I agree that actual simulation of battlefield is impossible, but it's still achievable as shown by the link I provided previously. I mean Operation Flashpoint lead into the development of VBS1, both used by various armies to simulate combat runs. What I was talking about was simulating massive armed conflicts, as the purpose of these systems is not to teach soldiers to fire a weapon, but how to effectively respond to the pressures of battle, the chaos of war, maneuvers and tactics. As they cannot typically service out a Red Flag type of scenario or say a F-16. But enough about that... regarding game development...

But isn't that mostly due to the developers themselves not taking the risks and costs implicated in making a true hit title? Look at HL2, they knew they had to deliver some more of the same, but they decided to push the envelope further then anyone before (facial expressions, narrative progression and TONS and TONS of actual play testing not bug testing). The same is of Operation Flashpoint and STALKER at the moment.

Consequently they had a massive hit, countless awards and a fan base they basically switched on into Steam, as much as I dislike it I still have it on my computer. The development in games in going into the direction of visual wankery to me, it's all about gfx and what not. However there is little to really tell apart the games now days based on their graphics, most are dark, bloomed and that awful brownish tinge that seems to be 'realistic'.

It's the publisher's fault of trying to push developers into the same avenues, there is no freedom given to developers to provide new and compelling games. Look at God of War, Jaffe had to fight a while to be allowed to do something like that. And even now he's being forced into making God of War 3. The freedom that designers enjoyed probably got killed off by Romero and Ion Storm fiasco.

We'll see how it goes.

um drx10 will not be 8times faster thats utter bs im pritty sure u might be able to do something alot faster in drx10 than 9 but as a whole it wont be 8 times faster. and the simple fact is u will be able to play games for another 3 yearswith drx 9 hardware and have things look pritty nice. stop beliving all the hyp. alot of the things that make games look good are simple things that we can do for years and wont be changed that grately by drx10. allso vista is not that graphicly intensive i mean realy. compared to hl2 ore anny other games vista is pritty simple graphicly. stop beliving ms hyp.

does the original game (HL2) also have HDR?

No, I think they might be using some 3rd party mod "faking it" or perhaps its added in post-processing of the video. The only other option is that they have re-compiled all the levels used to include HDR just to do this video, which is very, very unlikely, since you would first need to de-compile, rebuild the levels, include HDR and then re-compile, which would be .. I dunno about 1 year worth of work for 5 people..

I also was reminded of how gorgeous and realistic HL2 looked, even if the game itself was somewhat disappointing (as a sequel to one of the best games of all-time, mind you). I thought only Lost Coast and Episode One had HDR... does the original game (HL2) also have HDR?

Wow, every time I see pictures or especially vids from HL2 I am stunned by just how DAMN good looking this game is. Amazing

Does anybody else think that weyoun looks a litle like the G-Man from HL2?

Congrats on your 100 darksun.

I just watched the movie and it's destined to become a classic. I say it's the best HL2 like world I have ever seen. And at the same time it's so raw and shocking.

Children of Men is a 2006 dystopian thriller film directed by Alfonso Cuarón, based on P.D. James's novel The Children of Men. The film depicts a bleak dystopia, in which no human child has been born for 18 years, human extinction looms, and violence reigns. The plot centers on Great Britain, which has become a police state.

- More @ Wikipedia

Obviously the dev's tried copying hl2 graphix and failed miserably. You can see the pixels from the yellow blood -_-;

But the ragdoll physics is quite nice, up vote for that

New excuses for getting killed. Frankly CS:S has been burning out ever since they put the beta out befor HL2, back then it was so smooth, now it's so choppy and finky. Thats why I only play BF2 now SNiper Class!

If anyone is interested, you can download the map here to explore for yourself in HL2.

http://www.cstrike-planet.com/maps/969

Can't wait...I think December is release date for HL2:EP2 -

Because of Narbacular Drop(http://www.nuclearmonkeysoftware.com/narbaculardrop.html),
I am extremly anxious to play this polished version of 'portal'

Thats prity simplistick phisics with aditonal scripted animation.

if you are intrestead in real time phisics its worth looking at cellfactor whitch should be the next step in phisics after hl2, allso the new card by agia and the phis x platform are intresting


games that have sugnificantly advanced phisics

trespasser
maxpayn
unreal 2003
half life 2
cell factor

probably alot more