1. Half Life E3 1997 Calendar

Half-Life (stylized HλLF-LIFE) is a series of first-person shooter games developed and published by Valve. The major installments feature protagonist Gordon Freeman, a physicist who battles an alien invasion. Half-Life (1998) and Half-Life 2 (2004) are full-length games, while Half-Life 2: Episode One (2006) and Half-Life 2: Episode Two (2007) are shorter, episodic games. A third episode, Half-Life 2: Episode Three, was scheduled for release by Christmas 2007, but is now described as vaporware.

The first game in the Portal series, set in the same universe as Half-Life, was released in 2007.

• 1Games
  • 1.4Future and cancelled games
  • 1.5Related games
• 2Plot
  • 2.2Half-Life 2
• 3Development
• 4Cultural influence and reception
  • 4.4Half-life: The Freeman Chronicles

Valve first showed Half-Life in early 1997; it was a success at Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) that year, where Valve demonstrated the game's animation and artificial intelligence. Novel features of the artificial intelligence included fear and pack behavior. Valve aimed for a November 1997 release to compete with Quake II.

Games[edit]

The Half-Life series includes a core set of games which carry the main storyline. These games were released in chronological order, either portraying the events of one game from the perspective of a different character, or following on from the events that are depicted in the previous game. As of May 2010, the main series consists of the original video game and its sequel, as well as three expansion packs and two episodic games. A third episodic game remains in development. In addition, several spin-off games have been released. These vary in nature, consisting of an arcade game, technology demonstration, and a series of puzzle games. The original game and its expansions all use Valve's GoldSrcgame engine, a heavily modified Quake engine. The later games accompanying the sequel all use Valve's proprietary Source engine.

Half-Life[edit]

Half-Life is the first game in the series, and was the debut game of Valve Software, released on November 19, 1998. Half-Life follows Gordon Freeman, a theoretical physicist, after the Black Mesa Research Facility accidentally causes a dimensional rift which allows the facility to be invaded by aliens. Freeman consequently attempts to survive the slaughter and resolve the situation. The game was originally published by Sierra Studios and released for Windows, although Gearbox Software would later port the game to PlayStation 2 in 2001.^[1] Valve themselves later converted the game to use their Source engine.^[2]Half-Life received critical acclaim upon release, critics hailing its overall presentation and numerous scripted sequences.^[3] The game won over 50 Game of the Year awards^[4] and its gameplay has influenced first-person shooters for years to come. Half-Life has since been regarded as one of the greatest games of all time.^[5][6]

Half-Life was followed by an expansion pack, Half-Life: Opposing Force, on November 1, 1999.^[7] Unlike Half-Life, Opposing Force was developed by Gearbox Software, although it was still published by Sierra Studios. Opposing Force was first announced as a mission pack for Half-Life in April 1999, and was released for the Windows version of the game.^[8] The player no longer assumes the role of Gordon Freeman, but rather sees the later events of the first game from the perspective of a US Marine corporal, Adrian Shephard. Shephard is initially assigned to cover up the events at Black Mesa, but is soon left isolated and has to fight to survive against a new group of alien invaders and black operations units. Opposing Force was received favorably by critics,^[9] many citing the game as being as influential on setting expansion pack standards as the original game had been in influencing the overall genre.^[10][11][12] The game won the Computer Game of the Year Interactive Achievement Award of 2000 from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences.^[13]

Gearbox went on to develop Half-Life: Blue Shift, Half-Life's second expansion pack. Like Opposing Force, Blue Shift was published by Sierra Entertainment. Announced in 2000, the game was initially developed as an add-on for a Dreamcast port of Half-Life;^[14] however, the port was cancelled and Blue Shift was instead released for Windows on June 12, 2001.^[15][16]Blue Shift puts the player in the position of Barney Calhoun, a security guard working at Black Mesa. The game takes place within the early parts of Half-Life, with Calhoun attempting to escape the facility with a small group of scientists. Blue Shift also includes a High Definition pack, which upgrades the quality of the models and textures in both Blue Shift and the preceding games in the series.^[17] Critics gave Blue Shift a mixed but favorable reception,^[18] praising the game's atmosphere and the inclusion of the High Definition pack, but criticizing the otherwise lack of new content and short length of the story.^[19][20][21]

The third and final expansion for Half-Life was Half-Life: Decay. The game was again developed by Gearbox and published by Sierra. However, unlike previous games, Decay is only available with the PlayStation 2 version of Half-Life.^[22]Decay is unique within the Half-Life series as the only cooperative game—two players must work together to progress through the game.^[23]Decay focuses on two of Freeman's colleagues, Gina Cross and Colette Green, as the two work with other scientists to counter the effects of the dimensional rift and ultimately attempt to close it. Released on November 14, 2001, Decay received a weak but overall positive reception from critics, many reviewers stating that it was fun to play through with a friend, but that the game's more puzzle-oriented gameplay detracted from the overall experience.^[24][25][26] An unofficial Windows port of the game was released in September 2008.^[27]

Half-Life 2[edit]

On November 16, 2004, Valve released Half-Life 2. The game had a six-year development cycle, which saw several delays and the leak of the game's source code. Half-Life 2 returns the player to the role of Gordon Freeman. Set twenty years after the original game,^[28] Earth has been occupied by the Combine, a transdimensional race that exploited the events of the first game to invade. The G-Man inserts Freeman into City 17 in Eastern Europe to combat the Combine occupation. Half-Life 2 garnered near-unanimous positive reviews and received critical acclaim much like its predecessor, winning over 35 Game of the Year awards for 2004. Considered one of the greatest video games of all time, the game has been critically praised for its advances in computer animation, sound, narration, computer graphics, artificial intelligence, and physics. Half-Life 2 was the first game to use Valve's Steam content delivery system, a system that eventually led to Valve falling out with publisher Sierra Entertainment.

