[redsniper]

all that said it would be pretty bangin if we got another opposing force game with adrian shep as a combine soldier

Hells to the yeah. OpFor kicked all kinds of ass. We could tell Gordon to pick up that can and then go beat civilians. Outbreak outbreak outbreak.

[Aardwolf]

the only thing from blue shift that actually appears in hl2 is the name 'barney'

Was the player character's first name ever explicitly stated? In text it was always "B. Calhoun", and NPCs just referred to him as "Calhoun". And I'm not sure HL2 Barney's last name was ever stated, either 

[MatthTheGeek]

The developers have explicitly said the name of HL2's Barney was from the model file of security guards in HL1. That Gearbox used the same reference for the first name of their protagonist is a coincidence.

OPForce and Blue Shift are non-canon, although there is actually very little of em that is in any sort of contradiction with HL2 canon whatsoever.

[Flipside]

To be honest, if I were to base something on an interpretation of WotW, it would be the Jeff Wayne musical version rather than any of the film ones. That one always struck me as the most tense of the versions out, there's no heroism, no sacrifice, just terrified Victorian Londoners running for their lives and being driven insane by fear