The "real" Barney...

[[46] pushit [2]]

Ok, I feel like a noob for asking this because the more and more I think about it, the more it makes sense.

I was perusing the leak-free.org forums (aka the Blackmesa: Source forums) and noticed a couple of threads that mentioned the "real" Barney. I was a little confused by what they meant, and was wondering if anyone here could clarify it for me.

From what I can tell, the only time you actually see Barney is in the opening scene when he is banging on the door as you ride past him in the tram. Every other time you see a security guard, it's a Barney model but not actually Barney.

For some noobish reason, until now, I always thought every security guard was Barney. Weird....

(someone also mentioned that opening Barney scene was only there because of Blue Shift...it was not the idea of VALVe. Any clarification on this?)

 

[OvA]

Every security guard is named Barney. He was not meant to be major charachter until VALVe realized how much people loved Barney and they let Gearbox do an expansion (Blue Shift) The Barney in BS is Barney Calhoun, which as the opening scene of BS shows, is the same guy you see knocking on the door on the train ride.

When VALVe was making HL that knocking barney was just some random security guard, but people remember him because he's the first Barney you see and Gearbox made him the Barney they chose.

Does that help?

 

[AJ Rimmer]

Exactly. So people have taken it on faith that Barney in Half-life 2 is the Barney Calhoun from Blue Shift. Hence the title, "the real Barney"

 

[Barney_Calhoun]

When I first played HL2, I assumed that Barney was the guy who wouldn't let you through to the area (which later becomes full of houndeyes) on anomolous materials, as he is the only one I heard say "Catch me later and I'll buy you a beer". But, seeing as he dies, Gearbox's version makes more sense.

 

[ríomhaire]

And the Barney in BS is the one in HL2. VALVE even put his name in the credits as Barney Calhoun.

I remember laughing so hard when I met Dr. Rosenburg and he kept calling me Calhoun because that was the first time I listened to the characters say the name and I thought "Calhoun? What kind of name is Calhoun?"