Planet Half-Life | News

News Archive Archived news for the week of: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005     Monday · November 15 · 2004     Half-Life 2 Day On G4-Tech TV   Comments 11/15/2004 18:40 PST | Half-Life 2 | by halflife_84 WOW! G4 Tech TV is having a entire day of programming dedicated to our beloved Half-life 2. We took a crowbar to G4techTV's schedule to cram in as much Half-Life programming as we could. The result: on November 16th, you can catch special Half-Life and Half-Life 2 segments on many of G4techTV's fine shows, including an entire episode of Icons devoted to the Half-Life phenomenon. Sounds like a good day to me, but then again my name is Halflife_84, how can I not like a day named after myself? Grab all the info over at the Half-life 2 day's website.     ATI Coupon Update   Comments 11/15/2004 18:32 PST | Half-Life 2 | by halflife_84 If you are one of the few, the proud, the ATI coupon holders and haven't yet used steam to activate your key because you want a hard copy then buckle up over to http://www.atihl2offer.com/ and you can now sign up for them to ship you the CD's in 8 - 10 weeks. Myself I have 3 copies now and one more to come tommorrow. Get your game on!     International Release Times Demystified   Comments 11/15/2004 15:00 PST | Half-Life 2 | by Pratt Since I have been receiving numerous emails of confusion, I thought I would try to help shed some light on the "simultaneous release times"... thing. Basically, we expect that Half-Life 2 will be available for activation at midnight tonight VALVe time - which is in the Pacific Time Zone (GMT -08:00). For release times in your locality, please refer to the list below: November 15th: (GMT -12:00) 8:00 PM - International Date Line West (GMT -11:00) 9:00 PM - Midway Island, Samoa (GMT -10:00) 10:00 PM - Hawaii (GMT -09:00) 11:00 PM - Alaska November 16th: (GMT -08:00) 12:00 AM - Pacific Time (US & Canada) [VALVe Local Time] (GMT -07:00) 1:00 AM - Mountain Time (US & Canada) (GMT -06:00) 2:00 AM - Central Time (US & Canada) (GMT -05:00) 3:00 AM - Eastern Time (US & Canada) (GMT -04:00) 4:00 AM - Atlantic Time (Canada) (GMT -03:00) 5:00 AM - Brazil, Buenos Aires (GMT -02:00) 6:00 AM - Mid-Atlantic (GMT -01:00) 7:00 AM - Azores (GMT) 8:00 AM - Greenwich Mean Time : Dublin, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London (GMT +01:00) 9:00 AM - Amsterdam, Berlin, Rome, Madrid, Paris, Stockholm (GMT +02:00) 10:00 AM - Jerusalem (GMT +03:00) 11:00 AM - Baghdad (GMT +04:00) 12:00 AM - Abu Dhabi (GMT +05:00) 1:00 PM - Islamabad (GMT +06:00) 2:00 PM - Sri Jayawardenepura (GMT +07:00) 3:00 PM - Bangkok, Hanoi, Jakarta (GMT +08:00) 4:00 PM - Taipei (GMT +09:00) 5:00 PM - Seoul (GMT +10:00) 6:00 PM - Melbourne, Sydney (GMT +11:00) 7:00 PM - Magadan, New Caledonia (GMT +12:00) 8:00 PM - Fiji, Marshall Islands (GMT +13:00) 9:00 PM - Nuku'alofa Update: For all of you rabid fans sitting in front of a computer right now reading this and counting down the final seconds to release - just got confirmation from Doug Lombardi that "Half-Life 2 will be made available just after midnight (PST) tonight". Tick tock.     GameSpy First Impressions   Comments 11/15/2004 12:39 PST | Community | by -1313-Evil_Homer GameSpy has posted their late breaking first impressions of Half-Life 2 for anyone looking to catch a glimpse on what is coming our way. This piece covers a lot of ground with some killer new screenshots. Drop on by and give it a read! THE MOMENT'S ALMOST HERE. It's been six years since the release of Half-Life, and the return of Gordon Freeman is just hours away. We're especially excited, you see, because a few weeks ago, we spent a few days at Valve Software playing Half-Life 2 from start to finish, and the sequel really is every bit as amazing as we hoped it would be. Read the Rest...     IGN Review   Comments 11/15/2004 12:38 PST | Community | by -1313-Evil_Homer The guys over at IGN have posted up a really nice review from their experience with Half-Life 2. This is a really nice and in-depth review with lots of pretty screenshots! Go give it a read. What's particularly impressive about the game running so well is that it does so without compromising any part of gameplay or design. Environments are complex, colorful, and highly detailed; AI is certainly impressive in that NPCs work as teams, flank, react to sound and movement, and then engage with lifelike aggression. But like I said, we're going to have to wait and see what the game runs like on a more standard system after it's released. Read the Rest...     Sven Co-op Half-Life 2 IRC Interview   Comments 11/15/2004 9:58 PST | Sven Co-op | by MarmaladeMan Sven Co-op team members Sven and Sniper are being interviewed by HL2DB on the eve of HL2's release, today! Here's the story: HL2DB and GameSurge are holding a Half-Life 2 Release Party on IRC and GameSurge Radio, with various events scheduled for the hours leading up to the release (midnight on November the 15th), including a possible interview with members of Valve Software. From 9PM Pacific Standard Time, an interview with Sven Viking and Sniper of the Sven Co-op team -- on the subject of their upcoming co-operative mod for HL2 -- is to be held in the #HalfLife2 channel on irc.gamesurge.net. So if you're looking for something to do while you wait to hit the big red ACTIVATE button, this might be a good thing to check out. Head on over to the Sven Co-op website for all the details.     