I vaguely remember either we didn't have demo recording working or we didn't have a way to capture video from the game to a file at this point. This was captured using some sort of analog video out from the PC to my personal Sony Mini-DV camcorder. We hauled the camcorder to Siggraph to recruit people. Some of them saw it on the tiny camcorder screen or we plugged the camcorder into a TV. I still have the Mini-DV tape but it is likely not in good shape.
That's honestly a smart idea, screen recording at that time wasn't viable as it slowed the already limited resources of the computer. I used to do this too with my GeForce FX5200, it had an S-Video out which could be duplicated from the VGA output.
I was wondering how you guys managed to capture footage then when Fraps was barely out I was guessing some sort of capture card but wox thanks for the anecdote !.
@@Autunite TV/capture cards did work to capture video from an S-video output without slowing the PC. I did this to capture footage for the HL1 mod HLRally.
Now I feel kinda bad you released the big mega build recently because if you had waited just a bit longer, you could have used this and the newly released E3 2002 footage as reference for more accurate fixes. Still, I look forward to see more of your fixes!
Free TVs aside, can we talk about how impressive this is for 2000? The fact that the facial animations already looked that good this early in development is pretty wild to me.
It was the year of the Playstation 2 coming out, which had games with some pretty impressive modelling and animation of humanoid characters (Ridge Racer V, Tekken Tag Tournament, Dark Cloud etc.). Still, HL2 at this stage in the making looks incredibly good for PC game standards at that time. Compare it to the better-looking PC games of 2000 (to name from the top of my head; No One Lives Forever, Hitman: Codename 47, Giants: Citizen Kabuto, Gift, Blair Witch Project Volume 1 etc.) and it might not hold up in every visual effects category but you *will* notice how lightyears ahead it is in the depiction of human and non-human characters. You only really saw that kind of attention to facial and bodily details in graphics card tech demos in 2000 and 2001.
Yeah, despite the lighting effects and shaders being somewhat closer to the old idTech capabilities it's crazy how they already had this level of facial animation around in 2000, and how believable it already is. And I thought what I saw in Deus Ex from that year was already cool enough.
it feels so surreal to watch this and see maps from the beta with such accurate lighting and the real gasmask citizen model walking around this was probably mind blowing in 2000 it's also surreal to see how half life 2 looked back then because it looks like both half life 1 and half life 2
I love cut content videos of videogames. It feels like you're glimpsing into a parralel universe where a game you know took a whole different path in its development.
Same, I def have a fascination with it. Like the DNF 2001 leak was incredible to me (I know that was a huge leak for a ton of people). I loved not just exploring and messing around with the build, but looking for comments and what not in c, c++ files etc. The whole development of DNF is fascinating (and sad IMO). "The Cutting Room Floor" is a great site I didn't discover till recently for cut content, data mined content, leaked or public early builds/scripts/storyboards concept art etc. for a lot of games. I can waste a lot of time on there if I'm not carful lol.
HOLY!!! It is unreal that valve had detailed face models and animations in the year 2000! Some of the models like the strider and crab synth look better modeled than the ones in the final release! And great to see Barney has hardly changed since concept and to finally confirm caucasian redhead Alyx's model is indeed real.
all this time we'd been using as a very creepy eeire sound and now, knowing it's true origin, it's even more unexplainably creepy just an amazing piece of sound design
DAMN, I'm honestly blown away by how advanced the HL2's graphics this early on. Seriously, considering that this was made just TWO YEARS after HL1, the leap in visual fidelity is absurd. The way the mouths and eyes move sync with the voice acting, as opposed to "opening and closing" dynamically with the audio like it was with HL1. The character facial details, skin textures, hair, and hell, even Gas Mask Citizen's gloves at 8:26 look pretty advanced. Playing a game like this back in the day would've probably cost you two lungs and a liver ROFL
Yeah no kidding, even the first demo struggles like hell lmao. I’m most impressed by the specularity they managed for the time, that’s the kind of thing you’d see in Renderman, not a video game engine. Really cool demo!
To me the leap feels on par for the course, From the mid 90s to early 2000's almost every year felt like a generational leap. Everything progresses very slowly now, Partly because everything is on consoles these days and so everything is limited by console generations, but mostly because graphical fidelity is so high its hard to find big jumps to make.
