Porting
Half-Life was ported to the PlayStation 2 by Gearbox Software and released in
2001. This version of the game had a significant overhaul in terms of both
character models, weapons, and more advanced and extended levels and general map
geometry (see Half-Life High Definition Pack for a model-comparison). Despite
the increased level of detail, the style of some of the models (most noticeably
the human grunts) is also noticeably altered, meaning that whether they actually
look better or not is subject to opinion. Also added in is a head-to-head play
and a co-op expansion called Half-Life: Decay that allowed players to play as
the two female scientists Dr. Cross and Dr. Green at Black Mesa.
Versions for the Sega Dreamcast and Apple Macintosh were essentially completed,
but never commercially released. The Dreamcast edition was eventually leaked
onto the internet.
Dreamcast version
Gearbox Software was slated to release a port to the Sega Dreamcast under
contract by Valve and their then publisher Sierra On-Line near the end of 2000.
At the ECTS 2000, a build of the game was playable on the publisher's stand, and
developers Randy Pitchford and Brian Martel were in attendance to show it off
and give interviews to the press. However, despite only being weeks from going
gold, it was never commercially released; Sierra announced that Half-Life on
Dreamcast was cancelled "due to changing market conditions" onset by third-party
abandonment of the Dreamcast. That year Sierra On-Line showed a PlayStation 2
port at E3 2001. This version was released in North America in late October of
the same year, followed by a European release just a month later. Around the
same time, Half-Life: Blue Shift, which was intended to be a Dreamcast-exclusive
side story, was released on PC as the second Half-life Expansion Pack.
Although it has never officially been released, the Dreamcast version was leaked
onto the Internet, and was proven to be fully playable; it contains the full
versions of Half-Life and Blue Shift, both with an early version of the High
Definition Pack, but has a somewhat inconsistent framerate and lengthier load
times when the player moves from area to area. Also, there are some saving
problems; the number of blocks required to save on a VMU increases rapidly as
the player reaches the end of a level, then drops at the start of the next.
While the game allows the user to remove files to increase space, sometimes it
still isn't enough.
Macintosh version
Though more or less complete and ready for mass production, the Macintosh port
of Half-Life was scrapped because of incompatibility with the Windows PC
version's multiplayer mode. The developers also stated that mods for PC
Half-Life would not be compatible with the Mac port. Additionally, concerns over
the task load associated with providing technical support on more than one end
platform at once may have contributed to the demise of Half-Life for Macintosh.