Half-Life 2 For Sale?   Comments 11/15/2004 4:52 PST | Half-Life 2 | by Pratt Just got this across my desk from Doug Lombardi: If you have purchased a copy of Half-Life 2, we are sorry you are still waiting to play. This is not Valve's choice. Vivendi is insisting that the game has not yet been released, and has threatened that Valve would be in violation of its contract if we activate the Half-Life 2 Steam authentication servers at this time. Thanks for your patience and we will update you when we have more news to share. It's basically just a recap of a statement they made on the Steam Forums the other day. Apparently, they're really, really sorry.     Sunday · November 14 · 2004     Project Lilith Moves To Source   Comments 11/14/2004 23:58 PST | Half-Life 2 Mods | by MarmaladeMan The Project Lilith team has just announced that they're moving their mod from the FarCry engine to the Source engine. Good news all around! Read the full story right here.     Jedi: Timeline Media & Contest Update   Comments 11/14/2004 23:32 PST | Half-Life 2 Mods | by MarmaladeMan The Jedi: Timeline team has made two significant news updates recently, the first showing off some of their brand-spankin'-new media: Their second major announcement is that of a contest with some awesome prizes. Just taking a look at the sponsors is enough to whet your appetite: The eve of the most anticipated game of all time is upon us. The Jedi: Timeline team wants to celebrate this in its own way. We have spent a lot of time getting this contest up and running for you all. The Sponsors of this Contest are Tim Sykes, Jedi: Timeline, Epiphany 6 Studios, Hans Jennsen, Valve Software, and Ubisoft. The top prizes include limited edition Star Wars prints, signed and numbered, as well as a copy of FarCry for anybody who can produce top quality work in mapping, modeling, or concept work. The entry deadline is December 31st, 2004. Send submissions to contest@jeditimeline.com, or check out the full contest rules here. For all the info you need, check out the Jedi: Timeline website!     Resistance & Liberation Shows In-Game Screens   Comments 11/14/2004 23:23 PST | Half-Life 2 Mods | by MarmaladeMan The Resistance & Liberation team is showing off six in-game screenshots of their mod, here's the story: We are proud to present the first ingame screenshots of Resistance and Liberation. Although a work in progress, it features the cider farm outside Ste. Mere Eglise. It includes work from Mike Hufnagl, Valerie Williams, Charles Gervais-Dumont and Josh Smith. Check 'em out: Nice to finally see some of these modders' projects in action. Check out the full story at the Resistance & Liberation website.     Saturday · November 13 · 2004     Valve: No Early HL2 Release   Comments 11/13/2004 17:47 PST | Half-Life 2 | by Jabberwocky Valve has issued a statement on Steampowered to the effect that they won't be unlocking HL2 early: If you have purchased a copy of Half-Life 2, we are sorry you are still waiting to play. This is not Valve's choice. Vivendi is insisting that the game has not yet been released, and has threatened that Valve would be in violation of its contract if we activate the Half-Life 2 Steam authentication servers at this time. Thanks for your patience and we will update you when we have more news to share. As side commentary, this shouldn't come as a huge surprise. Valve's current legal issues with Vivendi make it a bad time to risk opening themselves to more trouble, especially with only a few days left until the game is made available under the existing schedule. <yoda wisdom="100%">But the Jedi must learn patience.</yoda>     Steam Client Update Released   Comments 11/13/2004 12:00 PST | Steam | by MarmaladeMan [Steampowered.com] A platform update is available and will be applied automatically when Steam is restarted. The changes include: Corrected problem preventing Asian, Russian, Thai, and Japanese Windows ME users from seeing proper text.     Friday · November 12 · 2004     Another Tune To Insects Infestation   Comments 11/12/2004 19:43 PST | Half-Life 2 Mods | by MarmaladeMan Insects Infestation has just released their latest song from the ambient soundtrack to their mod. The song is entitled Backyard - Tribal Lands, and can be downloaded from their music page.     "The Final Hours of Half-Life 2" at Gamespot   Comments 11/12/2004 16:45 PST | Half-Life 2 | by Jabberwocky Those of you who remember GameSpot's "Final Hours of Half-Life" article from six years ago will be pleased to know that the sequel is now up at GameSpot. It's a beefy article detailing the trials, tribulations and difficulties that have come with the development of the game. "OK," [Gabe] says, taking a deep breath. "During any project there comes a time to draw a line in the sand and put a stick in the ground and say, 'This is it. We're ready,'" he says. "That moment, I'm happy to say, is right now. We finally know when this game is going to be done." It's quite the fascinating read, so what are you waiting for?     Shores Of Victory To Release Tomorrow!   Comments 11/12/2004 10:18 PST | Half-Life 2 Mods | by MarmaladeMan Shores of Victory has just announced that they're planning to release their World War II Pacific Theatre mod to the public tomorrow. They will be holding an IRC party in #shoresofvictory on Gamesurge tomorrow night. Check out the Shores of Victory website for all the details!     Thursday · November 11 · 2004     Half-life 2 Street Date Broken?   Comments 11/11/2004 14:34 PST | Half-Life 2 | by Pratt Our sister site Voodoo Extreme is reporting of several rumoured pre-release purchases of Half-Life 2: DRaG0nBLaD3 from the Rage3D forums acquired the game from a branch of B&M, plus he has the photos to prove it. Several other users on the Steam forums have also claimed to have bought the game, although the discussion there is far less informative, or in English. However, DRaG0nBLaD3 is unable to play the game as it is locked on Valve's servers, although Valve previously promised to unlock the game for everyone should the street date be broken. Go here to catch the whole thing.     The Battle Grounds Reveals All   Comments 11/11/2004 11:10 PST | Half-Life Mods | by MarmaladeMan The Battle Grounds is displaying a huge amount of media in their latest update, as well as some news about their development of v1.2.2. Here's the story: Marzy revamped the weapon reload animations and added new hands to a bunch of models. Ben fixed around 30 codebugs. JMW, Smashed and XSpike prepared their maps for 1.2.2. With the first pieces of the HL2 SDK have been released, the Battle Grounds 1.2.2 will be the final release for HL1. We have already started planning BG:S which will be released over steam. Good news! Now check out their updated versions of bg_forestroad, bg_ruin, as well as bgs_snowlake, the map they've converted to Source: There are a lot more screenshots where those came from, as well as more news for all those who are interested. Head on over to The Battle Grounds' website for all the details!     Source Level Design Tutorials @ AdamOwen.com   Comments 11/11/2004 11:01 PST | Half-Life 2 Editing | by MarmaladeMan Adam Owen has just added two level design tutorials for the Source engine at his website. He currently has one for creating a 3D skybox and another for using the NoDraw texture. Check them out at Adam's website!     "That Other" Source Engine Game Is Out Soon Too!   Comments 11/11/2004 10:53 PST | Community | by MarmaladeMan While not stricly Half-Life related, but still interesting news to all HL2 fans out there (at least those interested in the Source engine), there's an article over at Gamespot stating that Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines (another highly anticipated game using the Source engine) will release on the same day as HL2 - November 16th. If you're interested, read the the full article right here at Gamespot. Thanks to Reapz for the heads up.     HL2 Disc Labels @ HalfLifeExpert   Comments 11/11/2004 10:44 PST | Half-Life 2 | by MarmaladeMan The good people at HalfLifeExpert have compiled a number of CD/DVD labels you can use on your backup copies of HL2 GCF files. Check these out: There are plenty more where those came from, and they all look damn fine. To see all of them and to grab the full-sized versions, check out HalfLifeExpert!     Wednesday · November 10 · 2004     2030 Mod Media And More   Comments 11/10/2004 19:10 PST | Half-Life 2 Mods | by halflife_84 The 2030 mod has updated with some new media and some new information about the team involved. The 2030 mod would like to announce that we are still in desperate need of new talent, specifically in the fields of skinning, character/vehicle modelling and coding. On the bright side, we're excited that we've broken free of the planning stages and begun actual development of the mod. To show this, we'd like to show you our very first model, and some concept art. Model of our fictional Anathema Assault Rifle modelled by our recently acquired modeller, God's Toaster Oven. - Find the Model Here. Secondly, some concept art showing four of our futuristic assault rifles (one of them modelled above) and the final concept of the AIPS Gunship. I know I haven't made a post in a while, but you must know that Halo 2 was released, and I just stopped playing since I got it. Now all we have to do is wait less than one week until our beloved sequal. Stick with Planet Half-Life over the next week for as much coverage as we can provide.     