this post was submitted on 30 Sep 2024
88 points (93.1% liked)

PCGaming

6451 readers
2 users here now

Rule 0: Be civil

Rule #1: No spam, porn, or facilitating piracy

Rule #2: No advertisements

Rule #3: No memes, PCMR language, or low-effort posts/comments

Rule #4: No tech support or game help questions

Rule #5: No questions about building/buying computers, hardware, peripherals, furniture, etc.

Rule #6: No game suggestions, friend requests, surveys, or begging.

Rule #7: No Let's Plays, streams, highlight reels/montages, random videos or shorts

Rule #8: No off-topic posts/comments

Rule #9: Use the original source, no editorialized titles, no duplicates

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
[email protected]
88
Anyone Else been following the countdown at blackmesa.com? (blackmesa.com)
submitted 4 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
42 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

The bottom of the page there is a countdown that will expire at midnight Eastern standard Time tonight.

This company claims to be in Boston. They've received federal grants. I've done a small amount of digging, but it would be entirely within valves resources to set up such a company. They have a LinkedIn, but it doesn't really seem like anyone really works there? It seems like a viral marketing campaign.

There was a Reddit thread. A while back. Some people noticed classes in the HTML that referenced other half-lifey things. But, some people in that thread shut it down as nothing out of the ordinary.

Then, there have been recent leaks with regard to a new game being developed. Someone found a resume suggesting that a person had done voice-over work for an unreleased project with Valve in 2023.

There was also a leak of some files with .hlx file types, and I guess prior to the half-life alyx release some .hla files leaked.

In the .hlx file leak, I guess there was found references to things like the EV suit.

Here's a YouTube video that touches on all of this.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 weeks ago (2 children)

This site is actually for a real company that has the same name and logo, but yea there's some fun stuff going on here that I wanna see figured out

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

the same name and logo

That's how you know it's not real. Valve owns the rights to the logo, especially when combined with the name Black Mesa.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

Yeah, who would go to the internet and infringe copyright and trademark laws? That has never happened before.

/s

But for real. It's a viral campaign for something but definitely not for a video game. Look at deadlock, that's how valve does marketing now. They don't even need ads or webpages anymore.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

Says them?

Their address is a house.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

Where do you see the address?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) (2 children)

So I went for a little drive...

https://i.imgur.com/gXWIXj4.jpeg

See that little black placard?

https://i.imgur.com/oglXV45.jpeg

Valve has the resources, yes, but wouldn't go that far for no payoff. I'm convinced they're a real company, not an ARG.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

Pahaha if op keeps this up they're gonna get this lab in trouble for cribbing half life ip

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 weeks ago

Apparently they reached out to Valve and got the OK from someone to use the name and variant logo, according to a comment I saw either here or on reddit.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

Not if contributing to actual research, for which they applied for govt grants (and received) contributes to a tax write-off.

They have the means.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

I'm not sure if you're serious. Technically yes, Valve could set up a real biotech company, staff it, apply for government grants, receive money, and do actual biotech work... But it doesn't make sense to do for a video game marketing stunt.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

Why would it not make sense for them to do it? It is the most anticipated videogames of all time. The videogame community has basically taunted Valve saying they're afraid to make the games and valve has been firm that fear does not guide them. So obviously they will go as big as anyone's ever gone.

It in fact makes less sense that a biotech firm would call themselves black Mesa, and start up a faux ARG for the lulz.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

What does spinning off a biotech company achieve for marketing HL3? Especially when Black Mesa has already been released and isn't even Valve's game?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

We a rentalking about HL3 as a result.

That is how marketing works.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

That's a big reach. It's spending a lot of money for not much gain, when they could spend that money either on regular advertising or on a real ARG campaign.

If it was an ARG for HL3, why would it be based on Black Mesa? That's the HL1 remake fan project that's already done.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) (1 children)

What money is it spending exactly? A lease for a small building and a small town in Massachusetts? Maybe 10 grand a month? A salary for, as far as LinkedIn tells us, 2:00 to 10 individuals, we'll call it a million dollars.

Are you telling me that Valve isn't willing to invest 2 million dollars in advertising the most anticipated video game of all time?

What do you think valves marketing budget is?

Do you think there's a modulation when it comes to expenditures for half-life 3 should they arise?

When was the last time you saw an ad for a valve game outside of the steam ecosystem?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

Bedford isn't a small town. There's a bunch of other biotech facilities in that area. It looks like it'd be a relatively cheap building to lease, but not as cheap as you're thinking.

I think if they were going to spend $2m on marketing, they'd actually use it for marketing, not spinning off a biotech company.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 weeks ago

Oh right. All those ads you saw for all those games they put out. Yeah. No, good point, valve definitely has a tradition of spending their marketing dollar just like every other company out there. If half-life 3's coming out, we'll probably hear about it in the Sears catalog. 🙄 What was I thinking.