Latest News

• 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 (5)

• 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 (43)

• 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 (59)

• 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)

• Podcast 17 to interview Ellen McLain and John Patrick Lowrie

  The chaps over at Podcast 17 have lined up a live interview with Ellen McLain and John Patrick Lowrie at 7pm (GMT) this Saturday:
  
  "Ellen is of course known for her wonderful work as GladOS in Portal 2 and John has done countless amounts of work for Valve including the Sniper in TF2 and various citizens in HL2. Listeners can submit questions as this will be almost 100% listener submitted interview. Each time a listener submits a valid question they are entered to win some of our great prizes including:
  
  o Serious Sam 3: BFE, courtesy of Croteam.
  o Bastion, courtesy of Supergiant Games.
  o Rochard, courtesy of Recoil Games.
  o An Aperture water bottle, courtesy of Podcast 17.
  o Either 1970s Glass OR 1980s Plastic, winner's choice"
  
  For more info (including timezone details) be sure to check out the event page.

  By Blink on Thursday, November 24th | Comments (0)

• Autumn Deals on Steam

  It's deal time on the Steam store!
  
  "The Steam Autumn Sale is on now. To kick off the holiday season the sale begins today with huge savings on catalog discounts and daily deals beginning with Portal 2 (66% off), Call of Duty: Black Ops (50% off), Duke Nukem Forever (66% off), and more."
  
  Currently there is just over 7 hours until the next batch of deals kick in. Head over there now to snap up Portal 2 for a mere £6.79

  By Blink on Thursday, November 24th | Comments (10)

• Water Released

  Au-Heppa and the HLSS mod team have released their latest project, Water.
  
  Water is a third-person puzzle-solving game where you play as a Mermaid. It's certainly one of the more different mods released and is well worth a look.
  
  

  

  
  
  Head over to the Half Life: Short Stories website to download!

  By Mess on Sunday, November 13th | Comments (24)

• Steam Forums Compromised

  Some of you many be aware of the recent downtime on the Steam forums. This was caused by a hack, and Gabe has just sent out a message addressing the situation:
  
  "Dear Steam Users and Steam Forum Users,
  
  Our Steam forums were defaced on the evening of Sunday, November 6. We began investigating and found that the intrusion goes beyond the Steam forums.
  
  We learned that intruders obtained access to a Steam database in addition to the forums. This database contained information including user names, hashed and salted passwords, game purchases, email addresses, billing addresses and encrypted credit card information. We do not have evidence that encrypted credit card numbers or personally identifying information were taken by the intruders, or that the protection on credit card numbers or passwords was cracked. We are still investigating.
  
  We don't have evidence of credit card misuse at this time. Nonetheless you should watch your credit card activity and statements closely.
  
  While we only know of a few forum accounts that have been compromised, all forum users will be required to change their passwords the next time they login. If you have used your Steam forum password on other accounts you should change those passwords as well.
  
  We do not know of any compromised Steam accounts, so we are not planning to force a change of Steam account passwords (which are separate from forum passwords). However, it wouldn't be a bad idea to change that as well, especially if it is the same as your Steam forum account password.
  
  We will reopen the forums as soon as we can.
  
  I am truly sorry this happened, and I apologize for the inconvenience.
  
  Gabe."
  
  Additional information can be found via arstechnica.

  By Blink on Thursday, November 10th | Comments (20)

• No More Room In Hell Trailer Released

  It's been a long time coming, but No More Room In Hell is now set to release its first public beta. In celebration of that fact, the team behind it have put together a launch trailer to get the adrenaline pumping:
  
  

  
  You can find out more about NMRiH on the official site.

  By SotaPoika on Wednesday, October 26th | Comments (24)

• Valve Rolls Steam Trading out of Beta

  Some news out of Valve today about the Steam Trading beta that has been ongoing recently:
  
  "Valve today announced the official launch of Steam Trading. Released in beta a few weeks ago, Steam Trading allows gamers to exchange in-game items and game gifts.
  
