half-life 2
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Valve researching sign language for use in Half-Life 2: Episode 3
Valve's Gabe Newell appears to have recently conducted a focus group with deaf individuals in order to learn more about sign language and how it can be applied to games, notably the upcoming Half-Life 2: Episode 3. Why? To help develop Alyx's character, and further the animation technology implemented in the Half-Life games. Newell explains: "[Alyx] had a crush on someone who was hearing impaired, so she taught Dog how to sign so she could practice. Something happened, maybe, the person is off fighting the Combine someplace else, but that's why she and Dog would start signing with each other when they wanted to communicate without making noise, or communicate without other people knowing ... It gave us the excuse to build the technology for signing." The focus group responds by noting the importance of facial expression whilst signing. While the Half-Life franchise has been known for its believable facial animation, it might take even more to fully realize the nuances necessary for authentic signing. It'll be interesting to see if Valve is up to the challenge.
Valve's Gabe Newell still not talking Episode 3
Half-Life 2 developer Valve Software is remaining unsurprisingly cagey in conversations about Half-Life 2: Episode 3. Speaking with G4, the company's managing director Gabe Newell said, "There are very good reasons why we're not talking about Episode 3, which I can't talk about yet." When pressed on the possibility of hearing more about the game by the end of 2009, Newell downright dismisses the question and, instead, chooses to speak about the "rhythm" the team working on Episode 3 is developing. Does that mean Valve's working on the long-awaited rhythm/music component to Half-Life 2? We can only dream.[Via Big Download]
Clear Skies 2 now ready to dock on your computer
For those of us EVE Online players - or just fans of great machinima - who have been patiently waiting for Clear Skies 2, the wait is over! Ian Chisholm and his crew have managed to crank out Clear Skies 2 in amazing time, offering up yet another exciting adventure in the dangerous space of New Eden. As with everything awesome that we want omg right now - the load on EVE Files is insanely high right now. May want to consider using the torrent for the moment, if you can. In the meantime, while you're waiting for the download, may we suggest you check out the trailer for Clear Skies 2, or perhaps our exclusive interview and behind-the-scenes look at the making with the creator! If it's still going after you've checked all that out, there's always the bloopers from the first Clear Skies, which are made of extra-special awesome. [Thanks, CrazyKinux!]
Second Life pwns Gordon Freeman, Warhammer Online, others
Wagner James Au at New World Notes is carrying some surprising data from ratings giant, Nielsen Media Research. From actual measurements of usage across over 180,000 homes in the USA, Linden Lab's Second Life (paradoxically measured under the 'PC games' category) rates the number two most played title, just behind World of Warcraft. Forget Warhammer Online, or EVE Online, they don't even make the top ten. World of Warcraft and Second Life beat out Gordon Freeman (Half Life 2), Civilization IV and StarCraft. As for actual weekly usage, Second Life is top of the pops at an average of 760 minutes per user per week. World of Warcraft earns the top spot with 653 minutes per user per week, but has a whole lot more users. How about Google's YouTube, the 800 pound gorilla and market leader of online video? Just 47 minutes per week (figure from C|net). Facebook? 84 minutes per week. Myspace, just 10.5 minutes per week (figures from ITProPortal). This data is measured from actual homes, as we mentioned. Almost 200,000 of them, so it isn't just data that's centric to the hardcore gamer. This is a random sampling of ordinary people. Are you a part of the most widely-known collaborative virtual environment or keeping a close eye on it? Massively's Second Life coverage keeps you in the loop.
Full trailer released for EVE Online machinima Clear Skies 2
If you're a fan of machinima, films made using video game graphics engines, there's a good chance you've heard about Clear Skies, an imaginative blend of EVE Online's far future setting with Half-Life 2 character models. Massively has taken a good look at Clear Skies in the past and had the opportunity to speak with the film's creator, Ian Chisholm, about what he has in store for us with Clear Skies 2. However, rather than just reading more about it, why not check out the trailer? We've got an embed of the full Clear Skies 2 trailer for you below the cut. Enjoy!
