HL2, Jump to Lightspeed Demos

HomeLAN has details on newly available demos of two of the most interesting late-2004 releases. The folks over at Valve have released a Half-Life 2 demo, available where you download stuff, and FilePlanet has available a demo version of Star Wars Galaxies: Jump to Lightspeed should you want to try it out for 10 days.

Question:

[Return_of_the_Pyro]

Question: What self-respecting geek doesn't already have Half Life 2?

Re:Question:

[VendingMenace]

answer: ones who are too poor to afford a decent computer or internet connection?

sadly, i speak from experience :(

Re:Question:

[usernotfound]

correction, what self respecting geek wasn't holding on to his ATI coupon like one of Willie Wonka's Golden Ticket or had it preloaded weeks before the actual release?

Re:Question:

[Anonymous Coward]

Question: What self-respecting geek doesn't already have Half Life 2?

Those of us whose wives might be buying it as a Christmas present.

Oh, sorry, you said geek.

Re:Question:

[Anonymous Coward]

This is for those people who live in the altered reality that Halo 2 is still the best FPS ever, and Halo 1 was unique in some way.

answer

[Anonymous Coward]

The one who uses a different OS than Windows on non-x86 hardware, which isn't supported by HL2 or any emulators out there.

Waiting for multiplayer

[CrazyJim1]

I'll buy Half Life 2 when someone makes a decent multiplayer mod that's respected. I'm only interested in games that I can compete in world wide tournaments anymore. Single player games that tweak your ego by letting you crush your enemies are silly. Multiplayer games that don't become popular because they suck are imbalanced aren't my interest either. Its the solidly balanced multiplayer game that interests me.

Re:Waiting for multiplayer

[TellarHK]

You know, I heard this wild rumor about a year and a half ago that they were working on this ultra-secret project called "Counter-Strike: Source" that would be really nifty and actually come free with Half-Life 2. And I guess the original Counter-Strike was something like the most popular FPS multiplayer on the planet, with leagues and prizes and everything.

But it was just a rumor.

Re:Waiting for multiplayer

[Scooter]

It may be boring - but it sure is popular. Personally, I've never seen the attraction of the sniper-fest that is Half Speed Camperstrike. 20 minutes hiding behind a box isn't my idea of online fun. If you do try and walk, it's like your pants are round your ankles - you sort of shuffle. As a long time Quake/2/3/3wave player used to bouncing around the map at great speed performing trick jumps and using rocket propulsion to get around CS looks like a cure for insomnia...

But! - I'm in the minority here -

Re:Waiting for multiplayer

[Lisandro]

Funny, i'm more interested in single player games lately. Don't get me wrong, HL spawned some fine multiplayer games, like Counter Strike, Day of Defeat, Team Fortress and so, but i dunno... maybe i'm getting old or something, but i still preffer playing by myself better sometimes. And it's not like i can't enjoy an online fragfest :) it's just different. I don't know if people were that interested in HL2 as a game or as an engine for mods, which, let's face it, was what kept HL going to this day - i seri

Re:Waiting for multiplayer

[bynary]

Flamebait?

Re:Question:

[xTown]

One whose disdain for Steam overrides any desire to play yet another FPS, no matter how good it may be?

Re:Question:

[Drathos]

Agreed. Steam is the one thing that is stopping me and several freinds from getting HL2.

Re:Question:

[evilmousse]

by all means... purchase it AND use the hacked version. sure, you don't get to protest.. but daaayum, this is one to let go. ^^

i still can't play offline tho i bought legit, i guess because of the graphics driver warning that pops up. i made due effort, even write emails with requests that went unanswered, not even by form letter: 1, I intend to use a no-cd hack, 2, i want to be able to play offline.

i don't much time to game, so i'm still planning on trying out some online multiplayer and haven't patched

Re:Question:

[stanmann]

And who doesn't have $50 in the budget for a single player online game.

Between the evils of steam and my decision not to spend more than $20 a shot on any game... well there you have it.

