Talk:Half-Life 2 controversies and criticisms

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Articles for deletion This article was nominated for deletion on 2007-02-14. The result of the discussion was Merge to Half-Life 2.

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[edit] Axel G

"Axel G. was arrested in Germany instead, and eventually put on trial for the leak as well as other computer crimes, such as the creation of a mildly successful virus which destroyed computer hard drives."

It destroyed harddrives? What exactly did it do?—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 80.57.198.38 (talk • contribs) 00:46, November 14, 2006.

[edit] Gravity Gun

Why is there information on the gravity gun that merely criticizes it? All it says it "some players this" and "players felt that" and uses the phrase "killed" to describe a weakening of the complexity of game mechanics. This is not in adherence to wikipedia standards and needs to be corrected soon.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Swordsman3003 (talk • contribs) 22:07, October 25, 2006.

I second this about the gravity gun... when I saw that text I thought "unbalanced". Why? Because I disagree with it.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 83.151.227.107 (talk • contribs) 01:27, November 2, 2006.

[edit] Leak

I'm pretty sure the source leak and this 'beta leak' are actually the same thing.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Tom Edwards (talk • contribs) 11:12, July 4, 2005.

Theres a big difference you know. Source code is the actual code of the game. Beta is a playable version. -- Psi edit
There you go, then. One was a leak and the other was a release. :-) --Tom Edwards 00:03, 13 December 2005 (UTC)

The Source just let you fool around. It was also very buggy and crashed alot. It wasn't worth the download in my opinion ;).Amren 18:32, 19 August 2005 (UTC)

Yeah and who wants the FBI on your tail? -- [[User:Psi edit|Psi edit]

[edit] Fov

Also, I am PRETTY sure (not entirely) that the default FOV is in fact 90 degrees, in or out of vehicles. There is a console command, fov, that lets you change it. 0 means it will use the default, or any degree value will...yeah. But when I put in 90, I see absolutely positively no change. It is possible that Valve did this to appeal to relativity standards, so people who have played Quake wouldn't spend 15 minutes realizing 90 is the default. I'm afraid to edit the article this way, as I'm not completely sure either way. -Katana —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 71.124.241.236 (talk • contribs) 02:26, February 15, 2006.


[edit] Pirated Copies

"While pirated copies continue to circulate on the Internet, these illegitimate copies do not enable the user to take advantage of new features from upcoming updates and online play is impossible."

The above statement is not in fact true. Although I will not describe them here, there are in fact ways to update an unauthorized copy easily and ways to play online. Medeivalstargazer 00:45, 4 January 2007 (UTC)


[edit] Info on frame rate problems and a workaround

"Some users reported game crashes when HL2 initiates its auto-save feature (since fixed), as well as audio and video stuttering and hitches. Patches are periodically released by Valve which attempt to correct these issues. The initial patch, released in December 2004, fixed the audio stuttering but also reduced the game's performance for some players, either through a lowered frame rate or lowered resolution, unless they disabled the changes through the console. The cause of hitching has since been identified as low FSB values, a factor not mentioned in the game's system requirements."

This is plainly wrong and it's source is non existant .. the problem is solely based on harddrive performance.. i know what im talking about. Sound stuttering results from the way Source precaches sound files, visual stuttering (on fast enough Graphics Cards) results from files (usually textures) not being loaded fast enough from the harddrive, the -heapsize command can help fix this (on machines with a lot of ram)... there should be plenty of information about these issues on numerous forums. Currently it's plainly wrong.

I added information on the frame rate problems experienced by numerous users, including a workaround.

It makes me sick to feel that new people are buying the game and becoming horrified that their out-of-date computers are incapable of playing it. It was a godsend to me and my screwed computer; good graphics, excellent engine, and an overall great game in a package that played at a reasonable frame rate.

So for any new game owners who navigate here, as well as veterans who were pissed to see their game desecrated, that information is for them.

--Yamamoto114 06:41, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Verify and Totallydisputed

Half-Life 2 was merely a rumor until a strong impression at E3 in May 2003 launched it into levels of hype only equalled by Doom 3 at the time.

Stuff like this needs a citation. Please see WP:CITE.

When the game is running in 64-bit mode, it can be (virtually) impossible to finish the 13th chapter, "Our Benefactors", due to constant crashing when using the enhanced gravity gun (usually on energy balls).

Says who? Who is using "energy balls"?

This article needs a lot of work, good luck. Please see policies at WP:CITE, WP:VERIFY and WP:NPOV. Check out Wikipedia:Reliable sources for a guideline on finding good quality reliable sources. - FrancisTyers 21:33, 1 June 2006 (UTC)

Also please do not rate video games aginst other video games as they are too easily disputed.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Dmackeybog (talk • contribs) 05:26, July 18, 2006.

I think the "Energy Balls" are refering to the (heh) "energy balls" you can pull with the altered grav gun from the energy streams in the citidal levels in both HL2 and Ep1. They appear as glowing balls of what might be plasma or some other high energy field, and are transmited along vertical beams of light in the citidal. (Apperantly providing it with power.)

But, yeah, I'm with Francis here, I'm running a 64bit system and had no problem completing HL2 on it. My guess is this could have been an issue with early implementation of 64 bit processors, but, this definatly needs some work. - [StarkeRealm][Jan 11, 2007]

[edit] HDR section

I noticed several incorrect statements in the HDR section.

