Push The Button!

By Shamus Posted Monday Nov 26, 2007

Filed under: Movies 39 comments

It’s been a while since I made a video. I’ll probably never recapture the raging success of my first one, which now has over a million views on YouTube and almost as many immitators. But I enjoy making these, even if they reveal the genius of the Bowlercoaster to be mostly a work of accident.

Here is my latest effort:

And a thousand curses on YouTube for always chopping off the last couple of seconds of video. I even padded this one on the end and it still got clipped.

Also, I never noticed until I watched the movie, but the Heli Bombs in Half-Life 2 look a lot like the parts of GLADOS from Portal. A lot. Like, is that the same dang model?

 


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39 thoughts on “Push The Button!

  1. Shandrunn says:

    Fantastic! =D

  2. Phlux says:

    Did you do this after doing the gnome thing? I noticed the “payload anomaly” dialogue, which I think only pops up if Mr. Gnome has been placed inside the rocket. Could just be that I didn’t notice it the first time, though, when I didn’t do it.

  3. Shamus says:

    No, I’ve never even attempted the Gnome thing. The payload anomoly message is for something ELSE onboard the rocket. When you first enter the rocket room, walk away from the conversation and look in the open hatch. You will see Lamar climb into the rocket, although I wouldn’t expect that to weigh 8lbs.

  4. pdwalker says:

    Cute.

    Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.

    Loved it.

  5. sporksmith says:

    Hah! Almost doused my keyboard in coffee. Good job!

  6. Phlux says:

    Ah…I see. I guess when I did it I had BOTH pieces of “payload anomaly” inside the rocket. 8 pounds sounded about right for the two of them combined.

    Anybody know if you get that message if you don’t even close the door, or if you close it while empty?

  7. Primogenitor says:

    I don’t think the heli-bombs are exactly the same as the GLADoS parts, because those have a little frame around them that they spin in. But they are suspiciously similar…

  8. Vegedus says:

    I thought this kinda behavior was unique to games like oblivion.

    I liked the flashlight thing best. That’s just plain dickish.

  9. Ian says:

    Haha, that was great. :P

  10. Henebry says:

    This one was a bit too much of an inside joke for me. NO idea what the cross-cuts meant, except that I gather these NPCs were determined to give your PC the “honor” of pushing the button even if he was a total ass to everyone, and even if he refused to push it himself.

    So that, while the NPCs were able to react in a physically appropriate way to his misbehavior (shielding her eyes from his flashlight) the plot rails prevented them from reacting in an emotionally appropriate way. Is that right?

  11. Joe says:

    The 8lbs dialog occurs whether or not Captain Happy Gnome is dropped inside or not. Shamus’ comment lays out where the anomaly is from. I ran through the game twice, and each time heard all the same dialog.

  12. Shamus says:

    Henebry: I think you’re giving it more thought than I did. I saw it more as a collection of stupid things you could do within the game. The “push the button” was just a silly way to tie them all together.

  13. Sebastian says:

    re: the Heli-bombs looking a lot like GLaDOS’s parts:

    The Portal gun also bears quite a similarity to the gravity gun (same little three prong things coming out the front side, glowing energy barrel thing inline). I’m guessing Portal was made with a deliberate goal of reusing as many assets as possible, both from the existing HL asset pool and within the game, without compromising the game (e.g. headcrabs appearing for no good reason).

  14. AlphabetFish says:

    Hilarious–I loved the woman: “It’s a good thing I don’t get carsick.” Also, shining the light in her face. How annoying and petty, just like a jerk.

  15. mos says:

    Aw, what happened to it? I didn’t get a chance to watch it before it was gone.

  16. mos says:

    Scratch that. For some reason YT told me the video was no longer available, but after posting, the reloaded page plays the video fine.

  17. BVB says:

    Pretty awesome (and original, too, as far as I can tell). Worth watching!

  18. lxs says:

    I lol’d. Actually in real life, yes.

  19. Curaidh says:

    Heh, you made me smile. That’s a lot more than what other people accomplish. ;)

  20. ShadowDragon8685 says:

    This made me laugh, a lot. :)

  21. Andre (xero) says:

    The funniest part, for me, was when you were making Alyx chase after you and your souped-up-stripped-down Dodge Charger.

  22. Davesnot says:

    When I started laughing I kinda wondered why.. it wasn’t THAT funny to start… but I kept laughing.. harder.. and harder.. till I was literally crying.. ouch.. then you flipped on the light.. and off.. and on .. and off.. ouch..

    I’m glad to see I’m not the only one that plays games that way… ouch .. ouch..

    Ok.. I’ve recovered a bit.. time to laugh again…

    My wife understood the funny of the bowling.. I doubt she’d get this..

    Ok.. time for some more rib pain.

  23. Davesnot says:

    Oh.. I forgot.. one more thing… Shamus.. you da man!!

  24. Davesnot says:

    The way you hold that light on her face just a tick longer that last time… precious.

  25. Lanthanide says:

    I take it it’s impossible to run the car into Alyx?

  26. nehumanuscrede says:

    ” The funniest part, for me, was when you were making Alyx chase after you and your souped-up-stripped-down Dodge Charger. ”

    Ya, this got a pretty big smile going from me too :)

  27. Hazar says:

    Remember, YOU are Gordan Freeman

  28. Poet says:

    That flashlight in Alyx’s face over and over was, for some reason, hilarious. When it cut away, then back to that, I sprayed mountain dew on my screen. No joke.

  29. Phlux says:

    I tried to run Alyx over a few times. She either dodges (she has really good collision avoidance AI), or she jumps into the car (it has no windshield, so she just grabs the rollbar and hops in).

  30. Noumenon says:

    Was there a joke cut at the end of the video?

  31. Volatar says:

    Please please PLEASE upload this to Google videos so I can show my third period!

  32. Telas says:

    It’s 1:17 AM, I’ve just finished the HL2 Episodes, and was going back to read your comments on them. (I avoided the comments the first time, until I played it through.)

    And I find this. Keeping quiet while laughing your ass off is nearly impossible, you know… My poor pregnant wife.

    Seriously, this is hilarious. You definitely haven’t lost the touch.

  33. Mephane says:

    It just says “We’re sorry, this video is no longer available.” :(

    EDIT: A minute later it is working again. :)

  34. Bret says:

    I was kinda hoping it would end with the button causing a string of turrets to open fire on Gordon.

    Old article, I know, but Shamus, you said in another old comment collection you were fine with this sort of thing.

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