On October 27, 2005, Valve released Half-Life 2: Lost Coast, a short episode demonstrating high dynamic range rendering.^[29] Consisting of a single map, Lost Coast was based on a cut segment of Half-Life 2.^[30] The player, as Freeman, climbs a cliff to destroy a Combine artillery launcher in a monastery.^[31]

Half-Life2 episodes[edit]

In May 2006, Valve announced a trilogy of episodic games that would continue the Half-Life 2 story.^[32] In a 2006 interview, Newell said that the episodic approach was chosen so Valve could release products more quickly after the six year-development of Half-Life 2. Newell said he considered the trilogy to be the first part of Half-Life 3.^[33]

Half-Life 2: Episode One was released on June 1, 2006. The player controls Freeman as he and Alyx escape City 17 before a dark energy reactor core they damaged at the end of Half-Life 2 destroys it. It introduced several new graphical effects including new lighting features and more advanced facial animation. Episode One received a generally positive critical reaction, although the game's short length was a point of common criticism.

Half-Life 2: Episode Two was released for Windows, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 on October 10, 2007 as part of The Orange Box, which also includes the games Portal,Team Fortress 2,Half-Life 2, and Episode One. The Orange Box was distributed digitally on Steam and at retail by Electronic Arts. Continuing Valve's strategy of orienting each episode around a theme or set of technologies, Episode Two focuses on expansive environments, travel and less linear play. As Gordon Freeman, the player travels with Alyx Vance from the ruins of City 17 into the surrounding countryside, pursued by Combine forces. Episode Two's new technologies and gameplay features were praised by reviewers; however, though it was significantly longer than Episode 1, the length was again a point of criticism.

Future and cancelled games[edit]

Half-Life 2: Episode Three[edit]

Half-Life 2: Episode Three concept art surfaced in 2008.^[34][35][36] Valve reportedly worked with sign language and was working on a deaf character.^[37][38][39] Valve released little information about Episode Three in the following years; though Valve still discussed Half-Life, there was no clarity on whether Episode Three would be coming, whether Valve was instead planning Half-Life 3, or if Valve had forgone the property to better support the popular Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.^[40] In March 2010, Newell spoke of 'broadening the emotional palette' of the series, and how the next Half-Life game may return to 'genuinely scaring the player'.^[41] In a 2011 interview with Develop magazine, he said: 'We went through the episodes phase, and now we’re going towards shorter and even shorter cycles ... For me, 'entertainment as a service' is a clear distillation of the episodic content model.'^[42] By 2011, Episode Three was being described as vaporware.^[43]

In a 2015 interview with Geoff Keighley, Newell said that due to Valve's management-free structure, it would only develop 'a super classic kind of product' if a large number of employees began working on it together. He said this was unlikely as they would need to heed the lessons learned in supporting Portal 2.^[40][44] An insider speaking anonymously with Game Informer stated that with the flat company structure, there had been many attempts to restart development of Half-Life, either as 'Episode 3' or as Half-Life 3, but each time, the project had faltered early, only for a new effort with different employees involved to emerge with a new approach based on the cancelled effort.^[45] In 2016 and 2017, three key writers for the Half-Life and Portal series, Marc Laidlaw, Erik Wolpaw, and Chet Faliszek, left Valve. Journalists took this, coupled with the commitment Valve was making to supporting Dota 2, Counter-Strike and Steam, as an indicator that the Half-Life series was no longer in development.^[46]

On August 24, 2017, Laidlaw posted a short story, 'Epistle 3', on his website. Laidlaw described the story as a 'fanfic ... [a] snapshot of a dream I had many years ago'.^[47] Many journalists interpreted it as a summary of what could have been the plot for Half-Life 2: Episode Three. The story features characters with names similar to Half-Life characters, such as 'Gertie Fremont' in place of Gordon Freeman. Substituting the characters with their Half-Life counterparts, the story sees Freeman and his allies travel to the Arctic to board the Borealis, a ship that travels erratically through time and space, where they 'confront myriad versions' of themselves. They rig the ship to travel to the heart of the Combine empire and self-destruct, but the explosion is not sufficient to destroy the Combine's Dyson Sphere. Alyx is taken by the G-Man and Gordon is rescued by the Vortigaunts before he is sent to a beach.^[48] After Laidlaw published the story, some players left negative reviews for Dota 2 on Steam, believing that Valve had forgone the Half-Life series in favor of Dota 2.^[49] The story led to a number of fan efforts to recreate Episode Three.^[50][51] One of the more visible projects in this vein is 'Project Borealis', an 80-member team of fans using Laidlaw's story and leaked concept as a basis to create a standalone game, though using more modern game engines and gameplay mechanics.^[52]

Return to Ravenholm[edit]

Return to Ravenholm, sometimes referred to as Half-Life 2: Episode Four, was under development by Arkane Studios. The episode would have featured the Half-Life location Ravenholm, a town infested with headcrabs and headcrab zombies. Valve canceled the project, deciding the premise was creatively constrained.^[53][54][55]

Junction Point Studios episode[edit]

Another episode was under development by Junction Point Studios, a studio led by Warren Spector. According to Spector, the episode would have shown how Ravenholm became the town seen in Half-Life 2, allowing them to feature more of the character of Father Grigori; images of this setting appeared in early 2017.^[56] The game included a 'magnet gun', which fired projectiles that would magnetize the metal surface they contract, drawing objects and enemies towards it, and would have been used both for combat and puzzles.^[57] Junction Point worked on it for a year, producing enough content to demonstrate one section of the game, and a vertical slice that demonstrated the mechanics of the magnet gun. Valve became uninterested in the project and Spector dropped it in favor of Disney's Epic Mickey.^[58][59]

Related games[edit]

Portal series[edit]

The Portal series, which takes place in the same universe as the Half-Life games, is a series of puzzle games developed by Valve Corporation. The first game in the series, Portal, was initially released alongside Episode Two in The Orange Box on October 10, 2007. The player controls a test subject named Chell as she moves through the laboratories of Black Mesa's primary rival, Aperture Science, completing various tests with a device that allows her to create linked portals in physical space. In the later stages of the game, the player battles GLaDOS, a corrupt artificial intelligence computer that monitors her every move. The game is the spiritual successor to Narbacular Drop, with many of the same team members working on the game. Portal has been acclaimed as one of the most original games in 2007, receiving praise for its unique gameplay and darkly humorous story. An Xbox Live Arcade expansion was released on October 22, 2008, and its sequel, Portal 2, was released on April 19, 2011.

