The Source VR Mod Team have been faithfully modding the Half-Life games into virtual reality - an excellent way to relive Valve's classic shooters. The team modded Half-Life 2 last year and followed it up with a mod for Half-Life 2: Episode One a couple of weeks ago. They’re now back with Half-Life 2: VR Mod - Episode Two, coming to Steam later today.
Valve has put up a Beta for Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode One and Half-Life 2: Episode Two as they prepare more of their own games ready for the Steam Deck.
Read the full article here: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2021/10/half-life-2-and-the-episodes-get-a-beta-with-vulkan-dxvk-and-more
Just over 13 years after release, Half-Life 2: Episode 2 has got a new achievement that you won't have to expend any effort in unlocking. Why? Because Valve chief Gabe Newell has successfully punted the old PC game's beloved Gnome Chompski into space.
The achievement is called "Gnome Along", and reads: "If you are reading this achievement, Gabe Newell has successfully launched Gnome Chompski into space". It's an enduring finale to Newell's recent charity drive where he pledged to donate $1 to The Starship Foundation - a children's hospital in Auckland, New Zealand - for every person who tuned in to see the garden ornament get launched into space via Rocket Lab's livestream or Twitch channel. The event itself was a collaboration between The Heart of Racing, Rocket Lab, and Lord of the Rings special effects, props, and sets maker Weta Workshop. As you can imagine, it was a success, and the knick-knack is now in orbit.
Half-Life wasn't the only Valve game to get an achievement to mark the occasion, as Left 4 Dead got the same one, too. The space-faring gnome appears in both games in various ways but is most infamous for the achievements he's tied to. In Half-Life 2: Episode 2, you could unlock an achievement called Little Rocket Man if you managed to carry the garden gnome from the start of the game to a rocket ship toward the end of it.
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Gabe Newell is still in New Zealand due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He’s apparently been very happy with the country for allowing him to stay as the viral pandemic took hold and was beaten back to near zero new cases in the country, but there is a reason Newell was there in the first place, and now we know. It was to send Gnome Chompski into space, but for real this time.
In partnership with Weta Workshop and Valve, Rocket Lab announced that it will be including a special passenger on its Flight 16 mission, which will take place no sooner than November 15, 2020. That special passenger is a replica of Valve’s favorite garden gnome, Gnome Chompski, as manufactured by Weta Workshop. The gnome appears as a prop in Half-Life 2: Episode 2, wherein if players can actually carry Gnome Chompski to the end of the game, place him in a rocket, and launch him into space, the achievement “Little Rocket Man” is earned. In a fun nod to that achievement, Newell and Weta are sending a real Gnome Chompski on Rocket Lab’s Flight 16 to test a 3D printing technique and its application on future spacecraft components.
As it turns out, this was the reason Gabe Newell was in New Zealand in the first place when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and he found himself, along with partner Teagan Klein and friend and pro race car driver Alex Riberas, taking an extended stay in the country. Gabe Newell has since worked to give back to New Zealand, including arranging a free concert. There was even talk of him opening a Valve office there.
Regardless, on the matter of Rocket Lab’s Flight 16, Newell is continuing his effort to give back to New Zealand as well. Reportedly, Gabe Newell will donate a dollar to Auckland, New Zealand children’s hospital Starship for every viewer of Rocket Lab’s Flight 16 livestream either live or within 24 hours of going live. As Flight 16 launches several satellites into Earth’s orbit, it is meant to then re-enter Earth’s atmosphere and completely burn up in the process, along with Gnome Chompski, so unfortunately it’s looking like a one-way trip for the real-life Little Rocket Man.
Regardless, Gnome Chompski is sacrificing for a right and noble cause. You couldn’t ask for much more as a video game garden gnome than to benefit the medical care of children and the science of space travel materials and manufacturing. It may be one of the most elaborate enactments of a video game achievement ever, but we salute Newell, Weta Workshop, Rocket Lab, and, of course, Gnome Chompski on this brave mission. Stay tuned for further details on the launch of Rocket Lab’s Flight 16 as they become available later this month.