Talk:Half-Life: Blue Shift/Archive 1

Help please

Hi. Blue Shift is the only half life game i haven't played and id like to know one thing. Does Barney talk when you are being him or is he silent throughout the game. Thanks

tottaly silent, just like the rest of the games.

He's a silent protagonist like Gordon, this should be stated on his page.

Also, in reference to the double meaning of the title: Isn't it also named "Blue Shift" because the player switches (shifts) from playing as Freeman to playing as a guard, i.e. a Blue Shift. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.189.126.243 (talk) 10:40, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Meeting Gordon

Is it true that Barney almost meets Gordon more than once? I know that their paths cross at the very start of Blue Shift, but I don't recall any other close encounters. Is the article perhaps confusing Adrian Shepherd's near-run-in with Gordon as one of Barney's? Adrian just misses catching Gordon as he teleports to Xen. --Plumbago 08:40, 31 May 2005 (UTC)

Asides from the intro (which introduces a discontinuity in the original HL, Calhoun should be out of uniform when Gordon passes him), Calhoun is just too late to save Gordon from the capture by the millitary (when he ends up in the garbage compressor). Jordi·✆ 09:05, 31 May 2005 (UTC)

There's a mod floating around that sticks the Uplink maps seamlessly into HL1, and it also fixes the abovementioned continuity bug. I'll be damned if I remember where I got it from, though.216.68.209.189 07:23, 13 June 2006 (UTC)dethtoll

today i was starting to play blue shift for a 2nd time and fond that you can see gordan 1 more time.. in the begining in the big office area there is a security room and if you look at the camera screens(prees yuor use key) and you can see gordan walking(you can also see the sample for the experement being transport ed but that is a little off topic) can someone conferm this and is it apropriate to add to the artical.(Chardrc 01:39, 13 August 2005 (UTC))

further, in the VERY begining you see someone who looks suspiciously like gordon in a blue shirt running to catch a tram. could be him as well, since we allready know that he is running late. Playwrite 17:06, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

So is someone gonna add this as a section or should i do it? it seems like it is detailed enough to have its own section. Playwrite 13:21, 2 November 2006 (UTC)

Gordon appearances are already covered in his own article. Also, that's not Gordon in the blue shirt. It's just another security guard without his helmet and vest on. MarphyBlack 13:42, 2 November 2006 (UTC)

Just to summarize *I might take screenshots as proof but not tonight) 1. Gordon is on the tram when the guard is having problems unlocking your door 2. Gordon is on the surveillance screen *solidified as another scientist says Good Morning to him 3. When you are almost in an "infinite harmonic reflux" you can see 2 clean up soldiers carrying him. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.196.115.179 (talk) 04:20, 6 April 2007 (UTC).

Blue Shift and Half-Life 2

I believe the scientists in Blue Shift are named "Walter" and "Simmons" by Dr. Rosenberg, and aren't Kleiner and Vance like the page specifies it is. Nor is it specified that Barney in HL2 is Calhoun. Should there be proper adjustment to the page? TonicBH July 2, 2005 09:57 (UTC)

I think you're right about the scientists, however Barney Calhoun is definitely the same as in HL2. Just look at the credits. Jordi·✆ 2 July 2005 10:39 (UTC)

i also think you are right but i havent played it for over 1 year anyway. but vance didnt make it un hurt / in hl2 he was missing a leg.

I can confirm the third meeting with Freeman. That is exactly what I thought about when reading the article.

Comment on Steam release

Just a "hopeful in the sense that it'll be more than I actually expect" thing ... but if they do include the hi-def package, I hope they do something with Half-Life: Source. >.> --Yar Kramer 04:43, 20 August 2005 (UTC)

For anyone's info, Blue Shift isn't free for anyone who owns HL:1. You need to have bought it to play it. Already tried that, so deleted all info pertaining to that.the cheat 19:50, 5 May 2006 (UTC)

