Half-Life & Portal series, general discussion (v3) - Games

[QUOTE=WillerinV1.02;39502779]The death of Nihilanth caused the portal storms to occur all over Earth, while the resonance cascade only caused it within Black Mesa iirc[/QUOTE] I was under the impression that Nihilanth was holding the portals open from the Xen side, so by killing him you caused the portals to close. Hence the mission to kill him. The portal activity alerted the Combine, who'd been attacking the alien species who had fled to Xen as refugees. Although the portals were closed, the Combine still knew where the activity had occurred, they portalled in from their dimension and started dicking around with their big guns and ships. They're interested in portal technology and Xen in particular because their portal technology can only do dimension-to-dimension; they can't portal to different places within the same dimension. We use Xen as a dimensional slingshot, essentially sending information through it and back to our own dimension, virtually creating a same-dimension portal system and giving us teleportation technology vastly superior to the Combines'. If they had it then they'd be able to get around our universe much faster and dick around with their guns on even more planets. Or at least that's what I recall from my readings a few years ago. I dunno if anything has been retconned [editline]7th February 2013[/editline] Also we require much smaller amounts of power (Kliener's lab teleport) compared to the Combine (a huge dark-matter reactor situated within the Citadel) [editline]7th February 2013[/editline] My bad; I was wrong about the portal storms having ended. Why did we go and take out Nihilanth then?

[QUOTE=Maloof?;39502970]Why did we go and take out Nihilanth then?[/QUOTE] To close the dimensional rift caused by the resonance cascade, that Nihilanth was keeping open. Which started the portal storms. I guess if we're looking for an in-universe explanation, killing Nihilanth wasn't as prudent as they thought, and more of a brute-force solution than anything. And if we're looking for an actual explanation, it was because it was a neat way for Valve to set up the Combine invasions, what with everybody moving into the major cities and the Combine teleporting their citadels into the city-centers and everything.

[QUOTE=Chrille;39503367]To close the dimensional rift caused by the resonance cascade, that Nihilanth was keeping open. Which started the portal storms. I guess if we're looking for an in-universe explanation, killing Nihilanth wasn't as prudent as they thought, and more of a brute-force solution than anything. And if we're looking for an actual explanation, it was because it was a neat way for Valve to set up the Combine invasions, what with everybody moving into the major cities and the Combine teleporting their citadels into the city-centers and everything.[/QUOTE] Oh I see; so the portals/rift was localised to BM during HL1, but killing Nihilanth released some energy that caused planet-wide storms?

[video=youtube;sAMLlJnZBnk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAMLlJnZBnk[/video]It does look like a second Resonance Cascade

[QUOTE=Maloof?;39502970]I was under the impression that Nihilanth was holding the portals open from the Xen side, so by killing him you caused the portals to close. Hence the mission to kill him. The portal activity alerted the Combine, who'd been attacking the alien species who had fled to Xen as refugees. Although the portals were closed, the Combine still knew where the activity had occurred, they portalled in from their dimension and started dicking around with their big guns and ships. They're interested in portal technology and Xen in particular because their portal technology can only do dimension-to-dimension; they can't portal to different places within the same dimension. We use Xen as a dimensional slingshot, essentially sending information through it and back to our own dimension, virtually creating a same-dimension portal system and giving us teleportation technology vastly superior to the Combines'. If they had it then they'd be able to get around our universe much faster and dick around with their guns on even more planets. Or at least that's what I recall from my readings a few years ago. I dunno if anything has been retconned [editline]7th February 2013[/editline] Also we require much smaller amounts of power (Kliener's lab teleport) compared to the Combine (a huge dark-matter reactor situated within the Citadel) [editline]7th February 2013[/editline] My bad; I was wrong about the portal storms having ended. [B]Why did we go and take out Nihilanth then[/B]?[/QUOTE] I've wondered this too; I suspect though that Nihilanth was also keeping the portals the combine would of used closed, and no one on the science team knew this.

[QUOTE=Maloof?;39502970]Why did we go and take out Nihilanth then?[/QUOTE]To stop him from sending his army of slaves and engineered soldiers to invade and conquer the Earth using the "immense portal" of his own creation. He's the final boss of Half-Life for a reason, after all. The portal storms are an unrelated and uncontrolled byproduct of the disasters as seen following the resonance cascade and the destruction of the Citadel, aka when big shit showed blowed up good.

[QUOTE=Marphy Black;39503771]To stop him from sending his army of slaves and engineered soldiers to invade and conquer the Earth using the "immense portal" of his own creation. He's the final boss of Half-Life for a reason, after all. The portal storms are an unrelated and uncontrolled byproduct of the disasters as seen following the resonance cascade and the destruction of the Citadel, aka when big shit showed blowed up good.[/QUOTE] Why did the portal storms only occur after the black mesa incident then, wouldn't the storms of been occurring all over the Earth at the same time as the black mesa incident if the first storms were unrelated to Nihilanth's death?

The Resonance Cascade caused a dimensional rift. It couldn't be closed by us because Nihilanth was preventing us. He used localised teleportation to send forces to secure Black Mesa to stop us. Meanwhile Portal Storms are occurring across earth. Gordon launches the Lambda Satellite Relay, this will allow them to close the rift and stop the storms once Nihilanth is defeated. Gordon goes to Xen. Dr. Collette and Dr. Green re-enable the damping fields around Black Mesa preventing further localised teleportation. Gordon kills Nihilanth, is then put into stasis by the GMan. Lambda Satellite Relay is never activated, mostly likely due to science team members either being deceased or from the destruction of Black Mesa via the nuke detonated by the GMan. Portal Storms occur planet wide, forcing populations to crowd to major cities, military forces attempt to deal with the invasive species. Relay still remains unactivated. Combine invasion and 7 hour war occur at some point. (Presumed to be somewhere between 10-20 years after the RC) The Relay is activated after the uprising to close the superportal, one could assume this would also close the rift to Xen too.