Half-Life 2 mini-series blows minds on a dime
We've found some fairly unwise applications for $500 in the past, including (but not limited to) a few pyramid scheme investments and a number of unused gym memberships -- if only we'd followed the example of the upstart indie filmographers at Purchase Brothers, who recently spent five Benjamins on an extremely worthwhile cause: Producing the first two episodes of a Half-Life 2-inspired miniseries, titled Escape from City 17.The Purchase Brothers recently dropped the first episode onto an unsuspecting internet -- we've got it posted after the jump. If you've played the series (we find it difficult to believe there are people who haven't, at this point), you really need to check it out. A touch of naughty language and a healthy dose of gunshootery might make it a bit NSFW, but we think you'll agree -- it's worth risking your employment to watch this video with all available haste.[Via DailyGamesNews]
PrimePlus assesses the current state of black characters
PrimePlus has a fairly interesting piece about the current state of black characters in video games. The editorial maintains a very moderate approach to the charged subject, covering the differences between Western and Eastern development, along with how black characters have been portrayed over the years.The piece mostly focuses on upcoming titles and games from the last decade, like Mass Effect, Half-Life 2, Gears of War and GTA: San Andreas. Without getting "politically correct" or preachy, the editorial notes that representation isn't an "exclusive concern to the population of black individuals." It points out that "more socially imaginative avenues of inspiration" would be welcome, which is something we can agree about.[Via Edge]
Mario Kart Source: made by fans, for fans
If you're a fan of PC games, then of course you've heard of the Source engine. It powers Half-Life 2, which is the bee's knees. Well, an ambitious bunch has decided to use the Source engine to code a new Mario Kart racing game, Mario Kart Source. The best part about this project is that the team is looking at all of the previous games in the series and is attempting to take just the best bits for their new game. Our verdict? Awesome.Sadly, Nintendo won't likely be as excited to hear about the project, so we're sure they'll step in at some point or another and intervene. [Via Go Nintendo]
Study: Violence and gore don't make games more enjoyable
Put down that blood-soaked cleaver. After quizzing 2,670 "frequent" gamers and conducting four different experiments with more than 300 university undergraduates, researchers at University of Rochester discovered that, cool as it may be, violence doesn't make games more fun. Except, we assume, for those players who, you know, abhor puppy dogs and rainbows in what they play.The findings were based on what researchers described as a "good deal of violent content" in games such as Team Fortress 2 (alright), Halo 3 (we're with you so far) and World of Warcraft (okay, you lost us). According to a report by the Canadian Press, one portion of the study involved using a modified version of Half-Life 2 with brutality ratcheted up and another with violence nerfed, after which scholars found that "on average, violent content didn't add to motivation for play." Only about 5 percent of respondents showed a preference for violent games, individuals who were later quietly taken into the back room and summarily beaten to death with spoons. Or so we're told.
Behind the Curtain: Innovation
I'd like to talk about Innovation for a little bit. There's an argument which runs along the lines of, "gamers don't get innovation because gamers don't want innovation." There's a certain logic there – if we, as consumers, are not willing to spend money buying games with innovative features or content, then why should developers and publishers spend money to make them? Eating the same food again and again, refusing to change your diet would be monumentally unhealthy for you. Why then, do so many of us do almost exactly that when it comes to our gaming habits? In my opinion, there's been plenty of innovation in gaming in past years. Half life 2 introduced a character I'm sure many of you grew attached to almost as much as I did; Lamarr Miss Alyx Vance. For the first time ever, we had an NPC did more than just get in your way, die easily and spout the same catchphrase over and over. While Alyx really shines in Episode One, the introduction of her character in the original game stands out for me.
HL Source mod generates $3m; Valve reveals retail sales numbers
Half-Life application Garry's Mod celebrated its two-year anniversary of being on Steam last week. On his blog, creator Garry Newman celebrated by divulging the sales figures of the software so far on Steam: 312,541 copies. At about $10 per copy, that amounts to over $3 million. Not too shabby for the 26-year old English developer -- even if Valve takes a piece of the pie. Maybe now he can make a suit of money.Speaking of Valve, who as a general rule is very secretive with its sales figures (especially regarding Steam), the company has released its worldwide lifetime-to-date retail sales (via Gamasutra). Pre-Steam release Half-Life is on top at 9.3 million, followed by Half-Life 2 at 6.5m and Counter-Strike at 4.2m. These figures don't include Steam sales, which CEO Gabe Newell has said he expects to typically surpass retail sales. Full list after the break.
