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videogamer4eric
videogamer4eric @ Half-Life: Zombie Edition 1.0

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Gearbox Software was slated to release a port to the Sega Dreamcast under contract by Valve and their
then publisher Sierra On-Line near the end of 2000. At the ECTS 2000, a build of the game was playable on
the publisher's stand, and developers Randy Pitchford and Brian Martel were in attendance to show it off and give
interviews to the press. However, despite only being weeks from going gold, it was never commercially released;
Sierra announced that Half-Life on Dreamcast was cancelled "due to changing market conditions" (presumably
the third-party abandonment of the failing Dreamcast). The following year Sierra On-Line showed a PlayStation 2
port at E3 2001. This version was released in North America in late October of the same year, followed
by a European release just a month later. Around the same time, Half-Life: Blue Shift, which was
intended to be a Dreamcast exclusive Midquel, was released on PC as the second Half-life Expansion Pack.

Although it has never officially being released, the Dreamcast version was leaked onto the Internet, and was
proven to be fully playable; it contains the full versions of Half-Life and Blue Shift, both with an early version of the
High Definition Pack (it was from this port that the pack was spawned), but has a somewhat inconsistent framerate
(though never to the point of unplayability) and lengthier load times when the player moves from area to area
(around ten seconds, while today's average PC can load an area in around one and a half). Also, there
are some saving problems; the number of blocks on a VMU increases rapidly as the player reaches
the end of a level. While the game allows you to remove files to increase space, sometimes it still isn't enough.


dc01.jpg (64959 bytes) dc20.jpg (37572 bytes)


Although the High Definition Pack that came with the PC version of Blue-Shift was primarily made from the Dreamcast models, judging from these screenshots, it appears that there were many changes made to them before they reached their final form. Many of these models even differ from the models seen in the leaked DC game, indicating that they were changing quite frequently throughout development.

The commander grunt had a much more human-like (And creepy looking) face.

dc06.jpg (40434 bytes) dc07.jpg (49202 bytes)

A human grunt with black arms and a white neck. That's quite an odd tan. Apparently, Gearbox avoided this problem entirely by giving the gas mask a flap, thereby covering the neck s)

This appears to be a weird hybrid of the original zombie model and the high definition version. It has the brown pants and a modeled vein thing on his right arm just like the high definition model, but for some reason this was all done in the style of the original low-poly zombie. This model is seen in the leaked DC game.

dc03.jpg (63758 bytes) dc08.jpg (44438 bytes)

dc12.jpg (30670 bytes) dc21.jpg (47089 bytes)

dc23.jpg (77884 bytes)

The alien slave (aka Vortigaunt) had a much more detailed model and skin, but it looked very cartoonish. Apparently this model was completely scrapped for the high definition pack. This model is seen in the leaked DC game.

The last screenshot uses a non-standard resolution for a console game (800x600 as opposed to 640x480 or some equivalent), and the dead HEV suit model does not match the HEV suit model seen in the leaked DC game. This may indicate that this screenshot is from the PC version of Blue Shift, and therefore suggests that this particular alien slave model may have lasted quite long into development before being replaced by the current high definition model.

As a large testament to just how close the Dreamcast version of Half-Life came to being released, it appears a Prima strategy guide was completed and ready to be shipped at the same time as the game. Alas, the game release was cancelled, and this guide obviously became a bit pointless.

I believe I found the pictures of this guide on an eBay auction, meaning that I foolishly missed the chance to purchase this item.


The alleged cover for the game. I cannot find a definite source as to where this image came from (And why it would have been released, aside from promotional purposes), but seeing as it matches the cover of the guide seen above, I believe that this is a legitimate version of what the game cover would have looked like. For some reason, Gearbox is not listed on the front of it, however.


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videogamer4eric
videogamer4eric @ Half-Life: Zombie Edition 1.0

Can you guys port this game to Sega Dreamcast? It has windows CE on box also Half life, Gunman Chronicles, Counter Strike is on Sega Dreamcast. The original Dreamcast consoles has Mil CD on them from July 1999 to October 2000. After October the November 2000 models the Mil CD was removed from the console making the burning process through mil CD useless. Each machine has a date made on bottom of machine
The Dreamcast has 16 megs of RAM and the control pad has 1 amaloo stick a vmu memory unit holds 100 kb of data memory. It also uses Dreamcast keyboard and mouse. Contact me at uncle.eric1488@yahoo.com or uncle.eric88@gmail.com.

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videogamer4eric
videogamer4eric @ Half-Life: Zombie Edition

What about porting Half life Zombie edition to Sega Dreamcast? It has windows CE on the box, it has 16 megs of RAM of memory. You have to Homebrew it and use a burning process called mil cd to exploit it. There are several half life mods for Dreamcast not just Half life. Half life Paranoia, They Hunger, Counter strike, Gunman chronicles is on Dreamcast. Even a demo



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