Press Release: 2000-02-14: HALF-LIFE(tm) COMING TO SEGA DREAMCAST(tm)

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This is an unaltered copy of a press release, for use as a primary source on Sega Retro. Please do not edit the contents below.
Language: English third-party
Original source: Valve Archive
Best-Selling, Critically Acclaimed Action Thriller Heads to Sega's Next Generation Console

February 14, 2000 (Bellevue, WA) - Sierra Studios(tm) and Valve LLC today announced at the Milia trade show in Cannes, France that their award-winning action thriller game, Half-Life, is currently in development for a summer release on Sega Dreamcast. Half-Life combines great storytelling with intense action and advanced technology to create an impressive, realistic world where players need to think smart to survive. Originally created for the PC by Valve, Half-Life has won more than 50 Game of the Year awards from publications around the world, was named "Best PC Game Ever" by Imagine Media's PC Gamer magazine (November 1999), and has sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide.

In development by Northern California-based Captivation Digital Laboratories in conjunction with Gearbox Software and Valve, Half-Life: Dreamcast is set to be even more extraordinary than the original PC version. The Sega Dreamcast edition will feature several optimizations, including higher polygon player characters, dramatic lighting and special effects, to showcase the power of the Sega Dreamcast and deliver a fresh and exciting player experience for console gamers.

Half-Life: Dreamcast will also feature an all-new single player mission that surrounds the Black Mesa Security Guard character, Barney. This special mission is being custom created for the Dreamcast by Gearbox Software, the Texas-based development team that created Half-Life: Opposing Force(tm), the official PC expansion for Half-Life and runner-up to 1999 Game of the Year by PC Gamer magazine (March 2000).

"Half-Life has become a big franchise with 1.5 million units sold worldwide," said Hubert Joly, CEO of Havas Interactive. "Its immersive environment, the depth of its story, its unique action character lend themselves well to creating a great console product that takes advantage of the high performance of the Sega Dreamcast."

"Valve's number one objective is to deliver state of the art entertainment experiences that push the envelope with every new release," noted Gabe Newell, co-founder and managing director, Valve. "By partnering with Sega our intention is to create an incredible new version of Half-Life that takes full advantage of Sega Dreamcast's architecture."

Founded in 1996, Valve develops entertainment software. Half-Life is Valve's debut title. Since its release in November, 1998, Half-Life has won over 50 game of the year awards from publications that include PC Gamer, Computer Gaming World, and CNET's Gamecenter. Valve's upcoming title, Team Fortress 2: Brotherhood of Arms won the E3 Game Critics' Award for Best Action Game and Best Online Game. More information about Valve is available through the company's web site at http://www.valvesoftware.com.

Located near San Francisco in El Granada, California, Captivation Digital Laboratories, Inc. is a software developer specializing in high-end computer and video games. Founded in 1996 with a core team of console gaming veterans, Captivation was one of the first Dreamcast developers in the United States and has worked closely with Sega of America on the rollout of key Dreamcast technologies. More information can be found at http://www.captivation.com.

Sierra On-Line, Inc. http://www.sierra.com/ is one of the original developers and largest worldwide publishers of interactive entertainment and productivity software. Sierra is a division of Havas Interactive, a global leader in interactive content, and is one of the world's largest publishers of education, entertainment and home productivity software. Its divisions, Blizzard®, Coktel, Knowledge Adventure®, Sierra(tm) and WON.net(tm) are famous for releasing critically acclaimed and award winning titles. Havas has operations in the US and in Europe and is a subsidiary of the French publishing house Havas, part of Vivendi Communications.