Counter-Strike series[edit]

In April 2000, Valve acquired the rights to the fan-made modificationCounter-Strike. After some cooperation between the original team and Valve's developers,^[60] Valve sold the game in retail, retitled Half-Life: Counter-Strike.^[61] Set in various locations around the world with little connection to the events of the main Half-Life story, the game is a multiplayer shooter in which players assume the roles of members of combating teams of the governmental counter-terrorist forces and various terrorist militants opposing them. Due to originally being a mod of Half-Life, the game shared several assets with the 1998 game, including Black Mesa containers, vehicles, and scientists, with the Black Mesa logos visible in several maps in the retail version implicitly setting them in the same universe. It was bundled with Half-Life in many subsequent packages, including Half-Life: Platinum Pack and Half-Life: Platinum.^[62]

When Half-Life: Counter-Strike was remade as Counter-Strike: Source, it was bundled in all retail versions of Half-Life 2, as well as all of the initial digital versions. Some game journalists referred to it as 'Half-Life 2's multiplayer version.'^[63] Both the standard retail edition and the Bronze digital edition of Half-Life 2 came with Counter-Strike: Source, while the retail Collector's Edition and the digital Gold edition also included Day of Defeat: Source and Half-Life: Source.^[64]Half-Life: Counter-Strikespawned its own series which gradually became separate from the main Half-Life games, bar occasional references (such as an Easter egg referencing Portal present in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive).^[65]

Third-party games[edit]

The success of the Half-Life series has spurred the creation of several spin-off games for Half-Life 2. Codename: Gordon is a two-dimensionalFlashsidescrollershooter developed by Nuclearvision Entertainment, and was released over Valve's Steam online delivery system on May 16, 2004, as a promotional game for the then-upcoming Half-Life 2.^[66][67] The developer has since gone bankrupt, but the game itself can still be installed via a direct link to Steam, despite not being listed in the store.^[68]Codename: Gordon was well received by reviewers and the public, and attracted over 600,000 players in the first three weeks after its release. Reviewers praised the game for its gameplay and unique dialog style, but also criticized it for its improper optimization, and lack of opponent variety.

Characters from Half-Life have appeared in other games. Peggle Extreme, a special edition of Peggle bundled with the PC version of The Orange Box features levels based on Half-Life 2, Team Fortress 2 and Portal. The headcrab is also an unlockable character in Super Meat Boy when bought on Steam. The Headcrab also appeared in an April Fools event in the MMO Vindictus as an event item along with the Crowbar, possibly due to the game being created on the Source Engine as well. In the game Magicka there is a playable character (after the addition of a DLC), which closely resembles the original zombie from the Half-Life universe, equipped with a crowbar. Gordon also appears in Renegade Ops and the headcrab is available as a pet in Torchlight 2.

Half-Life has also inspired a number of fan-made mods, some which have gained recognition on their own. Black Mesa is a fan remake of the original Half-Life using the Source engine, which has been approved by Valve.^[69][70]Garry's Mod started as a sandbox mode using Half-Life 2 assets but since has become a commercial product and given users the ability to incorporate other assets.^[71] Among notable fan-made campaigns includes Minerva, which was designed to extend the story from Half-Life 2.^[72]

Plot[edit]

Half-Life[edit]

At the Black Mesa Research Facility, physicist Gordon Freeman is involved in an experiment that accidentally opens a portal to another dimension, Xen. Fending off hostile aliens and US Marines sent to cover up the incident, he helps scientists launch a satellite rocket and travels through a portal to Xen, where he destroys the Nihilanth, an alien entity. He is forced into a contract by the mysterious G-Man, who has been watching his progress.

Half-Life 2[edit]

Twenty years later, Earth has been conquered by an advanced alien force, the Combine. G-Man awakens Gordon from stasis and sends him to City 17, where Freeman regroups with the human resistance, including former Black Mesa employees Barney Calhoun, Isaac Kleiner, and Eli Vance, along with Eli's daughter, Alyx. The Combine attack the main resistance base and take Eli prisoner. While evading Combine pursuit, Freeman and Alyx attempt to rescue her father and make their way into the Citadel, the Combine's base. They confront Wallace Breen, the Combine's puppet ruler, and destroy the dark energy reactor that powers the Combine's portals.

Episode One and Two[edit]

The destruction of the Citadel reactor has started a chain reaction that will destroy City 17. Freeman and Alyx work to slow the reaction and intercept a transmission that could cut off the Combine permanently. They fight through the ruins of City 17 and eventually escape the city with their allies. The Citadel explosion creates a 'superportal' which could allow the full Combine force onto Earth. In the mountains outside City 17, Gordon and Alyx regroup with the resistance, fend off a Combine attack, launch a satellite, and – using the information contained in the Combine transmission – shut down the superportal. G-Man instructs Alyx to tell her father to 'prepare for unforeseen consequences', shaking him. With the Combine defeated, Freeman and Alyx prepare to depart for the Borealis, an Aperture-Science-owned vessel involved in a portal-related accident. Before they can leave, a pair of Combine advisors attack Freeman, Alyx, and Eli. Eli is killed and his knowledge stolen before Dog intervenes and saves Freeman and Alyx. Freeman blacks out as Alyx weeps over her father.

