Are Half-life 2 week of Ars Technica! This Saturday, November 16, marks the 20th anniversary of the release of Half-life 2—a game of historical importance to the artistic medium and technology of computer games. Every day through the 16th we'll publish a new article looking back at the game and its impact.
“Well, I hate the idea that our games could waste people's time. Why would you spend four years of your life building something that is not innovative and is basically pointless?”
Valve software founder Gabe Newell is quoted by Geoff Keighley – yes, the Game Awards guy, a GameSpot writer at the time – as said this in June 1999six months after the original Half-life launched. Newell gave his team no real budget or deadline, just the brief to “follow up the best PC game of all time” and redefine the genre.
When Half-life 2 The Collector's Edition, which arrived in November 2004, contained approximately 2.6 GB of files. However, the game featured so many things that seem brand new or just plain brave in gaming that it's hard to even list them.
Except I'm going to try that here. Some will be difficult to pin down definitively in time Half-life 2 (HL2). But like many great games, HL2 refined existing ideas, borrowed others, and had a few of his own to show off.
Note that some aspects of the game itself, its status as Steam's marquee title, and what it's like to play it today will be covered by other writers during Ars' multi-day celebration of the game's 20th anniversary. That includes the Gravity Gun.
How many movie and gaming careers have been launched by people learning how to make the Scout do something wacky?
Credit: Valve
How many movie and gaming careers have been launched by people learning how to make the Scout do something wacky?
Credit: Valve
The source engine
It's hard to imagine another game developer building an engine with such a forward-thinking mission as Source. Instead of just building the thing that runs their next game, Valve has made Source modular so that the core can be continually improved (and shipped via Steam), and newer technologies can be optionally ported to both new and old games , while not breaking older titles works fine.
Source began development in the late stages of the original Half-lifebut its impact goes far beyond the series. Teamfort 2, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Portal 1/2, And Left 4 deadValve alone takes several places on lists of the best games of all time. Stanley's parable, Vampire: The Masquerade – BloodlinesAnd a lot of other games Source also used. Countless would-be game developers, level designers, and mod makers have cut their teeth on the very open and freely available source code tools.