Fan-made Black Mesa trailer reinvents original Half-Life
It's been over ten years since Valve's Half-Life was released on PC, changing FPS gaming forever. In 2009, the fan-made Black Mesa will do more than just revisit the classic Valve game – from the looks of this newly released trailer, Black Mesa will reimagine the game with modern tech and modern production values. (Update: The project was originally called Black Mesa Source, but Valve requested a name change to not as confuse it with an official Valve project.)The spirit of Black Mesa is true to the original; however, we're stunned by the ambitious goals for this project. The new character models and textures used in this Source Engine-powered mod urge us to give them money. The addition of multiplayer modes, such as co-op, make us think Valve will downright buy the team (if they haven't already!).Black Mesa won't require Half-Life: Source to play. So long as you have any Source Engine game on your PC, you'll be able to download and play this amazing total conversion when it comes out.[Thanks, Andrew H.!]%Gallery-38225%
Massively interviews Clear Skies creator Ian Chisholm
One of the most significant works of machinima created in recent years is Clear Skies, an unconventional amalgam of the gritty, far future setting of EVE Online tempered with a more human touch, imbued with life through clever writing and exacting manipulation of Half-Life 2 character models. Fans and critics alike have praised Clear Skies since its release. Indeed, the film recently took top honors at Machinima Filmfest 2008, garnering a Mackie award for Best Long Format Film. This success at the festival was met with astonishment from Clear Skies creator Ian Chisholm as well as from his collaborators, John Guthrie and Richie Powles. But it was decidedly less of a surprise to the many fans of the film, a seemingly ever-growing number judging by the number of times Clear Skies has been downloaded from EVE-Files. Massively recently caught up with Clear Skies creator Ian Chisholm, who was gracious enough to provide us with a sequence of production stills from Clear Skies 2, explaining how he brings a scene to life in stages from voice recording, to choreography, to the culmination of this work in the final footage. While we had his attention, Ian also discussed what drives a man to dedicate years of his life to a project of this caliber, and what he has in store for us with Clear Skies 2.%Gallery-36336%
Valve may show Half-Life 2: Episode Three this year; release still a ways off
In an interview with Kikizo, Valve's Doug Lombardi says we won't have to wait long for ... our first glimpse of Half-Life 2: Episode Three. Quizzed on whether the dev would have something to show in 2008, Lombardi plainly said, "We may at the very end of the year." So, yay – a (possible) Half-Life Holiday.As for when the game will actually ship – er, not so soon. "The next time you play as Gordon will be longer than the distance between HL2 to Ep1, and Ep1 to Ep2," Lombardi confirmed. We're guessing he didn't mean all of that time distance combined. Still, given that Episode One hit in June of '06 and we didn't see Episode Two until October '07, we're likely looking at an 18+ month wait for Episode Three. That would put its release ... around May or June 2009. Or, in comparative terms, sometime around the debut of the next new Lost episode.
CERN: Only one crowbar received, Gordon Freeman 'impossible to find'
Even more terrible news, folks: CERN, the group responsible for the Large Hadron Collider, have only received one crowbar. In a message to Joystiq, "Large Hadron Rap" creator alpinekat (who also happens to work with CERN on the project) told us, "To my knowledge, there has been only one crowbar sent to CERN. I tried to track down that man, but he's impossible to find.""That man" she is referring to is the Gordon Freeman, of Half-Life infamy, we saw in the picture above. The Large Hadron Collider is currently halted until Spring 2009 due to a "magnet failure" ... or was it? With a supposed malfunction and a missing Gordon Freeman, we need not worry: at least he's got a crowbar.