  The Steam Trading beta began with Team Fortress 2 items and game gifts. Today Spiral Knights, the cooperative adventure from Three Rings and Sega, and Portal 2 join the Steam economy as Steam Trading becomes available to everyone.
  
  "The addition of Steam Trading is the latest example of how Steam continues to evolve with new features and functions developed based upon feedback," said Jason Holtman, director of business development. "We look forward to seeing how gamers and developers have fun and move this functionality forward."
  
  During the four week beta, over 1 million items and game gifts were traded. Support for Steam Trading has been added to the Steamworks SDK."
  
  I foresee hat trading on the horizon. Find out more on the official FAQ.

  By Blink on Tuesday, September 6th | Comments (1)

• The making of: Left 4 Dead

  Edge magazine have written up a nice article on the making of Left 4 Dead:
  
  "It’s hard to believe, then, that L4D only ever has 30 zombies in the world at any one time. The game’s procedural population system constantly adds and removes them behind your back to give the illusion of thousands of living dead. Pulling the strings behind the scenes is the AI Director, an artificial intelligence system that’s responsible for creating the highs and lows of the in-game drama. By controlling where and when zombies, mobs and special infected spawn, and by guiding the audio cues and weapon/item drops, the AI Director can modulate how the game responds to players’ actions and abilities."
  
  Be sure to give it a read!

  By Blink on Tuesday, August 30th | Comments (12)

• CS: Global Offensive Media

  Valve sent over a nice stack of media for CS:GO. As well as the official trailer (which you should have seen by now) there were also a few screenshots for your viewing pleasure:
  
  

  

  
  
  Enjoy!

  By Blink on Saturday, August 27th | Comments (47)

• Dota 2 Gamescom Trailer Released

  Ahead of Valve showing off Dota 2 to the world at this week's Gamescom, they've made the trailer available on their official website.
  
  

  
  
  You can also sign up for the Dota 2 beta on the International page.

  By ad_hominem on Monday, August 15th | Comments (33)

• Counter Strike: Global Offensive Info Incoming

  It looks like we're about to find out what exactly the Counter Strike players that were invited to Valve recently actually saw. Rock, Paper, Shotgun are reporting that we can expect to hear more about a mysterious new Counter Strike game in the next 24 hours.
  
  "A thread on the Steam forums seems to confirm that rumours about a new Counter-Strike game – Counter-Strike: Global Offensive – are true, with commenter “Cliffe” (who is Valve designer chap Jess Cliffe) saying “Global Offensive”. There have been a bunch of other references to it, on Twitter and so forth.
  
  And update on the ESEA Facebook page reads “Counter-Strike: Global Offensive… More info in the morning.” So it looks like we can expect something later today."
  
  We'll have to wait for more information, but I'll try to update this news post when we hear anything.
  
  [Update] The game now has an official page on the Steam store, giving a few more details.
  
  And, thanks to MaK, the official trailer:
  

  By ad_hominem on Friday, August 12th | Comments (107)

• Steam Trading Beta Introduced

  Team Fortress 2 has had item trading for quite some time now, but now Valve are bringing out a new system to allow the trade of items from different games, and even games that are still on your Steam gifts list.
  
  "Steam Trading Beta lets you securely trade your in-game items for other in-game items from participating games. You can also trade Steam gifts (games on Steam that you've purchased but not yet added to your Games Library).
  
  Want to try it out? In Steam, go to Steam > Settings, and opt into Steam Trading Beta. That's it! Now your Steam Community profile will have an item inventory, and you'll be able to view the item inventories of every public profile in the Steam community."
  
  It seems like a good way to finally get rid of the 20 million free copies of Portal I've amassed, and while currently the system only supports TF2 and Steam gifts, Valve are working on introducing Portal 2 and a number of third party games in the coming months. This also seems like a definite hint that upcoming Valve games will have a similar system to TF2, as it would be a lot of work for little gain otherwise. You can read more on joining the beta on the official Team Fortress blog.

  By ad_hominem on Wednesday, August 10th | Comments (10)