Half-life 2: Episode 1. Steamy ham Created 18 years ago2006-05-27 16:59:51 UTC by Madcow

I've read some about this new episode 1 thingy, really, it seems like an awsome follow-up.
And the new way Alyx can kick zombie-butt, sweet..
Anyways, a question flew by my mind.
Will episode 1 only be availble through steam?
If it will, feel free to release your anger in this thread, or simply discuss the upcoming game.

Oh, and for those who doesn't have steam, and haven't seen the new trailers....
...Well, it seems as they only can be viewed by steam users, sorreh.

Thats a great method of distribution, its like making movie trailers only be shown in showcase cinemas

Personally I wont be buying it, not just because of my pointless pent up frustrated anger against Valve and everything they stand for after producing Steam, but because its Episodic - something I am angered and frustrated by and wont stand for.

I'd go into more detail about how episodic content has almost no benefits whatsoever for the consumer, but that might bore you.

I agree.
But still, I want to see how half-life ends, so I will buy it.
But it will be harder for me to buy it if it's only to be bought through steam.

id rather just read how it ends or watch a movie, it beats paying for the bloody thing

on a sidenote, the trailer actually made me laugh out loud at how they are re-using content that was cut from the first game, there are beta movies you can get on google video that show some of the enemies they've 'created' for this 'episode'

Why do you think it was cut in the first place?

You think this is gonna end it, but ot wont.

They call it episode ONE for a reason.

Don't forget Half-Life 3, 4, 5 and 6.

dont you mean series 3, 4, 5 and 6

I know Luke..
But this is a part of the end!
If you miss one part and you play the next you will not understand.
It would be like playing HL2 without playing the first HL.

you can get on google video that show some of the enemies they've 'created' for this 'episode'

Why do you think it was cut in the first place?

It wasn't cut,, it was stolen, right?

retail is released at the same time, you need steam to play it just like hl2.
you get hl2dm and hl:dm:s with it.
it will take 6-8 hours to finish
ep2 has been dated for this year and ep3 has been announced, valve said "it is a trilogy which will end by christmas 2007"

I'd go into more detail about how episodic content has almost no benefits whatsoever for the consumer, but that might bore you.

I agree.

Ho ho.

I prefer paying 16 ? for a Half-life game I can play next thursday than waiting 3 years for another sequel. Valve says Episode I is the best singleplayer thing they've done so far, so It can't be THAT bad.
If you compare it to the horrible price/hours of game ratio of games like FEAR, Enter The Matrix, Tomb Raider Legend etc, Episode I is cheap.
The lack of new content worries me a bit though. But we won't know everything until we play it.

and Clarke is good at his job, just because the horses mouth says one thing doesnt mean it true..

Episodic content is great for people like yourself with the average attention span of an ADHD sufferer reading war and peace, its great for small developers as a means of increasing cashflow, but to say that it increases your price/hours game quality is like saying its worth buying the $2 official mods for Oblivion because they give you 1/2 an hour of tedious shite gameplay each.

Episodic content is great for people like yourself with the average attention span of an ADHD sufferer reading war and peace

What does attention span have to do with any of this? You didn't have anything better to say, I guess.
Were you this angry when Opposing Force showed up?

I never said it increases your price/hours game quality. You made that up yourself. I just said that it is extremly cheap if we compare it with dozens of titles with same quantity and less quality.
I love the fact that neither Vivendi or any similar company gets my money this time.

56k jobabob? 56k'ers usually have hate for Steam

Half-life 2:Episode 1=Pwn sauce!

I love how people love Valve because they dont have to deal with the 'evil' publishers anymore, by becoming a publisher themselves. The fanboism is rather intense, if Valve called this 'shitsticks mc rubbish crapgame' you'd still buy it. Im not a 56ker anymore, albiet originally that was the cause of a lot of my complaint, Im just not a big fan of draconian distribution platforms that give Valve a rediculous amount of control over the game you purchased. If they went under tomorrow because of a lawsuit HL2 would simply cease to be playable ever again.

myself, money shouldnt be factored into game quality else under that logic you'd only even play RPGs. Episodic content can go one of two ways:
Each episode will be a 6 hour or so self-contained 'episode' that leaves no cliffhangers, but has the possibility to be extended with further episodes. This is how games should be developed.
The more likely outcome is that each episode will be, well, akin to a TV episode. Each will finish with a very broad and undefined ending that means resolution can only come from the purchase of further episodes.