Re:Steam

[G-Spot]

I'd have to disagree. Sure, it takes some time to download the demo, but unless you have to sit in front of the computer and pedal it to make it go, this really isn't an arduous task. Why download the demo? Because the full game costs $50 or $60. Once people do this, however, they may see how simple the Steam process is and decide to buy the game. But that's a different story altogether than "You need to get a Steam account so you may as well buy the game, so the demo is a stupid idea."

Re:Steam

[br0ck]

Keep an eye on Gametab's Frugal Gamer [gametab.com] and you should be able to pick it up for ~$35 ($40 here [gogamer.com]). Whatever you pay, it's worth every penny.. it even just won Gamespy's GOTY award [gamespy.com] and a number of other awards (best character - Dog!).

Fuck steam.

[slittle]

Where's the "Steam, for the most part, fucking rocks, but hell will freeze over before I contribute to its success as an authentication mechanism" option?

If it was quick (and free) to transfer a single game from one account to another, maybe (making separate accounts for each game so they can be transferred to another party is just lame). If they promise to remove all remote authentication schemes from it completely after 5-10 years (perhaps kept in escrow, so they can't renege), maybe. But a system that

Re:Steam

[Dave2 Wickham]

I'm not sure I'm following you here. You say "You might as well just buy the full game if you're going to go through the process of getting a steam account and a verification just for a demo.", but I'd imagine most people interested in this would already have Steam accounts for Half-Life 1, or to preload HL2.

Re:Steam

[WormholeFiend]

and I bet you don't have a New York Times free registration either... ;)

[/runs away]

Uhm?

[AkaXakA]

You might as well just buy the full game Uhm? Except the part where you pay 60$ (only 45 Euros! Ha!, sorry) for a game you're not sure about. Needless to say though, I already have my copy.

Re:Yes but...

[Mr.Dippy]

If it isn't then it could infect your computer like the naughty FireFox broswer doo-hicky thing.

link to torrent

[QuantumRiff]

The demo torrent can be found on 3dgamers here [3dgamers.com]

Re: even better

[zr-rifle]

Fast, non-reg download here
http://www.ngi.it/download-3301-half-life-demo.htm l [www.ngi.it]

New Content

[G-Spot]

My question is, is this just a level from the final HL2, or is it a little bit of new content? I remember back when they released Half-Life they had a demo available that actually wasn't part of the game - Half-Life:Uplink, I believe they called it. It was a pretty fun 30 minute or so mission, if I remember correctly. Anyone try out the demo yet?

Re:New Content

[Chyeld]

I can't dl it in Steam since I already have the full version and Steam isn't listing it in the avaliable games, however from other people's statements the Demo is basicly a few of the first levels and a bit of Ravenhome. No new content.

will the demo be like the HL demo?

[myc_lykaon]

ie. will the demo be totally different, with maps that are unavailable in HL2 full?

I rather enjoyed the HL demo Uplink and it was worth the download time.

Re:will the demo be like the HL demo?

[space_jake]

I just checked fileplanet and it doesn't appear to be new content. Thats a shame I really enjoyed Half-Life: Uplink as well.

finally a demo

[El_Muerte_TDS]

does that mean the sales already dropped?

Stuttering - For Free!

[superultra]

I wish I would have waited. I could have saved myself $50 to experience the frusteration that is Half Life 2 on an n-n-n-vi-d-dia-a-a c-c-a-a-r-r-d-d-d.

Re:Stuttering - For Free!

[gonzoxl5]

I've got an old TI4600 and an XP1700+ CPU with only 768mb RAM and it runs really smoothly (certainly better than Doom 3)

Re:Stuttering - For Free!

[Lisandro]

It runs very smooth on my system (XP1800+, 512mb, nVida FX5200) - completely smooth at 800x600 and very playable at 1024x768 (with some hiccups). D3 ran fine too, but at 640x480, 800x600 tops.

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Fileplanet?!

[Dachannien]

Has Sony learned nothing [bittorrent.com] from its newest and closest competitor? [worldofwarcraft.com]