Black Mesa is a Half-Life 2 Mod based on the original Half-Life released 10 years ago. Unlike Half-Life: Source, Black Mesa is not just the original game running on a new engine, the team behind it have remodeled many of the enviorments, the characters, weapons and rewritten the game almost completely. It’s the same Half-Life we all love and know, with major enhancements both visually and technically.

Introduction

Black Mesa (formerly Black Mesa: Source) is a Half-Life 2 total conversion remaking VALVe Software’s award-winning PC game, Half-Life. Utilizing the Source engine, Black Mesa will reintroduce the player as Doctor Gordon Freeman, along with the original cast of memorable characters and environments seen in Half-Life. Black Mesa was built and founded on the basis that Half-Life: Source was inadequate as the Source engine port of Half-Life, regardless of the intentions of VALVe Software. As such, Black Mesa was founded to fully reconstruct the Half-Life universe utilizing Source to its fullest potential in terms of art detail, level sizes and code features. This total conversion will not require Half-Life: Source to play – only a copy of any Source Engine game installed on Steam.

The Environment

Black Mesa is set in and around the Black Mesa Research Facility as depicted in the original Half-Life game. The research facility is a former Cold War missile complex based in New Mexico, and features a diverse array of locations ranging from abandoned rocket testing silos to modern administrative offices, from underground physics laboratories to a full-scale hydroelectric dam. The game continues beyond, into an inter-dimensional border world known as Xen. What will set Black Mesa apart from other Source engine modifications in development is the attention to environment detail. Levels will be faithful to the original Half-Life concept and built from scratch, yet will feature higher-resolution textures, detailed world models, and a higher quality of audio ambience courtesy of the Source engines soundscape system. The end goal of such attention to detail is an immersive single-player environment, which will engross the player in a story that is yet to be matched by any other first-person shooter.

Features

Black Mesa has many features, several of which are still in planning or being tested. Below are a few of the larger and more distinctive features of Black Mesa:

* Detailed and interactive environments based on the original Half-Life game, including reconstructed multiplayer maps;
* Single-player, co-operative and deathmatch modes planned;
* Original music score by Joel Nielsen;
* Artificial intelligence that will dynamically think, react and interact with and about their environment;
* Normal, specular and parallax mapping utilized on world surfaces and models where applicable;
* A priority on gameplay and immersion factors such as ambience, logical functionality and interactivity.

ASUS have launched the G71 series – featuring the world’s first Intel® Quad Core™ gaming notebook to add to an existing range of powerful devices specifically designed with gamers in mind. The G71 delivers a truly dedicated gaming experience within a highly portable package, focusing on providing the clearest audio and the most exhilarating graphics performance.

The Quad Core™ Concept
The ASUS G71 is the world’s first Quad Core™ gaming notebook, powered by the Intel Core™ 2 Extreme processor QX9300. The removal of Overspeed Protection allows the G71 to reach extremely high levels of performance through overclocking, pushing the boundaries of conventional computational processing power and allowing extensive user multitasking.

Superior Gaming Performance
As a notebook designed for the most hardcore gamers, the G71 (Quad Core version) boasts an array of high performance components, including:

• 17” Crystal Shine high brightness display with super fast response time of 8ms
• NVIDIA GeForce 9700M GT GDDR3 512MB graphics card
• 4 GB of DDR2 1333MHz SDRAM memory
• Dual hard disk drives 500GB (250GB x 2)
• Blu-ray drive for total entertainment
• Webcam and Bluetooth for great connectivity and communication

Such a superb combination of internal components integrate together to provide top notch performance, multimedia entertainment and gaming enjoyment whilst at home or on the move.

Direct Console 2.0
The Direct Console 2.0 is an all-in-one gaming control interface that allows users to choose from three processor speed settings depending on their mode of usage. The gaming hotkeys enable users to launch their favourite games with a single touch, as well as execution of in-game commands.

The G71 chassis also integrates a programmable lighting system which is configured through the Direct Console 2.0, which lights up and blinks during in-game events for a totally futuristic ambience whilst immersed in play.

