Half Life 2: Episode 1 & 2 Official Trailer
Ever since Half Life 2 went episodic on its fan-base, people have been interested in plot developments, screenshots, and all sorts of media and information. What this means, in the words of marketing director Doug Lombardi, is that there will be a regular flow of content that will be delivered by Steam, or purchasable in stores, for the new expansion of the Half Life series. Here are the official trailers for both Episodes 1 & 2:
Half Life 2: Episode 2 Screenshots
Appearing hither and thither are a trifecta of Half Life 2: Episode 2 screenshots. Half Life 2: Ep 2 is expected to be released in the Fourth Quarter of 2006, but there has already been a release of its trailer. The following three “screenshots” are from DigitalBattle.com, but a closer review of the trailer for Episode 2 will suggest that the alleged screenshots of in-game action are merely just screen-captures of certain moments in the official trailer. But they are rather pretty:
PC Gamer World-Exclusive Episode 2 Article
Poopsy from Steam Forums summarizes the article in PC Gamer regarding Half Life: 2, Episode 2. Apparently this information is official and exclusive, so you can be assured of the integrity of this post.
- *NEW* Release estimate: Spring 2007
- Gravity gun will get new functionality
- Alyx is alive
- Vortigaunts will be more fleshed out
- More details about GMan will be revealed
- New vehicle will be introduced made by some guys in the woods. Will serve as enemy rammer =P
- You will cover the same amount of locales as in hl2 and the new locales will have a much more realistic feel to them since they are based off real locations (missile silo, mine shaft, etc.)
- Eli and Kleiner have set up base in the missile silo and you have to get the packet to them
- We’ll see the UBER and most difficult physics puzzle to date in episode 2
- New weapon known as Strider buster
- Strider and Hunter now has a weak spot *could change*
-Big battlefield-esque combat engagements with lots of enemies and allies fighting. Woods provide plenty of cover
- OH! And new yet-to-be-announced multiplayer game will ship with episode two…might it be TF2 set during the 7 Hour War?
- … (Any parts I forgot =P)
Half Life 2: Episode One (almost) For Free
Although it’s impossible to get Half Life 2: Episode One for free, you can snatch it for the super-low price of $8 USD in a American Circuit City stores nationwide, according to SlickDeals.net. This game continues the long chain of successful expansions and sequels of the original Half Life, and is best summarized by Amazon.co.uk:
In a nutshell:
Gordon Freeman returns with the first in a series of follow-ups to the most highly rated first person shoot ‘em-up ever on the PC. There’s no five year wait for a sequel this time, however, as the war against the Combine continues.The lowdown:
Originally intended as a standard expansion pack entitled Aftermath, this is the first in a new series of episodic content for Half-Life 2, to be released far more frequently than normal expansions and which do not require the original game to play. This chapter focuses as much on the beautiful Alyx Vance and her robot bodyguard “Dog” as Gordon, and deals with the direct aftermath of the end of Half-Life 2, and the exodus from City 17. Graphically the game uses an enhanced version of the original graphic engine — beefed up using the new high dynamic range (HDR) lighting technology from the Lost Coast technical demo. There are also two multiplayer games include in the package: one based on Half-Life 2 and the other on an enhanced version of the original Half-Life.Most exciting moment:
Watching Alyx’s pet Dog throwing cars and soldiers around like toys as they battle alongside you in one of the most graphically impressive environments ever seen in a PC game.Since you ask:
Valve has already confirmed an Episode Two expansion for Half-Life 2, as well as similar episodic games for a sequel to 1998’s SiN using the same graphics technology.The bottom line:
The best FPS ever is back and looking and playing better than ever.
Harrison DentManufacturer’s Description
Half-Life has been named Game of the Year by over 35 organizations worldwide. Half-Life 2: Aftermath is an all-new episode created by Valve that extends the Half-Life 2 single player adventure.
You can view the Circuit City ad in their flyer.
Half-Life 2 Cheats
- Basics: Learn how to navigate the world and use every item in the environment to your advantage.
- Weapons: We detail the best uses for every weapon including the multifaceted gravity gun.
- Enemies: From headcrabs to gunships we’ll show you the best method for killing everything in sight. Coming soon.
- Walkthrough: In part one of our walkthrough we hold your hand through the canals, the coast, Ravenholm, and the beginnings of Nova Prospekt. More coming soon.
- Secrets: The walkthrough includes hidden lambda locations and our secrets section has a cheat list for all of the cheating cheaters.
For some versions of Half-Life 2, you may need to add a longer parameter string -applaunch -dev -tconsole instead of the previously mentioned parameter.
- cl_drawhud: removed
- Wire frame models: mat_wireframe1
- Only objects effected by physics are wireframe: vcollide_wireframe 1
- Draw game triggers: showtriggers_toggle
- Draw normal maps: mat_normalmaps 1
- Draw surface materials: mat_normals 1
- Turn off bump mapping: mat_fastnobump 0
- impulse 200: removes weapon model from the screen
- item_healthkit
- item_healthvial
- item_box_buckshot
- item_box_mrounds
- item_box_sniper_rounds
- item_box_srounds
- item_battery
- item_suit
- item_ml_grenade
- item_ar2_grenade
- weapon_ar2
- weapon_bugbait
- weapon_cguard
- weapon_crowbar
- weapon_frag
- weapon_crossbow
- weapon_alyxgun
- weapon_physcannon
- weapon_physgun
- weapon_pistol
- weapon_rpg
- weapon_shotgun
- weapon_smg1
Weapons names for the beta version of the game: