Half-Life 2 (PC)

[Spatial]

Something like a 3.2ghz P4 CPU, 1.5 GB of RAM and a GeForce 6800 or better if you want to run HDR and have it looking as its supposed to.

Saying that, digging around for the answer to it does seem likely you'll be able to turn HDR off since Valve plan to implement it through the whole of HL2 and it's expansions (which would then prevent anyone without a top notch system playing it). This means it should run fine on anyone's system (in theory)

[capcom_suicide]

Surely it cant be that much of a difference from the core HL2?

Dunno, but last night I played HL2 on my new rig, and I just cannot get over how good the source engine really is.*

I had an old 9800Pro, and now have a 7800GT.

1280x1024 with full "Everything" and I was astounded. I had no idea what I was missing out on. But I was still impressed that the engine had scaled so well on the old box. That's very cool.

So the new one will be based on source, and basically will work the same as teh current game, except you'll need good hardware for all the candy, (High Dynamic Range rendering etc)

Bring it on! I really hope we get more street to street fighting.

* Now that I don't have any jutters!

/C_S

[Mardigan8]

Well am still kicking things along on a 9800, with a 3.GHz P4 so am guessin the little sweeties they have put in there will need to be toned down on my rig. Core game ran super sweet on my machine but I could tell there was much more potential there. That sth bad thing about PC gaming, you top of the line on month then struggling to meet requirements the next.

Still gonna be gettin into all the expansions and playing them right through.

Totally agree about the street to street fighting. If they can re-create set pieces of a similar scale to the one outside that Governement building, with the walkers and all your buddies then I will be a happy rebel

[Concept]

Most of you have probably already seen this, but 1UP have been doing a Half-Life 2 love-in week. Lots of information, news and interviews:

http://valve.1up.com/

[anephric]

That Xbox footage is looking fairly damn impressive!

[Concept]

That Xbox footage is looking fairly damn impressive!

Yes. I'm hoping I'll be able to play it stutter free at last...

[Spatial]

You never know, if the Xbox port is totally true to the original they may decide to k-k-keep the s-s-s-stutter i-i-i-in

[Concept]

I'll cry tears of pain and misery if it does. :/

I don't want to p-p-p-p-p-p-ick up that-that trash can any longer. Hopefully the same engine problems (which I think they are considering I've done everything possible bar replacing the contents of my machine to change the stuttering) aren't going to be replicated.

An amazing game tortureously prone to technical, immersion-destroying flaws. A smooth Half-Life 2 would be one of my highlights of the year.

[Spatial]

On a related note - this mod is well worth a look

http://ntsc-uk.domino.org/showthread.php?p=603634#post603634

(not that you'll be able to play it Concept - can't believe after all this time and numerous Steam updates that the stuttering is still a problem for you Mines been free of any noticable stutter for ages )

[Concept]

I got it sorted somewhat a while back (mostly about as good as I could get it), then I had an XP blue-screen-of-death crash and had to reinstall everything losing all my config and hardware customisations. Now I'm on 56K again searching for fixes and mods and the like is a pain in the neck.

I won't be too bothered if Valve sort the Xbox port. I like the idea of having this generation's most important first-person titles all on one machine (Halo, Halo 2, Half-Life 2, Riddick, Doom III, Far Cry, Stranger's Wrath).

[Kotatsu Neko]

Most of you have probably already seen this, but 1UP have been doing a Half-Life 2 love-in week. Lots of information, news and interviews:

http://valve.1up.com/

I've had a good watch/read of all of this now and I'm impressed with their plans for Aftermath and episodic content. Less impressed with Day of Defeat:Source (shots up on IGN) which looks mediocre (graphically), and even less impressed with Sin:Episodes... which looked very dated and visually not much better than the original Quake 2 based Sin 1.

[anephric]

Mine still stutters occasionally, and I've done as much fixing as I can be bothered to, on top of Steam patches.

[Concept]

To be honest, I'm more interested in Rag Doll Kung Fu than the Sin episodes and Day of Defeat: Source.

Aftermath also sounds like it'll be amazing, seeing as Alyx was by far and away the strongest character in the series upon her introduction to Half-Life 2. A game, playing co-op with her AI sounds like it might be doing something a little different to other expansion packs. Though calling it that is probably unfair... Aftermath is virtually a sequel in all but name.

[Concept]

Mine still stutters occasionally, and I've done as much fixing as I can be bothered to, on top of Steam patches.

The stuttering discourages me from playing the game as a whole. These days, I pop into episodes where there aren't any stuttering (such as Eli's lab, Ravenholm, Coast etc.) for an hour or so of gameplay here and there. I wish Valve had separated the Strider part of the return to City 17 into a single chapter too, because it's smooth and the greatest part of the experience (along with the entry to the tower).

[Spatial]

Bit-tec have given Lost Coast a test and played around with the HDR. Apparently it only has around 15 mins worth of playtime, but then it was never intended as an expansion and more of a way to show off the engines new talent.

Here's a link to their article with some new screens but beware there are spoilers throughout http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/2005/...screens/1.html

For those who don't want any spoilers here are two ample sized screens which show off the HDR effect