The first game that I ever played that made me realize that gaming was and would continue to be a very important medium for storytelling was the original Half-Life. I bought it in 2000 and beat it in like two days if my memory suits me well. I remember being absolutely blown away by the atmosphere the game provided and the story it told. Up until that point the games that had the best stories were IMO the great RPGs like Chrono Trigger and Xenogears, but I never thought that a FPS could be anything more than just a fragfest. I had bought and devoured Quake and Unreal Tournament and loved the gameplay of FPS's, but when I played Half-Life that all changed. The story wasn't just told to you like in the rpgs. You had to actually LOOK for the story within the game itself; all while trying to survive against an alien invasion you, yourself caused. It changed not only my perceptions of video games, but games themselves were changed.

Then Half-Life 2 came out, and completely took every thing that was great from the original and made it bigger and better. It was based upon a game engine that was completely revolutionary as far as graphics power and machine scalability goes. I could play HL2 on a machine that for all intents and purposed was broken. The narrative of the game also expanded to a universe that was massive yet still maintained the "search for the story yourself" attitude.

It is my opinion that the Half Life games themselves were the harbingers of major shifts in gameplay and technology. I feel that the series itself is directly tied to the industry. That is why I believe it is taking so long for Half-Life 3 to be released. When it is finally released it will be just as revolutionary as the first two. Be it new technology or just a new engine, It will be the best that has been up until this point.

With that being said... How does the ATS community feel about Half-Life 3?

Didn't you hear? Valve can't count to three.

Originally posted by boot2theface
The first game that I ever played that made me realize that gaming was and would continue to be a very important medium for storytelling was the original Half-Life. I bought it in 2000 and beat it in like two days if my memory suits me well. I remember being absolutely blown away by the atmosphere the game provided and the story it told. Up until that point the games that had the best stories were IMO the great RPGs like Chrono Trigger and Xenogears, but I never thought that a FPS could be anything more than just a fragfest. I had bought and devoured Quake and Unreal Tournament and loved the gameplay of FPS's, but when I played Half-Life that all changed. The story wasn't just told to you like in the rpgs. You had to actually LOOK for the story within the game itself; all while trying to survive against an alien invasion you, yourself caused. It changed not only my perceptions of video games, but games themselves were changed.

Then Half-Life 2 came out, and completely took every thing that was great from the original and made it bigger and better. It was based upon a game engine that was completely revolutionary as far as graphics power and machine scalability goes. I could play HL2 on a machine that for all intents and purposed was broken. The narrative of the game also expanded to a universe that was massive yet still maintained the "search for the story yourself" attitude.

It is my opinion that the Half Life games themselves were the harbingers of major shifts in gameplay and technology. I feel that the series itself is directly tied to the industry. That is why I believe it is taking so long for Half-Life 3 to be released. When it is finally released it will be just as revolutionary as the first two. Be it new technology or just a new engine, It will be the best that has been up until this point.

With that being said... How does the ATS community feel about Half-Life 3?

I think you've summed it up perfectly. What more can one add? The only other comment I will make is that I feel Valve's revenues from Steam are a factor which will play heavily into HL3. With that much money coming in at a constant rate, Valves developers are free to pursue their vision fully (which will make HL3 that much better, regardless of how long it takes).

HL2 didn't exactly fly off the shelves either (I think it took 5 or 6 years if I recall correctly), but that is one of the factors that separate great games from the rest of the pack. Games that aren't rushed stand above the competition because of that fact, not in spite of it.

Great thread. Nice to see some intelligent commentary on gaming here

Half life definitely opened up my mind more so then had I not beaten them..

Lots of correlations between that universe and ours in subtle ways.

Wasn't there some sort of artwork leaked a while back? Maybe a few months ago related to either episode 3 or HL3 I'm not sure but I for one look forward to playing it whenever it comes.

Half Life 2 was the first game that really got me into "gaming", I'm not a huge gamer but whatever I play is always compared to it in some way, I really hope HL3 is for real and does what HL2 did when it came out

Half Life has always been my favorite game. By the time HL3 comes out, my computer will probably not make the minimum requirements. That part sucks when you own a laptop. I remember buying HL2 and having to wait for a better computer to play it on. It barely cleared minimum requirements, and it still played too choppy to enjoy it.

So it's 18 months or so before 3 is released eh? I guess I should be ready for a new computer by then.
I'm sure it wont disappoint since the first two were amazing.

Any leaks on the weapons?