Talk:Half-Life 2

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Half-Life 2 has had a peer review by Wikipedia editors which is now archived. It may contain ideas you can use to improve this article.

The following users are active in maintaining and improving this article. If you have questions regarding verification and sources, they may be able to help: Thunderbrand (talk • contribs • email), ZS (talk • contribs • email), Linuxbeak (talk • contribs • email), Gurch (talk • contribs • email)

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Previous discussions:

• Archive 1
• Archive 2
• Archive 3

Contents 1 'Missing Information' mod 2 City-Scanners Plagarized? 3 Spoiler in Story / Narration section 4 Added front page nomination 5 Voices. 6 move the page? 7 {{Half-Life}} 8 Half-Life 2 in Wii 9 Vivendi Universal as publisher 10 Length of Gordon's sleep 11 HL2: Deathmatch Image 12 The Coast (Highway 17) 13 Defending something that got reverted 14 Development? 15 Retail vs. Steam (needs update) 16 Gold Steam Package vs Collector's Edition 17 WikiProject?

[edit] 'Missing Information' mod

Regarding the Missing Information mod, and what I wrote ("Valve-sanctioned") which has been tagged with a {{fact}}, I based that statement on a forum post by one of the developers: "Regarding the legality, we have asked valve plenty of times and the only thing we weren't allowed to go near was the code from the leak, we had our own coder, he coded the stuff from scratch." I know forum posts like that aren't good references so I guess if nothing else, "Valve-sanctioned" could just be removed. It is also strongly inferred, but not directly stated, in the release notes: "SPECIAL THANKS - Gabe [Newell] and the gang [Valve] for being team players!" Ziggur 12:01, 8 June 2006 (UTC)

Just removed the following: "This mod has not been sanctioned by Valve, and official permission has not been given for the distribution of this material. [1]". AFAIK there isn't any mod which is officially sanctioned and not made or bought by Valve (unless maybe Garry's Mod?), so a simple note MI is 3rd party should be enough. -- Jordi·✆ 12:39, 8 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] City-Scanners Plagarized?

I thought you all might like to have a look at this:

http://i5.tinypic.com/142znms.jpg

This screen-capture was taken from an episode of 'Spider-Man: The Animated Series' entitled "The Spider-Slayers" (S1xE2). These devices look, move and sound virtually identical to Half-Life 2's 'City-Scanners'. If someone would like to add a mention of this to the page, or better yet, the Combine's technology page, feel free. If desired, I can provide a copy of the episode. —Ortchel 01:42, 12 June 2006 (UTC)

An eye surrounded by 'lashes' is a very natural design, and not enough to label something as being plaguarised. Hearing them and seeing them move would be interesting, though. --Tom Edwards 11:58, 12 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Spoiler in Story / Narration section

In the third paragraph of the Story / Narration section there is a quite big spoiler about the end of the game. Should it perhaps be removed or tagged as spoiler? Could a more experience wikipedian look into this? / Chebab 21:29, 12 June 2006 (UTC)

There is already a spoiler tag. Thunderbrand 01:09, 13 June 2006 (UTC)

No, not in that section. / Chebab 11:07, 17 June 2006 (UTC)

That's true, there were major spoilers outside the tags. I edited the tags to enclose all of them. Hope that's okay. :) OutlandishTeacup 07:21, 9 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Added front page nomination

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Today%27s_featured_article/requests Hopefully it can get front paged. Userpie 23:45, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Voices.

I think the Half-Life articles (1 and 2) could use some voice actor coverage. -- Psi edit 02:13, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] move the page?

could we move the page to a new page called HλLF-LIFE²? As this is the Name described on the cover. you could then make the current page redirect to the article. Any comments? fwed66 17:00, 10 July 2006 (GMT)

It's generally discouraged. See archived discussion. ╫ ２５ ^{◀RingADing▶} 16:22, 10 July 2006 (UTC) ╫

Also, the official name is not "Hλlf-Life 2", it's indeed "Half-Life 2". Linuxbeak (AAAA!) 00:28, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] {{Half-Life}}

Does someone know who wrote this? I'd like to create similar template. Wyglif _SMS 08:09, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

Templates can be checked just like other articles. Here's the history link. Basically just link to [[Template:Name]] to check and edit. -- Jordi·✆ 08:14, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

Thanks, I started to figure it out just after posting this question. ;) Wyglif _SMS 08:16, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Half-Life 2 in Wii

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=53108

It will also appear on the Wii. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 88.108.106.148 (talk • contribs).

That news is from 2003. Thunderbrand 00:44, 15 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Vivendi Universal as publisher

On the right-hand side of the article it says "Publisher: Vivendi Universal (expired)"

If someone has the knowledge, could a section be added regarding this? I'm rather curious; from my understanding, Half-Life (the first one) was developed by Valve and published by Sierra (a subsidiary of Vivendi), but how come Half-Life 2 ended up being published by Valve themselves?

Any information would be appreciated.

Thanks, JT

The details are here. They could probably be worked in somewhere - I'm suprised they aren't present as it is, in fact. --Tom Edwards 14:50, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

I didn't know that there was so much behind it. Thanks, but it seems that this has been worked into the main Half-Life 2 article. I'm not sure if others would like something a bit more detailed on the 'main page'--as of now, it's only a link under the "See also" section. --JT 19:14, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

FYI, don't include the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ in internal links or they will screw up like that one just did. :-) --Tom Edwards 19:26, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

Hah, what an obvious solution that turned out to have! I've linked the word 'expired' to the contract dispute article heading. --Tom Edwards 19:29, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Length of Gordon's sleep

The article currently states:

Official sources are conflicting about the actual length of this intermission - a story fragment written by author Marc Laidlaw for the development team puts the intermission at ten years, while Half-Life 2: Episode One's website puts this intermission as "nearly two decades" after the end of the events of Half-Life.

