Latest News

• Black Mesa: Source Interview

  Rock, Paper Shotgun have posted a two part interview with the project lead of Black Mesa: Source, Carlos Montero:
  
  "We’ve put a lot of love into making this game an amazing experience. When it comes to systems, levels, and weapons, we’ve touched everything, because we made it all from scratch. We tried to keep what we felt was evocative of the original Half-life, but when recreating these things we have inherently re-designed them. The combat, the puzzles, the mechanics and pacing of every level have been re-designed. The weapon strengths, animations, balance aspects – all re-designed. The systems, aside from being completely coded from scratch, have all been re-designed to some degree. There is nothing we haven’t touched, honestly."
  
  It's a good read and re-enforces the fact that Black Mesa: Source is very likely to be massive - Part One | Part Two

  By Blink on Thursday, May 10th | Comments (12)

• Portal 2 'Perpetual Testing Initiative' Released

  The wonderfully intuitive in-game map editor for Portal 2 has come out of beta, and is now available for everyone to play around in.
  
  "The Perpetual Testing Initiative (PeTI) is live! Even though most of you will be getting your first sweet taste of test chamber construction today, a lucky few of you have already been beta testing for the last couple of months. An unfair head start? You bet. But it's thanks to this massive injustice that you have a ton of great test chambers to solve on launch day. "
  
  More than just a way for people less familiar with hammer to get into making some maps, the editor is also a very useful prototyping tool. Maps can be quickly created and exported into hammer for further fine tuning. You can find the tools in your copy of Portal 2 now, or read a bit more about it on the Portal 2 blog.

  By ad_hominem on Tuesday, May 8th | Comments (14)

• The Failure of the Half-Life Episodes

  An interesting viewpoint on the way Valve have handled the Half-Life series, and how they could have approached it has been posted over at LambdaGeneration:
  
  "The very existence of Episode Two and the way it ended, though emotionally significant, is a big part of the reason why the series has been put on hold for so long. Certain issues are immediately obvious. How does Valve start the next game when we expect to continue on from the point we left off after five years of absolute silence? How does Valve move on from such a cliffhanger, and build on all the set-up in a way that’s faithful to an intricate narrative spanning four games, without alienating a new audience?"
  
  Well worth your time, so give it a read.

  By Blink on Tuesday, May 8th | Comments (24)

• Portal 2 'Perpetual Testing Initiative' Releases 8th May

  While the majority of people reading this won't be in desperate need of a more user-friendly way to create Portal 2 maps, some of you may be happy to know that Valve's simplified puzzle creator for Portal 2 is set to release in just under 2 weeks' time.
  
  "As hinted at March at GDC, Valve have now announced the imminent release of a puzzle creator for Portal 2. It’s going to be called the Portal 2 Perpetual Testing Initiative, it’s going to be out on the 8th May, and most of all, it’s going to be free.
  
  It’s a puzzle creator that will allow the easy sharing of creations to other Portal 2 players, via the Steam Workshop, with options to publish, vote, and download. And a download will automatically install it within the game. I’d like to see that integrated entirely into the game, so you don’t have to switch out to access it. If not, they’ve got two weeks to fix that. Get to it, Valve."
  
  I'm interested to see just how easy it is to use, and whether it could theoretically be used as an easy way to prototype a specific kind of puzzle. Thanks to RPS for the news.

  By ad_hominem on Thursday, April 26th | Comments (41)

• Steam and Source coming to Linux

  Michael Larabel of Phoronix has been to Valve, spoke to Gabe and seen L4D2 running natively on Linux. Interesting times for Linux fans:
  
  "Right now the game they have been working on the most for their Linux client is Left 4 Dead 2. Why L4D2? Basically because it is a stable code-base to do for their initial porting. They have plans to bring their other titles to Linux as well as lobby other game developers using Steam and the Source Engine to bring their games to Linux -- natively. They are not using the Wine library or anything in terms of their native Linux Steam/Source engine work."
  
  

  

  
  
  Check out the full article for more details.

  By Blink on Wednesday, April 25th | Comments (19)

• CS:GO SDK coming 3 months after release

  New site on the block The Verge has some details on when we can expect to see the SDK for Valve's update to the Counter-Strike series.
  
  "Counter-Strike: Global Offensive's software development kit, which allows players to create and edit the title's catalog of multiplayer maps, is currently planned to launch three months after the game's release.
  