Development[edit]

The video game development company behind the Half-Life series, Valve Corporation, was founded in 1996 in Kirkland, Washington by former Microsoft employees Mike Harrington and Gabe Newell. Valve began working on the first game of the series soon after the company's formation, and settled on a concept for a horror-themed 3D action game, using the Quake engine as licensed by id Software. The game was a hit at the 1997 E3 convention, where its animation system and artificial intelligence were demonstrated.^[73] The game's success led to its first expansion pack, Half-Life: Opposing Force, which was developed by Gearbox Software, a then-new company based in Plano, Texas, and announced on April 15, 1999.^[74] Gearbox founder Randy Pitchford said in an interview that he believed Valve gave them the opportunity to produce a sequel to Half-Life to allow Valve to focus on future games.^[75] The game was demonstrated at the 1999 E3 convention, where new locations, characters, and the story were revealed.^[76]

The second Half-Life expansion pack, Half-Life: Blue Shift, was again developed by Gearbox Software and announced by its publisher, Sierra Entertainment, on August 30, 2000.^[77] Sierra intended to release Blue Shift for the Dreamcast, and it was set to include higher detail models and textures^[78] that were double the polygon count of the models from Half-Life.^[79] However, after several months of delays, Sierra terminated development on the Dreamcast version of Blue Shift on June 16, 2001,^[15] and the company instead released Blue Shift for the PC on June 12, 2001.^[16] Afterward, Gearbox began working on a Half-Life game for the PlayStation 2. The game, Decay, was showcased at E3 2001, where Gearbox demonstrated the game's use of new model sets,^[80] which were around twice as detailed as those in Blue Shift.^[81]

For several years, Valve secretly worked on the sequel to the original Half-Life, Half-Life 2. For the game, Valve developed a new game engine, Source, which handles the game's visual, audio, and artificial intelligence elements. The Source engine comes packaged with a heavily modified version of the Havok physics engine that allows for an extra dimension of interactivity in both single-player and online environments.^[82] In the trilogy of episodic games that followed Half-Life 2, Valve made minor tweaks to the game's engine. In Half-Life 2: Episode One, Valve modified Alyx's AI to allow her to react to the player's actions because of her significant involvement in the game.^[83] The game runs on an upgraded version of Valve's proprietary Source engine, and features both the engine's advanced lighting effects, and a new version of its facial animation/expression technology.^[84]

Film[edit]

On February 6, 2013, while speaking at the 2013 DICE conference about storytelling in games and film, J. J. Abrams and Gabe Newell announced that they had plans for a game and a film collaboration. Abrams said, 'There's an idea we have for a game that we'd like to work with Valve on,' while Newell said, 'We're going to figure out if we can make a Portal movie or Half-Life movie together'.^[85][86] In an interview in March 2016, Abrams stated that while he has been working on many other projects since, he still has plans to direct these films in the future, with both films in the writing stage.^[87]

Cultural influence and reception[edit]

Several films and an enormous amount of fan made content has been generated for the series over the years.

Sales[edit]

In December 2008, Valve announced that the two main Half-Life games had sold 15.8 million units in retail (9.3m for the first, 6.5m for the second), while the Half-Life expansions^[88] had sold 1.9 million (Opposing Force: 1.1 million, Blue Shift: 800,000) and Half-Life 2 expansions 1.4 million (all for Episode One). Additionally, The Orange Box, which included Half-Life 2 and both of its episodic expansions, sold 3 million units at retail by that time. This put franchise sales at 18.8 million full games (Half-Life: 9.3m, Half-Life 2: 9.5m) and 9.3 million expansions (Opposing Force: 1.1m, Blue Shift: 0.8m, Episode One: 4.4m, Episode 2: 3.0m), as of December 2008. These figures did not account for digital sales. Half-Life: Counter-Strike sold 4.2 million units standalone by the same time, while its remake, Counter-Strike: Source was bundled with every sold retail copy of Half-Life 2.^[89]Forbes reported that, including digital sales, Half-Life 2 had sold over 12 million copies by February 2011.^[90]

Half-Life: Uplink[edit]

A short film based upon Half-Life, titled Half-Life: Uplink, was developed by Cruise Control, a British marketing agency, and released on March 15, 1999. However, Sierra withdrew it from circulation after Sierra and Valve had failed to resolve licensing issues with Cruise Control over the film. The critical reception of the film was very poor. The film's plot was that of a journalist attempting to infiltrate the Black Mesa Research Facility and discover what was happening there.^{[91][92][93][94]}

Half-Life: Escape from City 17[edit]

In early 2009, the Purchase Brothers, a Toronto-based film company, released a five-minute film based on Half-Life 2: Episode One,Half-Life: Escape from City-17. The film combines live-action footage with 3D animation created using the Source SDK.^[95] It was well received by Valve.^[96] On August 25, 2010 they released a nearly 15-minute long sequel. In late 2010 a trailer for a Half-Life inspired independent short film, Beyond Black Mesa, was released. Directed by Brian Curtin, it follows the character Adrian Shephard.^[97] The full short film was released online on January 21, 2011.

Half-life: The Freeman Chronicles[edit]

Half-Life: The Freeman Chronicles is a 2018 non-profit three part fan made movie series created by Ian James Duncan with his creative studio Chariotdrive. The series is based on the first game in Half-Life video game series. It is written, produced and directed by Ian James Duncan and stars Bernhard Forcher as Gordon Freeman and Michael Thomas Wallace as Black Mesa Security Guard Evan William Walsh.