However, can both pieces of information not be reconciled by the portal storms occuring ten years after the events of Half-Life 1? --Tom Edwards 08:33, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

What do you mean? That how Laidlaw's comment and the website contradict each other? Thunderbrand 15:04, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

The story fragment (IIRC) and the Kleinercast mention ten years, but they are both relative to the Combine's invasion, not Black Mesa. We had assumed that the Combine arrived shortly after HL1, but is it not possible for it to have in fact happened years later? --Tom Edwards 15:18, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

Woah, I never considered that possibility. My mind has just been blown by the simplicity and elegance of this solution. 67.172.204.135 02:27, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] HL2: Deathmatch Image

You know the menu background of Half-Life 2: Deathmatch? I suggest we put it in the article at the "Multiplayer" category. It's commonly associated with the game and it has the never-seen Combine models that appeared at the pre-release screenshots of Half-Life 2: Episode One. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 87.196.106.128 (talk • contribs).

[edit] The Coast (Highway 17)

I've been meaning to ask about why thwere isn't any referance to the oast as se in Half-Life 2. Shouldn't someone (or myself) add a section to the Locations such as the Coast. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Brad92 (talk • contribs).

[edit] Defending something that got reverted

I realize the box-art thing is fairly trivial, but I think it's interesting enough trivia. This isn't "the pictures on the box are pre-rendered", this is "There is nothing even remotely close to what you're find in the game on the box". I know, hardly an argument... but dammit, I really like that piece of trivia. Maybe it could be added somewhere concerning the delay of HL2, since the pictures are obviously from an earlier version of the game? Scumbag 01:55, 29 August 2006 (UTC)

I don't think it is really that neccessary. I stand by ZS's decision. Thunderbrand 17:47, 29 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Development?

Is there any reason why this article has no "development" section? While I realize that some information will not be available as a result of Valve's decision to not publicize the game until late into its development, it seems to be standard procedure for featured articles on computer and video games. A little subsection on development should fit right in to the "Technical" section. If no one objects, I will begin research for one. JimmyBlackwing 06:45, 9 September 2006 (UTC)

Geoff Keighley's "Behind the Games" on Half-Life 2's development offers a good starting point. It would also be a good idea to think ahead preparing separating this aspect of the game from the main article in the future; the Half-Life 2 article is already awfully long as it is. ╫ ２５ ^{◀RingADing▶} 10:06, 9 September 2006 (UTC) ╫

Thanks for the tip. And that feature will come in very handy once I get going on this. JimmyBlackwing 07:41, 10 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Retail vs. Steam (needs update)

"When sales figures were last announced, over four million copies of Half-Life 2 had been sold. Roughly 25 percent of all Half-Life 2 copies have been purchased using the Steam content delivery service; their exact number is between 750,000 and one million, depending on whether they are included in the figure of four million."

If Steam copies make up 25% of the overall copies, their exact number is between:

A. Included in 4 million: 1 million.
and
B. Not included in 4 million: 1,35 million (25% out of overall sales of 5.35 million copies)

note6 (http://www.steampowered.com/v/index.php?area=news&id=648): "Half-Life 2 has been named Game of the Year by over 35 organizations and sold over four million copies worldwide. The intense, real-time gameplay delivered in Half-Life 2 and Half-Life 2: Episode One is made possible only by Source, Valve's proprietary engine technology."

note7 (http://www.steamreview.org/?p=16): "On a lighter note, the sales figures for Steam were indirectly revealed at AGDS when Valve’s speaker there, Mike Dunkle, said that ‘75% of their business’ came through retail channels. This could be taken two ways, customers or profits, but the gap between Steam and retail profit margins together with Doug Lombardi’s statement that Steam had been ‘wildly more profitable’ for Valve confirms it is the former. The latest official sales estimates are 3 million, and therefore Steam sales number either 750 000 if the 3 million includes them, or 937 500 if it does not." --213.216.199.6 10:44, 14 September 2006 (UTC)

I'm terrible at maths, so please feel free to make any corrections you see fit. :-) --Tom Edwards 13:06, 14 September 2006 (UTC)

Nah, I'll wait for further confirmation that it isn't just me being crazy. :-) I mean, we talk about featured article here. --213.216.199.6 16:37, 14 September 2006 (UTC)

Still waiting. :( --213.216.199.6 16:10, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Gold Steam Package vs Collector's Edition

Someone please clean up this article regarding information about the Gold and Collector editions. I notice they have been considered one and the same (i.e. the Collector's edition is referred to having the same content as the Gold steam package, which is grossly incorrect). The Gold package contained the music CD, DoD Source and all the extra trinkets, but the Collector's edition only had the HL:Source and T-Shirt as well as the Primer. I'd make the changes but I can't be arsed; just want to bring it to attention. -- PanicAttack 12:10, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] WikiProject?

I've proposed a half-life WikiProject. If anyone's interested, please add your name add your name here. Thanks! -- Selmo ^(talk) 23:59, 25 October 2006 (UTC)