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Half-Life 2 Goes Episodic

By Staff, GameSpotPosted 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.

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