First of all, I've never heard of any performance issues caused by the HDR patch when HDR is turned OFF, but I'll give that the benefit of the doubt. The problem I have is with the workaround. It stated that you could fix the problem by falling back from DirectX 9 to DirectX 8.1, and then said that this workaround didn't result in any degredation of visual quality. Considering that the vast majority of videocards out there default to DX9 (and always have, HL2 shipped using DX9 by default on capable cards), and using DX 8.1 support uses simpler shaders, lighting, effects, etc, this is just plain wrong.

The supposed cause of the HDR slowdowns also don't make sense; it said something like HDR moved from DX 8.1 to DX9, causing the slowdown by the greater demands of DX9. But HL2 always used DX9 on capable cards, before the HDR patch even, and when the HDR feature is turned off, it's supposed to be as if HDR support was never added.

Anyhow, I really doubt that this entire section is valid, and it should probably be deleted in it's entirety, but I've tried to at least correct the obvious false statements.

Bugs like that, even if they exist, aren't encyclopedic anyway. Vote for removal. --Tom Edwards 06:52, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] First cracked release

The article states "Three days after the game was released a crash-prone cracked version which did not require Steam or a CD appeared on the Internet (nearly a week before a stable version was widely available)." - but this is, and pardon my french, pure bull. Who says it was prone to crashing? Going by anecdotal evidence there was no such problems - and a lot of gamers downloading this (pre-decrypted) version finished the game BEFORE the legit users had their copies de-crypted via steam. Zarkow 203.144.160.242 15:18, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Motion sickness

I can't speak for anyone else but the vehicle levels in HL2 definitely make me nauseous. I've had to stop playing after a couple of levels for fear that I'm about to throw up. --MagicMoose 11:43, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Lag

In most cases today the only thing one with dial-up will experience is horrid lag. Rarely, these players can cause the server to "lag-out" and cause all players who are in-game to lose connection.

What? Sources please! Where does one find this information that "most" of the people with dial-up get "only" horrid lag? Also, what on Earth is that second statement? If you know even remotely anything about basic client-server architecture, you'd recognize this statement as near insanity. Clients seperately and individually talk to the server, and the only way a speed of a client's connection is going to effect other clients is if the one client's connection speed is TOO FAST that it sucks up all the servers CPU time (and any good client-server model will take this into account and deal with it.) If a client has a slow connection, the server doesn't sit there taking up CPU cycles "wondering" where the client is. A high pinging client is relatively easier to handle due to the less frequent communication. This idea that people with high ping lag servers is just a load of crock. If you acutally see the phenomena of a server go down like that while playing, it is almost assuredly for some other reason than "one of the players had high ping." Geez, it's amazing what sort of illogical stuff people can blame things on. -- 129.21.137.44 02:43, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

How bout that they never put it out in PS2 FORM! DAMN! 66.218.11.137 04:08, 23 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Internet connection requirements

I read this article before buying HL2 and Episode 1 a couple of weeks ago. To my pleasant surprise I found out that one only needs internet access to install the game and, of course, to do any multiplayer games or updates. Once the game was installed, I found I could run it fine in Offline mode (Steam gives you the option). I added a statement to this effect, but it should be confirmed whether this is a new function (the version of HL2 I installed was a 2006 pressing that I bought alongside EP1 so maybe it was a new code) or if it's always been that way. 23skidoo 21:37, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

You shouldn't add things in like that based solely on your own experiences - that is original research and against wikipedia policy. Instead, find a mention of this somewhere reliable (ie, not a blog or a dodgy 'news' site) and cite that as a reference. Wibbble 00:58, 20 December 2006 (UTC)
Original research? He was just stating a fact. I very much doubt that offline use is only enabled on 23skidoo's Steam account. It is in-fact an official feature. The Adept (talk) 19:36, 22 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Unsourced

The sole source provided for this article is a forum thread which fails WP:RS and WP:V. I'm adding the appropriate template, if no sources are forthcoming in a reasonable time, I'll remove any unsourced material.--Crossmr 03:56, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] 64 Bit Problems

Another thing that could be added is that some people have trouble installing Steam and HL2 on x64 due to the default name of the folder Program Files (x86) Apparantly, they don't like the () in the name.

Also, it seems to me that they've fixed the 13th level bug. I had no problem on a recent play-through after an update (I did encounter the bug about a year ago) and it's tough to find any reference to the problem any more in Valve faqs & forums.

[edit] Merge

After the recent AFD (of which the results was to merge) this article was simlpy redirected, without any content merging. As the target article contains virtually none of the mergable info, I reverted the redirect and will merge suitable, referenced content in the near future. --Cpt. Morgan (Reinoutr) 15:05, 28 February 2007 (UTC)

The content can still be access for merging purposes even if the article itself is already merged. What purpose does it serve to remove the redirect?--Crossmr 15:24, 28 February 2007 (UTC)
When an AfD is closed as Merge, the implication is that some of the content is considered of value to Wikipedia. Redirecting without merging content removes that content from a casual view of the encyclopedia and therefore does not reflect the consensus view (in the AfD) that (some) content is worth keeping. My intentions are definately not to circumvent the AfD results, I will merge content in the coming days. But I do differ in opinion with the redirecting editor in respect to how AfD that was closed as a clear "Merge" should be treated. --Cpt. Morgan (Reinoutr) 15:40, 28 February 2007 (UTC)
I wasn't worried about you circumventing the AfD, more in just understanding how you were planning on going about it. No worries.--Crossmr 20:29, 28 February 2007 (UTC)