Is "Half-Life" a bad name?

[Mr.Freeman]

Is it just me or does the name Half-Life not make any sense? I mean, what exactly does it refer to from the game? The suit protecting you against radioactivity, the radioactive materials stored at Black Mesa research facility, perhaps the aliens? I think a better name would have been “interloper” or something like that made more sense in the game, or maybe “Gordon Freeman’s excellent adventure

[AJ Rimmer]

Nah it's a good name.

[nw909]

I think the game should have been called Quiver, starring Ivan the Space Biker.

Oh wait...

Nah Half-Life is a classy name.

[Doppelgofer]

half life is a brilliant name....you're over analysing its name....

half life is usually associated with the amount of radioactivity...like it has a half life of so many years.....radioactivity is usually associated with a disaster like chernobyl...there is a big bastard of a disaster at the beginning of the game which prolly has a lot of radioactivity emitting from it therefore it must have a half life of whatever

over analysing it myself arent i.....shut up is wot i will do

[ShadowFox]

I don't think it's supposed to mean something. It is just a cool name, and Valve likes to use science terms for names.

[Sprafa]

DEFINE: half-life The time required for half the nuclei in a sample of a specific isotopic species to undergo radioactive decay.

It means the time an element needs to stop being radioactive. I think it's nice

[guchi]

so thats what it means! half-life is a good name for a game i reckon...

[Foxtrot]

I think it should have been called Chaos Theory, that name would have kicked ass AND made sense!

[sroom2]

A half life is the period of time required for half of a given quantity of an isotope to undergo radioactive decay. Also, the symbol that scientists use for a half life is the same as the Half Life logo. :naughty:

[Prince of China]

I think 'Far Cry' is a better name. :hmph:

[A True Canadian]

I think 'Far Cry' is a better name. :hmph:

Do I detect a fanboy?

[Prince of China]

No .

[A True Canadian]

Alright then.

Half-Life is a cool name because its scientific. It's something original, something unique all its own. It's better than something like Blood or Pain

[Prince of China]

That's what I feel about Far Cry.

But, nevertheless...tis better than Painkiller.
Unreal is also a good name.

[Hazar]

or doom

I think Half-Life is an excellent name.

[ShadowFox]

I think 'Far Cry' is a better name. :hmph:
Because it's a far cry from a good game..

I'll be here all night folks. :D

[Dux]

Because it's a far cry from a good game..

I'll be here all night folks. :D

Someone get a gun.

;p

[Sedako]

A half life is the period of time required for half of a given quantity of an isotope to undergo radioactive decay. Also, the symbol that scientists use for a half life is the same as the Half Life logo. :naughty:

Actually, the lambda is used to represent wavelength.

[Subatomic]

Actually, the lambda is used to represent wavelength.

Yep, and a half-life is just the time it takes for something to fall to half its initial value, usually with a radioactive substance, determining how long it will take for half of the atoms to disintegrate in it...

Good name =D

[Subatomic]

and, Natural Selection is an even better name... whoever thought of that deserves some eProps

[Dr. Freeman]

Nah Half-Life is a classy name.

agreed.
plus the name has meaning.. along with all its expansion games and even Steam if u wanna take it one step further.

[Mechagodzilla]

Half-life is related to decay.
I interpret it to mean how the situation that Gordon finds himself in gets progressively worse throughout the course of the game.

[Cybernoid]

Blue Shift is also a scientific name. According to Wikipedia (http://www.wikipedia.org/), it's the opposite of redshift (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redshift), which is a phenomenon related to astrophysics (mostly).

From Merriam-Webster (http://www.m-w.com/):

Main Entry: redshift
a displacement of the spectrum of a celestial body toward longer wavelengths that is a consequence of the Doppler effect or the gravitational field of the source

Main Entry: blueshift
the displacement of the spectrum of an approaching celestial body toward shorter wavelengths

I would guess that it's more of a pun rather than something meaningful. The securityguards are 'blue' and they have a 'shift.' Possibly.

[ailevation]

:naughty: The dudes at Valve must be smoking some good ass Ganja. They really step things up with Half-Life, Half-Life 2 and actually the only game company that gets close with the game community, I think they want to have a smoke out with us.

[Cybernoid]

The lambda symbol has several meanings, including radioactive decay and the wavelength of a wave. A resonance cascade is related to physics as well. Someone once posted a link to a site that explains it, but I can't remember the address...

[AJ Rimmer]

I think they basically had a brainstorm meeting where they said:

(Attention: Re-enactment)
-Alright people, we need a cool name and a cool symbol that actually means something. Preferrably something scientific
"Decay, Isotope, Red Shift, Half-life, Nucleus, Meltdown..."
-Wait a sec, Half-life. Half-life. That sounds cool. Alright, next point on the agenda.

