Half Life 2

[1exist]

Is released/ unlocked tonight (3 AM for me, EST). I normally wouldn't post this here, but I'm making an exception for what will without a doubt the best game of all time.

You can read about it's history, pitfalls, and ambitions in a very in depth article here.

[fatwoul]

Re: Half Life 2

For some reason I never looked at Half Life to start with. Looks kinda cool though - Might have to get that.

Thing is, my sister and her fella just got a Scalextric in Toys R Us - they're doing a deal where you get a 3rd car free with a set over £50, so I'm going over there tonight to play the winner all evening.

[1exist]

Re: Half Life 2

For some reason I never looked at Half Life to start with. Looks kinda cool though - Might have to get that.

Thing is, my sister and her fella just got a Scalextric in Toys R Us - they're doing a deal where you get a 3rd car free with a set over £50, so I'm going over there tonight to play the winner all evening.

You'd enjoy it. I mean, anyone would, but it has a bit of a Resident Evil quality in some parts... an experiment gone wrong... mass chaos... improvising weapons (particularly true in the sequel). Even without this sheer carpet bomb of awesomenss, I imagine you'd amuse yourself for hours with the physics system. Plus your sidekick is hot.

[Desplain]

Dude, I don't even like Half-Life, but that physics engine is un-fricking-believable.

Tell me how it is.

Oh, and what do you think about Half-Life 2 and Halo 2 being released so close together? I personally think its stupid for both games' sales, but then again, I figure they have a reason for it, so what can I say?

[1exist]

Dude, I don't even like Half-Life, but that physics engine is un-fricking-believable.

Tell me how it is.

Oh, and what do you think about Half-Life 2 and Halo 2 being released so close together? I personally think its stupid for both games' sales, but then again, I figure they have a reason for it, so what can I say?

I think there's a reason they released Halo 2 first

Really... I hate the comparison. I mean, I like the comparison, if only because it gives me the opportunity to say how in-fucking-ferior I consider Halo to be. That has to be the most over-rated game of all time. If you read the Gamespot article I linked to, you'll see that Half Life 2's release wasn't a matter of corporate calculation--it's a product of Valve's deal with their publisher, Vivendi Universal (bastards). But you can bet Microsoft got scared and decided that releasing after HL might diminish their sales. I'll make my spiel on Halo vs. Half Life short, because if your interested enough I assume you'll look things up:

Halo

1. All you do is fight.
2. Shitty art and ambience.
3. Created by Microsoft.

Half Life 2

1. Most realistic characters and character interaction ever.
2. Brilliant art and design, takes place in an actual city that is destroyed before your eyes.
3. Best AI yet.
4. Will have an amazing story (it has to be after that 5 year cliffhanger we've been living with).
5. Created by people for the sake of making the greatest game of all time.

And the 6th is so big it gets it's own paragraph: will empower individuals with the right abilities to make studio quality games for no money and with their own time. Several of the people responsible for Half Life 2 mods have gone on to be professionals in the industry, and with the Source engine the possibilities have only expanded. The Natural Selection team was able to convert the ORIGINAL Half Life engine into something of a real time strategy game (for the commander anyway, everyone else plays the part of soldiers or aliens). Counter-Strike, now a commercial product, started out in someone's garage. Half Life is going to be so much more than a game--it's a fucking automatic for the people.

I'm done now. I'm going to go play some Natural Selection.

[*o*]

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[1exist]

Half Life is going to be so much more than a game--it's a fucking automatic for the people.

The new opium of the people...

If you prefer.

[*o*]

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[1exist]

Circus games, TV, Half life 2... Darwin was right about evolution.

Heh. I guessed shortly after replying what this was going to get to. I'll concede that most games (nay, most media in general) are thoughtless diversions. But I don't watch TV, and I certainly don't indulge in circus games. As one who considers one's self moderately well versed (for my age) in literature, cinema, and music (and to a lesser degree in other art forms), I would argue that nothing keeps Half Life 2 from joining the ranks of fine art itself. And I don't think you can deny that, having never played it. One could always make the argument that all forms of media, or art itself, are pointless diversions--we're all going to die someday, anyhow. But judging from your contributions to our threads on books and movies, I assumed you weren't in this group.

Edit: And why the emphasis on "was?" Did you think he was wrong?

[*o*]

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[1exist]

I was still able to read about it and form an opinion.

Would you mind articulating it, or should we just take your word? I'm interested to know whether this opinion covers video games in general, first person shooters specifically, or the Half Life franchise alone. And again, I'm wondering what it is exactly that qualifies you to judge this game having had no contact with it whatsoever. I do congradulate you on reading about it--that's more than some may have done--but surely even you can concede that one isn't truly qualified to make judgements about something one hasn't so much as looked at.

The media and art are two very different things. I don't think they can quite be compared.

You misunderstand me. Media can be interpreted (as I assume you have) to mean our systems of mass communication alone. But according to this definition, it can also mean...

me·di·um ( P ) Pronunciation Key (md-m)
n. pl. me·di·a (-d-) or me·di·ums
Something, such as an intermediate course of action, that occupies a position or represents a condition midway between extremes.
An intervening substance through which something else is transmitted or carried on.
An agency by which something is accomplished, conveyed, or transferred: The train was the usual medium of transportation in those days.
pl. media Usage Problem.
A means of mass communication, such as newpapers, magazines, radio, or television.
media (used with a sing. or pl. verb) The group of journalists and others who constitute the communications industry and profession. pl. media Computer Science. An object or device, such as a disk, on which data is stored.
pl. mediums A person thought to have the power to communicate with the spirits of the dead or with agents of another world or dimension. Also called psychic.
pl. media
A surrounding environment in which something functions and thrives.
The substance in which a specific organism lives and thrives.
A culture medium.

