The HL2: Episode 1 black hole grenade
by Joystiq Staff 
{ Aug 6th 2006 at 5:40PM }
An ingenious poster, RomeoJGuy, over at Halflife2.net has found a secret weapon within Half-Life 2: Episode 1 -- The black hole grenade.
While this thing does look to be very mouth watering, a word of caution for some players is in order since some who tried it out have reported crashes after entering the code needed to enable the grenade. For those who own the game and want to try it out, enter these words in the console: "hopwire_vortex 1" then "give weapon_hopwire."
Anyone interested in seeing what it looks like, there's already a YouTube video of it up.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
1up_clock @ Aug 6th 2006 5:43PM
Whoa.
Michael @ Aug 6th 2006 5:46PM
That's awesome.
Akz @ Aug 6th 2006 5:48PM
'Whoa'
Thats what i thought when i saw this vid too!
Sub @ Aug 6th 2006 5:51PM
Wow. That is fucking awesome. They keep coming up with the coolest weapons. I mean, they have the Crowbar, the Gravity Gun and the Portal Gun. And now this (I assume it'll be used in a future episode)?
Dustin @ Aug 6th 2006 5:54PM
I said the same thing too
Shadowstorm @ Aug 6th 2006 5:54PM
Simply, wow.
kevinski @ Aug 6th 2006 6:11PM
The effect is pretty cool, but this can't compete with the black hole grenade from MDK2 in terms of cool factor.
1up_clock @ Aug 6th 2006 6:12PM
I'm guessing the next innovative gun would be a marvel called the Tiny Car Gun.
Here's how it would work: using an internal portal system that's connected to another portal at a Miniaturized Auto Dealer, the gun would launch tiny cars which would have their own individual AI-controlled tiny drivers who can drive in circles around enemies, distract them, crash into them, etc. At one point in the game, Gordon will come across a large box of disassembled Hot Wheels tracks, and the player will use this to control the chaos of the cars.
Simply put, the people who make those Rube Goldberg devices in Gary's Mod are gonna have a field day with this ground-breaking innovation.
Joseph @ Aug 6th 2006 6:20PM
whooooaaaa indeed.
Optimus Prime @ Aug 6th 2006 6:22PM
How the hell did he figure out this code. Did he sit around entering random messages into the game?
GSI @ Aug 6th 2006 6:37PM
I would like to repeat what #1,2,3,4,5 and 8 said:
Woh...
Kerina @ Aug 6th 2006 6:39PM
Actually it sounds like something out of Ratchet and Clank
Pepple @ Aug 6th 2006 6:46PM
Been trying this thing out, and managed to kill myself and Alyx a number of times. However, once I set one off, I try to give myself another and it won't let me. Any ideas?
Nathan M @ Aug 6th 2006 6:56PM
It IS like something out of Ratchet and Clank. There was a weapon that had the exact same effect in the third R&C game. I doubt there's a connection, but hell that looks just as much fun! :D
Sam @ Aug 6th 2006 6:57PM
That. Is. Freaking. Awesome. I can't wait until that is an official game weapon! Agh, I can't wait until Episode 2.
sirpilf @ Aug 6th 2006 7:22PM
gah, i was just dreaming up my dreamgame and black hole grenade was one of the weapons!! whenever i think i come up with a great idea, i find some company who already did it.
does the portal gun have TIME portals too?
Frank @ Aug 6th 2006 7:29PM
Lame, another weapon they are copying from the Turok series. Get some original ideas Valve.
GSI @ Aug 6th 2006 7:40PM
Oh yea...Turok was a far superior series to Half-Life too right?
/rolls eyes
Scott @ Aug 6th 2006 7:58PM
I agree with Frank, except for the dissing of valve, since valve rocks. Turok did the black-hole grenade too, that even had different modes of firing, and it was cube-shaped, it was very cool. But no valve are not lame for copying it. If they were smart, the next gun they would copy would be the Cerebral Bore from Turok 2.....omg!
Jay @ Aug 6th 2006 8:00PM
GSI, he never said Turok was a better series, but that they are copying.
Personally I haven't played Turok so I can't judge. But don't misread what he said.
Vega @ Aug 6th 2006 8:12PM
This's been out for a while...before Romeo found it, at least (which was a while back in its own right). My mates were kicking this around. Interesting warp effects, though. Very cool.
Number 10--my mates were looking through Episode 1 for leak entities (which they did add, sortof). "find hopwire" brought this up.
GSI @ Aug 6th 2006 8:17PM
True...but he is attacking them for using a weapon that was used in another game. If that was the case then every FPS game with a basic pistol, shotgun and machine gun is lame for copying whatever FPS game used it first.
Mayowa @ Aug 6th 2006 8:39PM
Nice weapon, cool effect. Shame the environment looks like crap, though.