Half-Life 2 Books in Stores November 12   Comments 11/10/2004 18:27 PST | Half-Life 2 | by Pratt [VALVe Press] Raising the Bar and Official Game Guide Set to Ship Roseville, California - (November 10, 2004) - Prima Games and Valve today announced the availability of the first two official Half-Life 2 publications - Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar and the official Half-Life 2 game guide - both scheduled to arrive in retail outlets around the world on Friday, November 12, 2004. Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar is a 288-page, hard-bound publication that chronicles the origins of Valve, development of Valve's first games, and covers the making of Half-Life 2 in great detail with hundreds of exclusive images, interviews and more. The Half-Life 2 Official Game Guide, a 320-page full-color guide covering the most anticipated PC game of all time, features full-color maps, weapons details, bestiary tactics, hidden game elements, and more. Visit your local or favorite online retailer now to purchase a copy of both publications. Or visit www.primagames.com for more information.     Water Wars Presents WaterInc   Comments 11/10/2004 9:31 PST | Half-Life Mods | by MarmaladeMan The Water Wars team has four new screenshots to show off of their map h2o_waterinc. Check 'em out: To learn more about Water Wars, head on over to their website at Water-Wars.net!     Forsaken Update   Comments 11/10/2004 0:45 PST | Half-Life 2 Mods | by MarmaladeMan The good people from the Forsaken team have just sent in some news about an update in their media section, as well as to their team. Here's the story: Update 2 of 3 - A smaller update than planned to make way for an even larger update on part #; but we've still added animated 'fly-arounds' for each of the completed weapons, and a new, separate section for all our media. We are also very pleased to announce the addition of a new talented member to our team. James Clarke aka SnipeyX is our new Lead Animator! * We are currently looking to fill a texture artist position, if you've got the skills and are interested in joining the Forsaken Development Team; please apply here. So head on over to the Forsaken website for all the details!     Tuesday · November 9 · 2004     Gold Edition Contents On Display   Comments 11/9/2004 15:39 PST | Half-Life 2 | by MarmaladeMan This will be of interest to anybody's who's ordered the HL2 Gold Steam package. Check out this thread at HL2World, it shows off all the contents of the box - posters, postcards, the hat, everything. Check it out right here at HL2World.     Steam Coverage @ News.com.com   Comments 11/9/2004 15:28 PST | Steam | by MarmaladeMan Some interesting news in the PHL inbox - News.com.com has written an article all about Steam. Here's a snippet: The network, which has been used to a lesser extent over the past few years to distribute updates and less-anticipated games, is getting its toughest market test with "Half-Life 2." By selling the games directly over the Net, the company is experimenting with a model that could substantially transform the video game business, which now rivals Hollywood in annual revenue. The article goes on about the legal battles affiliated with the Steam network, and while most of it isn't news to the Half-Life community, it's cool to see some mainstream coverage of the everyday issues that concern the average HL gamer. Read the full article right here at News.com.com. Thanks to Chris for the heads up.     HL2Forums.net Announced   Comments 11/9/2004 15:24 PST | Community | by MarmaladeMan Robert E. Lee, the founder of The Ville Half-Life community, has just launched a new website for discussion of all things Half-Life 2 related. HL2Forums.net has forums devoted to modding and customizing HL2, so head on over check it out if you're interested.     Insurgency Shows Off In-Game Screenshots   Comments 11/9/2004 15:12 PST | Half-Life 2 Mods | by MarmaladeMan Insurgency has just sent in news that they've worked some of their art content into an in-game scene, here's the story: Insurgency has been working hard with the Source SDK and has been able to get their own Player, Weapon, and Map Models in game. The Level Designers are also hard at work adapting to the new Hammer 4.0 and the new engine features and capabilities. We have produced a quick in-game scene to display that we have been able to get our content in game. It features the T-72 Tank model/skin by Tolchok, Palm Tree model/skin by Pericolos0, set in a small environment created by Argyll. This displays our ability to get our content in game and also acts as a stage for displaying those fairly new models. Check out their screens: You can read the full story over at the Insurgency website!     Hiltunen Releases Two New CS Maps   Comments 11/9/2004 15:02 PST | Community | by MarmaladeMan ToniH, a level designer hosted right here at PHL, has just put out two new maps for Counter-Strike and Vampire Slayer. They're both actually the same map, but different versions for each mod. Check out these screenshots: For download links and more information about this haunted house map, check out ToniH's website!