Techtite Feature Article!

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About this page:

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"The BIG Picture" is a new feature article, introduced to Techtite.com in 2003. Every week, a photo of at least 800x600 size is offered, of one of the most definitive  entertainment products that week, good OR bad. Once you download them (or simply view them), feel free to comment on them...and of course, have fun! 

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Feel free to contribute. As always, review submissions are accepted!

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[...back, because you demanded it! -Ed.]

 

The latest "Big Picture" is:

"Half Life 2, the beginning"

(Half Life 2, 2004; a whopping 1280x1024 BIG picture!)

click picture for the full-size (BIG) photo!

Here's the second photo of Half Life 2, again spoiler-free, because it's actually the moment when the game first begins. Sure, you've gone across a Combine trooper escape or two up to then, but it isn't until you meet Alyx and her friends give you your trademark "hazard suit" that things first take up "steam"...no pun intended.

It's the expressiveness of the characters that makes these pictures hard to give the game justice. Eyebrows, lips, eyes, and even body movement affects each character's realism, with every line of dialogue they offer. I tried to get this effectively in a still picture, but gave up trying. However; the above picture can show the attention to detail, just the same. Note in the Bigger Picture how even her necklace is perfectly rendered, not just a "picture" texture mapped onto her neck. You can also see the bump mapping of her skin, which on a more modern FX card (mine is a now-rather-dated Geforce FX 5900 Ultra) must be incredible.

It helps, of course, that voice acting is perfectly chosen, including Emmy winner Robert Guillaume as Dr. Eli Vance, Robert Culp as Dr. Wallace Breen, and Star Trek TNG's Michelle Forbes, as Dr. Judith Mossman. You may not know the name Merle Dandridge --her only other work has been guest stints on Angel and NCIS-- but she's a perfect voice actress here, as Alyx. That's another trait of the game that these pictures cannot give enough justice. I'm just saying.

---Techtite

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Due to bandwidth, we can only keep the most recent and/or popular "Big Pictures" online each week, so if you like it, be sure to download it!

"Half Life 2" Archive:  1  2  3  4
"Doom 3" Month (August, 2004):  1  2  3  4
Other "Big Pics" Still Online:
Plus: Some Of The First "Big Picture" Pages 1  2  3  4

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