A little disappointing not to see any of the non-map aspects, but it looks amazing so far.

There's already a port of original halflife to the source engine (Half Life: Source) but they didn't upgrade any of the graphics. That's been out for 3 years.

Go to http://www.blackmesasource.com/ and download the full resolution version of this to get the full effect, and check out the screen shots.

So is this being done by Valve, or independant developers?. This is a great idea though, I would love to see some of the older games done with better graphics, like Quake 2, but with the doom 3 engine.

^ Oatmeal: Go pick up Quake 4. Exactly what you described.

As for HL:BM, I've been waiting for this one forever. I wish they'd update their site a little more often. It's too bad it's taking this long. By the time they're done, HL3 will be out...

Yeah this is a real tease alright, I read about this in a magazine when HL2 came out and we've had two episodes since. That said they are doing it for nothing (well apart from jobs in Valve maybe ) and its also going to support co-op mode right through and extra areas that werent in the original.

It will also support the extra graphical features of Episode 2. Its a pity the team revamping Opposing Forces broke up.

On retro gaming the 3D graphics upgrade for Duke Nukem3D is good fun, its like a 300mb download. Like Half Life that game had some brilliantly designed levels.

^ videosiftbannedme: I did and loved it, but you can't have too much of a good thing right.

vsbm - by HL3 you probably mean HL4, which is at least 5 years ahead, as Valve have said that they see the Episodic trilogy as HL3.

The problem with Black Mesa Source (and I've been waiting for it a long time, just like some of you) is that they have a MAJOR, imo unsolvable, dilemma on their hands: do they just pay homage to the levels in the map layout and reimagine the puzzles & combat (I mean Overhaul++ apart from maps) or do they try to stay as close to the original as possible - by just updating the graphics. I'd actually go with the latter, cause I'm one of THOSE uber geeks/fans, but the problem is that this decision makes a lot less sense financially. Then again the former choice probably means a lot of fans might bash the game if they steer way off the original gameplay when trying to innovate with the puzzles (using Source physics, etc), cause without a large team or the resources it just wouldn't be THAT good.
If what moodonia said is true, that they're adding some extra areas, that might just work if they're leaving most of everything as it was.
As for me, though - I'd still pay for it either way

Black Mesa, like many other, is a modification for HL² done by amateurs, not by Valve!
It will be free, so the "financial sense" has nothing to do here.

That's true, Oatmeal. More of a good thing is still a good thing.

Didn't realise they were calling it HL3. For like HL2.5 if you ask me. Still good but not worthy in overall length as to a finished project; plus these mountainous gaps between episode releases really broke up the feeling of still caring about that universe and those characters. My vested interest was gone by that point.

It will be interesting to see what they do with HL4. Rather than follow the existing storyline, I say start fresh with a new idea, and throw all there energy into creating the next level of interactive gameplay. Remember when you first played Half-Life how real it was? As compared to games that came before it. It was evolutionary. I want THAT, but to the next generation. Than throw me in an action-adventure meets Die-Hard scenario. And of course it's just a few more steps to Holodecks. I'd pay for some of that shit. I envy our youth.

The thumbnail image for this video has been updated - thumbnail added by vaporlock.