A specific kind of artistic technique or means of expression as determined by the materials used or the creative methods involved: the medium of lithography. The materials used in a specific artistic technique: oils as a medium.
A solvent with which paint is thinned to the proper consistency.
Chemistry. A filtering substance, such as filter paper.
A size of paper, usually 18 × 23 inches or 17 1/2 × 22 inches.

I was referring to media as the collective sum of all mediums, that is, all means of communication between humans, including visual, auditory, and printed matter. Most art is a clear subset of this group.

Now allow me to tell you why I consider Half Life 2 a work of art, using as my examples areas where I believe this game and other successful, more traditional works of art, intersect. To me, the following three examples are the most salient (but by no means the only ones).

1. It elicits emotion from the player. In the grand narrative tradition of any character based story, Half Life 2 encourages emotional connections to develop between the player and his allies/ enemies. Again, discussing the specifics of this are difficult with one who hasn't played the game, so I hope you'll set our difference of opinion aside when contemplating my credibility here. It's hard to pin down in words the nuances of the character interactivity, AI, animation (body language is used to a great extent, recalling theater), but I can tell you that the first (and a good part of the second, which I haven't finished yet) of nine chapters are spent without a weapon. I actually forced myself to stop playing (I don't want to continue without more RAM), but most of what I've experienced so far is character exposition (punctuated by eluding the police in back alleys and on rooftops). Which leads me to my second point.

2. It's a mental exercise. Half Life 1 & 2 incorporate problem solving situations with multiple solutions. I don't hear anyone announcing the frivolity of logic problems or three dimensional puzzles (do I?), or the codes in of Leaves, or the branching narrative in Cortazar's Hopscotch. One could argue that this has no bearing on the "art" argument, but I'm of the opinion that art and science are on the same spectrum, that they need to be brought closer together, and that anything that accomplishes this is a boon to both fields. Of course, this doesn't even touch on the effect HL2 will have on the masses who learn to program or 3d model, or become better at these respective talents, in attempting to make mods (as we've already seen happen with HL1). Again, this is skirting the bounds of "art," but the tone of your argument leads me to believe you see little value in this game at all, so permit me this detour. Anything that can provide an incentive like this, for members of the populace to aquire or refine skills they would otherwise not use, is generally good--it can lead to people discovering latent talents or loves, feeling more satisfied with themselves (wouldn't you if you created a studio quality game with a bunch of your friends), inspiring generosity to others (the mentality of the mod community--that these games are free and should be distributed accordingly). It's the Linux/ open source movement on the gamer's front, and unless you want a Microsoft dominated digital future, you'd do well to support it.

3. It's culturally relevant. Half Life 2 takes place in a police state, inundated with propganda, frequent messages from "The Administrator," and a downtrodden populace. From what I gather (I haven't gotten this far yet), it addresses the issues of insurrection and revolution, just as HL1 explored scientific immorality, the irresponsibility of goverment, and genocide. 1984 is the clearest (and one of the most literary) influences, but not the only.

So is it the game's interactivity you take issue with? To me that seems a rather close-minded approach. Again, please state why you think it's not art... or don't argue the point.

[*o*]

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[fatwoul]

...The media and art are two very different things. I don't think they can quite be compared...

I think you should have inserted the words "often" and "always" in there:

"The media and art are often two very different things. I don't think they can always be compared"

I think this because what you are saying only holds true when the two are different things, but that they can be the same thing. Under that circumstance it is no longer true.

Film and photography are two media that are often - and IMO quite rightly - referred to as "art". I do not think this dismissal is something can be written with such a degree of certainty as you have done.

If you meant fine art, then perhaps what you are saying is more uniformly true, but not so when discussing "art" alone, as even those two things are often different, although not mutually exclusive. However, even then I would argue that the only reason that a lot of media-related creations are not considered fine art is because they haven't been around long enough to have been pontificated over by endless queues of people.

[1exist]

...I admit it motivates me to give it a try though.

If you do, let me know what you think. I agree with your point about #2 and (to a much lesser extent) #1 being technical achievements (I think that the fact that these simulated characters produce an emotional response cannot be overlooked, and if one considers puppetry an are form, or even acting, then one must pay respect to this). Naturally the game's themes are not going to be abstract or intellectually arcane, though if, in the future, such games are made, they will owe it to this franchise for clearing the path.

That said, "art" being an abstract concept itself, the definition is somewhat subjective and open to personal interpretation. I'm sure that I, you, Harold Bloom, and the Dadaists would all have something slightly different to say on the subject. There is no one we can go to who has the authority to say that any given work must be this accomplished, this original, this raw, and this (whatever) to be art. So I can accept you not considering this (or any other game) art, on a personal level. I can even accept you arguing the point to keep the idea of art from being diluted. But with that said, I still consider Half Life 2 to be art. Not art on the same level as the Mona Lisa, or of Leaves, but art nonetheless. And I really think you should play it

Still, we can both agree that the medium is new, and warrants further examination, no? Perhaps as years go by, and more of its seminal works emerge, we'll be better able to gauge their impact. We've already seen works like Myst, Black and White, and the old Zork series which explored the bounds of digital entertainment and, hopefully, this exploration will continue.

[fatwoul]

...Still, we can both agree that the medium is new...

Like he said. Oh wait, I said it first. So, like I said.