Here we are, getting close to Christmas, which is either really great for you or you’d rather just go to bed and wake up in the first week of January depending on your life.

But just because Father Christmas is preparing his presents, doesn’t mean that the Half-Life community just sits back and relaxes, OH NO, we/they have been hard at work and we are now going to look at exactly what they have been doing.

If you don’t know what this podcast is about, please read the What The Headcrab: Introduction.

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This week’s pick is the Legend of Gordon: Update 5. I know a few people who are eagerly awaiting this and the more the author posts, the more excited they get. I’m also looking forward to this too.

• ModDB Year in Review
  ModDB has posted its year in review article and the numbers are impressive. I posted a tongue-in-cheek tweet comparing my and their numbers. I’m curious to know if visitors means visits. Because 31 million unique visitors is a huge amount – could be true though.
• Southernmost Combine have Twitter
  Not huge news, but this mod looks fantastic and I recently posted something on the RTSL Tumblr account about it. You should definitely keep an eye on this one, just don’t hold your breath – it’s going to be a while until it is released.
• Arrangement released a trailer
  A few people thought they were actually going to release, but the countdown was just for the trailer. I have to admit I was a little underwhelmed – sorry. This sort of stuff is not really my cup of tea and I thought the timing of the voice acting was really weird.
  
• Antarctic Sciences
  This mod is new to me. The post itself is a little weird. Firstly, it seems the developers are not native English speakers, which is certainly not a criticism, but in today’s world, it’s not hard to get somebody to check the txt. Next is the childish concept art. then there is the way the post talks about the completed sections and finally the video below, which doesn’t exactly inspire me – let’s hope the final product is polished and fun to play.
  
• Red Requiem: Liberation
  This one is another new one to me. AT first I thought it was going to be MP, but it is listed as SP, MP and Co-Op which is mighty ambitious. They talk about a demo but I couldn’t find a download link.
• Antlions Everywhere: Winter Version.
  So, you should have seen the Antlions Everywhere mod for EP2. It had some great sections although it had a few issues that should really have been fixed. Anyway, the author is creating a winter version which sounds like a complete waste of time to me. Make something new! That said, he might fix the issues at the same time and that’s a good thing.
• Theos: A Chronicle of Faith
  WOW, this episode is full of new stuff to me. I’ve heard of Christian Rock but never a Christian mod. I have tried to avoid any reference to religion on the site and not long ago replaced a “Jesus!” with a “Geez!”. I’m certainly open to the concept and here is a quote from the post ” It is my intention to develop Theos: A Chronicle of Faith to be built squarely on the gospel, but also to be as violent, shocking and grotesque as the Bible will allow me, and trust me, a lot of players are going to be very, very surprised just how far I will be able to take it.” Definitely an interesting topic and I’ll probably adapt it somehow to use as a poll question.
• Respirator Mandatory
  Fourth new mod in a row, that’s a record for the show. Anyway, this started as a new mapper’s attempt to recreate one of the HL2 beta maps into a newer engine and has taken a much longer and deeper turn. The name has changed and I’ll be honest, I’m not sure the new one is any better than the last. Still, the screenshot look atmospheric.
• PUNT: Rebirth Late 2015 Update
  Back in WTH: Episode 002 we first heard about this mod. In this update, they talk about fixing the code and show a short lighting video.
• Brain Bread: Closed beta
  So, BB have announced a closed beta. Now the mod is listed as SP and MP and I am unclear whether the beat is for both or one mode. You will need to apply for keys. I like the idea from a marketing perspective and it also gives them a chance to control the amount of feedback they get. Good luck to them.
• Omega Protocol: 2 Years Dev
  In this quite detailed article, the author talks about how things have changed over the course of 2 years development.
• Half-Rats: Parasomnia
  Mr. Half Rats, HR to his friends, has released more details of the sequel to Half-Rats: A Fever Dream. It’s another nicely detailed article, showing new enemies. Go check it out.
• Half-Life: Blue Shift: Source Media Release 5
  I’m losing track of all the stuff Mr. Nikolay psosts. Anyway, I haven’t watched the video becasue I have a new condition called “Nikolay Overload”.
• Snowball Fight: Week 5
  Plenty of details in this week’s update including a video. It’s nearly 7 minutes long but has no commentary, which I find so annoying. I always feel that videos should explain what theya re showing, even if it’s obvious to the mooder it might not be obvious to the viewer.
  
