I think portal was supposed to be in the HL2 universe, at least at some point... obviously l4d and tf2 are not.

I think the TF2 crossover is just a little too ridiculous.

Its pretty neat now while its still new and shiny

The current crop of VR tech dates back to 2012, not exactly what I'd consider new and shiny

It's gonna suck when Steam immediately enshitifies to the max after he dies.

Forgot about Valve taking a giant 30% cut and making thousands of people gambling addicts?

Yeah I’ll have to hook it up soon. :) I’m just stoked that I found it haha.

I had CS:Source Steam version, except I gifted it unopened (don't remember why, probably had enough IL-2 and SW:Battlefront and SW:EAW to play) to a friend, so only saw Steam installation on that friend's PC until much later.

My first Steam game was Empire: Total War, which is, eh, not too old.

BTW, it's Russia and most disks you would buy in my childhood were pirate localized versions or just pirate versions, sold in underground crossings or in shabby-looking small stores. Nobody here understood what copyright is and how it's connected to any right, like - really nobody. It's baffling really when people who confidently and certainly thought of copyright this exact way then, just like everybody around, are today being judgemental and condemn digital piracy. While the new generation which wasn't very conscious back then - doesn't. Two-faced cowards. OK.

I'm really nostalgic over all those small stores, because back then not only they existed, but those ugly malls everywhere didn't exist. Also in underground crossings everything was cleared (probably to make profit for malls ; of course it was illegal to sell there, but - I really feel more for those people than for the law), but now there are stores in them again, mostly coffee and snacks.

I've seen licensed localized versions by 1C on small racks in book stores, though, and those weren't too expensive or bad, and the selection was usually good, but small, still - the people who decided which games were put there had consistently good taste, I've seen Thief various parts, Neverwinter Nights, Silent Hunter, various quests, maybe something else there.

I've had licensed WarCraft III: Reign of Chaos, my first non-pirate game, and later got The Frozen Throne.

The only place with really many-many official disks I've seen in my childhood was Soyuzmultfilm official store (a rare place, I mean, I live in Moscow, it's huge and is still cool, and it was even cooler), and that place was kinda expensive (and looked expensive).

Though the games causing more nostalgic feelings for me were Dark Swords (an MMORPG much like MUDs) and Wizards' World (a browser game much like MUDs with very cheerful global chat in a frame to the left) and Travian (still alive, but was better then). There was something called Wizards' World II (not sure if it was by the same people), which I really liked (well, it was a plagiarism at HotMM, but a nice one, cool graphics and multiplayer). Unfortunately not around anymore.

Honestly I had more than many kids (born around 1996) did, and I'm really ashamed that my dad got depressed and didn't see me get more useful before dying from Covid. Lots of it was due to his own idiocy, but he's done a lot and deserved far better regardless.

Honestly rain is the only thing which always, without a single failure, makes me feel I'm in the same world as then and some things in it are genuinely noble and good. So - it's raining and people are remembering the time of LAN parties and Steam being unknown. And I'm remembering first installing Settlers, not sure which part. Sorry for the mind dump.

I could be wrong. But i believe i read something that said they changed her model in a couple updates.

oooh that makes sense; yeah this would have been in 1999/2000ish. i remember a name similar to counterstrike but i wasn't sure

i did a search and i think it was this one i was thinking of actually (source seems to be 2004 remake of it but i was out of uni at that time: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counter-Strike_(video_game))

Should I give it another try? I hate the movement so much

That was maybe true once, but it's fading into nothing but a meme. Half life is just not relevant for newer generations.

But that may just be the opportunity... Giving them a reason to care.

I don't think they care much about general public expectations, they released Alyx with general public not even having an option to play it. If HL3 will ever be released by the current Valve it will be a game they are proud of themselves to produce.

Who cares about the number. It's obviously not meant to be the "3" people were waiting for, but it's a Half Life game giving us lore anyways

There will never be a HL:3 anyways. We're doomed now.

To be honest yea, I just feel like it's pretty much gambling, now that there's a real market around it. I would be for banning them for minors and regulating them in a similar way