Half-Life 2 becomes episodic

by Conrad Quilty-Harper { Feb 11th 2006 at 5:45AM }

Valve has revealed that the upcoming expansion pack, Half-Life 2: Aftermath, will be renamed Half-Life 2: Episode 1 and will be the first in a series of episodic games. It's unclear whether this announcement will affect the release date (previously announced as April 24th) or the distribution of the expansion pack.

Presumably Valve will be selling the episodes via Steam, similar to the upcoming SiN Episodes. Valve promised a retail release of Aftermath back in May 2005, but it's possible this may have changed in light of this announcement.

[Thanks, Buttonbasher]

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

themasron @ Feb 11th 2006 8:43AM

DEAR. GOD. NO.

I do NOT want some "pay per play" bullsh*t where the deal is that i only get to see the rest of the story if i keep sending valve money. F*ck off valve i will never pay for this sh*t.

Stuka @ Feb 11th 2006 9:02AM

My feelings are generally the same as #1. Fuck episodic content.

mr. snrub @ Feb 11th 2006 11:24AM

Yet you'd both pay monthly fees to play MMORPGS?

pennywise969 @ Feb 11th 2006 12:12PM

Uh, Im pretty sure you were going to have to pay for this content anyway.

Chris2fur @ Feb 11th 2006 12:15PM

So tell me how episodic content is really all that different from the way games are released currently? Sure, Half-Life and all of it's expansions had stories that stood on their own, but they were all just small parts of one overall story arc that has been continued in half-life 2 and will be continued in the HL2 episodes. I seriously doubt that this is going to be a huge departure from that formula, it'll just be easier for valve to develope them and kick the stuff out to users using steam and sticking with the current engine for a while.

ChronoZaga @ Feb 11th 2006 12:42PM

God I hate this distribution method, yet the game is bound to be good. But I want to be able to play my games whenever and however I want.

PIRATE GROUPS to the rescue!

Mauler @ Feb 11th 2006 1:39PM

The way games are released currently is exactly the way TV shows/movies are: ideas pitched, script developed, sets constructed, scenes "filmed", product polished, marketing machine shoved into high gear, product dumped on the market, fingers crossed. In other words, a huge upfront cost is involved before the game developer ever sees any money. (Up until recently this cost was exacerbated by the need to also develop the tools to display the story - the graphics engine; akin to having to invent the motion picture camera and filmstock before you could even get to the set construction phase).

The downside (for game companies), as stated, was the money that had to go down the black hole for the first year or so (longer, nowadays) before any chance of return on investment.

The downside (for consumers) was that we had to wait (seemingly) forever (longer, nowadays) before the game that the hype machine promised would be delivered.

The upside to all of this, though, is one that can only be appreciated in the long-term (something many people seem more and more UNWILLING to do anymore, what with ubiquitous "instant gratification" sapping our ability to be patient or proactive). This upside has been that the risk of losing all that development money (i.e. no return, because your team turned out a steaming pile of doo-doo) has forced game developers since granddaddy id started it all to find some way to outdo the last generation of games. Game engines have become ever more complex, realistic, and mod-able. The ability for fans to create modifications has been a software issue. The realism and graphic complexity, however, has been completely dependent on the ever increasing power of the hardware. Graphics chip manufacturers and games developers have been waltzing together since Quake. The music has been provided by DJ Consumer and his Cash Register Ringtones.

Trouble is, though, both the dancers wanna go solo. Hardware thinks he's finally gotten the upper hand (c'mon...how many ppl ACTUALLY play at 1920 X 1280? If you don't, are you rushing out to pay $600 to be able to do so?) and is steering Software over towards the cliff. Software sees this, though, and is doing everything possible to flee to the arms of the DJ (HDR..Finally! Don't care how good it looks, though, grass still looks cartoon-y, shadows are still hit-or-miss, and you can still count the # buildings you see from the air in flightsims on one hand).

If Software manages to get free from the clutches of Hardware (i.e. an episodic game that makes boatloads of money with no risk - - and NO technological advancement) then we'll be stuck with Software as it is for quite some time. And just when things were starting to get interesting again (remember how long we were stuck without even shadow maps? Now we got dynamic range lighting, per-pixel shading, and hardware-based physx - urm...except the physx thing; when the heck are they gonna stop hyping that and come out with the freakin' HARDWARE already?!?! sheesh)

I prefer the long view.

I have played (but not purchased) Half Life 2. (Heh, my friend lost 4 frozen pizzas, half an order of Chinese food, and at least two six-packs down my gullet while I played it at his place! I may do this for ALL games from now on! My credit card bill was lower than ever before, that month!) I rejected Valve's requirement that they know every last detail about every person who purchased their game (connection to the internet required? Steam account required? Hey valve: Bite me! (required))

I admit, Valve is talented and smart. That's what made the decision both more difficult and more compelling for me. I will not support Valve in their efforts to

1.) further restrict the (already ridiculously limited) use of product I lay my VERY hard earned cash out for, and

2.) stagnate software development by turning a couple of successful -games-, based on (really, mediocre) stories (which shows how much better games CAN be) into a cash cow that further allows them to subsidize their endeavors to develop 1.)

