Author Topic: Half-life 2 episode 2. (Read 7647 times)

Pugnate · « **on:** Sunday, January 21, 2007, 01:03:28 PM »

Well I am holding off till all three episodes are ready, so that I can play them all in one go and possibly save some money as well. What I really find interesting is that there are two releases for HL2. I'll quote from wiki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-Life_2:_Episode_Two

Quote

The game is said to be released in 2 packages, one being for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 named "Orange Box" which contains Half-Life 2, Episodes 1 and 2, Portal and Team Fortress 2 and another called "Black Box" , which is only for PC that contains Episode 2, Portal and Team Fortress 2

That orange box sounds really interesting, especially if you don't have HL2. Unfortunately there isn't a PC gamer alive who doesn't. The orange box is retailing for $59.99 and the black box is retailing for $39.99.

Also what a treat for console gamers to get HL2, the first episode, the second episode, Portal as well as Team Fortress 2!!!! All this without STEAM. That's pretty awesome.

All that for $59.99... I am sure you could find it for $50 once some deals come out, and that's pretty fantastic considering what you are getting.

Quemaqua · « **Reply #1 on:** Sunday, January 21, 2007, 01:40:17 PM »

Anything without Steam is awesome. It's another one of those moves where I can't help but wonder if people just aren't trying to destroy PC gaming. But yeah, that doesn't seem like a bad deal.

idolminds · « **Reply #2 on:** Sunday, January 21, 2007, 02:01:22 PM »

I'll probably get the Black box for PC. $40 for TF2 and Portal is enough...and I get EP2 for free!

Pugnate · « **Reply #3 on:** Sunday, January 21, 2007, 03:32:46 PM »

Quote from: Quemaqua on Sunday, January 21, 2007, 01:40:17 PM

Anything without Steam is awesome. It's another one of those moves where I can't help but wonder if people just aren't trying to destroy PC gaming. But yeah, that doesn't seem like a bad deal.

I am a little worried, but I see every time there are new consoles out. While the consoles can keep up with high end rigs, stuff hits both systems, but eventually the consoles get left behind.

Same time next year PCs are going to start getting back the exclusivity. But yes exclusivity or not, life without STEAM is great.

iPPi · « **Reply #4 on:** Sunday, January 21, 2007, 03:51:55 PM »

The only thing that really interests me with Episode 2 is the fact that Portal comes with it. Seriously, that's really all I'm interested in.

Cobra951 · « **Reply #5 on:** Sunday, January 21, 2007, 05:23:03 PM »

I might be interested in the X360 package. It depends on how well they handle the inferior FPS control. I have yet to play the 2nd episode. I don't even know what Portal is. This would be an oportunity to "settle up" with Valve for their efforts too, which have gone unrewarded so far (by me) because of Steam.

idolminds · « **Reply #6 on:** Sunday, January 21, 2007, 05:37:18 PM »

Portal...you know the portals in Prey? Well, Portal is a puzzle game with portals in it. You have a gun that you use to place 2 portals anywhere you want in the environment. You walk through one and come out the other. Each level is a puzzle where your goal is to find out how to use these portals to reach the exit.

Download Narbacular Drop, its the exact same concept. Valve hired these guys to create Portal for them.

iPPi · « **Reply #7 on:** Sunday, January 21, 2007, 05:46:05 PM »

Valve's Portal video demonstration

Cobra951 · « **Reply #8 on:** Sunday, January 21, 2007, 06:24:24 PM »

Thanks, guys. I'm downloading that Narbancular Drop demo now.

sirean_syan · « **Reply #9 on:** Sunday, January 21, 2007, 07:44:44 PM »

You know what the problem with the retail boxes is going to be the thing is just going to install STEAM on your system, have a sheet of paper with the codes for the four games, and then have you download everything from STEAM.

You might buy a real package, but then you're forced back into STEAMville.

scottws · « **Reply #10 on:** Sunday, January 21, 2007, 10:28:50 PM »

Quote from: sirean_syan on Sunday, January 21, 2007, 07:44:44 PM

You know what the problem with the retail boxes is going to be the thing is just going to install STEAM on your system, have a sheet of paper with the codes for the four games, and then have you download everything from STEAM.

You might buy a real package, but then you're forced back into STEAMville.

That exact thing happened to me with my ATi/HL2 deal. When I got my Radeon 9800 XT, it had a voucher to get HL2 free. Well HL2 was delayed forever so ATi worked out something with Valve where 9800 XT buyers could also get the original Half-Life, Blue Shift, Team Fortress Classic, Ricochet, and Project Gordon in the meantime.

