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Half Life 2
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beb
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Apr 28, 2003, 12:16 AM
 
I'm wondering what is the statistical likelyhood of it making it to OS X. Is it higher or lower than 5%.

     
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Apr 28, 2003, 04:12 AM
 
I think it depends on how it does on the PC (is it out yet?). If it's as big or bigger than the last one, I'd say the likelihood would be higher than 5%. Somewhere in the range of 5.5%
     
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Apr 28, 2003, 07:43 AM
 
Whenever it comes out, there's actually a much better chance than Half-Life 1 ever had. Why? Because of OS X. Many more mainstream games are hitting the Mac now that OS X has came out.
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Apr 28, 2003, 09:41 AM
 
Originally posted by AssassyN:
Whenever it comes out, there's actually a much better chance than Half-Life 1 ever had. Why? Because of OS X. Many more mainstream games are hitting the Mac now that OS X has came out.
What if it uses Direct X for networking...again!?
     
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Apr 28, 2003, 10:42 AM
 
Does the original version use DirectPlay now? PC <-> Mac networking was up and running at one point before Valve/Sierra told the Mac porters to nix it.
     
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Apr 28, 2003, 11:06 AM
 
Originally posted by a2daj:
Does the original version use DirectPlay now? PC <-> Mac networking was up and running at one point before Valve/Sierra told the Mac porters to nix it.
Are you serious? That was the whole reason why the port project got axed. Everyone was furious that Mac Half Life users wouldn't be able to play with PC Half Life users so Sierra/Valve decided they didn't want to have to deal with that bullshit and dropped the port.

Unless you have some concrete info that shows that Mac HL and PC HL could network together, I'm sticking to this famous story.

I'm 95% sure Half Life uses DirectPlay for network.
     
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Apr 28, 2003, 04:02 PM
 
From what I heard the networking issue was fixed. It got axed because they didn't want to pay for the updates to keep the two in sync.
     
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Apr 28, 2003, 05:19 PM
 
Originally posted by Guy Incognito 2:
Are you serious? That was the whole reason why the port project got axed. Everyone was furious that Mac Half Life users wouldn't be able to play with PC Half Life users so Sierra/Valve decided they didn't want to have to deal with that bullshit and dropped the port.

Unless you have some concrete info that shows that Mac HL and PC HL could network together, I'm sticking to this famous story.

I'm 95% sure Half Life uses DirectPlay for network.
You seriously need to learn how to do research:

http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/9910/22.games.shtml

Read the article entitled "Logicware's Meggs' last word on Half-Life and Apple"

This news is ooooold news. Had you done actual research rather than rely on heresay then you would know the truth.

Here's another source:
http://www.macgamer.com/interviews/meggs/meggs1.html
(Last edited by a2daj; Apr 28, 2003 at 05:25 PM. )
     
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Apr 28, 2003, 09:16 PM
 
The original version of Half-Life for PC was so bad that it almost never made it at all. Valve got a second chance and more money to do it right. It then became the "Game of the Year" edition.

It's surprising to me that it's still played, especially when it might never have been at all.
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Apr 28, 2003, 11:31 PM
 
Are you sure about that? I would think it would have had to have been a decent game before someone declared it the 'Game of the Year' edition...but that might just be me.
Living, working, and freezing in the Canadian north.
     
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Apr 29, 2003, 06:40 AM
 
So Andrew Megg is behind that monstrosity that is Myth 3? That explains quite well why Valve decided to cancel Half Life: it was being ported by some mediocre developer.

As for Sierra not believing Half Life would sell enough on Mac to justify the port and the ongoing updates to Half Life...bull-frickin-****!

These stories are just clever facades for the screw ups that happened during the development.

edit: a quick look at Megg's depressing history will reveal that he founded AntennaHead company that bit the dust and never released it's game. I don't remember what it was called but it was a network deathmatch game where you could pilot a very wide number of vehicles to help with the destruction of opponents.

He was also at LogicWare...LogicWare was synonymous to 'bad port' or 'vaporware' back in the days (and that was when I was less anal about everything too). Alien vs Predator took a ridiculous amount of time to get ported...someone else can find the story for me to prove me wrong, but I don't think LogicWare ever got to finish that port. And then Half-Life was never released. Then LogicWare bought the farm.

Now MumboJumbo...brought to us Myth 3. 'nuff said! Myth 3 had a number of severe bugs that had to be corrected recently by some 3rd-party source. Is MumboJumbo still around? 'fraid not.