Also at 11:03. But not exactly shaders as they were not programmable - just stages in the D3D/OGL API. First real shaders came around 2002 (and were written in assembly :).
It's quite insane to me that Valve was already making the basis of HL2 a year after HL1 was released. Heck, this video was made even BEFORE HL: Blue Shift was released
Also he Is telling all the Lines from every Barney in HL1 ,this confirms that the Barney we had IS INDEED every Barney of the black mesa facilty . They are all clones with a hive mind 😂
Watching people whose jobs were computer graphics and VFX have their minds blown by a real time demo must've been such a source of pride and inspiration at Valve
I'm legit crying. I'm not joking. I'm 100% serious. I'm on what's probably gonna be my deathbed soon, and I was able to see my beloved Half Life 2 being relevant again one last time before I go out. I got my goddamn FREE TV, finally. After all these years. Amazing timing, Valve. Thank you so much. Your games were a sliver of happiness in these horrid 35 years of my life. Thank you.
Thank you so much for releasing this! I've spent endless nights dreaming of this demo while staring at that one screenshot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@@PETRIXXXXidk,maybe they still haven't found them yet. Idk how true this is, but I'm guessing what happened here is somebody encountered storage disks with high quality footage, and I'm assuming unfortunately that the files were probably stored somewhere else.
1:19 crazy to think they got the way tanks behave right. The movement, firing, the whole bit. Those reloading sounds can still be heard on those Simfphys vehicles and certain parts of the retail version today.
@@Cyclopeantreegiantyeah and? Still gotta make the model that scan is put on top of haven't they?? Also look at those combine models, so fucking good for 2000.
THE OLD TOWN, THE COMBINE TANK, THE WASTELAND IN THE BOREALIS MAP, THE ORIGINAL CITY-17 IN THE US OH MY GOD SO MUCH SOVL!!!! SOOVVVVVVLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It's surreal. Having been a fan of the HL2 Beta since first hearing about it I never though I'd see this video. But it's like an aha moment. Obviously for those of us into the HL2 Beta nothing in this video is necessarily discoveries however for us we only had the fragmented puzzle pieces. To see it all come together like this was next level.
Well, we can finally see fabled "melee fight between Metrocop and Gasmask citizen" (not to mention original official models of both), finalized version of City_Test map and early versions of C17_01 and C17_04.
It was an old map of Kleiner's laboratory. Hall with Metrocop, Synthcrab and Strider was meant to house a big teleporter. It was cut in the final game for the sake of a smaller room with a smaller teleporter. However, room with Alyx and Kleiner survived to the final game, surprisingly enough. Making it arguably the oldest piece of content in the final game, which went without changes from early days of developement.
WOW. Insanely cool and unexpected to see this-- maybe the oldest HL2 footage in existence? Demo Arctic is so creepy and atmospheric here, I absolutely adore the ambient sounds. Get Your Free TVs lives up to the hype of that one still that was all we had for so long. Some of these character models are INSANE for 2000, especially the Strider and Crab Synth that look super close to the final game models. Oh, and Cremator my beloved, to see you officially acknowledged in a Valve video🥺 Please please please we need to see him in an official HL title someday. Cremators were considered again for HL:A, but I'd think the third time's the charm? 😉
Cremator has a weird distinction of being an enemy who was cut twice from two games throughout 2 decades. It is impressive anti-record. I too hope, that he will get in HL-whatever some day.
Crazy to finally see this, been wondering about it for decades. I wonder if we’ll ever end up seeing the closed door DOOM demo from QuakeCon 2014, another closed door demo that’s currently lost media
Everything, down to every detail.. A WHOLE ENTIRE ATMOSPHERE, it's stunning, the vibe from watching this after 20 years of Half-Life 2 release, the game which was unique on its own way, I'm blown by how beautiful this is, it's like from an alternative universe which is bizarre yet marvellous Thank you Valve for this gift, I am grateful for what masterpieces in this world your company has created for us to escape reality with and all the memories with world-famous games, so proud by the brilliance of the workers of Valve, along with the legendary legacy you have achieved. Happy Birthday Half-Life 2.
It all looks incredible. I could only dream to see footage from the beta. Even those cremators are here, and that one section in the artic. It's truly a dream come true. Hell, even the 1984 vibe is something I really love. No other game studio has ever made these kind of ambiances better than Valve.