Not true. All you need is HL1 in order to receive Blue Shift. This is what's reported by Valve on their site ([1]) and I can verify this myself since I never had the Silver or Gold HL2 package on Steam, only HL1, and yet Blue Shift has been available to me this entire time. Also, I only used my HL1 cd key when I registered my games on Steam, not my Blue Shift key, so Steam has not distinguished whether or not I have actually purchased Blue Shift in the past. Simply put: If you have HL1 on Steam, BS will also be available for free. MarphyBlack 04:35, 6 May 2006 (UTC)

Yes and No. Check your source. It says you need the Half-Life Premier Pack. I didn't buy that, so I don't get BS. the cheat 20:59, 8 May 2006 (UTC)

I guess it depends if you bought Half-Life through Steam or on CD. I used my eight year old HL1 CD key from the original release back in 1998 when registering my games on Steam and I was given access to Valve's entire back order catalogue, including, quite obviously, Blue Shift when it came at a later time. The only other game I've purchased that's used in Steam is Half-Life 2, but I bought the CD version, equivalent to the "Bronze" edition which is not advertised as coming with Blue Shift.

Incidentally, it looks as if "Half-Life Premier Pack" was a name made up by Valve solely for that Blue Shift Steam press release (Google search provides no other evidence of this name being used outside the news story) or Valve has since changed it. Apparently they have altered the way they are selling games now as they are now selling a lot of their older title are currently being sold individually over Steam as opposed to all of them being included in the "back order catalogue" that they advertised quite heavily in the past. There is no Half-Life Premier Pack listed on the Valve store, but they do have something now called the Half-Life 1 Anthology. [2] MarphyBlack 23:30, 8 May 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, I recently bought Half Life on CD. It was released in 2005. I guess since it was recent that I don't get access to the back catalouge. Silly steam and their greedy business practices.the cheat 23:56, 8 May 2006 (UTC)

Just a few weeks ago, I dug out my old CDs and keys and tried to install it on XP - after failing miserably, I found I could enter one of the CD keys from the CD package and add all of the titles to Steam at no cost. Not sure if this is change back to the old policies, but I just finished HL1 (Steam) last night... --64.253.166.252 (talk) 20:39, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

"Disturbing?"

"Blue Shift is also arguably the most disturbing — as most of the events take place on the surface in the immediate aftermath of the disaster, the player sees first-hand the panic of the Black Mesa personnel as they desperately try to flee the facility by any means necessary."

How do the scientists try to escape?

Well, uh, the teleport thing, I guess. I suppose the "disturbing" bit is mainly referring to the seeing-first-hand-panic part. --Yar Kramer 02:38, 24 August 2005 (UTC)

Yeah but Im wondering about the "Any means necessary" part. Psi edit

.Hi. I was just looking at the discussion and remembered several instances in which Calhoun found scientists and security guards shot in or near the cars, presumably while attempting escape. I would think that would be somewhat disturbing because it shows that a great deal of escapees were "so close" to getting out when they were killed not by aliens but by fellow humans, the soldiers.

With respect to the "happy" ending, isn't there a bit of ambiguity? I seem to remember a plane passing overhead as you drive off...

The "Happy" Ending is temporary at best, as in Half-Life 2 you meet Barney again. Sure he survives and all, but he ends up stuck in the similar hopeless City 17 situation with you and is in a constant state of battle or espionage. And I'd say all of Half-Life games are a bit disturbing, the Stalkers in Half-Life 2 are pretty messed up and I recall in Half-Life 1 one scientist being dragged into a ventilation vent headfirst, screaming. IronSoldier820 01:26, 23 July 2007 (UTC)

Game looks worse than 4 years ago

I think the Steam Blue Shift release must be the first time when a re-release of a game actually looks worse than the original release: everyone had the higher quality models available in 2001 with the original BS, but on Steam it is still absent. Jordi·✆ 22:32, 24 August 2005 (UTC)

Yeah, that is a bit of a kick in the nads. Hopefully Valve will get around to changing it. There are quite a few bugs as well, but nothing i've come across so far that seriously stops you from enjoying the game. Bennity 00:00, 25 August 2005 (UTC)

This may be news to all of you, but there is a mod for HL called Blue Shift: Unlocked. What this does is convert your Blue Shift installation (Steam or WON) to a HL1 mod. This has the benefit of giving the game full use of all the additions to the HL1 engine that Valve has added since then. It also works as a 1.1 patch, fixing a few maps that were buggy in 1.0.