The ONLY way the DJ can get Hardware and Software to pay more attention to where the music is coming from is to turn down the volume a little bit.

Stuka @ Feb 11th 2006 5:15PM

No, I wouldn't pay monthly for an MMORPG. I think that is just as stupid. Both are just milking people for as much money as they can't get.

Mike @ Feb 11th 2006 6:34PM

As long as Steam keeps track of my purchases and lets me redownload everything i've bought AND lets me back it up to CD/DVD, i think Half-Life is a great franchise to become episodic.

The subtle (x-files-esque) way the story unfolds and the previously unbearable wait between full-fledged sequels makes this announcement welcome.

I just hope other publishers don't start using this as an industry standard concept. It will work well for Half-Life, but i wouldn't tolerate it for just any series. It must be carefully designed, and obviously, the minute the quality drops, i will jump ship.

mofomojo @ Feb 11th 2006 10:21PM

"I do NOT want some "pay per play" bullsh*t where the deal is that i only get to see the rest of the story if i keep sending valve money. F*ck off valve i will never pay for this sh*t."

Hrmm, I disagree, if I pay $15.00 for about 5-7 hours of new storyline gameplay and maybe some expanded multiplayer gameplay too I'd be satisfied, it's still cheaper than going to the movies.

The only problem I have with Valve is the online distro. method. More often than not, I prefer to have a hard-copy of any purchase that I make. Things like iTunes and such really tick me off because I could lose files or passwords and no longer have access to things that I paid for. But with CDs and Cartridges, it's much hard to lose something physically than mentally or on a hard-drive.

I think that we need to merge physical and virtual distro. methods to satisfy both arguments here. I don't want to buy a new "Gold Collection" for HL2 for each episode that comes out just to get a hard-copy. If they release the episodes on a hard-copy and possibly retail, or you can optionally order the hard-copy online for a small price with your download than that would satisfy both of these arguments for me.

I want backups of things on my hard-drive. It gives me a sense of security.

ill trooper @ Feb 12th 2006 4:17AM

Somebody tell someone over at Valve that Freeman needs to shave that cornball "videogame-developer" goatee

Scrubking @ Feb 12th 2006 10:56AM

I guess bypassing the publisher while still charging premium prices, even though they said costs would go down, for their game wasn't enough.

Now they will charge gamers $20 for an hour or two of content instead of $60 for 20 hours of content. Don't let Valve rip you off.

Mauler @ Feb 12th 2006 12:50PM

Like I said, Valve are smart. They've learned a thing or two from the record companies about revenue stream maintenance (they STILL price CD's at $13-17$ for new releases despite the plummet in mfg. costs and skyrocketing productivity of the last 15 years).

Our participation in a market economy requires that WE decide what a product's value is. The challenge to the marketer is to convince us (by coercion, manipulation, hype, or, as a last resort, fact) that what they're giving us is priced fairly.

Trouble is, we're only human, and the methods developed to manipulate our perceptions have gotten so VERY sophisticated and ubiquitous. There is scarcely a waking moment when we are not being conditioned to "consume without contemplation."

"Just buy it 'cause you want it."

I hate to have to -consider- nearly every purchase I make, but I've been burned too many times for the money I bust my ass for. And I don't think its ANYBODY's business whether I use a Visa or American Express (or cash, for that matter...) to purchase anything. It's a big chore to NOT get stuff sometimes, and to try to protect my privacy. Its a struggle that's worth fighting, though, in my opinion.

Sorry, Valve, I call bullsh*t. The value isn't there. I'll hold onto my cash for the time being, thank you.

Rheptyle @ Feb 12th 2006 5:03PM

""pay per play" bullsh*t"

If you look at this correctly, they're actually doing this for you're benefit.

Currently you "pay to play" 50 dollars for a game. You may or may not like it, but either way they have your 50 bucks.

In Episodic, you pay 40 percent or less for the game, and if you don't like it, you don't have to pay anymore.

If you're imagining some kind of credit card prompt right before a boss fight guess again. That would just piss people off and make it LESS likely that you'd shell out more money.

So who's stupid enough to turn down a 40% discount? Hands?

some guy named rob @ Feb 12th 2006 9:56PM

Lets be honest here, Half-Life 2 was a mediocre sequel to the original masterpiece. Remember how we all collectively waited years for the sequel, only to find an average game with a cool physics engine and facial models.

Now we won't have to wait years, as we already know another mediocre 6 hours of game play is half a year away. We were never going to get another gaming masterpiece from this franchise anyways, at least now we won't need to oversell it for 4 years imagining HL3 will change the way we experience video games.

Will I buy Aftermath? yeah. Will I buy an episode or 2, yeah. But will I ever be anxiously awaiting another "episode"? No... and if I don't buy an episode sometime, I'm not going to play storyline catch-up later.... I will have given up.