I found out that Half-Life 2 (PC video game) will be coming to stores on Tuesday, November 16th! Yay!
Press release
Press release
Half-Life 2 -- November 16th!
- Thread starter Autophile
- Start date
It's already in some stores, but the problem is you require the Internet to activate the game <U>during Installation</U>. So even if you pick up a copy early, you can't install or play it. Yes, even if you only want Single Player. 
<IMG SRC="http://img110.exs.cx/img110/6610/hl2installing.jpg">
Personally, i think this is the stupidest anti-piracy method in years. Hackers <B>WILL</B> crack it, so why bother. I'm surprised it isn't already all over P2P and torrent networks.................... err...... not that i've looked. 
LOL
<IMG SRC="http://img110.exs.cx/img110/6610/hl2installing.jpg">
Personally, i think this is the stupidest anti-piracy method in years. Hackers <B>WILL</B> crack it, so why bother. I'm surprised it isn't already all over P2P and torrent networks.................... err...... not that i've looked.
LOL
I'll take one of those.
Neo, I thought you were an Nvidia guy. Whats up??
I cannot wait to get HL2, but I will probably wait until I upgrade my video card to the 6800GT. I think it is the best bang for the buck. Unless I can get a hook up on a X800 PRO.
I cannot wait to get HL2, but I will probably wait until I upgrade my video card to the 6800GT. I think it is the best bang for the buck. Unless I can get a hook up on a X800 PRO.
I got the Half Life 2 bundle with my ATI Radeon 9600 that I bought last year...and have been waiting for what seems like an eternity for the damn game.
Fortunately, I've been able to play Counter Strike: Source since the beta was opened up to us bundle owners a few months ago...but HL2 is REALLY what I've been looking forward to. All of the assets have been pre-loaded on my machine via Steam. I originally thought I'd be able to play this on the day HL2 went gold, but Vivendi Universal decided to step in and make Valve wait until the game was available in stores.
Just a couple of days before we start exploring City 17...can hardly wait!
Fortunately, I've been able to play Counter Strike: Source since the beta was opened up to us bundle owners a few months ago...but HL2 is REALLY what I've been looking forward to. All of the assets have been pre-loaded on my machine via Steam. I originally thought I'd be able to play this on the day HL2 went gold, but Vivendi Universal decided to step in and make Valve wait until the game was available in stores.
Just a couple of days before we start exploring City 17...can hardly wait!
Well, this morning my copy of HL2 was validated and I'm now immersed in City 17. I only had about 45 minutes to play it before I had to head off to work, but my initial impression is pretty positive. The initial setup feels very much like the original HL...similar atmosphere and tone, but with much better visuals.
A lot of things can be picked up and tossed around with physics, even without the gravity gun. All I have right now is a crowbar and a pistol, so I can't do too much damage.
The action just started kicking in, so I really don't want to turn it off...they're rolling flaming explosive barrels down the staircase at me!
The only complaint I have thus far is the load times.
A lot of things can be picked up and tossed around with physics, even without the gravity gun. All I have right now is a crowbar and a pistol, so I can't do too much damage.
The action just started kicking in, so I really don't want to turn it off...they're rolling flaming explosive barrels down the staircase at me!
The only complaint I have thus far is the load times.
akira3d said:
How fast is your PC and what video card do you have?
I dont think it will play too well on my p4-2.8 and radeon 9500 pro..
I have what I suspect is a minimum machine for HL2, but it's doing a good job so far. It's a Pentium 4/2.4 Ghz with ATI Radeon 9600. I'm getting around 60fps with most settings cranked up...as long as I keep my resolution at 640x480x16bpp and with no anti-aliasing. The lighting and textures are really nice.
akira3d said:
I would NEVER play at 640x480.. yuk! I run 8x6 in Far Cry and it looks pretty good.
On a side note, I got Need For Speed Underground 2 last night and it seems pretty great and runs well at 1024x768.
Please excuse my ignorance... but HL is the engine that counter strike is based off of correct? Is there a new counterstrike coming out? CS is the only game I have been addicted to for the last few years.
Elite said:
Correct. They already have a new one CS: Source
FYI:
Geforce 6600 GT AGP was just released today!
Geforce 6600 GT AGP was just released today!
Counter-Strike: Source (Counter-Strike running under Half-Life 2's graphics engines), is a visually enhanced version of Counter-Strike that really doesn't change the game all that much. It has the same basic maps and gameplay, but with next-gen polish and some cool little physics elements courtesy of the Half-Life 2 engine.
I started playing Counter-Strike: Source over a month ago (started with the beta), but haven't had that much time to invest in it to become very good. Since it is still very much the same game people have been playing for many years, I'm a real newbie.
Counter-Strike: Source is the multiplayer component of Half-Life 2...unfortunately there's no multiplayer game set in City 17...so no gravity gun goodness.
BTW, my coworkers and I researched the game a bit more this afternoon and all I can say is WOW! The Radeon 9800 has no problems running the game at 1024x768
I started playing Counter-Strike: Source over a month ago (started with the beta), but haven't had that much time to invest in it to become very good. Since it is still very much the same game people have been playing for many years, I'm a real newbie.
Counter-Strike: Source is the multiplayer component of Half-Life 2...unfortunately there's no multiplayer game set in City 17...so no gravity gun goodness.
BTW, my coworkers and I researched the game a bit more this afternoon and all I can say is WOW! The Radeon 9800 has no problems running the game at 1024x768
In preparation for playing HL2, I bought a new video card, a PNY GeForce 6800 GT ($399, ouch ), plus a 500W power supply. Anyway, I wanted to see how my current card would handle the graphics, first. My current card is a ~2 year old ATI Radeon 9000 Pro, 128MB, on a P4 1.7 GHz, 512MB RAM home-built system, Windows 2000 Pro w/Service Pack 4.
Well, I am able to run the game acceptably at 1600x1200 (my LCD default resolution), with settings on med-high. Only occassionally (every 15 seconds or so) I get a freeze that lasts on the order of milliseconds. However, with Doom 3, I could barely get the thing to run on my current card at 640x480. This was quite a surprise, and now I'm trying to decide if I want to try the new 6800 GT, or just stay with my current card. Why are these two games so different, and is it unusual that my system can handle it so well?
Anyway, I agree with steveny, the game is a lot of fun so far! :biggrin:
), plus a 500W power supply. Anyway, I wanted to see how my current card would handle the graphics, first. My current card is a ~2 year old ATI Radeon 9000 Pro, 128MB, on a P4 1.7 GHz, 512MB RAM home-built system, Windows 2000 Pro w/Service Pack 4. Well, I am able to run the game acceptably at 1600x1200 (my LCD default resolution), with settings on med-high. Only occassionally (every 15 seconds or so) I get a freeze that lasts on the order of milliseconds. However, with Doom 3, I could barely get the thing to run on my current card at 640x480. This was quite a surprise, and now I'm trying to decide if I want to try the new 6800 GT, or just stay with my current card. Why are these two games so different, and is it unusual that my system can handle it so well?
Anyway, I agree with steveny, the game is a lot of fun so far! :biggrin:
Autophile said:In preparation for playing HL2, I bought a new video card, a PNY GeForce 6800 GT ($399, ouch
Well, I am able to run the game acceptably at 1600x1200 (my LCD default resolution), with settings on med-high. Only occassionally (every 15 seconds or so) I get a freeze that lasts on the order of milliseconds. However, with Doom 3, I could barely get the thing to run on my current card at 640x480. This was quite a surprise, and now I'm trying to decide if I want to try the new 6800 GT, or just stay with my current card. Why are these two games so different, and is it unusual that my system can handle it so well?
Anyway, I agree with steveny, the game is a lot of fun so far! :biggrin:
Well, you can be assured that if you keep the 6800 GT, you will not need to upgrade for at least a few years. I play most of my games at full detail @ 1024x768. Going to a higher resolution with low detail doesn't make a lot of sense to me.
If money is a concern, return the 6800 and get a 6600 GT for about 1/2 the price. It has about 85-90% of the performance of the 6800 GT. It is by far the best bang for the buck on the market today and it just came up in AGP form.
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Autophile said:In preparation for playing HL2, I bought a new video card, a PNY GeForce 6800 GT ($399, ouch
Well, I am able to run the game acceptably at 1600x1200 (my LCD default resolution), with settings on med-high. Only occassionally (every 15 seconds or so) I get a freeze that lasts on the order of milliseconds. However, with Doom 3, I could barely get the thing to run on my current card at 640x480. This was quite a surprise, and now I'm trying to decide if I want to try the new 6800 GT, or just stay with my current card. Why are these two games so different, and is it unusual that my system can handle it so well?