It's been announced that the HD pack will be coming out in another week or two. --Koblentz 09:47, 27 August 2005 (UTC)

Looks like Valve is finally beginning to listen :)

Hopefully HL:Source will also be updated... Jordi·✆ 15:53, 27 August 2005 (UTC)

I hear that! ;) On the other hand, if all else fails, there's always (eventually) Black Mesa: Source ... --Yar Kramer 16:01, 27 August 2005 (UTC)

Black Mesa: Source. Now that's something i'm looking forward to. Bennity 22:16, 27 August 2005 (UTC)

Indeed! I was actually hoping I could help them out a bit, though I'm not entirely sure how much help they need in the music department. --Yar Kramer 02:13, 28 August 2005 (UTC)

Blue Shift now being sold differently on Steam

Valve is no longer offering the Silver and Gold Half-Life 2 packages on their store. As such, Blue Shift is no longer being distributed on Steam through this manner. Apparently Valve is now selling many of their older titles individually. [3] Blue Shift can be bought seperately, as part of the Half-Life 1 Anthology, or as part of the Valve Complete Pack which for some reason is being called a preorder at the moment. I would have edited the article myself to reflect this change, but should the mention of Blue Shift initially being available as part of the Silver and Gold HL2 package still be included? Technically, that piece of info is outdated and irrelevant now. MarphyBlack 23:42, 8 May 2006 (UTC)

Music

it's a known fact that the music on the BS CD is recycled from opfor, yet the tracks are re-arranged. also, track 16 appears broken, but seems to correspond to track 6 on the OF CD as all other songs are accounted for. i've added a note to the soundtrack section to reflect this. 72.49.242.131 06:35, 13 May 2006 (UTC)dethtoll

Expansion pack?

Blue Shift is referred to as an expansion pack, but (the Euro edition at least) is actually standalone. It runs on a custom Half-Life engine, which was the reason it was first not available on Steam and why the current Steam version still has issues. Should it be called an expansion pack, or a standalone expansion? -- Jordi·✆ 08:14, 8 June 2006 (UTC)

It's an expansion pack; Gabe Newell has referred to them as such; one recent example, though indirect, is in the interview with Eurogamer.216.68.209.189 07:15, 13 June 2006 (UTC)dethtoll

Xen/Blue Shift Unlocked

Concerning the bit about proof that Xen has a hospitable (to humans) atmosphere, I added the line "Further proof can be found in Opposing Force, when the player actives the alternate fire on the Displacer to teleport to Xen, sometimes they will teleport in front of a scientist who is very glad to see them."

I also went ahead and added a section for Blue Shift Unlocked. 216.68.209.189 00:23, 19 June 2006 (UTC)dethtoll.

month of the incident

i just found a calendar in the same place were you meet whatsis name who tells you to find rosenburg. it says december. thought that should be included somewhere. don't ask me to do it though:) this should probably be included in the other half-life articles as well. Playwrite 17:14, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

Half-Life: Decay's instruction manual reveals that the incident took place in May (On the date of May 16, to be exact). It can be assumed that the "December" calander texture (Which was also used in the orignal Half-Life, not just Blue Shift) was just an old beta leftover of some sort, or Valve might not really have intended for people to actually read the calander (Indeed, some of the weeks in this calander only have six days in). MarphyBlack 20:34, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

why so it does (by bizarre coincidence i do actually own the ps2 game). i just found that texture in OPFOR as well. very strange... Playwrite 01:43, 28 October 2006 (UTC)

Contradiction

The lead says:

“ Blue Shift has now been released via Steam and anyone with access to the back catalog, whether through an old copy of Half-Life or the Silver or Gold packs of Half-Life 2, may download Blue Shift for free. ”

but the body text says:

“ On August 24, 2005, Blue Shift became available for download via the Steam content delivery program. Anyone who owned an old copy of Half-Life, or the Half-Life 2 silver or gold packages (thus, having access to the back catalog) could download it for free. Since then, access to Valve's back catalog for free after registering a previously owned copy of Half-Life has been discontinued, and Blue Shift must now be bought either alone, as part of the Half-Life 1 Anthology, or as part of the Valve Complete Pack ”