History[edit]

Half-Life: The Freeman Chronicles was conceived in 2012 when Director, Ian James Duncan worked on a different project with Bernhard Forcher and suggested that since he was a dead ringer for Gordon Freeman that they should make a short film.^[98][99]

A short film, and what became the first episode, was made in Hollywood California for an estimated budget of $3000^[100][101] it was released on Machinimas Youtube network and had received over 1.2 million views before it was removed in 2018. Shortly after its release, two crowdfunding events occurred^{[102][103][104][105]} raising $22,265 and $26,149 respectively, to fund more of the series.^[106][107]

The second episode was released July 20, 2017^[108] and the final episode was released December 24, 2018 releasing before Bad Robot and Valve Corporation's confirmed official movie currently in the script phase.^{[109][110][111][112]}

Plot[edit]

Doctor Gordon Freeman and Security Guard Evan William Walsh attempt to get to the Lambda complex to reverse the effects of the resonance cascade failure. They are pursued by the HECU Marin commander Jaegar through the substation of the nearby hydro electric dam. Fighting their way through marines the characters seemingly escape only to be lured into a trap. With no hope of survival the G-Man intervenes with his typical time stopping and tells Gordon there is more for him to do.

Cast[edit]

• Bernhard Forcher as Gordon Freeman
• Michael Thomas Wallace as Evan William Walsh
• Adam Rose as John Harper
• Christina Myers as Jean Bettington
• Thor Edgell as Col. Jaegar
• Tyler Lueck as Marine Laidlaw
• BC Camp as Marine Marc
• Nicholas Garcia as Marne Garcia
• Daniel Fite as The Headcrab Zombie
• Jeff Phillips as The G Man

Reception[edit]

The series was received well, maintaining a 97% rating on Steam and an 8.9 rating on IMDB as of January 1, 2019.^{[113][114][115][116]}

Availability[edit]

The three part series available on Steam^[117] and YouTube^[118] along with several behind the scenes videos and cast and crew commentaries.

References[edit]

