Darkness... My body hurts! Or is it my brain? The explosion! I remember it now. Maybe I'm in a coma? Or even worst, I may be already dead... Everything is so confusing... Zombies, monsters and ghosts from the past are filling my mind... Oh God, so many memories mixed with my dreams! I can't even distinguish them anymore. What if my entire life was just a nightmare? But it felt so real... Wait, what's that sweet voice? Sounds like a nurse! THAT is part of reality, I am sure. Now if I could just concentrate on this voice and try to wake up...
After 10 years, we look back at everything that the original Half-Life has given us.
Article Posted by stenchy on Nov 18th, 2008
November 19th, 2008 is the 10th anniversary of Half-Life. It's been ten years since Valve released its first game which went on to take the modding community by storm and spawn a number of completely new experiences that have forever influenced the first-person genre. The game itself was both a critical and commercial darling but for many people, Gordon Freeman's debut adventure was only the beginning of their Half-Life experience. After so many years, the game still tops the popular charts on ModDB for good reason. Valve has drawn strength from its boundless community of modders—almost half of their original IPs have been formed from the ideas of students and amateur developers that Valve have brought into their fold. The following is a list of mods that managed to make it into the big leagues courtesy of Half-Life:
Team Fortress Classic
Originally a mod for Quake, Team Fortress Classic transitioned to the GoldSource engine after Valve recruited the designers behind it. Robin Walker and John Cook led development on the mod which incorporated nine different classes and a variety of gamemodes that have since become the standard multiplayer fare. Second to only Counter-Strike in popularity, TFC encouraged teamwork having players work together to take advantage of the strengths of each class.
Counter-Strike
The mod that really took over the online community and harbored the title of being the 'most played online game' for years after its inception. Helmed by developers Minh Le and Jess Cliffe, Counter-Strike aimed for a realistic shooter experience. It put players into the roles of terrorist and counter-terrorist dealing with hostage rescues and bomb defusal within urban settings. With only one life to live each round, you needed to display cat-like reflexes and wits of steel to compete with the best.
Day of Defeat
Back in 2000, when the WWII genre churn was still in its infancy, Day of Defeat started development. It soon gathered a loyal following and quickly grew into a multiplayer experience that many favored over other commercial WWII-era games. The mod featured many landmark areas from the European theatre of war with multiple objectives needed to obtain victory. Two years after development had started, the core team was recruited by Valve for a retail version.
The Ship
Mystery and murder on the high seas! Find out who your target is and assassinate them before you get whacked yourself. The Ship was a prototype created for Half-Life and eventually released as a commercial game on the Source engine. Unlike the other mods listed, The Ship is not developed under Valve but a company called Outerlight which is already at work on a sequel.
Not to discount all the other mods, Henley has put together a video covering the top 5 mods of all time for Half-Life (top). A lot of these mods still have active communities to boot, so don't hesitate to jump in! It's a quite a lovely roundup that will take you back. Enjoy!
UPDATE: Haven't experienced Half-Life or any of its mods? Shame on you! Pick it up on Steam for only $0.98 — now you have no excuse! Store.steampowered.com
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Still a great game 10 years later, I doubt many have not played one of the mods or games this title has spawned. Share the news Digg.com
Well done video.
On a side note, WOO Sven Co-op.
So much of my life was spent playing that game.
Counter-Strike, oh the times, I still play it the most out of all my games. Day of Defeat is awesome too.
OVER 9000!
Nice pick of mods
Sooner later Half-life 2 is going to be at 10 years aswell eh?
Yeah, but when HL2 will be 10 years old HL1 will be 15 years old :P
Hl2 engine will be old possibly Hl3 will be made with a more realistic engine thats new.Hl1 engine will be pretty old.
Awesome Tribute Guys...
Way to keep it alive and breathing.
Nicely done. Great list.
I like NS and SC!!
Man, this brings back so many memories.
Happy birthday Half-life... *tear* It's our 10th anniversary, I'm sorry I forgot to buy you something. I hope you don't mind.