EVE Online films nominated for Machinima Filmfest 2008 awards
CCP Games announced that two EVE Online machinima have made the list of nominees for awards at Machinima Filmfest 2008: "Clear Skies" and "Havoc." The Machinima Festival is one of the major machinima events held annually. The full day event will take place on November 1st in New York City. Clear Skies is an imaginative blend of EVE Online's galactic backdrop with Half-Life 2 character models, and is a Best Long Format nominee. Much of the film takes place within ship and station interiors, and represents two years of hard work by its creator, Ian Chisholm, as well as Richie Powles and John Guthrie. Clear Skies has been well-received by the EVE Community, with the announcement thread garnering 50 pages of praise and climbing.Havoc is a newer machinima, nominated for Best Sound Design, Best Short Format, and Best Voice Acting. Havoc was created by Anil Kamath (Sound Design and Music), Chris Newcombe (Visual Design and Editing), and voiced by Sarah Murray. Like Clear Skies, Havoc is proving to be quite popular with the EVE playerbase, but holds appeal for a more general audience as well. The film is short, clocking in at one minute in length, but in that time nicely juxtaposes the grit of New Eden's setting with gorgeous visuals filmed within EVE. Like Clear Skies, Havoc is well worth a look. Video embeds of both machinima are found below the cut:
Valve hosting Source engine mods beginning next week
In their most recent weekly news update, Valve announced that starting next week, Steam will begin hosting certain user-created mods of Source engine titles such as Half-Life 2 and Team Fortress 2. Owners of any Source title will be able to download these mods for free -- what's more, Valve has promised automatic updates and stat tracking for the mods they add to the download service.The first five mods to be highlighted by Steam are Age of Chivalry, a medieval HL2 mod (pictured above); Synergy, another mod for HL2 which adds a co-op mode to the campaign; D.I.P.R.I.P., a multiplayer vehicular combat game; Zombie Panic, a spiritual precursor to Left 4 Dead; and Insurgency, a "total conversion" mod that takes players out of City 17, and places them on a modern battlefield. Sadly, our Source-based Burgertime mod didn't make the cut. Hopefully Valve will get wise and pick it up with the next batch.[Via Big Download]
The Combine Interview puts Tom Cruise in new light
Actually, we've just had our second viewing of "The Combine Interview," which re-imagines Cruise's Scientology diatribe as a scary statement of purpose from an anonymous member of the Combine. And now, we think it puts the Combine in a new light, as the one force on earth capable of taming Maverick himself (Kelly McGillis notwithstanding).Rather than crank out another Tom Cruise gag (we've got plenty of them, we assure you) we'll opt to mention how well-made and creepy the short film actually is, and how Valve should really already have Tom Hall on the payroll. Take a look after the jump and see if you don't agree.[Via Digg]
Top 5: Games Wii Are Jealous of
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/nintendo/Top_5_games_that_should_be_on_Wii'; Rejoice, Wii-owners. You posses the only (un-modded) home console capable of hosting the greatest gaming catalogue of all-time. The Virtual Console's ability to provide an extensive back catalog coupled with the retail and WiiWare releases of Nintendo's latest instant-classics makes your system the inarguable flagship of Nintendo gaming. It's quite an amazing accomplishment: stuffing such immense gaming potency inside one little white box (save for disk space, you freakin' otaku). Yet it'd be foolish and utterly fanboy-ish to act as if Nintendo were the all-powerful supreme chancellor of gaming. They are considered the best by many, but Nintendo is not the only company that creates amazing titles. Many of these come from third parties. Despite claims to the contrary, third party relations appear to be proceeding very well on the Wii. However, through a combination of first party titles on other systems as well as numerous issues which affect third party efforts, we must face the truth: good games sometimes go to non-Nintendo systems. Madness, right?! Here's our Top Five games that we wish Wii had. NEXT >> #ninbutton { border-style: solid; border-color: #000; border-width: 2px; background-color: #BBB; color: #000; text-decoration: none; width: 100px; text-align: center; padding: 2px 2px 2px 2px; margin: 2px 2px 2px 2px; } .buttontext { color: #000; text-decoration: none; font: bold 14pt Helvetica; } #ninbutton:hover { text-decoration: none; color: #BBB; background-color: #000; } The Top 5 is a weekly feature that provides us with a forum to share our opinions on various aspects of the video game culture, and provides you with a forum to tell us how wrong we are. To further voice your opinions, submit a vote in the Wii Fanboy Poll, and take part in the daily discussions of Wii Warm Up.
Case modder crams PC into homegrown Team Fortress 2 sentry
We find it impossible to think that anyone in attendance of a local LAN party wouldn't be awestruck when this rig waltzed in, and truthfully, we'd be a little distracted by its boyish good looks all the while. TiTON -- the same mastermind that brought us the Team Fortress 2 Dispenser -- has recreated a TF2 sentry that (unfortunately) fires no real shells at enemies. On the upside, it does pack enough hardware to enable gamers to light up rebel forces within a digital realm, but just like your 16th birthday cake, this one may be too pretty to indulge in. Tap the read link for lots more images and a breakdown of the build.