I think I'm providing a clearer picture here than the little stories Andrew Meggs likes to blurt out during interviews.

re-edit:

Originally from an academic background in mathematics and artificial intelligence, Andrew Meggs is a computer scientist in the true sense of the term. - taken from a biography of Andrew Meggs

Funny how the main complaint was how frickin' dumb the Myth 3 units were compared to the previous Myths...units getting emprisonned by other units and other funny anecdotes.

Frankly, if 'Andrew Meggs' was in the dictionary, the definition would certainly be 'Programmer joke of the decade'.

If someone could find me a full and complete biography of Andrew Meggs' programmer years, I'd appreciate it. Somehow I think it will reveal and failures after failures. Feel free to prove me wrong though.
(Last edited by Guy Incognito 2; Apr 29, 2003 at 07:08 AM. )
     
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Apr 29, 2003, 01:21 PM
 
Originally posted by blizzard:
Are you sure about that? I would think it would have had to have been a decent game before someone declared it the 'Game of the Year' edition...but that might just be me.
Yes, I read it in the Post Mortem section of Game Developer magazine from the Valve people themselves.

It's quite an amazing story. If I locate the issue, I'll post the date for you.
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beb  (op)
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May 11, 2003, 09:48 PM
 
Actually I liked Oni slightly better than Half Life. It would have loved it if it included at least 10 more levels and network gameplay.

F--kin Halo.
     
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May 18, 2003, 01:29 AM
 
I think the screens I have seen from Half-Life 2 have great atmosphere... sort of war of the worlds spooky sci-fi end of the world stuff...

i hope we get it, but to be honest, the way the processor war is going... i am another one seriously considering getting a fast PC or console for gaming.
     
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May 18, 2003, 03:56 AM
 
Originally posted by beb:
I'm wondering what is the statistical likelyhood of it making it to OS X. Is it higher or lower than 5%.

looks like that statistical likelyhood just went up considerably...

http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/.../17/coolstuff/
     
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May 18, 2003, 06:14 PM
 
in game demo (~30 megs)

i want this game!
     
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May 19, 2003, 06:34 PM
 
     
beb  (op)
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May 19, 2003, 08:53 PM
 
gwood gawd
     
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May 19, 2003, 09:38 PM
 
Crappity crapperson...none of those work for me.
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May 19, 2003, 10:35 PM
 
None of the downloads work? You could always use fileplanet like I did.
     
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May 19, 2003, 11:30 PM
 
     
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May 20, 2003, 12:31 PM
 
The 600 Meg video from E3 is awesome, I'm definitely going to buy a games PC when HL2 is released.

RM
     
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May 20, 2003, 03:45 PM
 
Got it from Bittorrent...yikes that game looks awesome.

So...rent for a month or an XBox?

Hmmm...
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May 20, 2003, 04:41 PM
 
amazing. I bet i will scream on the new 970s.
     
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May 20, 2003, 05:11 PM
 
WOW! I thought the Doom3 movie was cool. I hope there is a Mac version, and I hope that it runs reasonably well.

BTW - what's with the color shifting on that smaller movie?
     
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May 20, 2003, 05:38 PM
 
Holy crap. That HL video was amazing. Practically everything has its own physics model? That was ****in' awesome. Wow. Hope that one comes to the Mac.
     
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May 22, 2003, 12:57 AM
 
another source for those awesome hl2 movs... http://mostlycloudy.net/~dnl2ba/mult...0game-related/
     
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May 22, 2003, 02:01 PM
 
This game is amazing. I've never seen physics or dynamics like this in any game at all. Wow. Like everything has a rag doll effect on it. Like the guy getting shot in that one movie. A small falling animation, and the rag doll effect takes care of the rest. This should really be brought to the Mac. It'd make for a lot of happy people.

What team is developing this? Gotta keep my eye on them.
     
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May 22, 2003, 06:28 PM
 
While Doom 3 looks pretty cool, I'm far more exited by this game. The original Half Life was an amazing game with great gameplay and an engaging storyline. Id has never been known for plot, so HL 2 is much more interesting to me.

Sigh. This game may make me *finally* upgrade my gaming PC (and may cause me to put off upgrading my desktop Mac)

Justin
     
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May 22, 2003, 09:32 PM
 
from what i hear, doom 3 has ALOT of these physics and AI as well, but its been kepy under wraps till its offical release, u have to admit there hasn't been much released on doom 3. So i am pumped for both. Will make my judgments after I play em both.
     
