Half-Life 2 Goes Episodic

  • By Staff, GameSpot
  • Posted Feb 10, 2006 6:45 pm PT

Valve Software reveals that the Aftermath expansion pack will now be the first in a series of episodic content.

Valve Software has revealed to GameSpot that Aftermath, the upcoming expansion pack to the award-winning 2004 shooter Half-Life 2, has been renamed "Half-Life 2: Episode One." When asked whether the name change is indicative of a change in direction for the Half-Life 2 franchise, Valve marketing director Doug Lombardi replied, "Episodic." When asked the follow-up question of whether the new name meant the beginning of a regular flow of content, Lombardi replied, "Yes."

This change in focus may not be surprising to fans of Valve who are familiar with the company's online delivery service, Steam. The company recently announced that it was partnering with developer Ritual Entertainment to produce SiN Episodes, a series of episodic games on a regular basis that would be distributed online via the Steam service. GameSpot will have more updates on Half-Life 2: Episode One as they become available.

102 Comments

  • wokisan

    Posted Feb 11, 2006 9:32 pm PT

    Makes it sound more like a 'mod' rather than an actual expansion. It'll be interesting to see how the pricing will turn out. Most pc expansions are now $29.99 so I would hope they cap the price at $19.99.

  • bioniccommando1

    Posted Feb 11, 2006 8:57 pm PT

    LOL!! If Valve is making it there will be an episode once every 2 to 3 years. Wasn't Aftermath supposed to be out last year?

  • Scarecrow89

    Posted Feb 11, 2006 8:36 pm PT

    Half Life episode one:The Combine strike back

  • schu

    Posted Feb 11, 2006 7:08 pm PT

    im a little concerned that they will just rake in more money and not pass the savings onto the consumers..and whats worse is that i think that the updates will not bring as many new features as we would like to see

  • Mafia217

    Posted Feb 11, 2006 6:50 pm PT

    wow.....

  • yoscar

    Posted Feb 11, 2006 6:45 pm PT

    Is it going to cost money to download Episode 1? Aftermath was supposed to retail at 20-30 bukcs.

  • Emiliano_C

    Posted Feb 11, 2006 6:34 pm PT

    why some people is still saying "oh no, so I can't buy it retail!"
    It's confirmed from MONTHS that Aftermath will have a retail version, Why should the name change modify this?

  • poromenos

    Posted Feb 11, 2006 6:30 pm PT

    Do you guyz expect, from this money farming project , to get the quality gameplay of the original HL2?

  • Katarn95

    Posted Feb 11, 2006 6:28 pm PT

    um y dont just rename all this aftermath stuff to be Half-Life 3's begining or first levels?

  • redwingfan1234

    Posted Feb 11, 2006 6:23 pm PT

    Ok, either no one here is old enough to know this, or no one here remembers, but the original FPS was delivered in Episodes. Wolfenstein 3-D was never available as one game- there were (I think) seven parts that you could order through the mail. At least we can downoad HL instantaneously.

  • WWEMAN101

    Posted Feb 11, 2006 5:07 pm PT

    [This message was deleted at the request of a moderator or administrator]

  • WWEMAN101

    Posted Feb 11, 2006 5:06 pm PT

    I like peanut butter

  • thefieryking

    Posted Feb 11, 2006 3:43 pm PT

    Perhaps if Valve made the game challenging or difficult in any way (so that people would take longer to complete the game) and then timed the release of the next episode to be simliar to when the majority of players finish the game, then Valve's plan would work.

    Otherwise I believe it will fail.

  • DryvBy

    Posted Feb 11, 2006 3:27 pm PT

    Kinda crap. Good marketing for the HL nuts. I wish Sierra owned Half-life again. Sierra was so much customer friendly.

  • Theman3788

    Posted Feb 11, 2006 3:23 pm PT

    saweet!

  • xxstalker24xx

    Posted Feb 11, 2006 2:59 pm PT

    God people its only a bit of money everytime it comes out if it will make you moneyless dont buy it. I had a part time job and am looking for one know so however much it is small to me. Stop being lazy and get a job if you dont.
    Sombody said they should give it away free, yea right and would you give away something you made that took you about a year to make o_O. In short IAM GETTING THEM ALL MUHAHAHA

  • Drosa

    Posted Feb 11, 2006 2:56 pm PT

    Thanks for leaving those with no access to high speed internet out in the cold. It’s so nice to know you appreciate all of your fans.

  • sgtsaville

    Posted Feb 11, 2006 2:55 pm PT

    As long as it's as good as HL and HL2 I don't care what they plan on doing as long as the gap isn't like the one between the 2 games.

  • MrOpinionated

    Posted Feb 11, 2006 1:58 pm PT

    Remember guys, episode 1 will be retail. By itself or in the platinum collection. What's good is that you can pre-load it and if you buy it retail, you just have to activate your CD-key to play.

  • UmbrellaMaster

    Posted Feb 11, 2006 1:45 pm PT

    Should be neat.

  • Kenzo287

    Posted Feb 11, 2006 1:20 pm PT

    Need better PC now...