• Snowball Fight: He did it!
  Yes, he met his release schedule. Well, it’s only in beta but that’s fair enough. This is the last time I’ll be covering this mod on WTH, not because it’s bad but because it’s MP and no more MP stuff here! Anyway, congrats to him.
• Legend of Gordon: Update 4
  Introduction to the Ruins and some tasty looking screenshots. Make sure you follow this one.
• Legend of Gordon: Update 5
  At the risk of repeating myself, we have an introduction to The Water Temple and another nice selection of screenshots. Looking forward to this one. I’ll probably contact the author and see how I can get RTSL involved in its promotion.

Well, there we go, a great selection of ModDB stuff finished. Onto GB

So, there’s no new maps on GB but I had a quick look at the BM section. It’s the same as the Steam workshop: lots of files for changing this texture and that sound. Have to admit it makes no sense to me.

• BM on GB
  See all the new stuff for BM on GB.
• Ultra Effects Pack
  Pretty lights and gun flashes!
• New EP2 Menu Icons
  Here’s another example of stuff I don’t see why people do. Somebody replaced the images in the EP2 menu. Now, you know what would be cool? A simple application that you could do that yourself. Open the application select a game, select an image, resize and crop then select which chapter you want to replace. If I could code, this might make a nice little project.

That’s it for GB and onto Reddit.

Crikey, there seem to have been hundreds of Reddit posts in the last two weeks. Not sure I am going to be able to cover them all. They are in reverse chronological order. Remember, this is NOT the complete list of threads from the HL sub-Reddit, just ones that caught my eye and I might not have even read all the thread! As usual, there were quite a few HL3 threads, which I have completely ignored. I might start to really limit the amount of Reddit threads I post – I really do have “Reddit Overload”.

• What game worlds could stop Gordon?
  Discussion about which game world’s Gordon could survice on.
• I’m so sick of these “Half-Life is outdated” posts
  Somebody is NOT happy. The game is a victim of its own success in this regard. The fact that people still play and talk about means it really is a classic, but some people viewing it from today’s standards are always going to claim it was over-rated etc.
• Get Yourself a Portal Coffee!
  Portal Styled coffee shop. Very cool. I’d visit and I don’t even drink coffee!

• New Half-Life 2: Episode Four Screenshots Revealed! – ValveTime Spotlight Exclusive
  MEH! Am I the only one who feels this video seems like a essay that has been written to reach a word limit? The speculation and over-speculation seems over the top. I general love VT’s videos but this seems worthy of 1 minute or so not 8. I also feel it’s a little churlish that they added the VT watermark when the images aren’t even theirs. Yes, the did the research but that’s all. Well worth a watch but you might simply want to search for the image and look at them yourself.
  
  Here’s the Reddit Discussion on them.
• Some guy talks about some prop he bought for a prize on his stupid website.
  
• Seven Hour War – The First Meeting [REDO]
  
• Resonance Ripoff
  

• Half-Life tattoos
  Small collection of HL tattoos

And to finish with, a bunch of Valve merchandise I found this week.

• Gordon’s Glasses
• Gordo’s Face
• Women’s T Shirt
• BMRF Mug
• HL Logo Stickers
• HL Hoodie
• Very Cool Hoodie
• Action Figure

PHEW. This has taken me over two hours to create this episode. I might have to re-think whether I will continue them or not. Or maybe, a change to the way they are produced. Thoughts?

Anyway, I’ll definitely see you in two weeks.

CYA

Background music is a PS2 Menu loop by ClamShaw.