Lexx

And I just finished Black Mesa. Played around 10 or 11 hours, not exactly sure. The game is of very high quality (for a mod). It is pretty much as I've expected it to be and it's great. Some elements were cut out where I thought it was unneeded, but other than that it improved really good on the original. The additional areas and "puzzle" are a nice addition and I especially like that they didn't made a 1:1 copy of the map layout. The weapon progression is changed and various events in the game are different- both makes the game feel fresh and it adds surprises, even if you know HL1 very well. The combat was challenging (it felt too easy in the beginning, but that changed later), graphic and sound are on top of the ladder as well. All the details in the gameworld, etc. I would go and say that Black Mesa feels like an official remake. Valve should drop the price of HL1 if Black Mesa gets released on Steam... because I really see no reason anymore to play the original (well, except if you want to remember how it was). Now let's wait for the Xen part in 8 years.

The argument of not crippling yourself technically wise because of nostalgia is what gave us Fallout 3. Which I hated. Of course, that lead to New Vegas, which was actually great, but still, not the turn based top down Fallout we all wanted. No it is not. Fallout 3 isn't how it is because birds-eye perspective is technically outdated. It is how it is because Bethesda is doing "what they do best" - first person sandbox games.

If you cripple yourself technic-wise just for nostalgia, you are doing it wrong, imo. They should use the superior technic, which costs them less and is faster to work with. In worst case, they can still add filters and shaders over the whole scene to give it a painted look. Such a thing is not impossible.

Makes no sense. First, the pre-rendered 2D art was a 3D model first too. Therefore building a 3D model, then rendering it to 2D, then cutting it and implementing it into the map is more work than just using the basic 3D model from the go.

I will probably give $300 as soon as I can put money on my virtual credit card again. That's what it should be worth for everyone!

Ok, Black Mesa changed their site, but it is overloaded, as to be expected. Apparently there is a Torrent file, but I couldn't get my hands on it... because the website hosting it is overloaded as well. Only Game Front works for me, but they don't have the main file for download... /Edit: None of the mirror websites works now. All are overloaded, as to be expected.

6 hours till Black Mesa. The server will probably be horrible overloaded. I hope they provide enough mirrors or torrent file.

And it makes the most sense. The timeframe from DayZ release -> WarZ announcement is way too short to produce a whole new game ready for release in the sooner future. So yeah, they obviously changed the original game when DayZ got the huge hype. While it seems pretty cheap (because it looks extremely similar in features and everything), I still think it was a good move for them... this WarInc material looks rather bad and probably would have failed hard. In the form of WarZ, it might have a chance and also works as direct competition to DayZ, which in return means, we might get higher quality products. I am still not much interested in it, though. :> And apparently WarZ will feature microtransactions, e.g. money for wapons (which you still lose on death). Let's see how this will turn out.

I would like to see less talking and more gameplay. :>

Woop, Sawyer postin' about dem Black Hound and stuff over at his blog.

And on friday it will turn into a link to Black Mesa, which is currently running a countdown till friday as well.

Damn, I need to get money on my credit card. But this month is really bad timing.

"Bioware in its prime" hehe. Thing is, Bioware isn't doing choice&consequence heavy games. All their C&C is flat and shallow... or let's call it fake. Making a linear game is far easier than a "real" rpg.

He posted it on Twitter as well, with "still life" as additional text.

Maybe it is the date for the announcement which is being announced with this announcement.

Some kind of They Live remake?

Something that just crossed my mind, which is not really related to Obsidian, but the whole industry: Developers and designers don't want players to have waiting times in their games, because it is boring. But marketing wants players to wait for days. It even goes so far to announce a countdown for a countdown announcement. I hate waiting, not only in games but also for announcements and countdowns and such. Especially countdowns start to make me angry the more of them I see. It is a pain and doesn't hype me up more than a generic announcement does. tl;dr - annoyed of waiting. Countdowns suck.

A Lovecrafthian setting would be super great.

Doublepost. Please all leave now, forum is too slow for me to use. Kthxbye.

Looking at the page design, the font and the words itself and it should be pretty obvious that this not related to Fallout in any kind of way.

Though, if it is running on Onyx, then it is doubtful that it would be console exclusive. I mean, it could be, but I just don't believe that it would be.

Maybe it has something to do with cool old european inquisitor dudes burning witches 'n stuff, which results in a time paradoxon, which makes the player live through the same scene over and over again (with changes due to choice&consequence) until he solves a grand issue, which saves the world. And stuff. It won't feature a dragon eating his own arse, as it probably is just a metapher for the whole time looping whatever thing that is going on. A little bit like The Dark Tower cycle.

It's an Ouruboros, a rather old symbol, filled with meaning. Obsidian is making Fallout 4, which is set in the old Van Buren location called "Ouroboros!" I am sure they won't, but hey, that was the first thing coming to my mind. :>

The sign with a dragon eating his own arse looks common. I have no idea what the 4 means, though.

Seems like Jesse Heinig is sick and in hospital right now.