In the HL2 Anniversary page, at the very bottom, we can find a trash can near to 1 SODA CAN, but INSIDE of the trash can we can find TWO soda cans more. Like, bro, why specifically 3 soda cans?
It feels so surreal to finally see all these maps and this whole era of the game’s development come to life through this footage; I never thought I’d see these images I’ve seen for the past 9 years in motion. Kindly, thank you, Valve. ❤
Wow I can't believe they've finally released the SIGGRAPH demo of this. I remember seeing screenshots of this a very long time ago. It's a lot longer than I thought, I assumed it would have been shorted for SIGGRAPH (unlike the E3 demo which is much more polished). It's very interesting to see the art style here as a mix between what we know as Half-Life 2 and that weird, grungy feeling of the original Half-Life. It really morphed between 2000 and 2004
Also at 8:52, I understand why they took this to SIGGRAPH. This is lightyears ahead of what anyone was doing in real-time in '99-'00. Those facial expressions and animations are insane.
@@Quaker763 Yeah, its crazy how in just span of the year and something Valve went from HL1 faces to this. Imagine HL2 was released in 2001 - it still would have been a revolution.
sadly I don't think they have the files to the actual .exe file, so all we have left is the footage, still it's truly mind boggling at all to see this, it feels like a fever dream
It was A starting location of the game between 1999 and 2000, when they decided to add whole bunch of story and Hyperborea / Borealis was move into the middle of the game. Map Demo_Arctic in this video most likely was a sketch for a starting map of the game.
I am surprised that Kleiner's lab is basically the same. Minus big room. Its crazy to think that despite all stylistic and story changes in the game, it was, probably one single place in the whole game which went unchanged since 2000 and up to 2004.
Man.....i remember when this was considered lost media and everyone was trying to recreate it with mods now to see it becoming official has brought a tear to my eyes
Half-Life 2 had one of the craziest dev cycles, the game seemed to entirely mutate from one year to another, this engine looks like the missing link between GoldSrc and Source. It is bizzare to know Barney's metrocop model was completed a year before he got to star in his own Half-Life 1 expansion.
NEVER EXPECTED VALVE TO UPLOAD HYPER ERA HL2 FOOTAGE
THANK U UNCLE GABE
REAL BETA
There has never been a better time in history to be a *_Dark and Gritty_* boi!
I can feel the dark and gritty coursing through my veins
DARK AND GRITTY
This is crazy!
GET YOUR FREE TVS!!!
We finally got free tv's
I can't believe they kept it all these years
iiii waant my mtveeeeee!
my honest free TV reaction
FREE TVES
Holy, this is actually not lost media anymore!
Never was
@@chillthe1 It was... You just didn't bother to research it before commenting.
@@chillthe1 Lost media wiki disagrees
Na Man this video never was lost media, the executable Is lost media
@@Skazzy3YT The map was lost media, not the video.
I vaguely remember either we didn't have demo recording working or we didn't have a way to capture video from the game to a file at this point. This was captured using some sort of analog video out from the PC to my personal Sony Mini-DV camcorder. We hauled the camcorder to Siggraph to recruit people. Some of them saw it on the tiny camcorder screen or we plugged the camcorder into a TV. I still have the Mini-DV tape but it is likely not in good shape.
That's honestly a smart idea, screen recording at that time wasn't viable as it slowed the already limited resources of the computer.
I used to do this too with my GeForce FX5200, it had an S-Video out which could be duplicated from the VGA output.
Pretty clever
I was wondering how you guys managed to capture footage then when Fraps was barely out I was guessing some sort of capture card but wox thanks for the anecdote !.
Camcorders to the rescue!
@@Autunite TV/capture cards did work to capture video from an S-video output without slowing the PC. I did this to capture footage for the HL1 mod HLRally.
I thought I would never see the day 😭
Thank you for releasing this!
@@ayskudo6771 Теперь они будут искать остатки этого контента в файлах игры и восоздавать его 20 лет
The One Epicplayer is flabbergasted and sobbing as we speak
Ну где МегаБилд???) уже 16 ноября😅
I agree
Now I feel kinda bad you released the big mega build recently because if you had waited just a bit longer, you could have used this and the newly released E3 2002 footage as reference for more accurate fixes. Still, I look forward to see more of your fixes!