  Valve's Gabe Newell confirmed the timetable during a recent interview on the podcast Seven Day Cooldown, which will be published later this afternoon. The modding tools, which have been a staple in the Counter-Strike series since its inception, will be created by Valve software engineer Mike Durand, who has worked on developing SDKs for the company's modding community since 2006."
  
  You can read the rest of the article aver at The Verge, and listen to the full podcast (which also features pertinent Ricochet 2 news!) over at Seven Day Cooldown.

  By ad_hominem on Monday, April 23rd | Comments (49)

• Michael Abrash writes about his time at Valve

  In a very informative and lengthy article, Michael Abrash has written about his past experiences with id, Microsoft and now Valve. It's a great read:
  
  "That any part of the company can change direction instantly at any time, because there are no managers to cling to their people and their territory, no reorgs to plan, no budgets to work around. That there are things that Gabe badly wants the company to do that aren’t happening, because no one has signed up to do them."
  
  Give the full article a read.

  By Blink on Friday, April 13th | Comments (23)

• New Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Pics Released

  There's bound to be a lot of news arriving over the next week, what with GDC getting into full swing, but Games Radar have managed to get a little ahead of the game. They've been having a look at the Arsenal mode for 360, but the real interest here is the new images they've included, which look vastly improved from what we've seen so far. I've included a couple below:
  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  
  You can find the whole article over on GamesRadar, and Hollow has pointed me to some more pics for your viewing pleasure.

  By ad_hominem on Monday, March 5th | Comments (278)

• Valve Console Rumours

  According to The Verge, word is Valve have plans to create their own 'Steam Box' console:
  
  "Apparently meetings were held during CES to demo a hand-built version of the device to potential partners. We're told that the basic specs of the Steam Box include a Core i7 CPU, 8GB of RAM, and an NVIDIA GPU. The devices will be able to run any standard PC titles, and will also allow for rival gaming services (like EA's Origin) to be loaded up."
  
  Read more console gossip in the full post.

  By Blink on Saturday, March 3rd | Comments (48)

• Penny Arcade Interviews Gabe Newell

  Over at Penny Arcade they've posted a very lengthy and interesting interview with (the now bearded!) Gabe Newell.
  
  "We’re acutely aware of how much we annoy our fans and it’s pretty frustrating to us when we put them into that situation. We try to go as fast as we can and we try to pick the things that we think are going to be most valuable to our customers and if there’s some magic way we can get more work done in a day then we’d love to hear about it.
  
  Part of the reason that we backed off talking so much about what was happening in the future is that when we’ve done that in the past, you know, with Half Life 1 it was a year after we originally said it would be, Half Life 2 basically if you go and read the forum posts apparently took us fifty or sixty years to get done so we’re trying to be careful not to get people too excited and then have to go and disappoint them. So we’re sort of reacting in the other direction and saying “okay, well let’s have things a little more baked before we start getting people all excited about it.”"
  
  Check out the full interview and be sure to give the photos from the office tour a browse as well

  By Blink on Monday, February 20th | Comments (28)

• Dear Esther Released

  Forget any plans you had for a date this Valentine's, because Robert Briscoe's re-imagined and beautifully realised take on the original Dear Esther mod by The Chinese Room, is out right now!
  
  "“An astonishingly beautiful, haunting meander around a remote Hebridean island, and the story of the dying moments of a man who traveled to it.”"
  
  The pleasantly low price of £6.99 means there is no reason to miss out, whether you're a fan of the now ancient gem of a mod, or an impressed bystander.

  By Hollow on Tuesday, February 14th | Comments (58)

• Natural Selection 2 Gorilla Trailer

  Unknown Worlds have been hard at work on the new Natural Selection and judging by trailer they've just released, it's looking top notch:
  
  "Today we released a big new patch to Natural Selection 2. This update is code-named "Gorilla" because it contains our 5th and final alien: the Onos. It also includes marine jetpacks and a new map called mineshaft.
  
  Natural Selection 2 is a sequel to Natural Selection, which was a mod for Half-life and released in 2002. NS2 is written on our own custom engine called "Spark" and ships with all the tools and game code used in the game. In fact, NS2 is a mod itself, which we are hoping will show players what they can make if they choose to mod our game! We have over 30,000 players in the beta and we will release v1.0 to the public this summer."
  
  

  
  
  Find more info about the release in this news post.

  By Blink on Friday, February 3rd | Comments (6)

• Valve announces Steam Mobile App

  Steam has finally gone mobile!
  