It's a shame theres so many gamers out there, as well as console gamers that are so ignorant they don't even know their roots. Half-life jump started the modding community and proceeds to be the best gaming experience to date (Oppinion) yet the ignorant younger gamer generations and console gamers ignore the Half-life series for lack of taking place in a giant space ring.
Agreed.
Half-life FOR THE ******* WIN.
Not me. Of course, I was exposed to the game by my father at age 5. Been addicted to it since. The LD graphics still give me a sense of nostalgia.
9 years later and still a fan!
Ah, how I love Half-Life and everything it's spawned.
Natural Selection is kind of a Alien vs Marines :)
Those were the WON days ;)
LOl WON.....yuk, but it worked Half-Life all the way.....SVEN COOP ROKS
I miss the late 90s/early 00s
me too
now half the people in the world are insane. not back then.
Happy release anniversary HL1,the stoy has been great,the mods have been good too,but not as much as the story.
Go Goldsource modders! :D
I would've liked to have seen a nod towards Frontline Force. I still have yet to find a game with such lasting multiplayer appeal as that one. Playing FLF was magical.
FireArms was also deserving of the list. I also liked Hostile Intent for a short while.
(was FLF the one where you spawned in choppers and you could shoot the choppers down, or was that Global Operations?)
What's with the video quality? The framerate was terrible, some sections were squashed from 16:9 to 4:3 and there was this weird 'blurry' effect throughout.
Half Life will simply never die..
They're not even using the HL2 engine for NS2, they madez their own :D
Eh? So, its not a hl2 mod?
No - it uses a custom engine by Unknown Worlds titled "Evolution"
good on them. I think they deserve to make a stand alone game (???) for what they did.
Yup, I bought Half-Life 1 in December of 1998, I was a freshman in High School. hah. Wow, that was so long ago!
Great #1 spot, Natural Selection really deserves it! I was kind of missing Vampire slayer in your countdown but well well :P.
(buried)
Oh..
Oohohohoh.
NO,
FREAKIN,
WAY
YOU DID 'NOT' PUT THAT MOD ON FIRST PLACE
Just... drop in a canyon.
I did, and that my friend is how the world works. If you dont like Natural Selection im sure the other 1000 players who love it think your wrong in your assessment.
Yeah. Uknown Worlds did so great job producing NS. I think that its still one of the most intensive FPS mod ever. Great gameplay and good community. It's an masterpiece and definnitely beongs to the hall of fame of mods (: - My opinion.
Hall of fame of mods :DD I should really try to learn basic grammar of english :D
you're***. Get to know yo language.
HA HA HALFLIFE :O
well.. i cant understand why sven coop is on number 2... i couldnt enjoy it at all because the exaggerated health of the enemies always killed the fun.
Maybe because the point is that you AND your friends are supposed to take it down.....
Nice article. :)
The game of a generation...
Man... 10 years and still shiny.
THE original HL1 is the standard " de facto " of the FPS...
Really an amazing game 10-ten years after....
HL1 forever....!!!
Revolutionized both the FPS and the mod scene!
Half-Life's one of the greatest games ever, (only beaten by Half-Life 2) but the time I've spent playing its mods is far greater than the time I've spent with the game itself.
Which reminds me, I've yet to finish it!
The list was great, except that I wouldn't have put ESF and TH there.
And Entmod (a plugin-minimod, prequel of Garrys Mod) would've been my number one. Any old enters here?
Why so many people doesn't use HL HD pack from Gearbox?
Anyway GO HALF-LIFE
For me it's because the Glock 17 is now a Berreta 92FS and the MP5-M203 is now a 9mm M4-M203,plus there is a new Super HD-Pack by DiamonD,which is better.
No way.Berreta and M2 are best
Btw check my Happy New Year ! wallpaper at the half-life 1 images. I know it's a bit early but... Post some comments.
Ahh The Specialists... I loved that thing, they won't make it for Source... what a pity...
10 years on and still playing it like it was recently released.