THE HYPE ERA HL2 FOOTAGE IS REAL
Its actualy pre pitch era
both of yall are wrong, this is the cameo era lol
I wish
@@bethanywhite247Actually this was the Clinton era
dark and gritty
This damn image of the guy running with his FREE TV is becoming real, thanks for everything Valve
GET YOUR FREE TVS!!!
waited more than 20 years for this
TV!!! FREE TV!!! :D
GET YOUR FREE GODDAMN TV
24 years, The beta community is probably very, very happy right now
And so am I...
Thank you Valve
Yes, we are indeed very happy. The aesthetics OMGGG MANNNN
Real
I WATCHED YOUR HALF LIFE 2 BETA VIDEOS
Yes, we are lol
hl2 beta fans when they see child labor:
Free TVs aside, can we talk about how impressive this is for 2000? The fact that the facial animations already looked that good this early in development is pretty wild to me.
I was flabbergasted by what they were creating in that year
Imagine HL2 was released in 2001 (unlikely even back than, but still). Graphics would have blown socks away (as well as PCs of the time).
It was the year of the Playstation 2 coming out, which had games with some pretty impressive modelling and animation of humanoid characters (Ridge Racer V, Tekken Tag Tournament, Dark Cloud etc.). Still, HL2 at this stage in the making looks incredibly good for PC game standards at that time. Compare it to the better-looking PC games of 2000 (to name from the top of my head; No One Lives Forever, Hitman: Codename 47, Giants: Citizen Kabuto, Gift, Blair Witch Project Volume 1 etc.) and it might not hold up in every visual effects category but you *will* notice how lightyears ahead it is in the depiction of human and non-human characters. You only really saw that kind of attention to facial and bodily details in graphics card tech demos in 2000 and 2001.
Yeah, despite the lighting effects and shaders being somewhat closer to the old idTech capabilities it's crazy how they already had this level of facial animation around in 2000, and how believable it already is. And I thought what I saw in Deus Ex from that year was already cool enough.
@@ShadowSumacgetting ahead of market as dangerous as getting late to it.
it feels so surreal to watch this and see maps from the beta with such accurate lighting and the real gasmask citizen model walking around this was probably mind blowing in 2000
it's also surreal to see how half life 2 looked back then because it looks like both half life 1 and half life 2
It honestly feels like listening to “Subways of Your Mind” in my opinion.
The colors… the framerate… the animation and vibe, I could cry 🥹😭
Dark and Griddy
I wish this was half life 2
im dark and griddying so hard rn
*FREE TVS*
dark and diddy
SOME INTERN FOUND THE FUCKING DISK IN THE STORAGE ROOM
GET YOUR FREE TVS!!!
GET YOUR FREE TVS!!!
GET YOUR FREE TVS!!!
GET YOUR FREE TVS!!!
I love cut content videos of videogames. It feels like you're glimpsing into a parralel universe where a game you know took a whole different path in its development.
Very true
that's exactly what I'm thinking when I'm looking at this.
I say to myself that this is from a different timeline.
Same, I def have a fascination with it. Like the DNF 2001 leak was incredible to me (I know that was a huge leak for a ton of people). I loved not just exploring and messing around with the build, but looking for comments and what not in c, c++ files etc. The whole development of DNF is fascinating (and sad IMO). "The Cutting Room Floor" is a great site I didn't discover till recently for cut content, data mined content, leaked or public early builds/scripts/storyboards concept art etc. for a lot of games. I can waste a lot of time on there if I'm not carful lol.
HOLY!!! It is unreal that valve had detailed face models and animations in the year 2000! Some of the models like the strider and crab synth look better modeled than the ones in the final release! And great to see Barney has hardly changed since concept and to finally confirm caucasian redhead Alyx's model is indeed real.
I dunno, Alyx still looks Asian to me. Just with a lighter skin tone.
3:28 the reveal of the noise being the borealis is so sick
all this time we'd been using as a very creepy eeire sound and now, knowing it's true origin, it's even more unexplainably creepy
just an amazing piece of sound design
@@nolzstwynkievicz for me its the sled build start noise from g mod lol
@@commentaccount7880 when a round of murder is about to start as well
They better use the same atmosphere and sound for HL3 borealis
Wasn't it called Hyperborea at that time?
