Happy April! :) news

It has recently come to our attention that the makers of the upcoming live-action webseries "Freeman Chronicles" have violated copyright in regards to their artistic design choices.

In this video on the front page of their website, you can clearly see at the 2:00 mark that the concept art that is being used is extremely similar to our own Michael Tannock's HEV suit model. In fact, it is so similar that we are willing to bet that this cannot be a coincidence. We have contacted our lawyers, and they agree that this may very well constitute a severe breach of copyright. We have sent the Freeman Chronicles team a Cease and Desist warning, which has not been met with compliance. As you can see, their video has not been modified in any way to reflect the true origin of the HEV suit design. The Freeman Chronicles team does not have any intention of ever performing the requested modification of their content, and as such, the video still portrays the work as their own. In response to this serious disregard of our rights as originators of the HEV suit design in question, we have full intentions of pursuing legal action, as advised by our legal team.

Such blatant copyright violation cannot and will not be tolerated. With your support, we can win back our right to our own HEV design, so that what is fair, right, and just may remain so.

UPDATE: We have just been informed that the Freeman Chronicles team has followed up on our lawsuit with an accusation of conspiracy. We at the Hazard Course team will not stand for this, and consider this false accusation to be an open declaration of hostilities. This means war, people. Join us in the fight for our rights! We will fight this injustice to the end!

In the midst of all this unfortunate negativity, there is still some good news though! Although we prepare for an imminent legal battle unlike any we have ever faced as you read these words, we are still pleased to announce some positive developments on our side.

Specifically, we are very pleased to announce that our long-standing job opening for the position of Writer has been filled. Please give a warm welcome to Craig "Spaghetti" Spivack, who has recently joined our team as the official writer of the Black Mesa Hazard Course! He will be bringing depth to our new characters, and add flavor to a newly-reimagined Hazard Course that was, quite frankly, pretty boring in the original Half-Life (nostalgia aside, of course).

Here are some words from Craig:

"I'm really happy to be joining the Hazard Course team! My background is in screenwriting, but I find the interactivity of video games and their ability to not just tell a story but to deliver an experience very interesting. I'm looking forward to writing for the mod, and making it feel like much more than just a tutorial."

Good words! We're definitely excited.

One of the most amazing things to come out of this new addition to the team is our newfound realization that life has some really odd quirks, and works in very mysterious ways. After reading an early draft of a script that Craig wrote for us, I realized that he named two of the Hazard Course scientists after two of my old high school science teachers. After giving Craig a lengthy interrogation about this and possibly embarrassing him to the point of breaking down into a near-PTSD state, we found out that we actually went to the exact same high school! Some small world, huh? Crazy.

The world does indeed work in strange ways. As the drama unfolded during my interrogation of Craig's years of secondary education, a thought dawned on me as I pondered life. What would we do after we finish re-creating the Hazard Course for you all to enjoy? What would fill our burning need to create content for you, the community? Through hours of deep thought, I have come up with a revolutionary plan: Just as the Craig's-high-school-incident had expanded my mind to infinite proportions, so too shall the Hazard Course be infinitely expanded!

We are very proud to announce our brand-new plans for the development of several alternate editions of the Hazard Course after initial release, that we are codenaming "Hazard Course: Infinity". What is Infinity, you ask? Well here's the thing: There are so many variations that one can do with something even as simple as the Hazard Course, it's absolutely amazing.

Among the various editions that we can do under the Infinity project include the obvious ones, such as "Hazard Course: Barney's Training", a re-imagining of the Hazard Course from Blue Shift, or even "Hazard Course: Boot Camp", a re-imagining of my personal favorite, the USMC Boot Camp from Opposing Force. Of course, these are just some of the many possible variations on the theme of the Hazard Course. The possibilities are infinite!

Infinity is a very large number of possibilities, and as a community project, we don't want to disappoint. So if you feel that you have a great idea for us, send us suggestions for new Hazard Course editions in the comments below! As always, we are very open to community feedback. Hell, if you end up suggesting a Hazard Course: Seuss Edition, we won't mind! That's just one more step down the long road to Infinity!

Thank you guys for being such a great community. We understand that it's difficult to be excited about orange and gray dev textures, but we are making tons of progress. We only wish for more hours in a day, and more free weekends each month. Regardless, there is just so much to show you guys in the days to come! So sit tight, hang on, and enjoy the ride!

P.S. Happy (belated) Easter!