I’ve been playing more co-op games recently than I ever have and when you’re playing with the right people they’re the most fun you can have with your clothes on. If you play with your clothes off then that passion could have no boundaries, so be careful. I’ve got two words to sum up my thoughts on this Portal 2 video posted over at RPS this morning: Oh my.
Because I am ridiculously in love with all things Valve, and specifically Team Fortress 2, I thought I would share the latest piece of community news with you all, knowing that you will fully appreciate it as much as I do. Several months ago, Valve opened their doors to the Team Fortress 2 community, allowing any individual to create and submit new weapon models, hat designs and ‘misc’ items. Those lucky enough, having submitted designs that passed …
Suddenly no more amusing notes from Aperture Sciences or assurances that Surprises are coming, no more tantalizing videos or you-need-to-invert-it-in-Photoshop graphics leaks. Valve announced this morning, via a curt email to journo/analysts, that its press event for E3 has been canceled. The beloved developer will have a booth on the expo floor and that’s it. Technical problems before a big reveal? Or an internal decision that said reveal wasn’t kickass enough? Half Life 2 also …
It’s not really that alarming. Actually it’s not alarming at all. It’s just a bunch of pre-E3 news, and an opportunity to use the word “confluence.”
I take back what I said about Steam being evil because it made me buy Alpha Protocol. How can you hate Valve? Those guys crack me up. Big outlets (read: not us) got an announcement today, regretfully informing them that the Portal 2 event at E3 was canceled. But as is always the case with Valve, there’s more to it than that.
GamesBrief ran a piece last week with the somewhat hysterical title “Five Reasons why Steam will Destroy the PC Games Industry.”
In a word: it’s a monopoly. Or it’s fast becoming one. And monopolies, historically, are dangerous, regardless of industry.
It’s not easy being a Mac owning gamer. For so long the deserved recipient of the industries jokes and PC gamers distain, gaming on Mac has always been something of an afterthought, falling some way down on Apple’s priorities both from a hardware and software perspective. With games software remaining overpriced, underpowered and largely unsupported, Mac gaming has existed as the proverbial wasteland for the mouse and keyboard loyalist. However, to quote the ever quotable …
Reading PCGamer today, new information about Portal 2 has begun to rear its head from the Valve parapet, with the game now taking place several hundred years after the first. The new changes announced so far include a two-player co-operative mode in addition to the single player, while players can now take advantage of physical effects that “bleed” through portals, such as air from vents or the use of tractor beams through the portals themselves …
Players have come to expect much more from a modern frag-fest since the early days of LAN parties, late night marathons and reams of cable underfoot. As the foundation of multiplayer gaming for an entire generation, Quake, Unreal Tournament, Counter-strike and Team Fortress have permanently scarred the industry’s landscape with their impact. Even now, developers strive for the success that heralds from these synonymous titles, and yet, in over ten years the principal foundations put …
I mean seriously, what is the matter with this guy? First he decides to stir up a pointless ruckus by complaining that Valve’s Steam service is exploitative of the little guy, a conflict of interest for Valve, and untrustworthy – an act for which he is universally condemned, and called much harsher names than I’ve called him. Then today he decides it’d be wise to further assify himself by accusing Valve/Steam’s position on PS3 sales …
Recent game industry trade articles have been bandying about the very real possibility that GameStop’s lucrative used game sales are going to begin to tank as the digital distribution model grows. Is all that yummy buy low/sell high action going to just fade away? GameStop doesn’t seem to be too concerned. IndustryGamers reports on a recent study by Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia that claims that digital download technology won’t reach a critical threshold of …
Review by Jason Dobry Killing Floor Developer Tripwire Interactive Publisher Tripwire Interactive Released May 14, 2009 Available for PC Verdict: 2/5 Rotten Egg “Tripwire Interactive recently released Killing Floor, an updated retail version of the 2005 mod by the same name for Unreal 2004. I managed to secure it for only 15 bucks on Steam, so it seemed like a low-risk venture. But can a four-year old mod stand up to the king of co-op …
It’s been threatening for some time now: first a bit of misdirection involving a possible sniper update, now revealed through clever internet chicanery to be the Spy. I don’t really play much Team Fortress 2 any more, but I do love these character movies. And so shall you!
Check out this mini-interview. Valve’s vice president of marketing, Doug Lombardi, fills in Doug Kuchera of Ars Technica on the ins and outs of keeping it fresh with their customers. In a word…UPDATES: “The updates cause an incredible spike in sales. And when the update is offered in concert with new Achievements, new media, such as a new ‘Meet the…’ movie, and a promotion, such as a Free Weekend and/or limited-time price drop, the spike …
Valve Software’s The Orange Box is on sale for $9.99 all weekend, meaning you have approximately fifteen hours left to do what you should have done when it was $50. This purchase gets you Half Life 2, Half Life 2: Episode 1, Half Life 2: Episode 2, multiple-game-of-the-year-winning-and-critical-darling Portal, plus the relentlessly jolly Team Fortress 2. Remember if you already own any or all of these, you can gift them to fellow Steam subscribers at …