  • KillerFPS

    Posted Feb 11, 2006 12:57 pm PT

    Yay this means that us Xbox (360)users might get a compilation disc with these episodes on it. Or theres always download through Xbox Live.

  • GreyFoxV1

    Posted Feb 11, 2006 12:32 pm PT

    Sweet, I just hope that the time between episodes is reasonable for the dev team and its fans.

  • ergo2497

    Posted Feb 11, 2006 12:10 pm PT

    Umm... Wouldn't episode 1 technically be the original game?

    Whatever, as long as the episode packs in a decent amount of content and there's a steady stream of it afterwards, it'll be great. I need more HL2 in my life.

  • Faren451

    Posted Feb 11, 2006 11:55 am PT

    More HL2? Can't be soon enough for me.

  • dryden555

    Posted Feb 11, 2006 11:33 am PT

    Wait and see -- we might get too short "chapters" that re-use lots of textures from the main game .

    -- could be a rip-off

  • 9mmSpliff

    Posted Feb 11, 2006 11:29 am PT

    I said all along they should have done this. Continue the story in expansion. I think they kinda got the idea from The sIn Episodes.

  • Donkeljohn Site moderator

    Posted Feb 11, 2006 11:21 am PT

    The future is now. Episodic content has arrived.

  • i_love_my_ds

    Posted Feb 11, 2006 10:20 am PT

    so is this movie or a game?

  • cwl157

    Posted Feb 11, 2006 10:02 am PT

    i dont like it if you have to buy every episode which i assume this will be the case. However, i like the fact that they took the time to develop the source engine like it was supposed to be and now instead of just releasing one game with it and then abondoning trying to get something better they are just trying to expand on what they have instead of constantly trying to upgrade the engine like too many companies do these days.

  • molivers7

    Posted Feb 11, 2006 9:56 am PT

    This seems to be a new trend. TES Morrowind started this with two expansion packs with story development. I thought, why not have this as original content? answer: to make more freakin money! I can forgive Bethesda for this manuever because they spend mucho time on TES and there is a ton of content already. Half-life 2 fans seem to be getting a shaft on this one... but wait, they are getting more content. If it pisses you off, don't buy it. If you need a new fix of HL2, go buy the danged game.

  • rencie

    Posted Feb 11, 2006 9:43 am PT

    $20 for 6 hours of gameplay is (still) too expensive -- especially if it's distributed online through Steam.

  • iammai

    Posted Feb 11, 2006 9:15 am PT

    any thing they want,i will get it.

  • matstud

    Posted Feb 11, 2006 9:10 am PT

    RIP OFFFFF!!!

  • j14rk1n

    Posted Feb 11, 2006 8:56 am PT

    Personally I like the idea. Not many companies are doing it, and it sounds like there will be lower costs and more content to play through. It's not like you're going to pay for one level, either. These are full expansion packs- not just 1 map and you're done like Lost Coast. I like having the box also, but I'd be willing to skip it to cut some cash out of the deal.

  • cloudstrife75

    Posted Feb 11, 2006 8:53 am PT

    change is welcomed... im anxious to see how this will turn out

  • darrenecm

    Posted Feb 11, 2006 7:49 am PT

    And why has my comment been stripped of eye-saving paragraphs

  • darrenecm

    Posted Feb 11, 2006 7:48 am PT

    I'm okay with the concept of episodic content as long as the content is not just a question of splitting up and delivering piecemeal what would have otherwise have been a good cohesive story. Take the written novel as an example. There are many fine novels out there that span 2 or more books but each book is a self-contained whole presenting you with a gripping story that follows the traditional story structure of beginning-middle-end even though there's more to come in the series. The same goes for TV series. Each episode has (or should have) a tantalising start, tense middle and satisfying end (except for those damned two-parter end-of-season cliff hangers), yet the exploits of the characters still continue in other complete 'episodes'.

    Half Life 2 episodes should offer exactly the same structure. The episodes should still offer a satisfyingly cohesive story that ends in a stisfactory manner. Half Life 2 didn't in my opinion and that reveals that those crafting the story are not professional story crafters. Valve should therefore look at how stories are structured in other mediums such as novels, TV series and even films and create its content in a similar manner. What I don't want to see is pitifully short episodes with no satisying climax to that episode.

    Unfortunately the alleged 6 hour gameplay and the $15-20 price tags being bandied about have me concerned about whether each episode will be value for money. For 6 hours I would expect to pay not more than $10 for an episode.

    Finally, with regards to Steam, I'm happy with it as an alternative delivery method to retail. What I'm not happy with are the prices. Half Life 2 for $29.95, the new Dangerous Waters at $39.95, Space Empires Deluxe at $19.95, Darwinia the same? Now I live in the UK but these US prices look like the same you would pay at retail yet Steam should't have the same overheads that ramp up the prices such as printed manuals, cost of designing the packaging, cost of making the packaging, cost of shipping shpping the boxes to retail and other price-bloating aspects of putting a product out to retail. So why are Steam prices still the same as retail and not more visibly lower?

