutely zilch on the UKM front.
Well, you need wait no longer. Unless you haven’t actually been waiting for it, in which case… gah, screw it. UnKnown Moments 5 is finally here. All the classic in-jokes, running jokes, characters, and signature moments are back. Twice the length as well. It’s the last one of the series, so let’s take a look!
Our 2011 Christmas Countdown has ended, the iron logo has been rebuilt, and the silo office doors have finally opened. Our special holiday surprise was released right on time, at 12:00 PM GMT, on the 25th of December. While the event itself wasn’t as big as last year’s (we couldn’t get a new holiday theme going, and the countdown may not have been quite as cool as the advent calendar), the surprise: a new holiday animated special, is about fifty times better than last year’s animation. Give or take. Directed and created by our very own Jeff, and written by both Jeff and I, we think it’s pretty great, and we really hope you guys enjoy it. He also does “Valve: The Animated Series” in association with us, so be sure to check out his YouTube channel, as well as his DeviantART page, for more of his awesome work.
So, without further ado, head over to the Christmas Countdown page, and check the short out! However, if you prefer, we can take out the middleman, and you can check it out in SWF form, in far better quality, resolution, and framerate, (I told Jeff to relax and just give me the source files, so we can sell it for $20 in “remastered” form in like two years, but he just wouldn’t listen) but be sure to check out the page as well.
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