"It doesn’t feature in the timeline at all, that’s why it’s optional. But if you were to pin down when Gordon might have used it, it would have been one of his first days on the job. He’s been there for a while when the disaster happens."

Hello, Mr. Laidlaw.

Many thanks for your answer.

On the topic of Hazard Course, we would like to know your stance on Gina Cross, whose hologram appears as your instructor. While she ended up being one of the protagonists of the Gearbox-made Half-Life: Decay PS2 add-on, she was created by Valve in the first place. Seeing how that leads to her being acceptable for use by Valve, is there any chance of her being a part of any (possible) Half-Life game to come, or was she always going to be confined to the mostly non-story training level and never even considered for expansion?

Thanks in advance.

We didn’t name her, and she was never a character in our concepts, so I’ve got no connection to any story that was built up around her. Gearbox had a clever way of designing their game around the events of Half-Life but honestly, I never played Decay past the first sequence, so none of that registered for me when I thought about where the game could go. I know people like the character, as they like Adrian Shepard, which is cool. But I don’t have the personal creative connection to things Gearbox made.

"We didn’t name her, and she was never a character in our concepts, so I’ve got no connection to any story that was built up around her. Gearbox had a clever way of designing their game around the events of Half-Life but honestly, I never played Decay past the first sequence, so none of that registered for me when I thought about where the game could go. I know people like the character, as they like Adrian Shepard, which is cool. But I don’t have the personal creative connection to things Gearbox made."

Greetings, Mr. Laidlaw.

Many thanks for the answer.

For clarification, we asked the previous question primarily because the assumption was that the "Gina" name was given to that character by Valve employees, before Gearbox had begun to make their expansions — the multiplayer mode character model's name being "gina". Seeing how Gordon Freeman's model was called "gordon", it was the logical thing to assume that Gina was the scientist's name, and did not stand for something else.

As for the next inquiry, however, it would be interesting to know your personal opinion on whether Gordon used the HEV suit helmet. According to the official artwork and the aforementioned "gordon" model, Gordon is missing one, and it is not present on the model of the suit when it is equipped at the beginning of the game. At the same time, the Xen research groups all wear helmets, and Freeman seems to be immune to the signature headcrab effects, even if he is killed by one, somewhat suggesting that he has a layer of head protection.

Thanks in advance for the answer.

Probably the modeler named the model, no idea why they picked that name. I hadn't realized that was the case which shows you the lack of larger intent.

It's Schroedinger's helmet! Is he wearing it? We don't know until he looks at himself in a mirror...another decision we were spared having to make.

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