black-mesa posts

Last July a trailer for a Half-Life universe fan short file called Beyond Black Mesa hit the interwebs and we definitely liked what we saw. The action-packed trailer was made even more impressive by the fact that it was made by a circle of fans for only $1,200.

This week a second trailer for Beyond Black Mesa was released which showed us even more of the fight against the Combine. It also makes us want that Half-Life 2 Episode 3 game even more (how about it, Valve?). The film's official web site says the full short movie has been making rounds on the film festive circuit. Hopefully they will release the full version of this project on the net sooner rather than later.

Just a few days ago, we reported that one of the creators of the long-in-development Black Mesa mod for Half-Life 2 said it would finally be released before the end of 2010. Now a new article previews the mod and states that the Source Engine remake of the original Half-Life is " ... more or less complete - albeit with lots of tweaking to go - right up to the Xen levels."

The web site AtomicPC got a chance to play a build of the mod thanks to the fact that one of its regular forum members works as a texture artist on Black Mesa. While a gallery of screenshots from the mod has since been removed due to a mis-communication with the mod's project leads, the article praises what was seen in the build, saying "The combination of attention to original detail, and new material provided by the modern team is impressive." Hopefully that means the mod will finally be released in the near future.

[Via Kotaku]

Download the Black Mesa HD gameplay trailer at Big Download (104 MB)

It's perhaps one of the most anticipated mods for any PC game and we've been waiting a long, long time for its completion. It the Black Mesa mod that has been trying to do a full graphical remake of Valve's 1998 shooter Half-Life with the much improved Source Engine.

In late 2008, a truly spectacular trailer for Black Mesa was released that showed that the team was serious in its attempt to bring us a modern looking Half-Life. The trailer promised that the mod would be released in 2009 but that year came and went with no Black Mesa love. However in a forum post on the mod's message boards one of the mod's team members basically wants fans to go into a coma until the "end of 2010". Will this be yet another broken promise or will we finally get a chance to play the original Half-Life with some truly updated visuals? We are not holding our breath but we are still hopeful.

[Via Rock Paper Shotgun]

Download the Black Mesa HD gameplay trailer at Big Download (104 MB)

It's not exactly a shock but the latest (some might say infamous) annual entry in Wired's Vaporware List is topped this year by StarCraft II. Blizzard's long awaited RTS game was first announced in 2007 and at one point was targeted for a late 2009 before Blizzard quickly changed that to a release sometime in the first half of 2010. It certainly deserves the top spot this year.

Two other PC games made the list. At number seven is Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode 3. The third chapter in the comic strip-based adventure game from Hothead Games has been a no show this year despite the first two chapters being released in 2008. The other "game" mentioned on the list is actually a mod. At number four it's Black Mesa, which has been trying to do a total Source Engine graphical remake of the first Half-Life game. We question why Wired picked a mod to be on this list since by its very nature mod teams tend to be on the flaky side when it comes to actually releasing a game.

Oh and what about Duke Nukem Forever which has appeared on practically every year on the Vaporware list? Wired feels that 3D Realms' shut down earlier this year means that it would not be fair to put the first person shooter on the list without a clear idea if the game has been canceled or not.

Just over a year ago, the creators of the Half-Life 2 mod Black Mesa released a spectacular trailer that showed off efforts to make a true Source Engine graphical remake of the original Half-Life. At the end of the trailer the makers indicated it would be out by 2009.

Well, 2009 is almost done and with no release in sight, the development team has now posted up an official update on their message board. The obvious news is, "Black Mesa will not make a 2009 release." However, they continue to insist that, "we have come very close." and that we can expect to see Gordon Freeman battle in the original Black Mesa complex with much better graphics "in the near future." We will believe it when we download it.

Download the Black Mesa HD gameplay trailer at Big Download (104 MB)

Remember how excited you were when Half-Life 2 came out in 2004 and there was a bonus game called Half-Life Source? Valve decided to re-release their original 1998 FPS game but remade with their Source engine that they used to make Half-Life 2. Unfortunately the remake just put in all the old textures and character models from the original; the only visible difference between the original Half-Life and Half-Life Source were the more realistic looking water effects.

Well an independent mod team has been working for a long, long time (reportedly since Half-Life 2's release) on a proper Half-Life Source remake with all new textures and models. The remake is called Black Mesa (not Black Mesa Source as some news sites have stated). After years of development, they finally released a gameplay trailer for the remake this weekend and, well, it looks pretty phenomenal as you can see with some professional looking visuals. The trailer ends with a "2009" date. Let's hope it's not late 2009.

Download the Black Mesa HD gameplay trailer at Big Download (104 MB)