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May 22, 2003, 10:04 PM
 
Originally posted by Liquidity X:
from what i hear, doom 3 has ALOT of these physics and AI as well, but its been kepy under wraps till its offical release, u have to admit there hasn't been much released on doom 3. So i am pumped for both. Will make my judgments after I play em both.
DOOM 3 characters models do have rag doll effects, but I haven't seen any movies where the environment able to be maniuplated like in HL (actually pushing a table in front of a door to prevent enemies from coming in, and then they kcik the door down, and the stuff flies everywhere; now that's awesome). I think I remember reading that it will be (like, bump into a table, and the stuff will actually move and fall off). Both of these games look amazing. Really can't wait -- at least we know we're getting DOOM 3 for sure.
     
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May 23, 2003, 06:00 AM
 
Just downloaded the 520 MB movie of HL2 and I am so impressed! That one I will play that is for sure! The grapics and the interactivity is fantastic

I played the demo of UT2003 AKA Quake Arena 3.5 and was not impressed at all. It really does not bode well for Unreal 2. "Unreal 2 is one of the most criminally bland shooters you'll ever play" is one of the reviews on the PC side so there you are.

Just watching the movie of Half-Life 2 gives me a taste of what a truly great game can be like.

Back to Oni and Sin gold
An Oni 2 with the level of interactivity of HL2 and network play would be "nice". The level design of Oni may make the outside of a Best Buy store to look interesting in comparison but one had also good strenght: The hit, kick and throw close fighting in combination with the sneaking and sniping is truly brilliant.

Did I tell you to download that HL2 movie? I am still reeling from the first look at it
     
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May 23, 2003, 08:28 AM
 
yeah original version of halflife in stores was utter garbage, and absolute joke that buggy slow waste of time actually made it to the shelves.
Personally I also think Oni is a better game than halflife or halo or pretty much any other pc game people fap over. But you know these days everything gotta be a big multiplayer mess to be popular really, bha what sort of sad person sits infront of a computer for hours on end shooting annoying teenage boys and getting called a "fag" for doing so. Bah if i want to shoot people I'll invite my friends over and we'll have an extremely amusing evening infront of the oldsk00l n64 on perfect dark which is about 8000% more fun than shooting people ive never met and im never likely to meet while typing "HA HA HA old chap i really shot you good that time" or whatever they type to each other, bah its a lot more fun if the person you just killed is right next to you so you can prod and harass them because you know them.
     
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May 23, 2003, 11:34 AM
 
Originally posted by sushiism:
yeah original version of halflife in stores was utter garbage, and absolute joke that buggy slow waste of time actually made it to the shelves.
Personally I also think Oni is a better game than halflife or halo or pretty much any other pc game people fap over. But you know these days everything gotta be a big multiplayer mess to be popular really, bha what sort of sad person sits infront of a computer for hours on end shooting annoying teenage boys and getting called a "fag" for doing so. Bah if i want to shoot people I'll invite my friends over and we'll have an extremely amusing evening infront of the oldsk00l n64 on perfect dark which is about 8000% more fun than shooting people ive never met and im never likely to meet while typing "HA HA HA old chap i really shot you good that time" or whatever they type to each other, bah its a lot more fun if the person you just killed is right next to you so you can prod and harass them because you know them.
You must be playing the wrong games, or on the wrong servers. I've been in MoH:AA mode lately, and the players on that game are actually pretty mature. I don't hear any of that garbage that you speak of. And I have experienced what you are talking about, but it was more back in my Quake and UT days. Maybe things have gotten better, or maybe I'm just avoiding them all together. Anyhow, I really like multi-player FPS's. And I don't have enough friends that play these games to have a decen LAN party.
     
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May 23, 2003, 12:26 PM
 
Originally posted by sushiism:

yeah original version of halflife in stores was utter garbage, and absolute joke that buggy slow waste of time actually made it to the shelves.
The original version of HL's single player experience was a revelation. While the original netcode was very laggity, I don't think that single issue which was eventually corrected warrants it being labeled utter garbage. Look at nearly any review about the release version, it was almost universally praised.
     
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May 23, 2003, 06:11 PM
 
Just saw that E3 demo - and this is what I have to say:

WOW. I really hope this comes to the Mac, but if not, I'm building myself a PC. There is no way I'm missing this game.
     
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May 23, 2003, 11:48 PM
 
Holy ****!

-Owl
     
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May 24, 2003, 09:24 AM
 
gaming sites are starting to do their E3 Wrap-ups (awards/best of show):

http://games.ign.com/bestofe3_2003.html
http://www.gamespy.com/e32003/awards/

I have a feeling Doom III would have been on a lot of these lists... but one game changed everything .
     