You had the option to get that stuff through Steam at no extra charge or pay $5 and get a CD. I went ahead and got the CD, figuring I trusted the hard copy more. When I put the CD-ROM in the drive and looked at it in Windows explorer, all it had on it was the Steam installer. The games were just tied into your HL2 voucher code.

Fucking unbelievable. I was pissed.

gpw11 · « **Reply #11 on:** Sunday, January 21, 2007, 11:25:29 PM »

That's bullshit.

Pugnate · « **Reply #12 on:** Sunday, January 21, 2007, 11:36:38 PM »

W T F? Are you guys freakin' serious? THAT IS insane.

I hope not every retail disc of HL2 asks you to download the damn thing. Actually I remember buying the code off the net and downloading it through STEAM, but I remember my brother installing it from the retail CD. I'll have to ask him.

But yes, that's b.s.

Quemaqua · « **Reply #13 on:** Sunday, January 21, 2007, 11:49:49 PM »

My HL2 disks didn't require me to download anything other than the latest patches, which were big enough, and Steam wouldn't let me play the game without updating even though I didn't want to play anything online or whatever. And the fucking files took hours to install and "decrypt", so it may as well have been a download. I was beyond pissed, especially when I had to re-do it because of the way it fucked up and wouldn't play if you chose not to install Counterstrike. Bullshit x10.

Pugnate · « **Reply #14 on:** Sunday, January 21, 2007, 11:53:26 PM »

You know I wonder if they constantly update the retail discs. I hope people today aren't buying HL2 only to discover it has to install all the patches and updates from the past 2 years.

idolminds · « **Reply #15 on:** Monday, January 22, 2007, 12:20:37 AM »

I imagine when they release a new "version" for retail: inital release, then they went to EA for publishing so they probably got the latest version then, then there was the GOTY style release, and now these new boxes will probably have the most up to date version as well.

Though its a bitch because I bought retail and if I lose my backups....fuck thats a lot to download. I really miss having simple patches instead of backing up the whole damn game.

shock · « **Reply #16 on:** Monday, January 22, 2007, 10:31:32 AM »

I bought a boxed copy of Half Life 2: Episode One and the game installed off the disk. Granted, the whole thing went through Steam, but it wasn't just a link to a Steam installer.

Anyway, I understand some of the hate for Steam now. Haha. Personally, I don't love it, but it is an interesting idea: nearly instantly playable online content that can be paid for. I got Defcom through Steam and it saved me a trip to the store and I got to play it sooner than everyone else. Oh yeah, and I got it for cheaper.

Furthermore, it destroys any possibility of piracy, singleplayer or multiplayer. I know we all may like an occasional free crappy game or two, but I think we all agree that piracy IS hurting the PC gaming industry, and we may keep missing out on big opportunities if the platform can't find a way to stop piracy. I don't have any numbers, but I know piracy in the consoles (How the fuck would you pirate a game on Gamecube?) is incredibly low, while it is very easy to download whole games from websites without paying a nickel.

idolminds · « **Reply #17 on:** Monday, January 22, 2007, 11:06:19 AM »

Thats incorrect on piracy. HL2 was pirated and playable since its release. I imagine the same goes for EP1 or any other SP title. You're right about multiplayer, but I dont think thats a huge problem anyway with everyone needing legit CD keys to play online.

I think Steam *could* be a good thing. The problem is the many ways they have chosen to be in complete and total control of your games at all times. Offline mode should be the default startup mode and only connect to the Steam service when you want to play multiplayer. Hell, I shouldnt need to run Steam to play the game at all! If it was just a download utility/store or whatever...like iTunes for games...that'd be cool. A place to purchase, download, and update. Unfortunately its also required to play, which is where the problem is.

shock · « **Reply #18 on:** Monday, January 22, 2007, 01:38:44 PM »

My mistake on the piracy. I thought I remember some people getting their panties in a bunch because you needed to connect to the Internet to register the game online BEFORE it would let you chart through single player. Then again, I guess the hackers could have just came up with a way to deactivate that necessity.

iPPi · « **Reply #19 on:** Monday, January 22, 2007, 01:41:22 PM »

While I remember not needing to download anything from Steam to get HL2 working, I do remember that after installing, we had to connect to Steam to 'decrypt' the HL2 files that we installed in order to get the game working.

Pugnate · « **Reply #20 on:** Monday, January 22, 2007, 01:45:29 PM »

I think it is a myth that piracy only affects PC gaming. The 360 was hacked ages ago and people easily play all the latest pirated games.

iPPi · « **Reply #21 on:** Monday, January 22, 2007, 01:46:48 PM »

No doubt. Almost everything can be hacked and pirated.

idolminds · « **Reply #22 on:** Monday, January 22, 2007, 02:32:32 PM »

Console piracy is less common because you usually need fancy hardware to do it, such as a mod chip or flash cart. Most casual pirates wont bother with that sort of thing.

scottws · « **Reply #23 on:** Monday, January 22, 2007, 08:44:52 PM »

Some guy at school said he is able to pirate games on his PS2 by simply buying the PS2 network adapter, connecting an IDE hard drive to it, and booting the PS2 with some disc that puts some file on one of the memory cards.