True, but the dilemma is not "Am I interested in finding out what happens next?" but >> "Am I interested in playing what happens next?"
If you only care about the story, you don't need to buy the following episodes to find out what happens. If what you like is playing through that story, then you have to pay.

Valve only takes 10 or so percent of the profits, whilst bigger "physical" publishers take around 50%. They help smaller developers get attention to their games, IE Darwinia or Red Orchestra. But I agree that it shouldn't be so centered around the onlinity of Steam. I mean, not being able to play any game you'd like whilst some UI update for steam is being downloaded is ludicrous.

Im drawing my analogy from adventure games and their move into episodic form, so it perhaps doesnt fit as well with a fps with limited ability for plot development.

What does episodic content give that expansion packs didn't, other than a tedious extension to a games story?

Steam is the best thing that has happened to computer gaming.

I wonder if HL3 is in development. Seriously..... Please nobody google HL3 and pull one of those RL pics....

ZombieLoffe speaketh veritably.

It's probably in development in the way that they're making concepts and drawing out the story line (Unless it's been written already (!!! steal) ), not actually working on the game. They're likely just focusing on HL2 and it's side-games (DoD, CS, Episode One [...]). I wouldn't expect a fully-fledged in-game screenshot until like, 2007.

Valve only takes 10 or so percent of the profits, whilst bigger "physical" publishers take around 50%

No they dont, Valve take around 50% of the profits and traditional publishers take 80% or more!

I'm not saying Valve arent helping small developers get off the ground, as a publisher they take a quite 'ethical' stance compared to the huge monolithic corporations like EA, Ubisoft, etc. I'll just never agree with distribution platforms as the way forward, give me my game box with spinky DVD in it you barstaarddsss.

I was thinking about how this new episodic content will actually delay the development of future games, its been a worry on the Oblivion forums with the shite Bethesda are pushing as mods at the moment. I don't know how the development cycle works at Valve, but if they concentrate on pushing out more and more of the same content just to futher Halflife 2's story a bit, it will surely delay development of a proper sequel with an updated engine by a long shot.

Anyway, to me I find a good analogy the difference between a British programme of 6 episodes and an American one of 23 or more. I get much less 'content', less of a programme I love, but you get a cohesive and consistent series with little scope for poor episodes where the series itself and small writing staff are of a high quality. I'd much rather have 10 hours of gameplay every 2 years than a bucketload of 'cheap' gameplay just to get more out of a game.

You're already thinking Episode 1 has cheap gameplay without playing it

And they have made some updates with the facial animations. They included HDR with Lost Coast etc. The engine is being updated in small steps.
That will probaby mean the true sequel will not be groundbreaking, but oh well...

Adam Foster got to play a WIP version of ep1.
review:
http://www.hylobatidae.org/minerva/blogsheep.php?action=articleinfo&id=20

yes I must admit I'm being a bit dismissive Kasperg before actually playing episodic content, it's just I can think of so many things wrong with the concept!

The page could not be displayed.

Works fine and if it makes people feel any better I'll record my gameplay of EP1 later on...Not that I'm good or anything :

It would be possible to play HL2 if valve shut down (I think) Steam can be run in offline mode, so there you can still play it

You dont understand how steam works do you?

http://www.gameinformer.com/News/Screens/ScreenShots.htm?CS_pid={F7B446FE-1FBF-4177-BA0A-2932588AA76D}

Major screens!

surely for a game thats only 6 hours long, the 6 trailers on gamespot will have spoiled everything in the game already

Well some of those screens look completely unimpressive and quite dissapointing.