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May 24, 2003, 03:22 PM
 
Great and impressive game, I agree, but Valve isn't exactly a fan of Macs. I highly doubt we'll see this come to the Mac, I think there are better odds on a PS2 port. Like it was said above, at least we KNOW we are getting Doom 3. 1 out of 2 is better than neither.
     
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May 24, 2003, 06:00 PM
 
Originally posted by OwlBoy:
Holy ****!
'nuff said.
     
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May 26, 2003, 05:10 AM
 
I'm pretty happy with the situation now. Perhaps the only reservation I've had about switching to mac is the gaming piece, but if I buy a pc to play HL2... New lease on life for my mac so to speak.

RM
     
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May 27, 2003, 08:20 AM
 
From GameSpy: the hardware requirement is 700 MHz PC and a DX6 card, that is surprisingly modest. Compare that with D3 that seem to need at least 3 GHz. If it ever was ported to the Mac it could even run on a G4 generation computer....
     
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May 27, 2003, 01:35 PM
 
HL was always good like that, but personally I'm not interested in running next gen games with all the settings turned off so that it looks worse than last gen..

RM
     
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May 27, 2003, 04:52 PM
 
Originally posted by DrBoar:
From GameSpy: the hardware requirement is 700 MHz PC and a DX6 card, that is surprisingly modest. Compare that with D3 that seem to need at least 3 GHz. If it ever was ported to the Mac it could even run on a G4 generation computer....
Modest but look at it...it has nothing over D3. It looks like today's graphics but with a more flexible environment and physics model. And I don't know what people are smoking but the HL2 physics isn't all that great. Doesn't look too realistic from where I was sitting. Sure, it's years ahead of what we have right now...but it's nothing compared to what I've seen in Doom 3.

The question is, how soon will Doom 3 be released? If it's still got another year to go, then, yeah, HL2 is the way to go 'till then.
     
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May 28, 2003, 12:11 PM
 
I'm certainly not going to choose between HL2 and D3, I'll get them both. Without even playing D3 I already know that I'll prefer HL2 though... D3 might look grotty and 'more realistic' however the HL franchise worked so well as a package; I see no reason for this to change now! All I can say is that after watching the D3 trailers I'm impressed but feel no rush to get it. I'm scratching to get HL2 on the other hand, and it (and not D3) is getting people I work with interested in gaming.

RM
     
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May 29, 2003, 11:41 PM
 
Well, I finally broke down and bought an XBox. It's the first game console that I've ever owned. The last game console I even played on was a Atari 2600 -the one with frogger, centipede and pacman. The DVD Player thingy came free -which was what I was wanted to get in the first place. It plays DVDs perfectly.

Frogger was also grandly ported to the Apple ][ and the Apple ]|[. But because of licensing issues it never got released.

I will still use my Macs extensively -both at work and at home. I'll still use both ID2 and Quark 6 -whenever it ships; As well as AVID and FCP 4.

Yet it's nice to finally be able to play Halo. I guess I'll get Half Life 2 when the rest of the world does.

Postscript:
It's so sad. Halo looks and feels so much like an evolved Marathon. The damn ship even has the Marathon crest on the side of the thing. I think that there are even Marathon reused sounds. The kiddie aliens are hilarious. It took Mirosoft money to finish what was a Mac game.
(Last edited by beb; May 31, 2003 at 02:02 AM. )
     
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Jun 4, 2003, 12:59 AM
 
Let us just say we got what we wish for. Then when can we expect to see Counterstrike?
     
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Jun 9, 2003, 11:10 AM
 
Wow! After watching the E3 presentation I'm still picking up my jaw from the floor. I can totally see how someone could buy a gaming PC for this title.

Whether or not Meggs is a good programmer, he had this to say:

From a purely technical point of view, there's no reason Half-Life 2 couldn't make it to the Mac. The new code is far more modular than the original, to the point where maintaining a Mac version alongside the updates and changes to the PC version could be fairly trivial. Mods and even commercial titles like Vampire could be ported over very rapidly based off the initial work to port Half-Life 2.
Of course, I'd still have to buy a new Mac to play this game...
     
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Jun 18, 2003, 10:11 AM
 
if you guys are so hardcore about these games and their developements, why dont you just get a ?!FrEakin!? PC, cheap and runs games speedily and with no availability issues.

>>I have a PC and it r0x
     
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Jun 19, 2003, 03:56 PM
 
But to have two computers... It's just so... so... tacky.
     
 
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