According to Google, today is exactly 20 years since Half-Life was released on 19th of November 1998.
I clearly remember playing the game that year, did anyone else play it when it was released?
I didn’t play Half-Life 1 when it was released on account of not being born, but I’ve certainly grown to love the thing over the last seven years. Black Mesa itself is what got me into the series and it’s been really cool to see all the crazy stuff that was done with the original games basically in hindsight since then. Sven Co-op, Action Half-life, some good shit. And of course the original game itself is just classic. Good action, great atmosphere and sound design, dated and cheesy-but-still-charming visuals (fuck the HD pack, don’t @ me), lots of jumping on shit and not being sure if you’l die, and above all else
HAVING MY FUCKING EARDRUMS BLOWN OUT BECAUSE THAT ONE OPPOSING FORCE MAP IS STILL BUGGED IN THE STEAM RELEASE[/size]
Ahem.
Ironic then, that despite the legacy and excitement for a new release on the Black Mesa side of things, me and a lot of others have become totally disillusioned with Valve and the myth of them releasing…well Half-Life obviously, but also literally any other real games at all.
I’m not actually holding my breath for a Xen release today. We’ll get some news for sure (they’ve said as much) but I doubt we’ll have a full release until we get a specific date. Not that I think it’ll never happen, but the repeated missing of deadlines by wide margins is very clearly evident to both us and the devs. I don’t resent them for that, they have lived, but I feel like the whole process would have been smoother if they just released it when they released it and it came as a surprise rather than risk things happening like this again.
And if it does come today…well, it’s been an interesting journey to say the least. I certainly had fun and basically grew up for a third of my life on the chat thread here (which, in retrospect, sounds somewhat sadder), and I’m happy that the dream was real. Maybe it’ll inspire Valve to get off their asses (holding the opposite of breath on that one, though).
New Xen trailer up on youtube!
Yeah, I played it when it first came out too. Loved the story and still do. Use to even play in a couple of Team Fortress clans!
Founded in 2004, Leakfree.org became one of the first online communities dedicated to Valve’s Source engine development. It is more famously known for the formation of Black Mesa: Source under the 'Leakfree Modification Team' handle in September 2004.