Suddenly that logo makes sense. They’ve been planning to tap our heads all along! Well, maybe it’s not quite that serious, but Gabe Newell recently said in an article for Edge that he’d like to hook players up to, among other things, heart rate monitors and EEGs. That way they can tell if you’re really scared. Let me make things easier on you, Valve. Yes, we’re really… → Read More
I hope you’ll all join me in celebrating 10 years of Half-Life! One of the most beloved games in the world has been around for a decade, and what better way to remember it than to fire it up and play through a few chapters? Or if you feel like waiting a while, you can play it all through again shiny and new in Black Mesa Source when it’s released. Congratulations, Valve! Now… → Read More
Ha! Remember when the Half-Life 2 source code was stolen a few years ago, showing up all over BitTorrent, IRC and the like? It turns out that Valve, once it was able to determine who was responsible (with the help of the FBI), a German fellow by the name of Axel Gembe, attempted to offer him a job! The company offered him the job in order to lure him to the U.S. so he could be arrested. Gembe… → Read More
Once again, Microsoft is jealous of another company’s success in a sector adjacent to their own, and is setting their crosshairs accordingly. Unfortunately this is one company that can’t be bought or properly imitated: Valve and Steam are firebrands in the gaming world, and have achieved over the years a level of trust and legitimacy among gamers that is nigh impossible for perhaps any… → Read More
I actually pre-ordered the game last night so I could get me some L4D demo, but now that’s no longer necessary. Fire up Steam and download all 3.2GB (!!!) of it, it’s super fun. Play it on Advanced and get your buns handed to you. I played a few rounds last night and when you lose, you feel like it’s your fault for not working together enough (or shooting each other a lot). Like… → Read More
I know lots of you guys out there are either already playing the hell out of the demo for Left 4 Dead or, like me, waiting until the weekend to dive in. Of course, the weekend is the time when those pesky friends are always hanging around, saying how you should drink this or do that. This weekend, you need to take control of your destiny. Tell your pal to come over and play some split-screen Left… → Read More
Valve Software, the company behind popular games like Half-Life, Counter-Strike, Day of Defeat, Team Fortress, and Portal, just made an interesting move by announcing the upcoming roll-out of Steam Cloud. In essence, it is a free extension that will allow any user of the wildly popular digital content platform to store game saves, mouse and keyboard configurations settings etc. server-side… → Read More
Whoa, whoa, whoa. The Inquirer says, “Well placed sources tell us that Google is going to be buying Valve any second now.” What? And all because of Steam, Valve’s “amazing content distribution platform” no less? Okay, I can see that. → Read More
Update: Valve says the rumor is untrue.
The Inquirer is reporting this morning that Google is close to an acquisition of Valve for an undisclosed price. According to the Inquirer, its “well-placed sources” say the acquisition could happen “any second now.”
At first glance, Google acquiring Valve seems a little unorthodox. But considering Steam, Valve’s game distribution platform, is the best… → Read More
It’s definitely happening but it’s still being planned. Gabe says: “I don’t know what the date is for release on that, though. I think it’s going to contain the first part of one of the [game's four] campaigns. That’s a decision that [Valve marketing director] Doug Lombardi is making.” Well, if you were at PAX then you know how long the line was to play… → Read More
Boy am I excited for L4D. I got to play it at E3 and it was fun as hell, and although I never trust console ports of PC FPSes, at least Valve is doing it right. Playing online will, if I read this correctly, always take place on a dedicated server, which means no more juggling connections to find out who’s the best host. DLC (new weapons, maps, and monsters) will be quicker to come than for… → Read More
While Valve and EA have never divulged an actual launch date other than “November 2008″ for L4D, Gabe Newell made it known on video at GC that the game would launch on the 10th anniversary of Half-Life. “Left 4 Dead is going to be released on the tenth anniversary of Half-Life, our first game, so that will be on November 20th, the third week in November.” We’re… → Read More
A lot of Xbox 360 owners have been pining over the lack of updates for Team Fortress 2 while PC owners have received them frequently and Kotaku is reporting that the wait is over. We’ll have to fork over a chunk of dough, but we’ll be munching on sandviches and the like shortly. Valve’s marketing director Doug Lombardi divulged that Valve didn’t want to push out meager updates if they were… → Read More
http://blip.tv/play/ih_I5h6J5FQ WHO TOUCH SANDVICH? More excellent filmmaking from Valve. See you in the game; I’m going to enjoy sniping you suckers. → Read More
