Half Life 2 and HDTV

Last night I installed Half Life 2. The install was a bit of a pain in the ass. Not only because it was 5 CDs (hey Valve, ever hear of D-V-D?), but because you had to register online to play even the single player game. That wouldn’t be a problem except that their servers were having a really hard time and so it took 45 minutes before the game would even start. That’s OK though, I’ve been waiting over 3 years for this game anyway, so what’s another 45 minutes.

It was worth the wait.

I started up the game and quickly realized that my computer wasn’t really set up for gaming on my monitor. That is because my PC is actually in my living room and I run USB and VGA cables around the corner to my desk. Fortunately, my PC also outputs component output to my HDTV, and so all I needed to do was to try to play the game on that.

I was a bit worried because other games (ie: Doom3), don’t support widescreen and so playing on on my TV was not only sucky, but the burn-in effect worried me greatly.

Fortunately, Valve wasn’t as dumb as Id. They offered a widescreen (16:9 and 16:10) option, so all I needed to do was run the game at a beautiful 1920×1080 resolution. My video card was able to keep up fine (Radeon X800 Pro), and the game played flawlessly in an otherwise not-too-friendly PC environment (also known as my living room).

This is definitely the future of computers and home entertainment. “Convergence” may be a nice buzzword, but it really is the way of the future. After playing Half Life 2 in such high detail while on the comfort of my couch, it is clear where things need to keep moving. (Keep in mind I already use my Xbox’s HD output, but very few games support resolution as high as 1080i).

To make a long story short: last night I probably enjoyed one of the finest moments in PC gaming history. I was able to play one of the most anticipating games ever (and one that has delivered thus far) while playing with the hardware and environment that can’t be topped.

I feel special.