WOW - I've never seen this before but just yesterday I was thinking how great would it be if some coffee shop (Tim Hortons) made a commercial EXACTLY like this. It could have been a little longer but the exact concept I was thinking of. I felt like I just entered a weird Twilight Zone or something as I watched this.

Twilight Zone-ish ... on acid =oD

You make some interesting points probie! Half-life is my top game of all time too and I'm a bigtime Valve fanboy of course.

I basically agree with everything you said, the games have become more broad, L4D2 and Portal 2, while both excellent, were a little underwhelming... but I guess comparing them to the greatest game of all time is bound to lead to disappointment too...

For the most part though, I think that Valve's overall approach; releasing software for free, bridging the gap between developers and gamers with Steam, and their system of game development in general, is a great approach and it's one that's given me a lot of joy and fulfilment as a consumer.

I'm using their Source Filmmaker software right now to create a short film and all along the way Valve employee's been answering questions on forums, blogging about their favorite videos so far, releasing new content every week etc...

Sure they're just a company and ultimately they want our money but when I look at Valve compared to most other developers/publishers, it's like night and day. Valve releases DLC all the time, for free. Every time I play TF2 (which is now free too) there's always new maps and new weapons. L4D1 and 2 both got new campaigns, in fact another one JUST came out for L4D2, for free! Compare that with almost every other game company and they're charging you for DLC before the game is even out. Or they split their game into 3 separate games! *cough* Blizzard *cough*

I just think there's something they 'get' about where gaming and software is going in general and I for one hope they continue on this ride!

Yes I know I'm a huge fanboy...

>> ^probie:

Still my #1 game of all time. I've always been a fan of the Twilight Zone, Amazing Stories, Weird Tales, etc., so the idea of an every man unleashing who-knows-what-upon-the-world was really appealing. Not to mention the variety of guns, the variety and originality of the monsters, the way each section felt like a real place. [spoiler]You race to the surface dependent on being rescued only to be driven back down underground, realizing as you wander through areas of the facility that no one normally goes that you're now entirely self-reliant. Top that off with other little psychological tricks they used: passage of time (when you first run into the military it's sunny, the next time you hit the surface it's night time), mortality (getting caught and thrown to your doom in the trash compactor, knowing you're about to become a footnote, only to escape again). I still get tingles when I remember dropping down off the roof into that pit of water, hoisting myself up into the pipe and starting to scurry down it when, at the other end, I see a soldier pop open the door and throw in a satchel charge. (Read: OH SHIT!!! backpedal backpedal ) Hell, I'm pretty sure I even held my breath in real life when I dropped back into the water; that's how engrossing the experience was. [/spoiler]

Unfortunately, I think Valve took the idea of spit and polish to absurd levels in every game they've made since, with it culminating in Portal 2. I'm not talking about the story; that was great. I'm talking about the "Here, let us spoon feed you each level by pointing out that this is the only wall that you can put a portal on, oh good, you did it, see? Aren't you having fun?"-type gameplay. The only way they could have been more direct is by putting a giant, flashing sign that says "DO THIS NEXT". [spoiler]To be fair, I felt a small tinge of it again in Half-Life 2, when you reach the bridge and have to make your way across the under-belly of it. I think this was do to the fact that there was nothing there (ie. a convenient arrow sign) to indicate that's what you needed to do. I remember looking around, seeing the path leading down behind the house, following it with my eye to the bridge and thinking "Are you serious??" Sure enough, 2 minutes later I'm grasping on the rusted metal and cursing under my breath at the developers. [/spoiler]
Regardless, something has gotten lost in the translation since Half-Life. Gone is the wonder and sense of freedom I felt; now I feel that I'm only playing the game the way they require me to, and not on my own. They may have been directing me where to go in Half-Life, but they did it with such slyness that it never felt forced, or blatant.
Sadly, I think their cabal process has become a double-edged sword, allowing them to create some of the most memorable video games, but tailoring it to the lowest common denominator. (A great read if you have a minute or two.)
And on that note, I'm off to hunt down some really, really good weed that will make me forget about everything I liked about Half-Life 1. Just so I can replay it again.

Still my #1 game of all time. I've always been a fan of the Twilight Zone, Amazing Stories, Weird Tales, etc., so the idea of an every man unleashing who-knows-what-upon-the-world was really appealing. Not to mention the variety of guns, the variety and originality of the monsters, the way each section felt like a real place. [spoiler]You race to the surface dependent on being rescued only to be driven back down underground, realizing as you wander through areas of the facility that no one normally goes that you're now entirely self-reliant. Top that off with other little psychological tricks they used: passage of time (when you first run into the military it's sunny, the next time you hit the surface it's night time), mortality (getting caught and thrown to your doom in the trash compactor, knowing you're about to become a footnote, only to escape again). I still get tingles when I remember dropping down off the roof into that pit of water, hoisting myself up into the pipe and starting to scurry down it when, at the other end, I see a soldier pop open the door and throw in a satchel charge. (Read: OH SHIT!!! *backpedal* *backpedal*) Hell, I'm pretty sure I even held my breath in real life when I dropped back into the water; that's how engrossing the experience was. [/spoiler]