I CAN FEEL THE GOLDSOURCE CRISP RUNNING THROUGH MY VEINS
Goldsrc 2
@@RealLazyLemonGoldSrc 2 electric boogaloo
sexcellent
@@cadaverousRemains GoldSrc sex update
sourcegold
DAMN, I'm honestly blown away by how advanced the HL2's graphics this early on.
Seriously, considering that this was made just TWO YEARS after HL1, the leap in visual fidelity is absurd.
The way the mouths and eyes move sync with the voice acting, as opposed to "opening and closing" dynamically with the audio like it was with HL1.
The character facial details, skin textures, hair, and hell, even Gas Mask Citizen's gloves at 8:26 look pretty advanced.
Playing a game like this back in the day would've probably cost you two lungs and a liver ROFL
GET YOUR FREE TVS!!!
Yeah no kidding, even the first demo struggles like hell lmao. I’m most impressed by the specularity they managed for the time, that’s the kind of thing you’d see in Renderman, not a video game engine. Really cool demo!
Yeah it feels like im looking at a “pre-source” engine.
To me the leap feels on par for the course, From the mid 90s to early 2000's almost every year felt like a generational leap.
Everything progresses very slowly now, Partly because everything is on consoles these days and so everything is limited by console generations, but mostly because graphical fidelity is so high its hard to find big jumps to make.
You don't need to breathe, you just need half-life
8:28 the developers were so proud of the new shaders :D
as they should be, crazy stuff for 2000
@@GG_1318 i agree
@@GG_1318 Reminds me of how the glass physics from Duke Nukem Forever 2001 still look great til this very day 23 years later!
@GG_1318
Especially with the kind of resolution textures used to be.
Also at 11:03. But not exactly shaders as they were not programmable - just stages in the D3D/OGL API. First real shaders came around 2002 (and were written in assembly :).
14:17 Last chance Hector.
*HOOOAA-*
You can clearly see how Source at that point was GoldSrc 1.5.
I would called it goldsource
Especially the hud
The best gift from valve to the beta community
GET YOUR FREE TVS!!!
Alpha community
@@Dhammaprosalpha is 2003
Yeah
@@ishipcrimsonandcerlueanThen this is literally pre alpha
It's quite insane to me that Valve was already making the basis of HL2 a year after HL1 was released. Heck, this video was made even BEFORE HL: Blue Shift was released
Holy shit you’re right I didn’t even realise. Insane.
To be fair blue shift was developed by a completely different studio
@@ImNotItalian I already knew that long ago, but STILL it's insane people got to see a glimpse of HL2 before HL: Blue Shift
It's amazing the visual fidelity and animation they were able to achieve in 2000 - the same year as Deus Ex released.
then GTA 3 was not released yet@@aprofondir
16:02 everybody gangsta till barney start speaking after 4 minutes of silence
GET YOUR FREE TVS!!!
that's one less horror in the world 🗣🗣
sorry mr. freeman I've got explicit orders not to let you through without your hazard suit on 🗣️🗣️🗣️
Also he Is telling all the Lines from every Barney in HL1 ,this confirms that the Barney we had IS INDEED every Barney of the black mesa facilty . They are all clones with a hive mind 😂
The automatic lip syncing is still so impressive tbh, even compared to a lot of modern games.
Watching people whose jobs were computer graphics and VFX have their minds blown by a real time demo must've been such a source of pride and inspiration at Valve
I noticed that little word you snuck in there and I approve of that. Intentional or not, it was clever.
@@BanzekenSorse.
the atmosphere and ambience of some of these areas holy jesus man
Ikr? Straight up sounds like something out of a horror game or silent hill. Very cool ambience scapes
h
I never thought I'd see the day, years of just knowing that image and now finally seeing the full thing!
I remember seeing that image many years ago, I'm glad it has been found!
GET YOUR FREE TVS!!!
Literally about to cry right now. If they announce Half-Life 3 today my life will be complete.
Half-Life 4 gets announced instead
@@canaconn2388 bro i'd gladly take that
@@canaconn2388 At this point I'll take anything
God I hope they do
Half-Life 2.9 (They don't know the number 3)
I'm legit crying.
I'm not joking. I'm 100% serious.
I'm on what's probably gonna be my deathbed soon, and I was able to see my beloved Half Life 2 being relevant again one last time before I go out.
