The year half life series takes place in

[BahamutBBob]

@Llewen Ebag

…Then again, why are there tape based computers peppered across Black Mesa?

Where I work, there is some lab equipment run by Windows 95 computers, because the software that runs the machines just won’t run on anything newer. It’s entirely possible that something similar is the case with Black Mesa, Breen doesn’t want to spend thousands of dollars to replace perfectly good, if a bit old, machinery, when the money could be better spent on some more important improvements to the facility.

Like a Scrooge McDuck vault right next to his office.

[Pettifogg]

@Lemonz&oranges

Black mesa looks rather 90’s-ish, yet at the same time there are technologies within that could be considered “futureastic” (ie. the giant robots, the various experimental weapons like the gluon, tau, and displacer cannon, and teleporters)

We don’t have most of those things now, though. Half-Life is basically set in an alternate universe where science has moved on quicker in some areas than it has here.

Also, regarding the flat-screen monitors at Aperture, perhaps they developed them early and tested them out in their offices but never marketed them to the public, as they did with the ASHPD etc. This would explain why we see them there and not in Black Mesa.

[Black_Hawk]

@Jack Freeman

Blank page.
Very interesting.

I can see that page.

[Dyeingbrad]

@BahamutBBob

Where I work, there is some lab equipment run by Windows 95 computers, because the software that runs the machines just won’t run on anything newer. It’s entirely possible that something similar is the case with Black Mesa, Breen doesn’t want to spend thousands of dollars to replace perfectly good, if a bit old, machinery, when the money could be better spent on some more important improvements to the facility.

Like a Scrooge McDuck vault right next to his office.

Well if that is the case Where the fuck is the guard rails and electrified toxic waste dump?!!

[Dyeingbrad]

@Pettifogg

We don’t have most of those things now, though. Half-Life is basically set in an alternate universe where science has moved on quicker in some areas than it has here.

Also, regarding the flat-screen monitors at Aperture, perhaps they developed them early and tested them out in their offices but never marketed them to the public, as they did with the ASHPD etc. This would explain why we see them there and not in Black Mesa.

The original portal takes place in 2020 so flat screens could be more than possible

[Dyeingbrad]

@Black Hawk

I can see that page.

So can I

[Multipleadam]

2003 probably…

[Pettifogg]

@Dyeingbrad

The original portal takes place in 2020 so flat screens could be more than possible

GLaDOS took over around the time of the Black Mesa incidents. Portal takes place an undetermined time after that, presumably between the 7 Hour War and the events of HL2. Unless GLaDOS somehow created flat screens on her own (which seems unlikely given she pays little attention to the areas where they’re seen), Aperture presumably developed them during the late 90’s at the latest.

Also, please edit your posts instead of triple posting~

[Dyeingbrad]

@Pettifogg

GLaDOS took over around the time of the Black Mesa incidents. Portal takes place an undetermined time after that, presumably between the 7 Hour War and the events of HL2. Unless GLaDOS somehow created flat screens on her own (which seems unlikely given she pays little attention to the areas where they’re seen), Aperture presumably developed them during the late 90’s at the latest.

Also, please edit your posts instead of triple posting~

“This is the period during which Portal is set. It occurs a short amount of time after the Combine invasion of Earth.”
I know I was wrong but it was a bit after the black mesa incident

[Xeoxer]

Gordon was in 20-years stasis between HL1 and HL2. This erased the age difference between him and Alyx, who was an infant back at Black Mesa. I believe it’s canon, I read it on wiki.

We don’t have most of those things now, though. Half-Life is basically set in an alternate universe where science has moved on quicker in some areas than it has here.

It could as well be happening now in some secret USA complexes that are well hidden from the public, we will never know what sort of technology they in fact invented yet. I believe the newest computers we buy are in fact released by secret USA agencies to the world officially as a “new invention”, but in fact these are the computers that they were using already and they became too obsolete for them already, so they release them to world for $$$.

[Lemonz_amp_amp_orang]

the reason black mesa has alot of legacy pc’s etc. is so players can easily relate the environments to real life counterparts (in 1998) thats another technique that hooks in players in with the “realism” trend

[Black_Hawk]

OS installed on Black Mesa computers seems Windows 98 or ME, they have the same blue screen!

[Kaweebo]

@Xeoxer

Gordon was in 20-years stasis between HL1 and HL2. This erased the age difference between him and Alyx, who was an infant back at Black Mesa. I believe it’s canon, I read it on wiki.

Yes, it is, but it’s still kind of creepy given the romantic implications.

[Ry_amp_955_n]

I say 2005 is the year.

But personally i feel like the HL series shouldn’t be dated bc that just makes the game feel dated once the years pass it up.

[Black_Hawk]

@Kaweebo

It’s still kind of creepy given the romantic implications.

Reason against heart!

[Dias]

@Ryλn

But personally i feel like the HL series shouldn’t be dated bc that just makes the game feel dated once the years pass it up.

A lot more is going to make the game feel dated than just the specific year it was set in. I’d rather it be considered alternate history than forever trying to say it’s set in a not-to-distant-future. Even in 1998 pineapple grenades were too old to be in the game.

[Brockley]

Dias is right, there has really been no explenation as to why they use pineapple grenades in HL1.

[Dias]

Or computers with tape reels, or soldiers not wearing digital pattern camo, or any number of other things that haven’t yet been outdated.

[Kenwood75]

Personally, before the date was confirmed, I always thought it took place in mid to late 80’s hell, even the early 90’s. Cause just think about, everything HAD to be ahead of it’s time in secret government base’s just to be ahead of the game, man. My point is maybe THEY had prototype’s of things we saw as cool and (or just) new in the late 90’s and the years 2000-2003.

Then again, I could babbling on about things that don’t make sense…

[amazingcomedy]

The year is 2027. It’s a time of great innovation, and technological advancement. It’s also a time of chaos, and conspira- WHOOPS, wrong game :aah:

@Kenwood75

Personally, before the date was confirmed, I always thought it took place in mid to late 80’s hell, even the early 90’s. Cause just think about, everything HAD to be ahead of it’s time in secret government base’s just to be ahead of the game, man. My point is maybe THEY had prototype’s of things we saw as cool and (or just) new in the late 90’s and the years 2000-2003.

That actually does make sense for Half-Life to take place in the late 80’s to early 90’s. Plus, when you think about it, it doesn’t make sense for a government funded research facility to have such outdated equipment (computers on tape reels, CRT monitors, etc) in 2000 to 2009.