Unfortunately, I think Valve took the idea of spit and polish to absurd levels in every game they've made since, with it culminating in Portal 2. I'm not talking about the story; that was great. I'm talking about the "Here, let us spoon feed you each level by pointing out that this is the only wall that you can put a portal on, oh good, you did it, see? Aren't you having fun?"-type gameplay. The only way they could have been more direct is by putting a giant, flashing sign that says "DO THIS NEXT". [spoiler]To be fair, I felt a small tinge of it again in Half-Life 2, when you reach the bridge and have to make your way across the under-belly of it. I think this was do to the fact that there was nothing there (ie. a convenient arrow sign) to indicate that's what you needed to do. I remember looking around, seeing the path leading down behind the house, following it with my eye to the bridge and thinking "Are you serious??" Sure enough, 2 minutes later I'm grasping on the rusted metal and cursing under my breath at the developers. [/spoiler]
Regardless, something has gotten lost in the translation since Half-Life. Gone is the wonder and sense of freedom I felt; now I feel that I'm only playing the game the way they require me to, and not on my own. They may have been directing me where to go in Half-Life, but they did it with such slyness that it never felt forced, or blatant.
Sadly, I think their cabal process has become a double-edged sword, allowing them to create some of the most memorable video games, but tailoring it to the lowest common denominator. (A great read if you have a minute or two.)

And on that note, I'm off to hunt down some really, really good weed that will make me forget about everything I liked about Half-Life 1. Just so I can replay it again.

I have absolutely NO proof of this whatsoever, but if any sifters would like to follow this story up, I think you'll find that Mike Molloy was from County Donegal in Ireland.

In the 80's, there was an episode of "The Twilight Zone" dedicated to it (in the show's own particular way of course.)

Cheers for the trip down memory lane A.C.

^Upvoted^

>> ^TheFreak:


Is willful ignorance like yours genetic or is it a life choice?
Depends, does dissenting opinion have a place in the twilight zone where you live?

>> ^Kreegath:

Honestly, it's more "Total Recall" than "The Matrix".


True, written by Philip K. Dick 19 years earlier.

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Ahhh... the Ballad of Hinge Thunder!

Medical device sales man. Starts out trying to pronounce weird eletrostaticdiscombubulator machinery. Ends up almost losing his child because he can't understand anyone.

I always liked that one as it wasn't really fantasy or science fiction just a story about someone with Aphasia told from his perspective.
>> ^spoco2:

I have this episode burned into my brain as it was one of a few 80s Twilight Zone episodes the my dad had taped off the tv, so I watched this, plus the one where the man slowly loses the ability to speak english (to him and us it starts seeming like everyone is using the wrong words for things), and one where a food critic does a bad review of a Chinese Restaurant and is doomed to eternally eat there when he gets a bad fortune cookie.
Yup, that's it for me and the Twilight Zone of the 80s, just those stories, burned in there!

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

I remember that episode with the morphing words - it made an impression on me too. I've even told my kids about it.

This one wasn't too bad for its time. Interesting that the glitches looked a lot like analog videotape errors. Different visual cues for a different time. There was a whole alternate universe in that guys matrix-stache.

>> ^spoco2:

I have this episode burned into my brain as it was one of a few 80s Twilight Zone episodes the my dad had taped off the tv, so I watched this, plus the one where the man slowly loses the ability to speak english (to him and us it starts seeming like everyone is using the wrong words for things), and one where a food critic does a bad review of a Chinese Restaurant and is doomed to eternally eat there when he gets a bad fortune cookie.
Yup, that's it for me and the Twilight Zone of the 80s, just those stories, burned in there!

>> ^dystopianfuturetoday:

I remember an 80s Twilight Zone episode where there was a necklace that would allow you to stop and start time, and it ended with the main character stopping time a few seconds before a nuclear attack. Freaky.


Had a huge effect on me when I saw it as a kid. Myself and my brother still talk about it today.

Black and white, baby, black and white all the way!


>> ^spoco2:

>> ^bareboards2:
The one where the grumpy misanthrope never has time enough to read. His wife keeps bugged him? He is in a vault when the nuclear holocaust happens. He gathers books around him, sits down to read and promptly breaks his glasses. Episode ended with him howling into the sky.
Burgess Meredith with coke bottom glasses.

Was a great episode... although not in the 80s series, but the original.

>> ^bareboards2:

The one where the grumpy misanthrope never has time enough to read. His wife keeps bugged him? He is in a vault when the nuclear holocaust happens. He gathers books around him, sits down to read and promptly breaks his glasses. Episode ended with him howling into the sky.
Burgess Meredith with coke bottom glasses.


Was a great episode... although not in the 80s series, but the original.

oh man... I remember that one. It freaked the hell out of me everytime!

I remember several other episodes i liked:



There's the one set in the future, and there's this kid who's going to be tested by the government, and he's all excited. In the end it turns out in this society, people with an IQ too high are executed to maintain society equal.

And there's also that one about the girl who gets transformed into a manequin.

And the one about this couple (i think) who get stuck in a sort of parallel time dimension where everything is put into place by blue men or something of the kind.

and there's also the classic about the box with the red button and if you press it, someone in the world dies and you get 1 million dollars (there's a recent movie made about this)

I also remember the one where a girl in the pilgrims' time and a boy in the 80's suffer from a fever and end up being able to communicate with one another

>> ^Drax:

I used to love the 80's Twilight Zone episodes as a kid. There's a lot of classics.
For a genuinly creepy one look up "Grandma". Written by Stephen King. I believe the director was someone well known too.

A little peace and quiet... nicely played into my 80's imminent apocalypse terror: http://youtu.be/bjFdix6BRZk



>> ^dystopianfuturetoday:

I remember an 80s Twilight Zone episode where there was a necklace that would allow you to stop and start time, and it ended with the main character stopping time a few seconds before a nuclear attack. Freaky.