I got my goddamn FREE TV, finally. After all these years.
Amazing timing, Valve. Thank you so much. Your games were a sliver of happiness in these horrid 35 years of my life.
Thank you.
Stay strong brother
I'm so sorry for what you are going through. I hope that this can bring you some happiness
God bless you, my guy! Stay strong!
WHY SO SERIOUS????
Keep fighting bro, we’re all rooting for you
It's amazing how early on Valve nailed the Combine Civil Protection masks designs.
Thank you so much for releasing this! I've spent endless nights dreaming of this demo while staring at that one screenshot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yo this is actually cool, awesome this isn’t lost media anymore
GET YOUR FREE TVS!!!
did they drop the files?
@ I wish, I haven’t seen anything but I’ll keep an eye out
@@PETRIXXXXidk,maybe they still haven't found them yet.
Idk how true this is, but I'm guessing what happened here is somebody encountered storage disks with high quality footage, and I'm assuming unfortunately that the files were probably stored somewhere else.
It's not ""partially found "Half-Life 2" tech demo"" anymore 🤩
GET YOUR FREE TVS!!!
1:19 crazy to think they got the way tanks behave right. The movement, firing, the whole bit.
Those reloading sounds can still be heard on those Simfphys vehicles and certain parts of the retail version today.
Half-Life 1 had tanks...
@@TheYeIIowDucKBut they were just simple brushes
Now I'm wondering, where did Simfphys get these sounds from? From some kind of sound library, or maybe these sounds are still in the engine?
@@TheYeIIowDucK
They didn't move around like that. They only acted as static props with turning turrets.
The analog background noise makes this perfect.
Those Alyx and Odell and Barney models look really good for 2000
face scan..,
GET YOUR FREE TVS!!!
Cubbage didn't really progress much from here, huh?
@@Cyclopeantreegiant those shaders and the face movement is nothing to scoff at for the year of 2000
@@Cyclopeantreegiantyeah and?
Still gotta make the model that scan is put on top of haven't they??
Also look at those combine models, so fucking good for 2000.
Combine with coats look pretty badass
Cremators?
No the metrocops @@InitialAA
@@InitialAA nope, just normal metrocops
Matrix era
In the year 2000 to see those specular maps must have been jaw dropping. Those would still look good a decade later
THE OLD TOWN, THE COMBINE TANK, THE WASTELAND IN THE BOREALIS MAP, THE ORIGINAL CITY-17 IN THE US
OH MY GOD SO MUCH SOVL!!!! SOOVVVVVVLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
blud is NOT a chud 💀💀💀
It's surreal. Having been a fan of the HL2 Beta since first hearing about it I never though I'd see this video. But it's like an aha moment. Obviously for those of us into the HL2 Beta nothing in this video is necessarily discoveries however for us we only had the fragmented puzzle pieces. To see it all come together like this was next level.
Well, we can finally see fabled "melee fight between Metrocop and Gasmask citizen" (not to mention original official models of both), finalized version of City_Test map and early versions of C17_01 and C17_04.
I really cannot believe that they are honoring the lost media. I love you Valve.
24 years later we have an official Archived Demo from Valve Half life 2 from 2000 was much dark and griddy
I love how they show off the specular/environment maps at 8:26 the exact same way I ogle models when I'm playing games.
12:00 So that's what for was this map, I always thought it was bizarre how empty it was
It was an old map of Kleiner's laboratory. Hall with Metrocop, Synthcrab and Strider was meant to house a big teleporter. It was cut in the final game for the sake of a smaller room with a smaller teleporter. However, room with Alyx and Kleiner survived to the final game, surprisingly enough. Making it arguably the oldest piece of content in the final game, which went without changes from early days of developement.
14:00 ok seriously this is fucking mind bending for the time, and this is before blue shift as well. Blown away.
Holy Moly
for real
Richer downertime
We look forward to your update video explaining all the new details seen in this footage that we didn't seen in the previous "free TVs" footage 😂.
Richter showing up
Hi Richter. How are you feeling about this?
WOW. Insanely cool and unexpected to see this-- maybe the oldest HL2 footage in existence? Demo Arctic is so creepy and atmospheric here, I absolutely adore the ambient sounds. Get Your Free TVs lives up to the hype of that one still that was all we had for so long. Some of these character models are INSANE for 2000, especially the Strider and Crab Synth that look super close to the final game models.