1. ^'Half-Life'. IGN. Retrieved October 23, 2008.
2. ^'Half-Life: Source for PC'. GameSpot. Archived from the original on May 22, 2007. Retrieved May 26, 2009.
3. ^'Half-Life Reviews (PC: 1998)'. Metacritic. Retrieved May 26, 2009.
4. ^'Awards and Honors'. Valve Corporation. Retrieved November 14, 2005.
5. ^Cifaldi, Frank (September 1, 2006). 'The Gamasutra Quantum Leap Awards: First-Person Shooters'. Gamasutra. Retrieved February 16, 2009.
6. ^'IGN's Top 100 Games'. IGN. July 25, 2005. Retrieved February 19, 2009.
7. ^'Half-Life: Opposing Force'. Steam. Valve Corporation. Retrieved November 19, 2008.
8. ^'Half-Life Expands'. IGN. April 15, 1999. Retrieved November 18, 2008.
9. ^'Half-Life: Opposing Force Reviews'. GameRankings. Retrieved November 18, 2008.
10. ^Wolpaw, Erik (November 24, 1999). 'Half-Life: Opposing Force for PC Review'. GameSpot. Retrieved November 20, 2008.
11. ^Randell, Kim (August 15, 2001). 'PC Review: Half-Life: Opposing Force'. Computer and Video Games. Retrieved November 20, 2008.
12. ^'Review: Half-Life: Opposing Force'. GamePro. November 24, 2000. Archived from the original on December 29, 2008. Retrieved November 20, 2008.
13. ^'AIAS Annual Awards: 3rd Annual Awards'. Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. 2000. Archived from the original on February 20, 2009. Retrieved November 21, 2008.
14. ^Kirchgasler, Chris (July 24, 2000). 'Half-Life Preview'. GameSpot. Retrieved March 31, 2016.
15. ^ ^abSatterfield, Shane (June 16, 2001). 'Half-Life for the Dreamcast officially cancelled'. GameSpot. Retrieved October 26, 2008.
16. ^ ^ab'Half-Life: Blue Shift'. IGN. Retrieved October 26, 2008.
17. ^'Half-Life: Blue Shift Q&A'. GameSpot. May 3, 2001. Retrieved October 26, 2008.
18. ^''Half-Life: Blue Shift (PC: 2001): Reviews'. Metacritic. Retrieved October 27, 2008.
19. ^Blevins, Tal (June 12, 2001). 'Half-Life: Blue Shift Review'. IGN. Retrieved October 27, 2008.
20. ^Madigan, Jamie. 'Reviews: Half-Life: Blue Shift'. GameSpy. Archived from the original on September 12, 2012. Retrieved October 27, 2008.
21. ^Kasavin, Greg (June 8, 2001). 'Half-Life: Blue Shift for PC Review'. GameSpot. Retrieved October 27, 2008.
22. ^'Half-Life'. IGN. Retrieved October 23, 2008.
23. ^Fielder, Joe (May 17, 2001). 'E3 2001 Hands-on Half-Life'. GameSpot. Retrieved October 23, 2008.
24. ^Hodgson, David. 'Reviews: Half-Life (PS2)'. GameSpy. Archived from the original on July 9, 2008. Retrieved October 23, 2008.
25. ^Smith, Steve. 'Review: Half-Life'. The Electric Playground. Archived from the original on October 3, 2008. Retrieved October 24, 2008.
26. ^Radcliffe, Doug (October 15, 2001). 'Half-Life for PlayStation 2 Review'. GameSpot. Retrieved October 23, 2008.
27. ^Meer, Alec (September 28, 2008). 'Half-Life: The Lost Chapter'. Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved October 24, 2008.
28. ^'Half-Life: The Story so Far'. Valve Corporation. Archived from the original on July 25, 2008. Retrieved March 24, 2008.
29. ^Lee, Garnett (August 29, 2005). 'Half-Life 2: Aftermath and Lost Coast'. 1UP.com. Archived from the original on May 22, 2011. Retrieved November 20, 2008.
30. ^Accrado, Sal (October 28, 2005). 'Half-Life 2: The Lost Coast (PC)'. GameSpy. Archived from the original on October 11, 2012. Retrieved October 17, 2008.
31. ^'Half-Life 2: Lost Coast Allies'. Planet Half-Life. GameSpy. Archived from the original on April 26, 2013. Retrieved November 21, 2008.
32. ^'Half-Life 2: Episode One gold, Two dated, Three announced'. GameSpot. May 24, 2006. Retrieved May 18, 2007.
33. ^Bramwell, Tom (June 6, 2006). 'Opening the Valve'. Eurogamer. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
34. ^Ted Backman; Jeremy Bennett; Tristan Reidford (July 9, 2008). 'Advisor'. Into the Pixel. Retrieved July 14, 2008.
35. ^Decker, Logan (July 10, 2008). 'The first concept art from Half-Life 2: Episode Three'. PC Gamer. Retrieved July 14, 2008.
36. ^Chris_D (June 27, 2012). 'EXCLUSIVE: Half-Life 2: Episode 3 Concept Art'. ValveTime. Retrieved July 29, 2013.
37. ^McWhertor, Michael (August 7, 2009). 'Valve Studying Sign Language For Deaf Half-Life Character'. Kotaku. Retrieved August 23, 2009.
38. ^Yoon, Andrew (August 7, 2009). 'Valve researching sign language for use in Half-Life 2: Episode 3'. engadget. Retrieved March 31, 2009.
39. ^Reilly, Jim (August 10, 2009). 'Valve Studying Sign Language for Episode 3?'. IGN. Retrieved March 31, 2016.
40. ^ ^ab'Whatever happened to Half-Life 3? The complete saga so far'. PCGamesN. August 25, 2017. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
41. ^Brian Warmoth (March 26, 2010). 'Valve Wants Their Next 'Half-Life' To Scare You'. Archived from the original on March 29, 2010. Retrieved March 28, 2010.
42. ^Rob Crossley (May 9, 2011). 'The Valve manifesto'.
43. ^Calore, Michael (January 3, 2011). 'Vaporware 2010: The Great White Duke'. Wired.com. Retrieved July 30, 2013.
44. ^Geoff Keighley (May 15, 2015). '#1: Gabe Newell and Erik Johnson from Valve'. Game Slice (Podcast). Retrieved August 28, 2017.
45. ^'Whatever happened to Half-Life 3? The complete saga so far'. PCGamesN. November 19, 2018. Retrieved November 19, 2018.
46. ^Souppouris, Aaron (May 2, 2017). 'Valve has no more 'Half-Life' writers left'. Engadget. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
47. ^'The world's most anticipated game may never come out — so its writer leaked the story'. Business Insider. Retrieved August 26, 2017.
48. ^Robertson, Adi (August 25, 2017). 'Marc Laidlaw's coded Half-Life 'fanfic' is probably the closest we'll get to Half-Life 3'. The Verge. Retrieved August 26, 2017.
49. ^McWhertor, Michael (August 28, 2017). 'Steam users are attacking Dota 2 because there's no more Half-Life'. Polygon. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
50. ^Bailey, Dustin (October 4, 2017). 'Project Borealis aims to bring Half-Life 2: Episode 3 to life in Unreal'. PCGamesN. Retrieved December 28, 2017.
51. ^England, Rachel (December 28, 2017). ''Half-Life 3' fan venture 'Project Borealis' is taking shape'. Engadget. Retrieved December 28, 2017.
52. ^Peel, Jeremy (November 19, 2018). 'Half-Life 3 is now in the hands of its community, in the form of Project Borealis'. PCGamesN. Retrieved November 19, 2018.
53. ^'Marc Laidlaw On The Cancelled Half-Life Spin-offs: Return To Ravenholm And 'Episode Four''. LambdaGeneration. January 13, 2012. Archived from the original on January 16, 2012. Retrieved July 19, 2013.
54. ^Savage, Phil (January 15, 2013). 'Half-Life 2: Episode 4 was being developed by Arkane; now cancelled'. PC Gamer. Retrieved July 8, 2014.
55. ^McLeand, Kirk (December 5, 2015). 'Half-Life 2: Episode Four - Return to Ravenholm forgotten screens surface'. PCGamesN. Retrieved March 27, 2017.
56. ^Scott-Jones, Richard (March 27, 2017). 'Ravenholm features in another cancelled Half-Life 2 episode, now with snow and magnetism'. PCGamesN. Retrieved March 27, 2017.
57. ^Benson, Julian (September 20, 2017). 'Warren Spector reveals how the magnet gun would have worked in cancelled Half-Life episode'. PCGamesN. Retrieved September 20, 2017.
58. ^Turi, Tim (April 24, 2015). 'Abandoned Half-Life Episode Featured Magnet Gun, Warren Spector Says'. Retrieved May 19, 2015.
59. ^Lane, Rick (November 8, 2017). 'Warren Spector discusses his cancelled Half-Life 2 Ravenholm Episode'. PC Gamer. Retrieved November 8, 2017.
