No, this has nothing to do with Half-Life 3. Instead, it has everything to do with Black Mesa, Half-Life’s 2012 remake.
A website related to the remake, BMRF.us (with “BMRF” referring to the Black Mesa Research Facility, the setting of the majority of Half-Life), has been updated to feature a single image, part of which you can see above, along with a message played on a loop, with an overall style mimicking that of the US Emergency Alert System.
You can listen to the whole thing here, but be warned: the message includes the extremely loud (and anxiety-inducing) SAME header and attention signal, so make sure you’re on headphones, with the volume turned low. Here’s a transcript, courtesy of Reddit:
The following message is transmitted at the request of local authorities. At 9:47 AM, Mountain Time, a disaster of unknown type has occurred at the Black Mesa Research Facility causing significant damage and failure to various power and communication systems in the surrounding areas. An immediate evacuation order has been issued for all residents within a 75 mile radius of the facility, and on-site military has been dispatched to provide assistance. Make sure to bring an emergency supply of food, water, clothing, first aid kit, flashlights with extra batteries, and battery powered radios. Follow local evacuation routes which have been marked by local authorities and only use one vehicle. Do not return to the warning area until the all clear has been given. If you are not in the evacuation zone stay where you are. If you are within the evacuation area and have no transportation locate your nearest police department or military officer. Do not use telephones or cell phones except in the case of emergencies. Stay tuned to local news media outlets for further details and information on this situation.
And here’s a video recording, in case you can’t access the site, courtesy of YouTuber MrTabarnaco2:
Let’s look at a few factoids:
- The “disaster of unknown type” referred to in the broadcast is, of course, the Black Mesa Incident, the event that kickstarted the plot of Half-Life, during which aliens from the Xen borderworld invade the Black Mesa Research Facility. 9:47 AM is exactly one hour after Gordon Freeman gets on the tram at the very beginning of the game.
- BMRF.us is a website related to the Pizza Code Mystery, an ARG based on hidden codes found in Black Mesa and several clues from other locations.
- The webpage’s source code contains an ASCII Half-Life logo/Lambda symbol. Furthermore, the ID3 tag for the broadcast recording suggests it was made in 2013:
- There’s also a direct connection between the site and the Black Mesa development team: website.
- The message received some official recognition from the team as well, in the form of a tweet from level designer Craig Mirfin:
Seems there's some trouble at the Black Mesa Facility http://t.co/9AzRbRKJOQ
— Craig Mirfin (@craigmirfin) January 1, 2015
The 2012 September release of Black Mesa ends at the Lambda Complex, just as Gordon Freeman jumps through the portal to Xen. This message could be a way to generate hype for the release of (or just news about) either the second part of Black Mesa, featuring the reworked and expanded Xen levels, or the paid and upgraded Steam version of the mod, which was first announced in 2013 November.
Of course, it could also just be an elaborate ruse, in which case, well played.
r/games Thread, r/pcgaming Thread, r/HalfLife Thread [Reddit]
Pizza Code Mystery Thread [Black Mesa Forums]
Comments
5 responses to “Website Related To Half-Life Remake Broadcasts Emergency Message”
Cool. Looks like it is one to launch the paid version and two to give us the Xen part. Valves help means they probably started making much faster progress.
I’d say Valve would wait till the team can release the whole lot once completed rather than re-release the mod with all this excitement then make everyone wait for the next part still after paying.
Either way, excited. Heck I will dream and assume this is a Half-Life push before Ep 3 news finally emerges.
I’ve been thinking for a long time that 3 is at least mostly complete, but they are still tweaking things with the Source 2 engine.
I’m thinking they are going to launch HL3 as the flagship game that showcases the Source 2 engine and then make engine licenses available on Steam for indie devs to purchase for a reasonable fee.
That keeps games locked to Steam long term, breeds goodwill among both the gamers and the devs, allows Valve to have some hand in quality control and finding new talent (through license support and helping out on promising projects), and expands Valve’s business by pushing into the middleware market that Unreal, Crytek, Havok, etc make a fortine from.
Yeah I have been saying for a while that HL3 is mostly done and will be the show pony for Source 2. There was a podcast (Seven Day Cooldown?) a while back where the first ep had GabeN as their guest and he talked about a mod for HL1 but it was doublespeak for HL3 a lot of people have said.
So I’d say you are right as much as anyone can theorize.
Edit* Here is what I am on about. If you can get the podcast it is worth listening too for more than just this. Gabe Newell is an interesting fellow.
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/half-life-3-wait-explained/1100-6372687/
Here is the podcast: https://ia601205.us.archive.org/20/items/SevenDayCooldown-Episode1Gaben/Episode1-Full128-Final.mp3
Must be the Xen levels
Fact: Factoid used to mean erroneous or unsubstantiated information presented and cemented as fact through repetition of use.
Factoid: Modern appropriation of the term happened when someone misread FAQS and decided factoid would sound cuter; factling, a more linguistically appropriate word, was not used for fear that people would start to understand language.
Factling: Facts are fun.