  "January 26, 2012 -- Valve, creators of best-selling game franchises (such as Counter-Strike, Half-Life, Left 4 Dead, Portal, and Team Fortress) and leading technologies (such as Steam and Source), today announced the beta release of the Steam application for iOS and Android devices.
  
  With the Steam app, gamers around the world may chat with Steam friends, browse community groups and user profiles, view screenshots and user-generated content for their favorite games, read the latest gaming news, stay up to date on unbeatable Steam sales, and more.
  
  "The Steam app comes from many direct requests from our customers," said Gabe Newell, co-founder and president of Valve. "Seeing which of your friends are online and playing a game, sending quick messages, looking at screenshots for an upcoming game, or catching a sale - these are all features customers have requested. Mobile is changing way people interact, play games and consume media, and the Steam app is part of our commitment to meet customer demands and expand the service functionality of Steam to make it richer and more accessible for everyone."
  
  Those who wish to join the beta just need to download the Steam app (free of charge) and log in to their Steam account via the mobile app to express interest in the beta. Gamers will be added to the Closed Beta as the service ramps up.
  
  Steam is a leading platform for the delivery and management of PC and Mac games with over 40 million accounts around the world and over 1,800 titles offered."
  
  Head over to this page on the Steam site for more information

  By Blink on Thursday, January 26th | Comments (45)

• A Call For Communication

  A Steam Community group titled "A Call For Communication" has been gaining quite a following over the last few weeks, and it's aim is to get some kind of recognition from Valve that the HL series is still alive in some form:
  
  "Waiting patiently for over four years is a daunting task, especially when E3 comes and goes without any beat of a Half-Life pulse, time and time again. Valve had stated that information was scheduled to be released towards the end of 2008, and we believe that if they have chosen, for whatever reason, to withhold this information, fans should at least be acknowledged in some way, regardless of developmental plans for the next Half-Life project. The entire trilogy of episodes was supposed to be completed and released by 2007, and if Valve have decided to do other things for the time being, that is fine; all that we ask for is a basic response on the matter, and to let fans know whether or not the current story arc is scheduled to conclude at another point in time."
  
  It's a reasonable request in my opinion. I'd love to hear something from Valve, particularly around engine and SDK updates, seeing as this sites existence pretty much relies on interest in Source as a development platform.
  
  The group already has 10,000 members, so head over and show your support.

  By Blink on Monday, January 16th | Comments (62)

• Merry Christmas

  It's our seventh Christmas on Interlopers! Madness
  
  Be sure to drink, eat and try not to murder your family members!
  
  Have a good one!

  By Blink on Sunday, December 25th | Comments (29)

• Steam 2011 Holiday Sale

  Ah, the yearly Steam sale. It's hard not to pick up at least a few games. This year it seems as though there is a bit of a twist, with challenges to complete!
  
  "The Steam Holiday Sale is on now through Sunday, January 1, 2012. In addition to huge savings throughout the store, the 2011 sale features two special promotions that allow you to win like never before.
  
  The Great Gift Pile challenges gamers to complete up to six objectives each day. Completion of each objective grants the chance to win a free game or discount coupons for select games available on Steam. If you don't win, no worries, you'll be given a piece of coal. But hold onto that coal!
  
  Why?
  
  Coal is the ticket to enter the Epic Holiday Giveaway. It's called Epic because the top prize is every game on Steam. The more coal you have, the better your chance of winning. Players may alternatively choose to magically mix their coal into something shiny and new by "crafting" seven pieces into a gift from the Great Gift Pile. So this year receiving coal is a good thing.
  
  Didn't get what you want? Of course Steam allows you to trade coal and prizes with your friends."
  
  Get more details on this Steam page.

  By Blink on Monday, December 19th | Comments (9)

• City 17: Episode One Media Frenzy

  The incredibly handsome chaps at Team Gear have been busy releasing a slew of media over the last ten days, culminating in a 3-minute trailer that shows off both gameplay and new engine effects.
  
  

  
  
  Head over to their Moddb page to check out the rest of their media, which includes fancy things like motion capture animation, relief mapping, and global dynamic lighting.

  By Mess on Friday, December 9th | Comments (45)

• CS:GO Footage

  A couple of videos for those still interested in Counter-Strike: Global Offensives progress. A gameplay from Dust and a short map comparison video:
  
  

  
  
  

  
  
  Limited info can be found over at counter-strike.net

  By Blink on Saturday, December 3rd | Comments (34)