Makkon

ai) has to be seen. FC claimed the same and once i tried it out i felt like playing with bots having written their next move on a piece of paper attachd to their heads.
real world physics) YAHG (yet another havok game). modified havok. all those physics things have done already before (MP2, DXIW and others). nothing new there. and real car physics... look at racing games, an old hat. and ragdoll with constraints, MP2 again. in the end here too: most probably better but not new.
dynamic lighting) DXIW, D3 and many more. again nothing new. again most probably better but not new.
lowend hw terrain) again something to be seen. i have not seen yet this 'endless' terrain (no chance to play hl2-related things in any form) stuff so i'll not judge this until i can confirm myself that this is really new stuff and not just a bit better old coffee.
retro) well... if porting over old games and polishing them up is innovative then all the console market would be innovative. this has been done now since ages.
sdk) uhm... i guess doing sdks for games has becoming a standard so what's new on that? the contained apps? not really. all-inclusive sdks have been around already for some time so again nothing new there.
hl-lan) sure using not steam is the best but how many people playing over the internet are forced to use steam and then at a lan-party they are fuked? anyways. steam has been only made to be able to jail hl2 and that's a fact if you like it or not. how you cheat around this is another thing ;)

Innovations:
Advanced enemy AI. Actually advanced. Not like doom3 advanced, more like LOTR's Massive(tm) Fuzzy-logic advanced AI. Literally, organic and unpredictable.
Real world Physics. Wood that splinters, boxes that break, walls that crumble, buildings that go up into flames, cars that really work like a car including friction and torque, versatile rag doll physics including tendon deformations and restraints, dynamic lighting with reflections, low-end hardware compatible terrain that literally goes on for miles, and a reliable simulation engine. And to further the innovation, HL2 comes with ALL of the earlier games and popular mods with the new source engine and updated maps, and it still only costs $60.
User friendly:
I don’t give a damn about steam. It has never given me any problems, and so I am not talking about it in any way. Steam can go f*** its self, but for right now I’m talking about the modding capabilities. First off, it has a modding pack that comes with 3d modeling programs similar to Maya and Max, A comprehensive map making program as simple as cake to use with no fancy tricks, Compatible with importing Max, Maya, Blender, and many other 3d modeling programs, a full C++ coding module with instant testing for your map, and an fuzzy logic chart. It is versatile, flexible, and USER FRIENDLY.

Now back to steam. If you want to play HL at a LAN party, do not, I repeat, DO NOT use steam. It is unnessisary if you all have your own damn copy! You just simply don’t need it! All you need is the IP to the one who is serving and in HL (not the steam version, the full paid for version) and your set! I just don’t understand WHY you put so much stress on your self when you don’t have to.

to be honest i see no difference in the WON system and the steam system... apart that steam introduced lots of problems. why change a good and working system just to go with the head through the wall in an attempt to jail the user? and yes... you can unplug your steam and it goes offline mode... but you can't net-play then anymore because for joining a game you need to auth with the fuking steam server and that's the problem... in a lan situation there is just no steam auth server.

In defense of Steam (never thought I'd say that) it has always worked for me, and if you want to play it offline just unplug your modem before you launch, and it will ask if you want to start in offline mode. :paranoid:

Condition zero only required steam to play online, although that is a bit annoying if you don't like steam, it's a pretty solid (although hefty) program - alot more versatile than the old won system.

let's put some things straight here.
1) i really like hl and comes after deus-ex as games i rate really good. but hl2 is a completly different story and a lot of events during the past have pointed out to me that this one will not live up with the precedor as it is oten the case.

2) hl2 does NOT run on any OS. and you know why? because HL2 is linked to Steam (no HL2 without Steam). steam will never be ported to a non-m$ os. there are several reasons for this one including m$ mixed up with hl2 which many don't see like that and valve never wanting steam to work under linux. why? because they consider linux a hacker system which is just blatantly wrong. so aside M$ you will not see steam unless run inside an emulator.

3) innovative. if riping ideas from former hl mods and slaming them together is innovative i don't know what it is then. otherwise tell me what you think is innovative on this game (the puck is in your zone now).

4) user-friendly. steam has never been user-friendly. too many incidents making it a pain in the ass. and i don't talk about things like hanging, login problems and other coding flaws, i talk especially about the crap of having to be hooked up the internet all time to play even a single player game, not to mention lan parties. look around on the net and see how they have to hack their way through to get steamed games and mods to run on a lan party. it's just h*o*r*r*i*b*l*e. i don't call that user-friendly

5) modding capabilities. like mention earlier. this has to be seen. the big shot is not out yet and hyping things in front is n00bish. put the game, sdk and all that stuff on the table in a finished form and then we talk. and i don't mean that modelling app there. this is not the real trouble at modding, it's the coding. that's there things win or die at. once this is on my table i'll judge the moddability of thia game and before i do not give it a super mark out of hollow stomach.

so in general: the game has to proof itself first. before that i will not honor a game in any form. i'm against hyping because that has caused many games to become crappy. do your work and give it to the public once it's done. hyping helps trick people into buying things but leaves a lot of people angry if burned. i've seen enough people who got burned.
positive surprises are good, negative ones are avoidable

He just simply hasn't looked into it. If you liked the first one, and you think of how long they've been working on the damn thing, It's only obvious that it WILL be a good game. It runs on ANY computer, ragardless of operating software, it is the most innovative game in existance, and it's user-friendly modding capabilities are unmatched. It is the perfect game to mod. It is, in fact, a modder's dream come true.

hl2 will make me piss my pants. if i was able to wear any, i would definatly. makkon for sure will piss his but dragonlord wont? and why? because he doesnt like hl2. quel dommage pour toi!

I didn't think you were bad mothing my mod. :|
You're just bad mouthing the game that I have been looking forward to for 6 years.

a little correction for the case you get me wrong here (it looks like so).

i am convinced HL2 will be crap. this does not mean mods can be great. in fact mods are great no matter on what engine they work. so if i say HL2 sux, i talk about the game, not the mods that can be done for it.

an makkon, don't start thinking i'm badmouthing your mod just because i'm not fan of HL2... this is in fact cheapy-style.

look folks... wait until it's out... i've seen a lot of crap laterly (especially hyped things) that i will not be surprised if hl2 will be bad.

and i'm not stuborn... in contrast... i'm critical and don't accept all shit placed in front of my nose and eat it draining money all time. i've got very, very high measure for a good game thus for getting a good mark a game really has to perform very well. something i'm missing in todays game market.