  • Emiliano_C

    Posted Feb 11, 2006 6:53 am PT

    I really don't understand why so many people are complaining... it's just a name change. Yes, "Aftermath" probably was cooler, but this will NOT change the game itself.
    There will still be a retail version, in will cost around $20 and it will be around 6hrs long.
    Then, you could also buy it online for cheaper.
    What's the problem?
    COD2 is 49$ for maybe 10 hours gameplay...
    Even HL1 had many expansions, same for doom, the sims, age of empires... why everybody is scandalized if HL2 has expansions?

    IT'S JUST A NAME CHANGE, NOT A CONTENT CHANGE

  • XlpranksterlX

    Posted Feb 11, 2006 6:51 am PT

    Ill be glad when i get a PC that fun Half-life 2 period.

  • doomed51

    Posted Feb 11, 2006 6:23 am PT

    wtf? just tryin to make extra money.....they'll prolly split up Aftermath into episodes or something...

  • tedd59

    Posted Feb 11, 2006 6:02 am PT

    I think Steam is too bulky and controlling. If they're cheap, I'll probably buy them because I love HL2, but I despise to see things go in this direction.

  • Hellisunreal

    Posted Feb 11, 2006 5:47 am PT

    Finally, someone's tryin sumthin new. lets hope it comes cheap

  • CHROMEFLAMIN

    Posted Feb 11, 2006 4:11 am PT


    Man that's a great idea for those that like HL2.

    As for me it might even be better, hopefully this

    HL garbage won't be filling up store shelves.

  • GriMGraVe

    Posted Feb 11, 2006 4:04 am PT

    This one actually made me laugh, because, i really think that valve didn't quite finish the expansion in time, so they decided to cut it into episodes. If its going to be short, Hl2 players will be dissapointed. I know that lost coast was just an example of the source engine power, but...it was a short example.

  • Nafe

    Posted Feb 11, 2006 2:59 am PT

    Episodic releases are so stupid, they did that with Secret Ops & Wing Commander. Just release the whole thing "Oh yeah! Let's keep them in suspense!" This game was terrible anyway, it think they should jsut end the series with a great finale ending, instead of this "Hi Gordon Freedman, I am the FBI guy again, and looks like you still can't kill me. Here comes another pointless adventure!"

    Honestly what fullfillment did you feel at all by beating Halflife 2 and that really dumb ending? (Minding the fact waiting for a new one for years?)

  • Kounji

    Posted Feb 11, 2006 2:21 am PT

    My prediction on this is two things. The first is that if this fails there is no hope for games to follow an episodic nature. Indigo prophecy was orignially supposed to be episodic but instead they opted for a fuller experience. I think this is the turning point if valve doesn't succeed with episodic content I don't think there is any room for it for gamers.. meaning it won't ever catch on Perhaps it might also have a chance with x-box live but I think valve is in the best position to try it with a game of the year property that has proven its worth to gamers they know many people will buy it just how many.

    The second prediction is it succeeds.. and then other game developers follow suit with this model especially when retail space is limited for games nowadays and we start to see cheaper shorter games that expand into longer stories. Gaming begins to become sort of like itunes or downloadable television episodes except they are more interactive and tons more expensive. This gives smaller companies a model to release games without having to deal with publishers as much and gaming returns back to the innovation of the 90's Smaller development houses more creativity not just the next halo or the next wow.

    I hope it does cause then companies won't have to answer to publishers as much anymore like vivendi universal or activision when they say they need another three months or they want to put certain assets into games or ideas that aren't marketable in old business men eyes

  • carabetta

    Posted Feb 11, 2006 2:03 am PT

    i really don't like the STEAM move, they just want to make more money releasing 49 episodes at U$S20 each so you can understand a little bit more of the story. i tought this was going to be just another expansion, some more hour to play with half-life before deleting it, but now they force me to be waiting for the epidsodes releases just to play 30 minutes of maybe worth-less gameplay. i hate EA put it's hands on something that was simply great.

  • Cartman86

    Posted Feb 11, 2006 1:34 am PT

    How is this stupid? Besides EA will publish copies of the games in stores! Retail will always be around. But downloads are also the future. I don't know about you, but there are so many times where I just don't get a game because I have to drive somewhere to get it and I figure it really isn't worth it. Downloading andpaying through credit card just feels better. In the end I end up buying something that wasn't worth it, but for the companies I imagine they get more money out of me. Steam is awesome. Having updates for your games come directly to you? This is the PC space. Get the hell out of here console only people. Downloading stuff has been around for ages. This is just another distribution method. Look at the 360. The demo thing is an awesome thing. Basically every week you get a new demo. It's a nice thing. And besides the game you buy through steam is always tied to your free steam login and password. Wherever you go you have the game. You can burn it onto a CD too. Quit your complaining and go along with the times.

  • Brazed

    Posted Feb 11, 2006 1:10 am PT

    EA will still release a retail version of these episodes. Aftermath was punted as being episodic, this is hardly any news at all. Unless ofcourse, they plan on finishing the HL story through episodes and not a 3'rd game...

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