[url]http://www.g2orbital.net/Data/html/Scifi_HLOPFOR.html[/url]

[QUOTE=artDecor;39504067][url]http://www.g2orbital.net/Data/html/Scifi_HLOPFOR.html[/url][/QUOTE] Looks like they made regular soldiers and then put the name HECU on.

[QUOTE=Ereunity;39504048]The Resonance Cascade caused a dimensional rift. It couldn't be closed by us because Nihilanth was preventing us. He used localised teleportation to send forces to secure Black Mesa to stop us.[B] Meanwhile Portal Storms are occurring across earth.[/B] Gordon launches the Lambda Satellite Relay, this will allow them to close the rift and stop the storms once Nihilanth is defeated. Gordon goes to Xen. Dr. Collette and Dr. Green re-enable the damping fields around Black Mesa preventing further localised teleportation. Gordon kills Nihilanth, is then put into stasis by the GMan. Lambda Satellite Relay is never activated, mostly likely due to science team members either being deceased or from the destruction of Black Mesa via the nuke detonated by the GMan. Portal Storms occur planet wide, forcing populations to crowd to major cities, military forces attempt to deal with the invasive species. Relay still remains unactivated. Combine invasion and 7 hour war occur at some point. (Presumed to be somewhere between 10-20 years after the RC) The Relay is activated after the uprising to close the superportal, one could assume this would also close the rift to Xen too.[/QUOTE] Why would the HECU bother trying to contain the black mesa incident if it was happening all over Earth?

I always thought it might've been expanding, it started local to Black Mesa, but expanded outward, affecting nearby areas until it started hitting major cities.

One time, I had a dream where I was living at Black Mesa East. It was exactly as depressing as you'd imagine. Why do people glorify that shit? Granted, it's better than the city. At least, Black Mesa East has doors.

[QUOTE=Cows Rule;39504448]I always thought it might've been expanding, it started local to Black Mesa, but expanded outward, affecting nearby areas until it started hitting major cities.[/QUOTE] I think its a lot more logical to assume that it only spread after Nihilianth demise. Im pretty sure it said this in Raising the Bar, too. Why would the HECU try so hard to 'contain' the incident, and Op4 even showed us that after the Nihilianths death they were still trying to contain Black Mesa. I think its fair to say the portal storms started on Earth a little bit after Black Mesa was destroyed, and perhaps linked directly with Nihilanths death

[QUOTE='[CWG]RustySpannerz;39498793']I think a high budget TV show would work for Half-Life. With all the cliched jumping between characters, and different plot lines. It could be perfect. A security guard, a scientist and his family, and one of the HECU with morals. And if they could get a believable gman that would be amazing. Or at least his voice. And a Portal mockumentary is also a great idea. As long as it has JK Simmons. The humour in Portal is among the funniest I've ever heard, so I reckon it would go down well with non-fans too.[/QUOTE] AMC prehaps?

[URL="http://live.theverge.com/valve-gabe-newell-dice-2013-keynote-live-blog/"][B]Live from Gabe Newell's 'Next Steps' keynote at DICE 2013[/B][/URL]

[QUOTE=DevinWatson;39506262][URL="http://live.theverge.com/valve-gabe-newell-dice-2013-keynote-live-blog/"][B]Live from Gabe Newell's 'Next Steps' keynote at DICE 2013[/B][/URL][/QUOTE] What time to start?

[QUOTE=hogofwar;39506289]What time to start?[/QUOTE] 15 min, 9:30am PST Live-stream below: [video=youtube;PeYxKIDGh8I]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeYxKIDGh8I[/video]

Is it lagging for someone else too?

he's not gonna announce any new products :( [QUOTE]"I'm not going to announce any products.... I'm going to talk about the structural changes going on in the industry."[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=TheTailor25;39506407]Is it lagging for someone else too?[/QUOTE] Yes.

I'm getting "An Error Occured" Just give me the video to watch later when I get home. [editline]1246[/editline] After it's over I mean. [editline]1247[/editline] Or just make a list of any of the big stuff.

oh yay, it got louder.

In summary: Valve are basing their future decisions on the fact that they can make 3 times as much money from in-game economies and user-generated content. Gabe believes that games are now a productivity platform for goods and services.

[QUOTE=EarlCdwards;39506797]In summary: Valve are basing their future decisions on the fact that they can make 3 times as much money from in-game economies and user-generated content. Gabe believes that games are now a productivity platform for goods and services.[/QUOTE] Three times?! [sp]HL3 will be user generated[/sp] :v:

[QUOTE=Zedicus Mann;39506824]Three times?! [sp]HL3 will be user generated[/sp] :v:[/QUOTE] It's already have user generated rumors.

[img_thumb]http://i.imgur.com/52UaQam.jpg[/img_thumb] Of course its late :(

[QUOTE=EarlCdwards;39506797]In summary: Valve are basing their future decisions on the fact that they can make 3 times as much money from in-game economies and user-generated content. Gabe believes that games are now a productivity platform for goods and services.[/QUOTE] That sounds vaguely ominous. Someone smarter than me could probably articulate why.

It'll be a lovely middle finger if the announcement of HL3 is "here's Source 2 SDK, now make Half Life 3 yourselves and we'll distribute it."

[QUOTE=TurtleeyFP;39509889]It'll be a lovely middle finger if the announcement of HL3 is "here's Source 2 SDK, now make Half Life 3 yourselves and we'll distribute it."[/QUOTE] [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_vxCCiwFQo[/media] Gabe = Community