<P> As a technology showcase, Valve considered Lost Coast to have very demanding system requirements . The game runs on computers with specifications lower than what is recommended, albeit without some key features such as high dynamic range . If a non-high - dynamic - range - capable card is used, the developer commentary is changed slightly to reflect this . For example, Valve president Gabe Newell would describe the effects that are seen in a different manner . </P> <P> In addition to a showcase for visual improvements, Lost Coast acted as a testbed for Valve's commentary system . When the feature is enabled, additional items appear in the game that can be interacted with to play an audio commentary . Each audio piece ranges from ten seconds to a minute of commentary . Players hear the developers talk about what the player is seeing, what is happening, why they made certain decisions, and what kinds of challenges they faced . Commentary tracks are represented by floating speech bubbles called commentary nodes . Valve intended for players to first play the level with commentary disabled, and after completing the level, play it again with commentary enabled, learning about each new stage as they progress . The company has since made the commentary system standard in all of its later video games . </P> <P> Lost Coast was released on October 27, 2005, as a free download from Valve's Steam content delivery service to anyone who purchased Half - Life 2 . People who received Half - Life 2 as a gift from Valve's online store were not eligible to download the level . Valve announced on May 30, 2007 that Lost Coast, along with Half - Life 2: Deathmatch, would be made available for free to owners of ATI Radeon cards . It was later released without charge to Nvidia graphics card owners along with Half - Life 2: Deathmatch, Peggle Extreme, and the first eleven levels of Portal . </P> <P> Lost Coast was generally well received by video game critics . 1UP.com enjoyed the amount of detail, including the graphics, puzzles, and intelligent enemies, saying, "Valve just packed more atmosphere into a tiny snippet than most shooters muster, period ." The review also praised the level's commentary system, calling it an informative addition, and enjoyed the interesting and insightful comments made by some of its creators . The level satisfied UGO because "it would be harder not to enjoy this level in all its beautifully rendered glory--even after you've broken all the windows and spattered the walls with Combine blood," and GameSpot commented that "the textures in Lost Coast are noticeably more detailed and numerous than in the retail game ." The review concluded hoping that the features introduced in Lost Coast would be included in Valve's future releases . </P>

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