Psaakyrn @ Aug 6th 2006 9:52PM
I'm more interested in the part of it adjusting gravity. I'm wondering if the HL2 engine can simulate gravity and the AI necessary to be able to stand on surfaces based on the change in gravity.. (Not to mention the portal potential)
Matt Q @ Aug 6th 2006 10:11PM
Thats... so... awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!
It's more of a satchel charge than a grenade though.
Wedge @ Aug 6th 2006 10:15PM
Meh. That didn't look that great. The Gravity Vortex launcher from the Chaos UT mods was much more impressive. Aside from just grabbing anyone near it and crushing them into a mutilated ragdoll, it actually stayed a while and affected the trajectory of projectiles, even grabbing them into orbit. It looked awesome in the middle of a battlefield having tons of floating balls of plasma and rockets swirling around it.
Trent @ Aug 6th 2006 11:07PM
Ha! More like a strictly contained and localized black hole grenade! Gordon and Alyx would be way within the event horizon.
ZOMG! PWNED!!!
Angmar @ Aug 6th 2006 11:43PM
#26
You can have a Black Hole with a small event horizon. If you decrease the mass in the singularity to the mass of the Earth, you will get a small event horizon (a couple of cm IIRC).
Redeemer31 @ Aug 6th 2006 11:56PM
I wonder if you could be partly sucked into the black hole, right when it starts closing up. That would definitely be... messy.
AOL @ Aug 7th 2006 12:03AM
@1-5 and others: ME TOO!
fat boy @ Aug 7th 2006 12:18AM
The Singularity Generator from Blood 2 (1998) predates Turok 3's PSG. Anybody got an earlier instance of the black hole gun/grenade idea?
Ian @ Aug 7th 2006 1:03AM
Its not like its anything new, Ratchet and Clank: Up your arsenal (released in 04) had a gun called the rift enducer which basically did the same thing except it was a gun that fired black holes instead of a grenade.
datafox @ Aug 7th 2006 1:22AM
Actually it reminded me of the Men In Black cartoon.
namenotused @ Aug 7th 2006 2:19AM
#29
Yes, Painkeep for Quake had a weapon called a Gravity Well (Early 97 I think). It was a cube that you dropped that sucked everything in, just as the name suggests.
chimera @ Aug 7th 2006 2:24AM
Actually, if any of you remember the sci-fi movie "The Arrival" from 1996, the aliens in it use a device almost identical to this to clear out rooms.
fat boy @ Aug 7th 2006 3:01AM
Come to think of it, there was a Black Hole Generator starship weapon in the old-school PC game Master of Orion back in 1993. I don't think there were any cool effects of enemy ships being sucked into the singularity though.
thrashr888 @ Aug 7th 2006 4:24AM
Anyone remember a movie called "Ghost Busters"?
Nicolas Redfern @ Aug 7th 2006 4:38AM
Anyway you can use it twice?
Nicolas Redfern @ Aug 7th 2006 4:44AM
Just found out, use impulse 101 to get 5 more after using the rest of the code
toy game @ Aug 7th 2006 4:44AM
Hidden weapon, probably going to attempt to unveil it in episode 2... by which time they should have fixed the crashes (and perhaps the source engine stutter also ;P )
shaoron @ Aug 7th 2006 5:06AM
what in the world is that!?
that's just... just.. well...
CRAZY!
r3p1v @ Aug 7th 2006 5:18AM
#10 - Valve gives away the source code to HL2 in the SDK (of course the engine is closed source), so it was just a matter of time before a mod developer noticed it.
Nutterbutter @ Aug 7th 2006 6:07AM
This was in MK2 aswell.
Nadinengland @ Aug 7th 2006 6:24AM
That if awesome, i wounder what other secrects it has....
tbc
Jenever @ Aug 7th 2006 8:18AM
Warhammer 40k has Krak Grenades, which are similar. That's 1987.
sockatume @ Aug 7th 2006 8:26AM
It might not be anything new in itself, but it's going to be a lot more interesting than previous black hole weapons due to HL2's fantastic physics engine. See that deforming bridge on the Episode 2 trailer? Imagine chucking a black hole grenade onto a structure like that and watching the deformation as it caves in on itself. Or imagine using one to divert an incoming missile. Or... imagine the possibilities, if you will.
Scott @ Aug 7th 2006 9:51AM
Kind of reminds me of the alien weapon in the the movie "The Arrival" (starring Charlie Sheen).
Adam @ Aug 7th 2006 9:52AM
Jenever: Krak grenades are nothing special, just powerful anti-tank grenades. Nothing involving black holes.
Paul @ Aug 7th 2006 10:15AM
Well, that looks... lame. I mean, Prey had much more interesting ideas in it, if you're amazed by that then you really should try playing Prey.
Chris @ Aug 7th 2006 10:15AM
I've tested it using Hammer and you can make your own map and play around with it. I put 20 chairs in a room... funny stuff.