Direct Messenger
Gamers no longer need worry about missing out on communications from email and instant messenger whilst sucked into gaming action. The G71 notebook provides Direct Messenger, a secondary display which displays notifications, instant messages (MSN™), battery reserves and system loadings in real-time even during intense game play, so that gamers can keep in touch with friends and family whilst multitasking between various applications.

Entertainment meets Style whilst on the Move
The G71 incorporates a host of entertainment features which offer gaming experiences like never before. Altec Lansing speakers equipped with a subwoofer deliver excellent sound reproduction, further complimented by Dolby™ Home Theatre.

A dedicated game keyboard layout provides gamers with strategically placed movement keys on a full sized keyboard – granted quick and efficient access to in-game inventories and commands.
Furthermore, the 2.0 megapixel web camera provides high performance visual output (ideal for Skype™ or MSN™) and adds another layer to the G71’s excellent communication capabilities.

Fun for Everyone
Despite the capabilities to satisfy even the most hardcore gamer, the G71 is just as suitable for those who only casually jump into the gaming world.
Optional accessories such as the Eee™ Stick (a plug and play device which allows users to control on-screen movements through hand motions) transform the G71 into a mobile gaming console.

Specifications
ASUS G71 with Intel® Quad Core™ – SRP £1,999 inc VAT :

Intel® Core™2 Quad Processor QX9300 (2.53GHz, 6MB Cache, 1333MHz FSB)
Mobile Intel® PM45 Express Chipset +ICH9M-E
Intel® WiMAX/ WiFi Link 5100
Genuine Windows Vista® Ultimate
4GB DDR2 1333MHz SDRAM (2 x 2GB)
NVIDIA GeForce 9700M GT with 512MB GDDR3 VRAM
Intel® Turbo Memory Technology with 2GB NANDFlash(optional)
17″ WUXGA, High Brightness, Color Shine
Dual hard disk drives; 500 GB (250 GB x 2) 5,400 rpm
Blu-ray Combo
2-megapixel swivel web camera
Built-in Bluetooth™ V2.1+EDR

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ASUS G71 with Intel® Core™2 Duo – SRP £1,349 inc VAT :

Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor T9400 (2.53GHz, 6MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB)
Mobile Intel® PM45 Express Chipset +ICH9M-E
Intel® WiMAX/ WiFi Link 5100
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium
4GB DDR2 1333MHz SDRAM (2 x 2GB)
NVIDIA GeForce 9700M GT with 512MB GDDR3 VRAM
Intel® Turbo Memory Technology with 2GB NANDFlash(optional)
17″ WUXGA, High Brightness, Color Shine
Dual hard disk drives; 500 GB (250 GB x 2) 5,400 rpm
Blu-ray Combo
2-megapixel swivel web camera
Built-in Bluetooth™ V2.1+EDR

LEGO Batman: The Videogame has won a prestigious Children’s BAFTA Award for Best Videogame 2008. The game faced competition from Mario Kart Wii, Professor Layton and the Curious Village and Guinness World Records: The Videogame.

Developer TT Games was snapped up by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment in 2007 and has since had a hugely successful 2008 seeing the release of LEGO Indiana Jones and LEGO Batman: The Videogame.

“We’re absolutely delighted; it’s a very special accolade for the whole team” said TT Games head of production Jonathan Smith.

“To get this acknowledgment, here in our home country of the UK, to be acknowledged by the British Academy for the work that everyone’s done on LEGO Batman, was really thrilling.”

Spencer Crossley, head of videogames UK at Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment said, “We extremely happy for everyone at TT Games. They have brought to life two great brands through fantastic game play and lots of humour which works perfectly for children.”

LEGO Batman: The Videogame is the latest game from the award-winning team behind the LEGO Star Wars series of games. With trademark LEGO fun and charm, the game takes you into the world of the ultimate crime-fighting hero. LEGO Batman: The Videogame brings the one-and-only Caped Crusader to life in a completely original storyline. Players will take control of the Dynamic Duo, Batman and Robin, to fight Gotham City’s most notorious criminals including The Joker, The Penguin, Catwoman, Scarecrow, Killer Croc and many more. The criminals have broken out of Arkham Asylum and are set to wreak havoc on the city.