60. ^'Counter-Strike 1.6 Beta released'. Steam. January 28, 2013. Archived from the original on February 14, 2013. Retrieved March 16, 2014.
61. ^Remo, Chris (December 3, 2008). 'Analysis: Valve's Lifetime Retail Sales For Half-Life, Counter-Strike Franchises'. Gamasutra. Retrieved October 24, 2018.
62. ^Half-Life Platinum Collection. sierrachest.com. Retrieved March 2, 2019.
63. ^Thorsen, Tor. 'Valve readying Half-Life 2 bundles; Counter-Strike: Source available next week.' Gamespot. September 29, 2004
64. ^Autrijve, Rainier Van (October 6, 2004). 'Blow Off Some Steam and Pre-Order Half-Life 2 (PC)'. GameSpy. Archived from the original on October 6, 2008. Retrieved October 3, 2008.
65. ^Nathan Grayson. 'Portal Easter Egg In Counter-Strike Isn't Teasing A New Game, Valve Says.' Kotaku. December 12, 2018.
66. ^'Codename: Gordon: Game Highlights'. IGN. Retrieved March 31, 2016.
67. ^'Codename Gordon'. Steam Database. Retrieved March 31, 2016.
68. ^Doomer, Ivan. 'Free Steam games list'. Steam User's Forums. Archived from the original on May 17, 2009. Retrieved October 1, 2009.
69. ^Senior, Tom (September 3, 2012). 'Black Mesa Source release date revealed, high-res headcrabs due in 11 days'. PC Gamer. Future Publishing Limited. Archived from the original on September 22, 2012. Retrieved September 22, 2012.
70. ^Cobbett, Richard (September 14, 2012). 'Black Mesa Source released – download it now!'. PC Gamer. Future Publishing Limited. Archived from the original on September 25, 2012. Retrieved September 22, 2012.
71. ^Hillier, Brenna (January 3, 2016). 'At 10 million sales, Garry's Mod is still going strong'. VG247. Retrieved January 3, 2016.
72. ^'Minerva'. Idle Thumbs. November 16, 2006. Retrieved April 30, 2006.
73. ^Keighley, Geoffrey. 'The Final Hours of Half-Life'. GameSpot. Archived from the original on January 16, 1999. Retrieved December 17, 2008.
74. ^'Half-Life Expands'. IGN. April 15, 1999. Retrieved December 17, 2008.
75. ^'Half-Life: Opposing Force interview'. Computer and Video Games. August 15, 2001. Retrieved December 17, 2008.
76. ^'Half-Life: Opposing Force'. IGN. May 25, 1999. Retrieved December 18, 2008.
77. ^Trueman, Doug (August 29, 2000). 'DC Half-Life Includes Blue Shift'. GameSpot. Retrieved December 18, 2008.
78. ^Stahl, Ben (September 5, 2000). 'ECTS Half-Life Dreamcast Hands-On'. GameSpot. Retrieved October 26, 2008.
79. ^'ECTS 2000: Hands-On With Half-Life'. IGN. August 1, 2000. Retrieved October 26, 2008.
80. ^'Half-Life Preview'. IGN. September 19, 2001. Retrieved October 23, 2008.
81. ^Ajami, Amer (September 11, 2001). 'Half-Life Updated preview'. GameSpot. Archived from the original on January 3, 2013. Retrieved October 23, 2008.
82. ^Fudge, James (March 25, 2004). 'Havok's Half-Life 2 Marketing Campaign'. GameSpy. Retrieved September 23, 2008.
83. ^Half-Life 2: Episode One, Chapter V: Exit 17, Developers commentary (DVD). 2006.
84. ^Bramwell, Tom (June 6, 2006). 'Opening the Valve'. Eurogamer. Retrieved April 29, 2007.
85. ^'Valve working with J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot on game and movie collaborations'.
86. ^'Portal, the Movie: Valve, J.J. Abrams Team Up for Future Games, Films'.
87. ^Strom, Steven (March 12, 2016). 'J.J. ABRAMS: PORTAL, HALF-LIFE MOVIES STILL HAPPENING'. IGN. Retrieved March 12, 2016.
88. ^Independent of Half-Life: Decay, which was bundled with the retail sales of the PlayStation 2 version of Half-Life.
89. ^Chris Remo. Analysis: Valve's Lifetime Retail Sales For Half-Life, Counter-Strike Franchises Exclusive. Gamasutra. December 3, 2008.
90. ^Chiang, Oliver, 'The Master of Online Mayhem.' Forbes. February 9, 2011.
91. ^'Half-Life: Uplink Movie'. Blue's News. February 17, 1999. Retrieved December 16, 2006.
92. ^'Half-Life: Uplink — Page 1'. Planet Half-Life. March 15, 1999. Archived from the original on September 25, 2011. Retrieved December 16, 2006.
93. ^'Editors Note: Uplink Movie'. Planet Half-Life. March 15, 1999. Archived from the original on May 4, 2009. Retrieved December 16, 2006.
94. ^Brown, Michael (February 17, 1999). 'Half-Life: The Movie'. CNET. Archived from the original on May 31, 2000. Retrieved December 16, 2006.
95. ^Walker, John (February 13, 2009). 'Escape From City 17: Part One'. Rock, Paper Shotgun. Retrieved February 17, 2009.
96. ^'Escape From City 17: Part One'. Valve Corporation. February 13, 2009. Retrieved May 15, 2010.
97. ^Wallace, Lewis (November 11, 2010). 'Trailer: Indie Sci-Fi Short Beyond Black Mesa Channels Half-Life'. Wired. Condé Nast Publications. Retrieved November 17, 2010.
98. ^Schreier, Jason. 'Gordon Freeman Comes To Life In This Great Half-Life Short Film'. Kotaku. Retrieved January 3, 2019.
99. ^Hagedoorn, Hilbert. 'Enter The Freeman - Short Live Action Film'. Guru3D.com. Retrieved January 3, 2019.
100. ^Enter the Freeman, retrieved January 2, 2019
101. ^''Enter The Freeman:' Amazing Half-Life Short Film New Rising Media'. www.newrisingmedia.com. Retrieved January 3, 2019.
102. ^'These Fans Want $75,000 To Make A Half-Life Short Film Series'. Kotaku Australia. February 7, 2013. Retrieved January 3, 2019.
103. ^Webb, Charles. ''Enter the Freeman' Filmmakers Looking To Fund 'Half-Life: The Freeman Chronicles' Series'. MTV News. Retrieved January 3, 2019.
104. ^'There's A Gritty 'Half-Life' Web Series Raising Money On Indiegogo'. Tubefilter. March 25, 2013. Retrieved January 3, 2019.
105. ^''The Freeman Chronicles' – The Fanmade Half-Life Miniseries That Needs Your Help To Get Off The Ground – LambdaGeneration'. lambdageneration.com. Retrieved January 3, 2019.
106. ^'Half-Life Live Action Film - The Freeman Chronicles'. Kickstarter. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
107. ^'Half-Life Live Action - The Freeman Chronicles'. Indiegogo. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
108. ^'Fan-made Half Life film The Freeman Chronicles receives second episode'. TechSpot. Retrieved January 3, 2019.
109. ^www.digitaltrends.comhttps://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/fan-filmmakers-beat-bad-robot-to-the-punch-with-half-life-the-freeman-chronicles-miniseries/. Retrieved January 3, 2019.Missing or empty title= (help)
110. ^'J.J. Abrams' Portal and Half-Life Movies Aren't Dead Yet'. MovieWeb. January 18, 2017. Retrieved January 3, 2019.
111. ^Kohler, Chris (February 6, 2013). 'Portal, the Movie: Valve, J.J. Abrams Team Up for Future Games, Films'. Wired. ISSN1059-1028. Retrieved January 3, 2019.
112. ^'JJ Abrams Still Working on Half-Life and Portal Movies'. Game Rant. March 12, 2016. Retrieved January 3, 2019.
113. ^'Half-Life - The Freeman Chronicles on Steam'. store.steampowered.com. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
114. ^The Freeman Chronicles, retrieved January 2, 2019
115. ^Andrew Clouther (October 4, 2012). 'ENTER THE FREEMAN is an amazing live action Half-Life short'. GameZone. Retrieved January 3, 2019.
116. ^Sexy, Geeks are (October 2, 2012). 'ENTER THE FREEMAN: Amazing Fan-Made Half-Life Film [Video]'. Geeks are Sexy Technology News. Retrieved January 3, 2019.
117. ^'Half-Life - The Freeman Chronicles on Steam'. store.steampowered.com. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
118. ^'YouTube'. www.youtube.com. Retrieved January 2, 2019.

