Half-Life News

New Half-Life mod rebuilds Halo multiplayer inside Valve's original engine

The first Half-Life was a nexus point for what we consider the modern FPS. Valve's shooter presented a fully realized world, and a compelling narrative to go with it. Gordon Freeman's tram ride to Black Mesa sets the tone, while the walls of the secretive research facility tell their own stories. Then Halo comes along, which ups the ante with gigantic sandbox levels and an entire universe to decipher. We wouldn't have the shooters we do today without Half-Life and Halo. But what would happen if we smashed both games together? Now you can find out.

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This Half-Life mod remakes Valve's classic shooter to be both longer and wider, and it has radically altered my perception of the original

I've always said that my favourite chapter in Half-Life is Office Complex. In a game all about recontextualising the FPS from abstract mazes into a realistic, coherent setting, to me Office Complex felt like the ultimate expression of that. It's the most mundane part of Black Mesa's clandestine research facility, swapping the hellscapes of Doom and the fantasy realms of Heretic for a cold and clinical administration centre...
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Valve considered making a 'B title' before Half-Life, until an exec told Gabe Newell 'that's just not gonna work… the company will fail'

Last year saw the 25th anniversary of Half-Life, one of the most important games in PC history and a spectacular debut for Valve. But in another timeline, it could've been the studio's second game...
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Former Valve exec says the company struggled to sell Half-Life until coming up with the ultimate 'one simple trick' of marketing manoeuvres: slapping a 'Game of the Year' sticker on the box

One of this year's GDC highlights was a talk by Monica Harrington, a founding member of Valve and the company's first chief marketing officer, who went over her history with the company that brought us Half-Life and Steam...
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Valve CMO threatened the company would walk away from games if it didn't own the rights to Half-Life—'It wasn't an idle threat—we weren't going to take on all of the risk to make other people rich'

It's the 2025 Game Developer's Conference, and one of this year's most interesting talks was delivered by Monica Harrington, a founding member of Valve and the company's first chief marketing officer...
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