Play the Dreamcast Half-Life That Never Was

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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Play the Dreamcast Half-Life That Never Was

The unreleased Sega Dreamcast edition of the classic shooter Half-Life is now available as a mod for the PC version on Steam.

Why, you might ask, would you want to play a PC-based mod of a console port of an old PC game? Seems like a lot of running around just to get right back to where you started, after all. But the version of Half-Life [http://www.amazon.com/Half-Life-Game-Year-Pc/dp/B00001KUII/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1327450893&sr=8-2] for the Dreamcast console that never saw the light of day is more than just a straight-up remake; the levels are different, it sports unique NPC models and props, tweaked difficulty and "a host of sly Dreamcast references hidden throughout."

The game was being developed by Gearbox and slated to come out in late 2000 before the plug was pulled, presumably because of the Dreamcast's failure to catch fire. And that would've been that, and was for more than a decade, but thanks to the miracle of modern technology we don't have to settle for playing "new" games on our obscenely expensive entertainment systems - we can play old games that never actually existed in the first place!

Along with everything else, the mod features an overhauled menu designed to "closely emulate" the Dreamcast interface, password notifications, a CD-quality soundtrack that will override the default 48kbps MP3 files used by Steam and a whole mess of other "little differences." Sounds like it might be fun as a curiosity if nothing else, and it's free, which is a pretty big plus. Download links, instructions and a small but growing collection of positive feedback can all be found at the Mod DB [http://www.moddb.com/mods/half-life-dreamcast#comments].


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Rodrigo Girao

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May 13, 2011
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I've already played that version. See, just because it didn't get an official release doesn't mean it didn't get a release. ;-)
 

zelda2fanboy

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Oct 6, 2009
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I wonder if this version will emulate the buggy, ever growing save files that eventually become too large for the VMU. Not that I would know anything about that...
 

Beryl77

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Mar 26, 2010
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The Black Mesa mod seems to be in its final stages and I've been waiting years for that game, so I don't think I'm going to try this. I'll just wait for Black Mesa a bit more.
 

Rad Party God

Party like it's 2010!
Feb 23, 2010
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Yo dawg, I heard you like to play Half-Life, so we put another Half-Life into your Half-Life, so that you can play Half-Life while you Half-Life!

Seriously though, this just sounds silly, the newer models were already available for the regular PC release of Half-Life, heck, I still have them installed!. But just as Andy said, this is more a curiosity than anything else, just for educational purposes.

And yes, I'm still waiting for that delicious Black Mesa mod... they still have their infamous 2009 trailer...
 

Steve the Pocket

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Mar 30, 2009
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Andy Chalk said:
a CD-quality soundtrack that will override the default 48kbps MP3 files used by Steam
Wait, what? Seriously? Wow. I guess I never noticed because most of the music from the Half-Life games are purely electronic. I'm no audiophile, but I could definitely tell if a conventional song were such low quality.
 

ShakerSilver

Professional Procrastinator
Nov 13, 2009
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Adam Jensen said:
We all are. It seems that it shares the same fate as Episode 3/Half-Life 3
Rodrigo Girao said:
Yeah, I wonder if Black Mesa will surpass Duke Nukem Forever's legendary vaporwareness.
SupahGamuh said:
And yes, I'm still waiting for that delicious Black Mesa mod... they still have their infamous 2009 trailer...
Black Mesa is actually in the final stages of development as of now, but the devs just don't bother with media releases anymore. They do however talk about the mod a lot on their forums, and even answer questions about mod (expect those directed at Xen or a release date).

OT: This looks really nice. I might get this now, but then again, Black Mesa might be coming out soon. I might just hold out a bit for that.
 

Wintermoot

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Aug 20, 2009
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for those wondering it DID got completed just never released.
if you own the original HL/HLBS (that got bundled with the DC release) you can legally run it on a DC just don,t expect easy controls....
I think I will try it.