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Do We Expect To Die?

Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3

July 2010: I have reposted this article in the hope of generating some interesting discussion. It was originally published in April 2006.

A long time ago I started a thread on a gaming forum about expert SP FPS gamers. I asked if anybody had beaten a modern (HL1 or Unreal 1 onwards) Single Player First Person Shooter on the hardest setting without playing sections twice. Let me explain that a little. You are allowed to save a game but only to provide a natural break (toilet, food or sleep!); you are not allowed to quick load when you are running low of health or ammo.

25th July 2010 7 Comments

Rainmeter and a Half-Life 2 style desktop

Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3

I received an interesting email from Joe Albericci AKA ThePengu a few days ago and I thought I’d share the content with you.

He told me about a a desktop customization platform called Rainmeter, whilst I had never heard of that particular application, I was aware of these types of applications. The whole thing looks pretty cool and I am running it as I type, although I am yet to find the right skin for me.

18th July 2010 6 Comments

The 7 Year Cycle?

Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3

I was recording Podcast17 yesterday and was speaking about a mod I added a few days ago called Minimicus.

There’s nothing remarkable about this mod, although it is good fun and well produced, but the interesting things is that it is 7 years old. In gaming, that’s a loooong time.

18th July 2010 14 Comments

Thank You William McMahon

Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3

As I was walking along the beach the other day, my feet enjoying the cool, refreshing waves, I starting thinking about stuff. Not just regular stuff, like shopping lists and housework, but world-changing, cataclysmic stuff. Stuff like Podcast 17 and how it has nearly 90 episodes. That’s one a week for over 21 months. Do you know how much work is required to produce one podcast? I do and it’s a lot.

27th June 2010 10 Comments

Andrej Mernik’s HL1 Mod Page

Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3

Andrej contacted me a while ago and said he was going to make a lot of the Hl1 files that used to be available on my Filecloud server available from his site. He has been working very hard and I would like to thank him for all his hard work.

He has listed them in alphabetical order and each file has plenty of details. Many of the reviews are in Slovenian but he plans to translate them soon.

26th June 2010 2 Comments

The Envelope – Short Story

Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3

I wrote a short story and what’s the point of having a website that people visit if I don’t use it to publish something? None!

So, here is the first of a few short stories I have written. This one has a connection with the Half-Life universe.

I haven’t had it proof read, so you get it almost as it was written, please forgive any silly grammatical errors or spelling mistakes. All criticism welcome, even if it’s just You suck!”.

7th June 2010 24 Comments

How tough is too tough?

Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3

I received an email from a reader today asking that exact question; how tough is too tough? He is writing reviews and has received some negative feedback for those reviews.

I haven’t read any of the reviews in question, so my comments are based on the topic rather than any specifics.

6th June 2010 12 Comments

Get Mods Working

Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3

This post should help get some of those mods that stopped working with the recent Half-Life 2 and Episode One update, working again.

Fingers crossed.

30th May 2010 80 Comments

New Update Breaking New and Old Mods?

Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3

I have basically copied all the replies from a forum thread started by JM Kasperg, a well-known modder.

Essentially, the latest update from Valve, has caused some mods to stop working. It’s the same for some mods in development. His original post explains things.

27th May 2010 37 Comments

Half-Life 2: Barney Trouble

Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3

Jasper posted this on the forum and having way through watching the first part I knew I must post it for all to see. It’s a machinima like no other I have ever seen. I sat riveted to both parts for the full length.

This is a superb creation and I salute the author(s).

Enjoy!

21st May 2010 15 Comments