Trailer Tuesday is a weekly chance to present trailers, gameplay videos, retro commercials, interviews and other video-tastic material to the folks at Destructoid.
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Much to the delight of fans of good games everywhere, The Orange Box has been a success on both PC and current-gen consoles. Many would credit this to the mind-blowingly awesome first-person comedy-puzzler Portal and the over-the-top cartoon violence of Team Fortress 2. However, one should not be so quick to discount Half-Life 2 and Episodes 1 and 2. In terms of game mechanics, outstanding character design and simply great storytelling, these games are hard to beat. By listening to the included commentary tracks, you really gain an appreciation for the love that Valve put into these games – every scripted event, every character, every piece of foreground and background were placed with where the player would look and go in mind.

The Orange Box has also inspired many gamers to go back and play through the original Half-Life, the groundbreaking and award-winning predecessor to Half-Life 2. I would argue that, while the graphics and gameplay of the game can come off as dated, the original Half-Life is still playable and immensely enjoyable. In addition, the expansions (Opposing Force and Blue Shift) were supremely crafted and executed in the manner one now expects from Valve.

Shortly after Half-Life 2 originally came out, Valve released a Source conversion of the original HL via Steam and in the Game of the Year and Collectors Editions of Half-Life 2. Additionally, the Half-Life improvement team released a total conversion mod of Blue Shift for the original Half-Life in 2005, which allowed players to play the game without purchasing the expansion (and with updated graphics and textures). However, these versions were not quite on par with what some were hoping for. Half-Life Source was basically a port of the original game into the new engine, and didn't reconstruct the original other than some improved graphical effects (water and lighting in particular) and some AI improvements. The Blue Shift mod suffered from the same bugs as the original, and didn't take advantage of the available Source engine. Sadly, Opposing Force was left untouched, neither created as a HL1 mod or up-ported into the Source Engine.

In the time since the Half-Life 2 release, three teams have gone to work creating Source versions of Half-Life, Opposing Force and Blue Shift for the PC. While the three projects are in varying stages of completion, all show promise and arouse excitement among fans of the original games and those who have just jumped on with The Orange Box. Valve seems supportive of these efforts, and in the coming years we can hope to journey back into the Black Mesa compound.

Black Mesa



Black Mesa is “a total conversion of Half-Life 2, retelling the original game of Half-Life.” While the mod won't have a public beta, the team developing it has been generous with media, including screenshots and video. In addition to the retold original story, Black Mesa will include deathmatch and an all new cooperative mode, allowing players to go through the original game with a partner. The mod is shaping up wonderfully, helped by a fantastic original score by Joel Nielsen. Black Mesa has been in development since 2004, and - although they are taking a “it's done when it's done” approach a la Valve – seems to be on track.


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Operation Black Mesa



Operation Black Mesa “is a total Source conversion of Half-Life: Opposing Force.” The mod will recreate all 12 chapters of the original game, with all-new models, visuals, voices and sound. The development site also promises “immersive scenes that make you really feel for the employees of the Facility,” which could mean all new scenes and dialog. The single player campaign has also been extended to “fill in gaps” from the original. The team is having a closed beta of the project, although they will likely have a public multiplayer beta. While no videos have been released yet, there are a number of screenshots and concept art pieces on the project's site. Of the Half-Life expansions OpFor was my favorite, so I have to say I'm most excited about this project. If I remember correctly, there are a number of enemies and NPCs that haven't appeared elsewhere in the series, and the possibility of seeing them in the Source engine excites me to no end.


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Barney's Tales / Blue Shift Source



Barney's Tales / Blue Shift Source is “a total conversion of the original Half-Life Blue Shift add-on,” and came in 3rd in this year's moddb's Player's Choice Awards. The Immersion Mod Studio has set a solid deadline for their mod of Q4 2008 - Q1 2009, which puts them on a tight schedule to put their project together. The team has no plans for a cooperative mode, but promises deathmatch along with the single player campaign. Immersion seems to be taking a more “realistic” route than the other mods, including camera bobbing from the first person perspective and weapon and character models based on physical real-life samples. Like the other mods, Barney's Tales has what sounds like a stellar original soundtrack.