Anyway, I agree with steveny, the game is a lot of fun so far! :biggrin:
Maybe Doom3 has antialiasing, anisotropic filtering and other fun stuff turned on by default where as HL2 doesn't? Those enhancements really tax your GPU for everything its got. I think I'm going to go with a 6600GT myself. Trusty Radeon All In Wonder can't cut it anymore.
Doom III and Half Life 2 put tax the systems in different ways...Doom III definitely requires more juice for its unified real-time lighting. Half-Life 2 resorts to baked lighting for much of its look, but, IMHO, looks WAAAAAY better as a result
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NetViper said:
Actually, my reaction to the cost of the 6800 GT is based on the fact that I don't really need it, apparently (for HL2, anyway :smile
. If it was truly needed, I'd probably look into upgrading everything else, too, just to make a complete system upgrade.I will check out the 6600 GT, if I decide to go ahead and upgrade anyway. Thanks for the advice, Dave. :smile:
dawggpie said:
You know, I think you are right about the defaults you mentioned. On HL2, I believe the antialiasing is set to the minimum value on my comp. It's probably higher on Doom 3. I see the 6600 GT is pretty popular.... :smile:
Thanks, guys.
NetViper said:
i'm a bit late in replying, but that top screenie wasn't me. And you're right... i'm an nvidioit with a 256MB 6800GT. So i'll be interested in how this taxes my system.
<B>Akira3D</B> : 640x480!?!?!
There has to be a real reason why you're playing this on low settings. Are you after a "console-look" or a really smooth framerate (in which case, i totally understand)I've also read that HL2 is only medium-to-heavily GPU intensive, meaning i hope you've all got fast CPU's.
I played it for about 2 hrs on Tuesday night. Definitely feels "familiar".
I disagree about the graphics... I think they pale in comparion to Doom3. It's almost as if this game was meant to be released a year and a half ago...! :biggrin:
Having fun though -- more of the original HL is still a good thing. I'm running a 6800 (regular) vid card and AMD64 3000, 1 gig. Runs smooth as a top at 1024x768 with almost max details (4xAA, 8xAF).
I disagree about the graphics... I think they pale in comparion to Doom3. It's almost as if this game was meant to be released a year and a half ago...! :biggrin:
Having fun though -- more of the original HL is still a good thing. I'm running a 6800 (regular) vid card and AMD64 3000, 1 gig. Runs smooth as a top at 1024x768 with almost max details (4xAA, 8xAF).
NeoNSX said:<B>Akira3D</B> : 640x480!?!?!
Actually, I discovered that everything works fine at 800x600x16bpp. I have a problem upping my texture res to high...causes sound to stutter...so I must leave them at medium.
As for my Doom 3 vs HL2 visuals comment, Doom 3 is technically more impressive, but I far prefer HL2's art direction, textures, and lighting. There's something very harsh and grating about the look of Doom 3 which made me not feel very compelled to sit with it for long bursts. HL2 I can hardly stop playing. I'm also finding the game design far more compelling (Doom 3 takes a lot of cheap shots).
I do miss the interactive qualities of Doom 3's lighting though...being able to make overhead light fixtures swing or even shoot out lights are very cool features that HL2 lacks.
How far is everyone? I just out of Ravenholm (totally dig the gravity gun) and am now dealing with snipers.
I am only in the canals (level 4?), where I got my first (nostalgic) look at the ceiling sucker things again. I suppose I am taking my time, to soak it in, and trying to maintain my health. I'm using the "hard" player settings. I think I am spending a good amount of my play time debating if I want to try the 6800 GT card, too.akira3d said:
:smile:Autophile said:I am only in the canals (level 4?), where I got my first (nostalgic) look at the ceiling sucker things again. I suppose I am taking my time, to soak it in, and trying to maintain my health. I'm using the "hard" player settings. I think I am spending a good amount of my play time debating if I want to try the 6800 GT card, too.
I am on chapter 7 in the shipyard with the crane. If you guys think the NSX wears out tires fast, check out the chamber on the rear of the dunebuggy.