Which is correct? Mikker ^(...) 06:04, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

The second text is more correct. The lead was correct when it was written, but the policy changed later (See the #Blue Shift now being sold differently on Steam section above). It's not a direct contradiction, but the lead should probably be updated with the distribution as it stands now and the article can explain how it was originally distributed. Al 07:21, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

Possibly changed back - see my comment above --64.253.166.252 (talk) 20:41, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Interpretation of the title

I added an alternative interpretation of the title "Blue Shift".

As was already explained in the article, Blue Shift is an actual physical phenomenon, but it could also be interpreted as Barney's "Work Shift" at Black Mesa, since his uniform is blue. It ties in with the same duality as "opposing force" (in that it can mean the opposing force of newton's third law, as well as the fact that you play as the "opposing force" of Gordon Freeman).

Please improve my English, as I don't think it is written as concisely and clearly as it could be. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 211.122.175.66 (talk) 06:11, 14 March 2007 (UTC).

scientists always die

every single time except once when i was really lucky the Black guy on the elevator who complains about the Anomalous Materials people dies and I get a game over. Even if i do not fire a single shot adn don't look at him he dies and I get a game over. I'm sure others have this problem and no, this si not a forum but i hate gaming forums so how do you get past that?

that's wierd, you should only get game over that early if you actually kill him. Does this happen every time from scratch (i.e. if you load a new game and proceed to the sector G elevator again)? Maybe you were intersecting him when the chapter ended, so at the start of the next chapter, the engine drew you over each other and frag'd him. It's commonplace that HL kills people in lifts (even if the lift doesn't crash...) by spawning the NPC just below the level of the lift, hence when it goes down they take damage. You can see the classic "Lift Bounce" on the NPC's in the lift, an artefact from the way which lifts move in HL.

tbh, the scientists are whiney and annoying and he probably deserved it anyway :P —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.189.126.243 (talk) 21:05, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

All this is a known bug in BS. Patching the game should fix it; or, if you're using the steam version, check out www.hl-improvement.com. dethtoll 18:03, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

"too insignificant"

"However, in Blue Shift, Barney and his three scientist companions escape Black Mesa and the scrutiny of the G-Man, whose brief report suggests he deems them too insignificant to actively monitor or eliminate them."

I was just wondering about this sentence - if the scientists and Barney are present at the start of HL2 surely then they're very significant, as they help Freeman overthrow the combine? Krang 11:56, 15 October 2007 (UTC)

Of the four survivors in Blue Shift, only Barney returns in Half-Life 2. Rosenberg, Simmons, and Walter, the other three scientists with him, do not appear nor are they mentioned (The only scientists in HL2, aside from Gordon, are Kleiner, Eli, Mossman, and Magnusson). Perhaps "insignificant" isn't the best word, but throughout the game the G-Man makes no attempt to observe or interfere with Barney and company's plan to escape. Hence, either they are of no concern to the G-Man's goals (Explaining the "No further comment" line in his report) or the G-Man didn't feel that he had to act to help or prevent them in their escape. MarphyBlack 19:23, 15 October 2007 (UTC)

A turned over box of gears

I do believe it was this game (may have been opposing force though) that there is a box fallen over with gears coming out of it. This is a obvious reference to Gearbox. I can't remember where in the game it was though. If anyone does remember or finds it could you tell me what chapter it is in etc. It could be included as trivia for this games page. Jordan10la (talk) 20:35, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Canon?

Does anybody know if this game and opposing force are canon? Thanks in advance. 24.47.112.61 (talk) 15:24, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

blue?

I think they called it blue shift because blue is the complimentary color of orange (duh!!!). MidKnightHunter (talk) 14:44, 13 October 2008 (UTC)

More likely (given the physics-based titles Half-Life, Opposing Force and Decay) it is a reference to blue shifting of the colour of light due to the Doppler effect (the opposite of the more familiar redshifting). Cheers, --PLUMBAGO 15:11, 13 October 2008 (UTC)