Oh, and Cremator my beloved, to see you officially acknowledged in a Valve video🥺 Please please please we need to see him in an official HL title someday. Cremators were considered again for HL:A, but I'd think the third time's the charm? 😉
Cremator has a weird distinction of being an enemy who was cut twice from two games throughout 2 decades. It is impressive anti-record. I too hope, that he will get in HL-whatever some day.
I heard that there is a screenshot of Half-Life 2 Alpha from 1999 so there is something much earlier
Crazy to finally see this, been wondering about it for decades. I wonder if we’ll ever end up seeing the closed door DOOM demo from QuakeCon 2014, another closed door demo that’s currently lost media
Everything, down to every detail.. A WHOLE ENTIRE ATMOSPHERE, it's stunning, the vibe from watching this after 20 years of Half-Life 2 release, the game which was unique on its own way, I'm blown by how beautiful this is, it's like from an alternative universe which is bizarre yet marvellous
Thank you Valve for this gift, I am grateful for what masterpieces in this world your company has created for us to escape reality with and all the memories with world-famous games, so proud by the brilliance of the workers of Valve, along with the legendary legacy you have achieved. Happy Birthday Half-Life 2.
It all looks incredible. I could only dream to see footage from the beta. Even those cremators are here, and that one section in the artic. It's truly a dream come true. Hell, even the 1984 vibe is something I really love. No other game studio has ever made these kind of ambiances better than Valve.
In the HL2 Anniversary page, at the very bottom, we can find a trash can near to 1 SODA CAN, but INSIDE of the trash can we can find TWO soda cans more.
Like, bro, why specifically 3 soda cans?
I got two soda cans and a gnome
never expected valve to publish some alpha half-life 2 stuff
absolutely incredible stuff
This was posted 8 minutes ago... I will return when it's 15 years old and remember the memories it gave me
GET YOUR FREE TVS!!!
@gaminman4752 lol
Commenting to prove I was here too :)
I'll be waiting...
Notice that even back in this one, they have the working automatic eye blink cycle 14:00
And Ubisoft don't even have that in Star Wars Outlaws 😭
I love them testing new barney's facial animations with old barney voicelines.
Maybe one day we'll finally get that beer...
11/15/2024 We finally got our free TVs
It feels so surreal to finally see all these maps and this whole era of the game’s development come to life through this footage; I never thought I’d see these images I’ve seen for the past 9 years in motion. Kindly, thank you, Valve. ❤
GET YOUR FREE TVS!!!
No way! Free TVs!
This is unbelievable...Fox be with you all!
🦊
Wow I can't believe they've finally released the SIGGRAPH demo of this. I remember seeing screenshots of this a very long time ago. It's a lot longer than I thought, I assumed it would have been shorted for SIGGRAPH (unlike the E3 demo which is much more polished).
It's very interesting to see the art style here as a mix between what we know as Half-Life 2 and that weird, grungy feeling of the original Half-Life. It really morphed between 2000 and 2004
Also at 8:52, I understand why they took this to SIGGRAPH. This is lightyears ahead of what anyone was doing in real-time in '99-'00. Those facial expressions and animations are insane.
@@Quaker763 Yeah, its crazy how in just span of the year and something Valve went from HL1 faces to this. Imagine HL2 was released in 2001 - it still would have been a revolution.
The only hyper era footage to this day, such a big development period and all that is left is demo_arctic and a 16 minute demo
HOLY HELL!!! HL2 Demo!!! I was here!!! Happy 20th Anniversary to Half-Life 2!!!
Thank you Valve for releasing this masterpiece 20 years ago!!!
Amazing to see the full version in high def
Bru they need to release this to the public. I always wanted to play the hl2 beta looks dope af
GET YOUR FREE TVS!!!
sadly I don't think they have the files to the actual .exe file, so all we have left is the footage, still it's truly mind boggling at all to see this, it feels like a fever dream
Everybody wants it, it's the greatest game never released
@@Crystal-k7zthat sucks.
Btw cute pfp❤
@@Crystal-k7z They could have released some maps. Even without scripts. But I am satisfied either way. Its an event in its own right.
