[JarC]

I can't wait! it is ****ing awesome!

[Turnsky]

can't wait for it to download..
i hope fileplanet's servers are fast today.

[Fineus]

The ques actually seem fairly effective - I pulled the entire thing down in 2 and a half hours using 512 ADSL, and that was from a west coast US server sending the file to England... not bad at all.

Anyway - as for the demo itself it looked really very awesome. They're really touting their ragdoll physics and the manipulation weapon.. everything else looks incredible as well though. Everything looks a lot more polished than it did - looks like the wait will be well worth it!

[adwight]

Oh yeah, this baby's gonna be awesome.

[Martinus]

[color=66ff00]Wow you're still going on about that game that was released at the start of this year?

Oh wait, that's a different halflife 2...


[/color]

[Gortef]

Saw it... that thing is gonna rawk

[Gloriano]

ah another Game I'am waiting and it's looks awesome

[Rictor]

I love how they made City 17 have that "1984" atmosphere, what with the run-down buildings, screens everywhere and the Combine soldiers. I wonder who that guy who appears on the screens is. He fits the Big Brother role pretty well, I'm asuming that City 17 is his project.

[Petrarch of the VBB]

Downloaded it yesterday. Almost creamed myself.

I've burned it to CD for safe-keeping. The sequence with the watercraft is bloody amazing, the water effects make it look almost photographic.

[SadisticSid]

Graphically it doesn't look overwhelming any more, except for the character models. The realism and immersion factor are going to be the main selling points of HL2 I think, although I'm still betting Halo 2 will top it in the overall game experience (and no, I'm not an XBox-o-phile, I don't even have one) because of how epic it looks. Of course it'll be a no-brainer if HL2 is delayed until 2005.

[Fineus]

I'm inclined to point out that I reckon HL2 is keeping some tricks up its sleeve untill the release proper... so far we've seen some of the tech and some gun-battles but very little of the actual storyline. Indeed I'm not sure we've seen anything shot actually within the Combine structure - which I'm willing to bet you have to enter sooner or later.

[01010]

On the note of combine, do you think they are called that because they are a combination of Xen and Humans, like genetic engineering or something?

[Petrarch of the VBB]

Oooh, that would be leet.

[JarC]

Originally posted by 01010
On the note of combine, do you think they are called that because they are a combination of Xen and Humans, like genetic engineering or something?

dunno, kinda reminds me of one of those farming vehicles used for harvesting...and if they're the result of genetics, than they'll probably be 'harvested' from the cloning farms in similar ways

Originally posted by Rictor
I wonder who that guy who appears on the screens is. He fits the Big Brother role pretty well, I'm asuming that City 17 is his project.

Pegged him the moment he opened his mouth...I only remember him the best from Family Ties, the 'dad'...

[Fineus]

Originally posted by 01010
On the note of combine, do you think they are called that because they are a combination of Xen and Humans, like genetic engineering or something?

Good concept.. but it seems the Combine are generally considered "bad". Meanwhile the video clearly shows one of the scientists who survived Black Mesa working with a Xen creature... I don't think they'd be on both sides... or if they were and the Combine was a result of genetic experiments I'd assume they were under control of whoever was doing that experimenting. So I'm going to go with the concept that the Combine are a new and as-yet unrevealed force... we know they're powerful and seem to use alien tech. (Striders anyone? and the Hover-jet thingy from the first movie?)

We also know that the portals were inter-dimensional (that is right.. isnt it?). Which leads to the concept that there are lots of dimensions and that the Combine could be one such dimensional race - as the Xen creatures are.

[Rictor]

They seemed to speak in English, if very distorted.

[Gregster2k]

According to what I've read (about HL1), teleportation has a lot to do with Xen, as demonstrated in the first game when you'd do a teleport between two points on Earth and often end up in Xen for a period of time between entering the teleport and arriving at your destination. (Remember Opposing Force's Displacer Gun?)

In a sense, Xen is teleportation limbo.

[01010]

Originally posted by Kalfireth

Good concept.. but it seems the Combine are generally considered "bad". Meanwhile the video clearly shows one of the scientists who survived Black Mesa working with a Xen creature... I don't think they'd be on both sides... or if they were and the Combine was a result of genetic experiments I'd assume they were under control of whoever was doing that experimenting. So I'm going to go with the concept that the Combine are a new and as-yet unrevealed force... we know they're powerful and seem to use alien tech. (Striders anyone? and the Hover-jet thingy from the first movie?)

 

That'd work too. All I know is that this game is exciting my PC brain receptors in the same way Halo2 is exciting my Xbox brain receptors.

What with Far Cry and Doom 3 too this has been a pretty good year for the FPS fan, not to mention the fact that you've got Thief 3 out in a few weeks (which by all accounts is awesome) and games like S.T.A.L.K.E.R too. I'm just glad that I have no bills to pay so my low amount of disposable income can go on buying awesome games.