[Eejit]

The lambda symbol has several meanings, including radioactive decay and the wavelength of a wave. A resonance cascade is related to physics as well. Someone once posted a link to a site that explains it, but I can't remember the address...
Hell there's even a 'lambda phage' or something, a type of virus which infects some bacteria :)
Overanalysis: the bacteria is represented by the Xenians, the virus is the Combine, and Gordon is a white blood cell!

[PvtRyan]

I think they basically had a brainstorm meeting where they said:

(Attention: Re-enactment)
-Alright people, we need a cool name and a cool symbol that actually means something. Preferrably something scientific
"Decay, Isotope, Red Shift, Half-life, Nucleus, Meltdown..."
-Wait a sec, Half-life. Half-life. That sounds cool. Alright, next point on the agenda.

Nah it went like this: Francois, Gabe's hairdresser walked in on a meeting with a pink lambda on his shirt (and lambda is the symbol of the gay rights movement) and Gabe thought 'wow, that shirt is like so totally fabulous, was there a sale at the mall?' and Francois was like 'yeah girl, I got it for 14,99, can you believe it?' and Gabe said 'I think we should use that logo for our game.'

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that was the way it went. Yup, I'm positive (no not HIV!)

[mortiz]

Half-Life is better than the name they were going to use!

Quiver sounds like the name of one of those crappy B-games that are never really remembered, like Kreed.

[lans]

I think 'Far Cry' is a better name. :hmph:

I wonder what it means...crying from far? or just that crytek wanted to showoff that their engine has awesome draw distances?

[Farrowlesparrow]

Blue Shift is also a scientific name. According to Wikipedia (http://www.wikipedia.org/), it's the opposite of redshift (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redshift), which is a phenomenon related to astrophysics (mostly).

From Merriam-Webster (http://www.m-w.com/):





I would guess that it's more of a pun rather than something meaningful. The securityguards are 'blue' and they have a 'shift.' Possibly.


All the names have some scientific meaning.


Half-Life and Blue Shift have already been explained but think about "Opposing Force" and the significance(aharsh word for what i mean but meh) that has in physics. Then there was "Decay" on the PS2 and Decay...well thats obvious really.

[Foxtrot]

Well atleast Gabe liked my name...

[Foxtrot]

Someone needs to see my 1337 artwork.

[AJ Rimmer]

what does R & D means?

[Foxtrot]

what does R & D means?
Research and development.

[Dalamari]

Fox, I dunno how that relates to your name.

[Voodoo_Chile]

Anyone think that Half-Life might mean its half the story and thus Half-Life2 might indicate the completetion?

[AJ Rimmer]

Anyone think that Half-Life might mean its half the story and thus Half-Life2 might indicate the completetion?
Nope... not me.

[Foxtrot]

I was talking about the name I thought would be cool if it wasn't named half-life. Chaos Theory would be cool because it sounds cool and makes sense! More sense than half-life.

[SensesFail]

I wonder what it means...crying from far? or just that crytek wanted to showoff that their engine has awesome draw distances?

far cry
A long way: The climate in Alaska is a far cry from that of Florida.

far cry

n 1: distance estimated in terms of the audibility of a cry; "it's a far cry from here" 2: a disappointing disparity; "it was a far cry from what he had expected"

I don't know what the story line is...but I think its meaning is: a disappointing disparity; "it was a far cry from what he had expected"...meaning the situation the character was in is pretty much hopeless...

I wonder how much thought these developers put into their titles...Half-life has to have some significance to the story...someone should email gabe asking...

- Senses Fail

[Reaperman]

its a play on the engine, Crytek...

Far Cry is just a giant techdemo for the crytek engine, and they dont even attempt to hide it XD

[Cybernoid]

Overanalysis: the bacteria is represented by the Xenians, the virus is the Combine, and Gordon is a white blood cell!

YOU HAVE PLAYED THE STOLEN BUILD, HAVEN'T YOU!!!111 :eek:

[dino_21]

leave the name alone dude....half life is an amazing name for a game that good....id never think of that one lol

[6Three]

leave the name alone dude....half life is an amazing name for a game that good....id never think of that one lol

I wouldn't care if the game was called "shit on a stick" or "The Sims", I would still play/love it.

[harhar]

It means the time an element needs to stop being radioactive. I think it's nice
no its not. Its the time an element takes to decay half of its original mass off. After that, it is still radioactive (going through decay).

[Fat Tony!]

Things dont just stop being radioactive
/me dies
I think the name is great, half life, lamdacomplex, blue shift etc....

[Asuka]

Half-Life - Good
Deus Ex - Great
Unreal - Great
Painkiller - Good
Halo - Good
Serious Sam - lol
Legacy of kain soul reaver - Great
Doom - Great
Far Cry - Good
Tron 2.0 - Good
Resident Evil - Great
Quake - Great

Im sure im forgetting some...ah whatever.

[bliink]

you are all wrong, Half-life describes the time one waits for a sequel to be released.

[Asuka]

you are all wrong, Half-life describes the time one waits for a sequel to be released.

Not funny :/