The fact that this is technically, still just GoldSource is baffling to me. Thank you Valve. :)
3:43 THIS REAL BOREALIS!!!!
4:03 so i guess they had borealis in mind from the start?
It was A starting location of the game between 1999 and 2000, when they decided to add whole bunch of story and Hyperborea / Borealis was move into the middle of the game. Map Demo_Arctic in this video most likely was a sketch for a starting map of the game.
This is like Sakurai showing us footage of Dragon King.
Seeing this in motion is insane.
Free TVs demo is real! MY LIFE IS COMPLETE!
that face/moon in the clouds at 2:28...
chilling
7:35 for the time, that kind of surface detail was pretty impressive not gonna lie.
This footage is NOT lost media anymore.
Yaay
Valve simply dropped Lost Media without saying anything or announcing anything.
This is the one beta thing I’ve always wanted to see. I’m so happy right now, it’s like an early Christmas present!
i love how the metrocop just starting throwing hands
2000 metro cops did not mess around
Crazy to think that not many of these models were changed too much for the final version
Pretty much all models have been completely changed in the final game.
seeing a high quality and full version of this tech demo feels so great
I can't believe it, this is amazing!
GET YOUR FREE TVS!!!
1:34 That's a sick airshot that take just hit.
9:06 it's really weird seeing Dr. Kleiner's hideout lab in it's beta stage, it feels familiar at the same time different.
Its incredibly how little it changed.
barney and alyx basically unchanged, klieners lab almost built
I am surprised that Kleiner's lab is basically the same. Minus big room. Its crazy to think that despite all stylistic and story changes in the game, it was, probably one single place in the whole game which went unchanged since 2000 and up to 2004.
YOOOO HALF LIFE 2 LOST BETA IS REAL, THANK YOU VALVE, PLEASE RELEASE THIS DEMO FOR THE PUBLIC, GET YOUR FREE TVS!!!!!
Man.....i remember when this was considered lost media and everyone was trying to recreate it with mods now to see it becoming official has brought a tear to my eyes
0:43 Metrocop with a Batman cape!
This is a beautiful visual 3:42. So ahead of its time.
YOU GUYS ARE INSANE GIVING US HALF LIFE 2 AND ALL ITS EPISODES! KING VALVE
I was literally thinking of this in the shower this morning, like “surely they have footage of the free TV’s build?
4 real?
@ yeah I was hoping the update would be out today since the HL1 update also came out on a Friday
bro got 4 mp5s 1:48
Lmao
probably different weapons but they didn't add icons
What a time to be alive
Valve making the full effort to preserve lost media relating to Half Life 2. Cheers Gabe & related staff.
No longer lost media, I love it, made my day, Happy 20th anniversary, valve!
crazy how much survived until release
dark and griddy
Dark and diddy
…say that again
Griddy fortnite
Dark and Diddy
Dark and drizzy
Seeing what’s essentially the retail SMG in this super early beta version feels genuinely uncanny..
the cloaked combine was such a great look.
0:54 i love how the metrocop is right next to the most wanted criminal in city 17 and could kill him right there but just runs away lol
holy shit this is legendary! this was speculated on for YEARS! i cant believe they released it. GET YOUR FREE TVS!
Never would have thought we'd ever see footage of this demo. This is far more impressive and interesting than I imagined for so long
Imagine, in 2000 the Play Station 2 came out.
While this demo demonstrates PS3 level graphics.
With all those specular maps and stuff...
amazing!
@@MrDudeInTheSuit I'd say it's more like PlayStation 2.5 than anything. PS3 level is kind of a stretch.
@@someusername1872
PlayStation 2.5?
Well, the original Xbox fits this description :)
Back in those generation PC graphics were miles ahead of console ones. But the PC hardware was crazy expensive.
Half-Life 2 had one of the craziest dev cycles, the game seemed to entirely mutate from one year to another, this engine looks like the missing link between GoldSrc and Source. It is bizzare to know Barney's metrocop model was completed a year before he got to star in his own Half-Life 1 expansion.
9:10 Alyx is very different from her release version.
she was a ginger omg
@@Devilot91 Clearly colored hair, you can even see her natural black hair growing back out under her bandana. Also she looks so 2000s it hurts lmao
@@dud5606 imagine she danced to Oops I Did It Again lol
@@dud5606 thank god she wasn't a REAL ginger