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Half-Life is a first-person shooter computer game developed by Valve Software and published by Sierra On-Line in 1998, based on a heavily-modified core Quake I game engine. It was first published for PCs running Microsoft Windows, and was later ported to Sony's PlayStation 2 video game console (a version for Sega's Dreamcast was completed, but never released commercially). Half-Life has been heralded by computer game critics for its gripping storyline, which would influence the development of other first-person shooters in the years to come.
In the game, you play a scientist named Gordon Freeman who is a survivor of an experiment that goes horribly wrong, ripping dimensional seams that allow aliens from a parallel dimension to invade Earth. The game refers to it as a resonance cascade. As you try to escape the destroyed facility you soon discover that you are caught between two sides: the aliens, and the forces of the United States military which has been dispatched to cover up the experiment - including you. You also learn that the accident may not have been an accident after all, and that the aliens didn't start it, but were getting stolen and experimented on.
Two expansion packs have been been released: Opposing Force and Blue Shift. In 1999's Opposing Force, you play through the world of the original storyline once again, but this time as one of the military officers sent to cover up the experiment. Blue Shift (2001) returns the player to the original storyworld yet again, this time as one of the facility's guards. (This expansion was originally developed as a bonus mission for the canceled Dreamcast version.)
Half-Life has also been used as a base for many mods (add-ons) such as the immensely popular and free multiplayer mod, Counter-Strike. Other popular mods include Team Fortress Classic, Day of Defeat, Deathmatch Classic, Action Half-Life and Natural Selection.
The sequel, Half-Life 2, was merely a rumor until a strong impression at E3 in May 2003 launched it into levels of hype only equalled by DOOM³. The story takes place after the Black Mesa incident in a futuristic Eastern European 'City 17'. It again pits Gordon Freeman against an alien invasion. It was due to come out in September 2003, but has been delayed; Valve Software says that they are aiming for a summer 2004 release. This pushing back of HL2's release date came in the wake of the cracking of Valve's internal network, through bugs in Microsoft Outlook, resulting in the theft of the game's source code. The game uses a new engine entitled 'Source', featuring some of the most advanced interactivity and graphics to date. The new release date of Half-life 2 is said to be summer 2004 at earliest, altough it is most likely this date will change.
See also: Bunnyhopping