After that, he can just put whatever PS2 ISOs on the internal hdd and then as long as that memory card with the little program on it is in the PS2, you can play anything on the hdd.

gpw11 · « **Reply #24 on:** Tuesday, January 23, 2007, 12:19:05 AM »

Yeah, I read about something like that a while ago. There were even commercial programs available for a while that let you 'backup' your disks to the PS2 HDD and play them right off of it.

As for Gamecube piracy, it's possible but not as easy as the other two. You can either mod it with a chip or there was a workaround I think that you could run something off of a memory card. The thing is that you either had to buy a special type of mini-dvds or buy a replacement top to allow full sized dvds to run in it. I have no idea if it actually worked.

Pugnate · « **Reply #25 on:** Tuesday, January 23, 2007, 01:34:13 AM »

I know a dude who get his GC modded in Hong Kong. Says the chip works well.

Cobra951 · « **Reply #26 on:** Tuesday, January 23, 2007, 01:36:56 AM »

Quote from: shock on Monday, January 22, 2007, 01:38:44 PM

My mistake on the piracy. I thought I remember some people getting their panties in a bunch because you needed to connect to the Internet to register the game online BEFORE it would let you chart through single player. Then again, I guess the hackers could have just came up with a way to deactivate that necessity.

Yes, that was all sorted out by some very talented hackers. The result was a straightforward installer, with no need to be online for anyrhing. The people who couldn't stomach Steam in any way then had a way to play HL-2. (No one here did that, of course. We are all so honest and forthright and moral . . .)

Pugnate · « **Reply #27 on:** Tuesday, January 23, 2007, 01:46:13 AM »

I actually got a hacked version of HL2 initially and then got the legal one later. The hacked version had its own little installer and there was no STEAM.

However very rarely while playing the hacked version it would try to access STEAM and then get confused.

Cobra951 · « **Reply #28 on:** Tuesday, January 23, 2007, 02:13:31 AM »

Mm, not . . . the one someone I know used. He had the HL-2 app blocked from the internet at the firewall, and it had absolutely no problems (or so he told me).

Pugnate · « **Reply #29 on:** Tuesday, January 23, 2007, 09:56:32 AM »

Well I think I may be into episodic content after all -- if done right. I started to think about it, and I don't know how much I'd enjoy playing all three episodes in one go. So I found episode one for 10 bucks on eBay, which isn't bad. The dude sells activation codes, so I am giving it a shot right now. Hopefully I didn't get ripped off.

Anyway I clicked ACTIVATE PRODUCT and it has been five minutes and it is still "Scanning for Steam updates." WTF?

gpw11 · « **Reply #30 on:** Tuesday, January 23, 2007, 03:27:47 PM »

Are there a lot of HL2 mods out there? The only one I can think of playing really is The Hidden or whatever (which was pretty awesome for a while), but it seems it doesn't even come close to having the mod community that HL1 had.

And no, I'm not counting anything they want me to pay for....as far as I'm concerned if you're paying for it it's not a mod.

idolminds · « **Reply #31 on:** Tuesday, January 23, 2007, 03:40:39 PM »

Battlegrounds 2 is kinda cool. Havent played it in a while but the gameplay needed better organization. It was mostly a hectic kind of TDM.

Insect Infestation was released. You play as insects. I havent tried that one.

Pirates, Knights, and Vikings II came out and that ones pretty cool. Again, mostly TDM but there are objectives and it has a sense of humor about itself.

MINERVA are a couple of SP maps that are quite good. The 3rd part should be released soon.

HL2 Assault and HL2 CTF have come out, not sure how popular they are.

Though you're right, the mods are taking forever. Most teams now seem to sit on the mod until they get to do one huge final release when the game is "done"...which fails miserably because there was little playtesting and after so long no one really cares anymore. Make it small, make it fast, get it to the players, then update from there.

iPPi · « **Reply #32 on:** Tuesday, January 23, 2007, 07:10:46 PM »

Yea. That's what happens to a lot of mods that are in development. They just take way too damn long and the interest wanes and the mod just dies because of lack of interest and stuff. It's a shame really, because there were mods that always looked and sounded very interesting, but we end up never seeing it.

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Author Topic: Half-life 2 episode 2. (Read 7647 times)