Trivia
In the beginning of the game, there is an arcade cabinet with the game Prax Wars. This is a little joke by Randy Pitchford. He had been working on the game Prax War at Rebel Boat Rocker for Electronic Arts, but it was never released. The extra "s" was added because people often mistakenly referred to the company as Rebel Boat Rockers or to the Gearbox game as Half-Life: Opposing Forces. Also, they couldn't use the real name as EA still held the rights.
Contributed by
Sciere 
(118122) on Apr 04, 2006.
On August 24th, 2005, the full expansion was released for free through Valve's electronic distribution platform Steam for anyone that owns the Half-Life Premier Pack, the Half-Life 2 Silver package, or the Half-Life 2 Gold package.
Contributed by
Sciere (118122) on Aug 25, 2005.
The European versions of the game do not contain Half-Life: Opposing Force.
Contributed by
NGC 5194 (17444) on Jan 10, 2002.
Blue Shift was going to be the killer app added to the Half Life Dreamcast port, specially since Sierra promised taking full advantage of the Dreamcast's capabilities to handle the new high definition models.
In case you don't know the Dreamcast port of Half Life had been in development limbo since 1999 and was eagerly awaited by every Dreamcast owner and his sister until Sierra flushed the port following Sega's decision to flush the console.
Contributed by
Zovni (9139) on Jun 27, 2001.
The advertising on the back of the box is rife with inaccuracies. Here's a critique:
Two new episodes for "the best PC game ever" -- The Opposing Force add-on is not new; in fact, there are some versions of the box with a sticker on the front giving existing owners of Opposing Force a $10 rebate. (This rebate, by the way, involves not only cutting up your Blue Shift box but also requires that you send in your Opposing Force CD. The time and expense necessary to do this is not worth the $10 rebate, in my opinion.)
Return to Black Mesa as the security guard who allied with Gordon Freeman in the original, award-winning thriller. -- There were multiple security guards who interacted with Freeman.
32-Person Multiplayer. Battle opponents from around the world in Capture the Flag and more Half-Life online games. -- This is misleading; while you can play online Half-Life games with this package because it includes the original Half-Life engine (not storyline, just the engine), there are no Blue Shift-specific games or features except for some additional levels.
Includes the Half-Life HD Pack. Automatically upgrade all of your weapons and characters with new high definition content. -- There is nothing technically wrong with this statement, but it leads people to believe that your weapons themselves are upgraded, not just their appearance.
Contributed by
Trixter (8866) on Jun 24, 2001.
The name of the main character, Barney Calhoun, is a tongue-in-cheek reference to what most fans of Half-Life starting calling the various security guards around the Black Mesa complex in both Half-Life and Opposing Force.
(Fans called the security guards "Barneys" because they were usually slow, dim-witted, and not very helpful, which is very much like the deputy sheriff "Barney" on the old show "The Andy Griffith Show".)
Contributed by
Trixter (8866) on Jun 24, 2001.