Devin loved L4D when he checked it out at E3 and I have yet to demo it, but I’ll take his word for it. Those of you lucky enough to make it to PAX will have the opportunity to see the world debut of L4D for the Xbox 360 platform, which means Devin gets to play it again. Bastard. As a side note, I’m stoked to be getting my Orange Box in the next couple days. I know I’m a year… → Read More
Flickr’d During Microsoft’s laser light show at E3 last week, the title Portal: Still Alive flashed across the screen, angering certain segments of PC gamers. “An sequel to our game, available only on the Xbox 360? Outrageous!” Only it’s not. The game, which will be released on Xbox Live Arcade, is only an amalgam of previously released material, fan-made or otherwise… → Read More
I’m checking in from E3 and it’s been, well, a stressful morning. I’d like to say for the record that Peter can’t drive, and that rental cars should come with compasses standard. But more pressing is the gaming news going on here — you saw our coverage of the big Nintendo event this morning, which was sweet, and now we’re cruising around the (surprisingly calm)… → Read More
Valve created, but never released, a set of trading cards for TF2. Now you can download them in full hi-res and make your own double-sided cards to trade with one or more of your friends, although the trading permutations are severely limited with only two items in the set. Why not make up your own cards? Or drop in some J.R. Grossouts? via Kotaku → Read More
A while ago I posted about how Novint, an innovative and ambitious peripheral company took their freaky-deaky Falcon controller straight to EA instead of standing around like some kind of techno-wallflower. Well, it worked out pretty well and they’re leveraging it into more deals: they’re teaming up with Valve to add Falcon support to a ton of their games. As befitting my skeptical… → Read More
You’re probably already in the know about this, but the big Pyro pack has arrived along with his/her achievements and unlockable weapons. The full update info is here, including this little gem: Removed Soldier’s 40% damage reduction from his own rockets. Does not affect rocket jumps Thank you Jesus. I look forward to a rash of self-destroying soldiers. Also, in case you haven’t… → Read More
Valve’s wildly popular Steam game downloading service allows you to purchase and download games quickly and easily to any computer running the software. I’ve purchased a handful of games this way and it makes it super easy to move them to a new computer. Games get automatically updated and patched too, which is nice. Now Valve’s announced Steam Cloud, which “will retain… → Read More
Valve is having another Team Fortress 2 Free Weekend to celebrate the latest big map release and achievement/unlockable pack. What this means is you get to use a state-of-the-art digital distribution system to play a fantastic game all weekend, for free. It’s super easy and it’s a lot of fun. If you haven’t tried using Steam yet, you’re in for a treat. This is the future of… → Read More
[photopress:portallll.jpg,full,center] Lots of behind-the-scenes articles written recently. Lots meaning two. This is the second; that was the first. Part of the genuinely terrific Orange Box collection, Portal made me feel like a complete idiot when I first played though it. The vile curse words I strung together while trying to figure out the latter levels bordered on the poetic. This… → Read More
The implication here is that Apple and gaming go together like oil and water Aside from WoW, gaming on the Mac—how do I put this?—does not rule. Back when I had a G3 iMac and all I had to play was some dirtbag RTS, I was all, “man, I need an Xbox or something.” (Then I got and modded an Xbox.) But why does gaming on the Mac eat it so thoroughly, processor architecture now… → Read More
Sup guys? Digital Trends didn’t expect it and neither did I. Seems Id Software has teamed up with rival Valve to release Id titles through the Steam distribution service. The announcement comes during QuakeCon, which is currently going down in Texas. Price is key here and not just the newer titles, but all of Id’s catalog will be available for purchase. You can get Commander Keen and… → Read More
Video game developer Valve has posted the results of its latest Steam-based hardware survey. The numbers don’t look too good for a Microsoft hoping that gamers will be attracted to Vista. Only 5.37 percent of Steam users, a fairly good indicator of the average Windows gamer, has Vista installed compared to 92.91 percent running XP. Even with Direct X 10, gamers just aren’t taking to… → Read More
Nothing beats free stuff. Whether it’s a free ice cream cone or a free iPod, both are just so, so sweet. Those of you who still shell out $1000 a year to upgrade your PC for games will be happy to know that Valve and ATI have struck a bit of a deal that runs in your favor. Owners of ATI RadeonT graphics cards will be able to download free games from Valve’s Steam service. So you have a… → Read More
Russian hackers may have broken into Valve’s Steam servers, obtaining credit card numbers and other sensitive information. While Valve, the developer of Half-Life, has yet to confirm such shenanigans, the Russian hackers are already patting themselves on the back. Next-Gen contacted the black hats, who go by the names of “MaddoxX” and “cintX” (does every hacker name… → Read More
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