GamesRadar - Features

Gaming's most facepalm-worthy heroes (Half-Life 2)

26/06/2009

When the hero's mistakes end the world instead of saving it. ...

The 10 most common game design mistakes (Half-Life 2)

22/05/2009

Making games is hard. Making fun of them isn’t. It’s really, really easy, actually. Of course, we wouldn’t be so critical if we didn’t love them so damn much (and if we weren’t, you know, critics). We think games are just the bee’s knees, and that’s why we get so pissed about all the stupid crap they do ...

Guns that don’t shoot bullets (Half-Life 2)

6/05/2009

“Guns don’t kill people, bullets do.” But do they have to? Not at all, and in fact, this is all the destructive power you’re going to get out of shooting bullets. ...

The world's best game devs in their own words (Half-Life 2)

11/03/2009

The secrets of their success in their own words. ...

10 things we'd do with a real gravity gun (Half-Life 2)

11/11/2008

The gravity gun is a godsend to Gordon Freeman throughout the Orange Box. As adept at creating impromptu platforms, bridges and makeshift shields out of whatever’s laying around City 17 as it is at blowing bits off headcrabs; it’s perhaps the most intuitive and visceral gun in games. ...

Leipzig: The real-life Half-Life 2 (Half-Life 2)

28/08/2008

When we went to the Leipzig GC this year, we found ourselves in strangely familiar surroundings. Strangely, disturbingly familiar surroundings. Gravity guns at the ready... ...

Gordon Freeman: Strongest personality in gaming (Half-Life 2)

18/01/2008

18th Jan, 2008 [Warning: Like our Portal article from December, this piece features some pretty heady discourse, and also benefits from a visit from Mr. Narrative Theory. If that stuff makes you run screaming, then feel free to run screaming. Also, if you haven't completed Half-Life 2, leave now. This contains some inhuman spoilers.] Half-Life 2 is widely and rightly regarded as a modern classic. In terms of both gameplay and artistry there have been few, if any, games in the FPS genre which ...

Flash Gordon (Half-Life 2)

26/07/2007

Having written sci-fi and horror novels such as Dad's Nuke, The Orchid Eater and The 37th Mandala, Marc Laidlaw joined Valve in 1997 during the development of the original Half-Life. He's a charming guy, and given the opportunity to speak on his specialist subject, he does so perceptively and at great ...

The ten greatest years in videogame history (Half-Life 2)

27/07/2006

Three weeks ago, our sibling site NextGen posted the article, "The Ten Greatest Years in Gaming." It was full of cool industry info, but the first thing we asked was, "So, the PlayStation was first designed as an add-on for the SNES. We get the irony, but what were we actually playing in 1993 that made it so great?" We checked it out. We made a huge list of the best games of the past 34 years, taped it to the wall, and fought for days about stuff like whether one Zelda is worth more than two ...

Is Steam power the future? (Half-Life 2)

24/04/2006

Wednesday 19 April 2006 The world of digital distribution is making 'going down the shops' as old-hat as, well, an old hat. And that's a leather one with a feather in it. The most convincing example of online shoppery is Steam, a powerful system from the creators of the mighty Half-Life games. Steam is to games what iTunes is to music. Valve's creation may work on a smaller scale than Apple's huge store, but it solves more problems. While music and video stores simply upload files and take ...

'Endless movie tie-ins are the death of gaming' (Half-Life 2: Episode One)

2/06/2006

When Half-Life 2 was first released, many people saw the game's Steam registration process - which barred gamers with no internet access from being able to play it - as developer Valve's greatest mistake. Nearly two years on, however, and Steam is instead beginning to look like the harbinger of a wave of innovative, exciting and brilliant games. New and interesting titles, not just modifications of Half-Life 2, are being added to the online service on an impressively frequent basis. If you're ...