External links[edit]

• Half-Life series at MobyGames

Half Life E3 1997 Calendar

The 3rd Electronics Entertainment Expo took place between June 19-21, 1997 in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia.

The show featured 1,500 new titles from 500 exhibitors on a record 534,000 square feet area (the size of 35 football fields). There were six game conferences covering some of the big issues of the day, including trends in online gaming and the future of development.

While the genre hadn't caught hold on consoles yet, at the time, PC FPS were all the rage -- although they were commonly called 'Doom clones.' Half-Life, Unreal, SiN, Daikatana, Prey, Quake II, and Star Wars: Jedi Knight Dark Forces II all made their debut at E3 1997. But the biggest surprise in the genre emerged as GoldenEye 007. Already a game watched closely by the press, the demos convinced everyone in attendance that Rare was creating something special. Compared directly with the stars of the time, namely Doom, Duke Nukem, and Quake, GoldenEye's four-player split-screen had showgoers hooked.

Metal Gear Solid for PlayStation made a big splash on Day 2 of E3, being shown in non-playable form as a video loop at Konami's booth. Duke Nukem Forever was also announced, with the tagline: 'Always Bet on Duke.' The game would take more than a decade to actually get to market.

All eyes were on Nintendo to showcase how it would improve its sparse games library for the Nintendo 64. Instead of pushing internally-developed software, Nintendo focused on its US and UK-developed lineup. Rare was well-represented with GoldenEye 007, Conker's Quest (a very different game from what eventually became Conker's Bad Fur Day), and Banjo-Kazooie. Hopes were high for an official 64DD US announcement from Nintendo, but chairman Howard Lincoln told press attendees that although the hardware was ready, software was not. 'When we get that exactly right, we'll introduce the 64 Disk Drive,' Lincoln said to IGN, referring to the software.

Notorious no-shows at E3 1997 included Nintendo's Zelda game (then, a 64DD title -- later to become Ocarina of Time) and the later cancelled Robotech: Crystal Dreams. Instead, Superman 64 debuted to a tepid reception.

SEGA had a big booth at the show, but the company's representatives looked awfully subdued. Word had it that SEGA was pulling all of its advertising.

One company that was not subdued at E3 1997 was 3Dfx. 3Dfx came out swinging that year. Nearly every PC game worth looking at on the show floor had a 'Powered by 3Dfx' sign. Even a few arcade games, Mace comes to mind, had 3Dfx signs on them.

Another company at the top of the world was Eidos. Lara Croft was everywhere. This was the year of Tomb Raider II -- Lara Croft was bigger than Mario and Sonic combined. (No pun intended.) Eidos had a Lara Croft look-alike. A huge contingent of show attendees stood by the booth for long stretches of time just to get a look at some model in a green tank top, black shorts, and sunglasses.

There was a small pornography area for the first few years of E3. By 1997, that small area went away. Interestingly, the disappearance of real sexploitation from the show opened the way for a more innocent style of sexploitation.

A Duke Nukem look-alike walked the show floor with two nubile models. Pandemic sent around a sweet young thing in a pristine nurse's outfit passing out invitations to their booth. Upon closer examination, the invitations contained condoms.

Atlanta's convention center was not a good place for E3. The floor space was bigger and less expensive, but badly laid out for the show. Instead of having three square floors it had two endless rectangles. You could get from end-to-end in Los Angeles in 10 hectic minutes. Atlanta took twice as long.

Despite disappointment that the show failed to yield 'A Main Event,' there was general optimism at the number of high quality and original games coming later this year. Following the show, industry analysts predicted strong growth for third parties like Activision, GT Interactive, Electronic Arts, and Midway.

Major Announcements[edit]

• Duke Nukem Forever
• Fallout
• Half-Life
• Metal Gear Solid
• N64 Modem
• Panzer Dragoon Saga
• PlayStation Double Analog Controller
• Quake II
• Sonic 3D Blast for PC

Notable Games[edit]

• Banjo-Kazooie
• Conker's Quest
• Final Fantasy VII
• F-Zero 64
• GoldenEye 007
• Half-Life
• Metal Gear Solid
• Oddworld
• Panzer Dragoon Saga
• Prey
• Quake II
• Resident Evil 2
• Star Fox 64
• Tetrisphere 64
• Time Crisis
• Unreal

Trivia[edit]

Some of IGN's video equipment was stolen in Atlanta. The loot included a camera with footage of Metal Gear Solid.