I for one commend them for making the 'Combine' style so easy to make
Screens look mighty impressive and will not dissapoint

Anyway I'll record gameplay just for you HL2 : EP1 haters

are you trying to tell me this is dull and lifeless mapping??///?
http://www.gameinformer.com/Templates/News/ScreenShotsViewer.aspx?CS_pid={F7B446FE-1FBF-4177-BA0A-2932588AA76D}&mediaId=35

I noticed some odd looking fog effects, and some strange lighting in those screenies. Still i remain hopeful and look forward to it. Looks like alot of Grav-gun usage is necessary at the start.

You dont understand how steam works do you?

So if I had a computer with all my steam games on it with steam, I had not internet, if Valve went out of business steam would go off just at that second?

No, but if you ever wanted to install hl2 again you wouldnt be able to, if you ever wanted to download all your steam content again you wouldnt be able to.

Also, in my experience Steam only works offline for a certain period of time before you need to connect again for updates, etc. This was nearly a year ago now though, so it may have been patched.

For those who couldn't be bothered to download the interview...
The head director of EP1 explained the new content such as new lighting and better AI for Alyx. There is going to be ultra graphics for those with top PC's and from what I saw I can give away a few things...

Spoilers

In the interview it shows G-Man walking back through the same white door at the end of HL2 except a blue light appears and he suddenly seems shocked / smiles. He walks / gets sucked back into the white light and so do you. This is how I believe it starts...

Now things we know about it:

Gman is pissed
The advisor is inside the Citadel
There are Combine zombies
Alyx says goodbye to DOG and gets inside the broken van...DOG picks it up and throws you into the hole...
Breen is still alive and your aim is to find him according to the interview...

The game works like so - You start with the good weapons and it goes backwards so you end with pretty much nothing...The gravity gun (Blue high powered version) lasts until you leave the Citadel...because in other gameplay clips you see the orange one again...

There is going to be a hospital section...
Supposedly someone dies...According to a guy who played it he said "All I can say is...poor Alyx" which could mean either her, DOG or her Dad dies or is captured etc...

It took Gabe 7 hours to complete on his play-through and the testers 6 hours on medium...

There will be a dark section where Alyx relies on you to guide her with your torch...If you shine it at her face she covers her eyes with her hands.

Zombie Combine run, slap and try to blow you up with grenades...

There is a giant orb that causes Alyx to question what the Combine are up to...Perhaps new teleportation or a weapon...

Thats all I can suss right now..Feel free to add to it.

End Spoiler

There will be a dark section where Alyx relies on you to guide her with your torch...If you shine it at her face she covers her eyes with her hands.

Im buying it now just for that

my view on steam:

I had dial up and went from HL2's relese to 5 days ago without using anything but offline mode.

I got DSL, and updated everything, and now love steam.

im sure valve will have something in place so when they shut down steam becomes automated. like a final patch that unlocks anything you try to install

of course they will, because you love them and trust them like a childhood friend, valve would never let me down, not me, they've always been good to me, I can predict the future

You honestly think Valve, after suffering a massive collapse due to some unforseen circumstances, would go out of their way in their spare time to make sure all current steam users were unaffected? Theres more chance of EA renouncing their questionable business ethics.

once there gone there will be cracks

An excellent point.

The only reason people don't use cracked stuff now is because the majority are legitimate.

you cant support a system of distribution because illegal methods will bypass it, thats like saying you dont mind the insanely invasive starforce because there are long winded and illegal workarounds for it

starforce is just gay.

steam accually works.

Im pretty certain starforce works too, in its twisted ways. I know Steam works a lot better than it used to, but I cant be arsed to get into a steam debate as they never go anywhere.

I don't complain on steam anymore, as it is a lot better!
But there are still some things I simply hate.
For example, they will use steam to sell games through there.
Sure, they won't need to pay for making millions of copies, but it sucks for some people who (yes, this will sound stupid for some...) just doesn't like buying games through the internet.
And this DOD: source thing, selling it?.. Through steam?!

I hope they make one of those collection boxes like HL: generation or similar for HL2.

I understand some people don't like buying things off the Internet...Even I didn't like buying things off of it however if you don't then you are going to miss out on things and one person can't stop the process of selling online...

Only 1 more day