Valve: 'Endless movie tie-ins are the death of gaming' (Half-Life 2: Episode One)

2/06/2006

Friday 2 June 2006 When Half-Life 2 was first released, many people saw the game's Steam registration process - which barred gamers with no internet access from being able to play it - as developer Valve's greatest mistake. Nearly two years on, however, and Steam is instead beginning to look like the harbinger of a wave of innovative, exciting and brilliant games. New and interesting titles, not just modifications of Half-Life 2, are being added to the online service on an impressively ...

Hidden Half-Life (Half-Life 2: Episode One)

31/05/2006

Half-Life boss Gabe Newell has revealed that "primary characters" will die over the trilogy of new Half-Life 2 episodes. "People need to feel that characters are genuinely at risk," he says. "Otherwise they lose investment and the significance of their actions is diminished." Half-Life 2: Episode One, released this Thursday on Valve's Steam service, will kick off this exciting story arc. In the run-up to the release, we visited Valve's Seattle HQ for an exclusive interview. "With the trilogy, ...

'Half-Life 3 would have launched in 2022' (Half-Life 2: Episode One)

31/05/2006

Half-Life 2: Episode One, which will be released tomorrow on Valve's Steam service, is the first in a trilogy of new outings for the award-winning series. We spent some quality time with the team behind the hugely anticipated game to find out more about the Half-Life franchise's episodic shift. Episode-based games are the answer to "making great entertainment for gamers," according to Valve co-founder Gabe Newell. "Episodic gaming will be as important for single-player as Counter-Strike, the ...

Valve: 'Key Half-Life 2 characters will die!' (Half-Life 2: Episode One)

31/05/2006

• HalfLife 2 Episode One trailer 3 (WMV, 25.0MB) Tuesday 30 May 2006 Half-Life boss Gabe Newell has revealed that "primary characters" will die over the trilogy of new Half-Life 2 episodes. "People need to feel that characters are genuinely at risk," he says. "Otherwise they lose investment and the significance of their actions is diminished." Half-Life 2: Episode One, released this Thursday on Valve's Steam service, will kick off this exciting story arc. In the run-up to the release, ...

Upgrade or die (Half-Life 2: Episode One)

26/02/2006

The arrival of the "next-gen" in console land is obvious - it happens instantaneously with the release of a new box. The line is blurred in the constantly evolving world of PC, but only a fool would say it's not there. PC is currently edging into new territory, boosted there by swelling processor power, sparkling new graphical technologies, and outrageous ambition. Corridors, bases and monsters can only get so beautiful; we're moving on to whole worlds now, living environments ripe with ...

Interview: Half-life 2's David Speyrer (Half-Life 2: Episode Two)

17/01/2008

David Speyrer was interviewed for his job at Valve on the day the original Half-Life went gold in late 1998. He started working there soon after, just as Half-Life 2 began its lengthy development. Since then, hes risen through the ranks from programmer to project lead. Now, David talks us through some of the processes that led to Half-Life 2: Episode Two being the remarkable game it is. Warning: if you havent played Episode Two yet, there are spoilers ahead. Has Episode Two taken you anywhere ...

Valve's industrial revolution (Half-Life 2: Episode Two)

18/05/2007

Back in 1996, two Microsoft executives quit their spectacularly high-paid jobs, formed a games company and made the best game ever. Twice. They didnt like the way retailers were throttling the industrys creativity, so they cut them out. They did what a lot of mod teams were doing, they hired them. They published any game they liked through their digital distribution network, however commercially risky, and saved several independent developers in the process. Their revolution was so successful ...

Online gaming's dirtiest tricks (Halo)

6/01/2009

For as long as it's existed, the Internet has been a wretched hive of scum and villainy. The anonymity lets the world's worst people run free pretty much unchallenged and there's always someone trying to scam you – be it stealing your Facebook password or, at its most extreme, tricking you out of thousands of real-world dollars. What follows is a collection of dark tales from the terrifying world of online games.

It may seem ...

Ruined endings - part one (Halo 2)

2/03/2007

The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion Epic quests need epic endings, and theres not much that's more epic than a giant red thing fighting an oversized golden award trophy. The dragon trophy decimates the Vishnu-armed creature by breathing white stuff on it, and the fate of the world is put in your hands. But the games over, so good luck with ...