Decker

If my wife starts complaining when she sees all the small Steam transactions on next month's CC bill (as she has after previous seasonal sales, I'm directing her to those last couple posts in this thread!

BTW: Don't forget to redeem your "tickets" tonight.

Quake1028

Oh, we are measuring e-peens now?

edstein

No way you guys can finish those games between now and the up coming christmas holiday sale.

Groucho

It'll be (more or less) the same games.

big e

Regarding the Half-life and Quake expansion packs, do I need the main game to play them or can they be played on their own?

Decker

Half Life 2 Episodes 1 and 2 are definitely stand-alone expansions. Can't speak to Quake.

big e

I was referring to the expansion packs for the first Half-Life, Blue Shift and Opposing Force.

kgrogers1979

Neither Blue Shift or Opposing Force were developed by Valve. I believe Gearbox made them both. They aren't necessary and don't add anything significant to the plot. They are both side-stories that occur simultaneously with the main game. In Blue Shift you play as one of the Black Mesa security guards, and in Opposing Force you play as one of the marines. They are both decent games, but they aren't necessary at all.

Half-life 2 Episodes 1 and 2 actually do continue on with the plot. I wish they would hurry up and get Episode 3 out already.

Drexl

I actually think an Episode 3 would be a disappointment after all this time. I'd rather they just do Half-Life 3 with a whole new engine.

kgrogers1979

The irony is that the three episodes are supposed to be Half-Life 3. I remember way back when Valve first started developing these episodes, they said that because it took them six years to develop Half-Life 2 (from 1998-2004) they would essentially be doing three episodes that would together compose Half-Life 3, and it wouldn't take them nearly as long to develop episodic content. Well, now here it is seven years post-HL2 (2004-2011) and the episodes are still not done and have taken longer than HL2 did to develop.

It is amazing how well the Source engine has aged though. Portal 2 looks great considering it is using a seven year old engine.