The community behind trying to find proof that Half-Life 3 is actually coming out is an odd one. They will wade through emails, press releases, corporate photos, employee manuals, and as it turns out patches for Dota 2.

An intrepid, or utterly insane, group dedicated to piecing together the Half-Life 3 mystery. In the most recent update to Dota 2, it appears that valve added a very interesting text file. Labeled “HL3.txt” it mentions your basic stuff, characters reaction to damage, elements spawn rates, and basically all the crap you’d expect to see in a patch for a MOBA. BUT, and it’s time to don your tinfoil hat, there is THIS juicy nugget of info.

string m_Id = “Element.npc_turret_ceiling_pulse” string m_FriendlyName = “npc_turret_ceiling_pulse” string m_TooltipOverride = “” string m_HelpText = “Combine Pulse Ceiling Turret”

Did you see that? “Combine Pulse Ceiling Turret”! HALF-LIFE 3 CONFIRMED! Yeah, no.

Basically this means nothing, but the HL3 truthers are desperately clinging to anything in hopes that their beloved game is still coming out. This is most likely just references to a game type in Dota 2, or a Half-Life themed map.

Our second cousins over at FunHaus pretty much blew a hole in any of the theories that existed on the much sought after game, when a Valve insider dished on the status of the game.

We won’t know for sure until the patch for Dota 2 goes live, but we can pretty much guarantee that Half-Life 3 ain’t coming out any time soon.

Steam Machines And Controllers Are Exclusive To GameStop

by Derek KraneveldtOctober 7, 2015

Briefly: With Valve’s long awaited Steam Machines finally (finally) releasing to the masses this November, gamers everywhere have been wondering just how we’ll get our hands on the oft-delayed TV friendly hardware.

Well, you can stop wondering, as Valve has revealed that GameStop will be the exclusive retailer of Steam hardware come its launch on November 10th.

Yeah, we didn’t see that coming either.

Valve’s very own Steam service has been slowly putting nails in GameStop’s brick-and-mortar coffin for years, and with this announcement gamers that probably haven’t stepped foot into one of GameStop’s stores since Steam launched will be forced to if they want to pick up any of this gorgeous hardware.

Keep in mind that this exclusivity extends to Valve’s Steam Link console (for those of you that already have powerful gaming PC’s), and the gorgeous-but-how-will-it-feel Steam Controller.

Weird.

I’m certainly interested to see how these machines do once they’re available to the public. I love the idea of a powerful gaming PC that I can simply hook up to my television, but if the Machine’s don’t sell, I can’t see many AAA publisher’s jumping on board SteamOS.

In any case, are you planning to pick up a Steam Link or Steam Machine when they launch at GameStop, EB Games, and GAME on November 10th?

Source: Wired

Geekscape Games Podcast: Level 39 – ‘Congratulations China!’

by GeekscapeStaffAugust 3, 2015

Join Derek, Josh, Juan and (eventually) Shane as they discuss the last week in video games!

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This Week:

China lifts bans on video game consoles.

ZombiU getting ported to PS4 and Xbox One.

Hulk Hogan removed from WWE2k16 over racial remarks.

Terminator special character added to WWE2k16.

Paul London Hero of The Prophecy.

Nintendo TVii service stopping.

Square Enix announces DragonQuest XI PS4 and 3DS.

Castlevania Pachinko machine from Konami.

Smash Bros. update releases in US.

Valve insider speaks about the state of Half-Life 3.

Mark Laidlaw emails with Fun Haus.

Del Toro and Kojima wish to work on future projects together.

Hatoful Boyfriend.

Destiny.

This Week’s Listener Mission Objective:

What game should a Chinese citizen play first?

Listen to Shane DJ Live on KNBA Monday August 3rd at 9 PM PST!

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SDCC 2015: ‘Lego Dimensions’ Hopes To Rebuild The Toys To Life Genre

by Josh JacksonJuly 28, 2015

Between Skylanders, Disney Infinity and Amiibo, all three formats have made a killing through selling their versions of game compatible toys, with the latter creating a full blown Amiibogeddon. Considering the wild success of these Toys To Life franchises, it was only a matter of time before the Lego brand decided to take their own crack at the genre.

Longtime Lego game developer Traveler’s Tales hopes to bring their platforming prowess and trademark charm to Lego Dimensions, a title that brings numerous worlds together to create one huge collectable gaming experience. Including series’ such as the DC Universe, The Lord Of The Rings, The Simpsons, Back To The Future, Portal, (as in Valve’s Portal,) and so many more, will we have room on our shelves, (and enough money in the bank,) to open up to a fourth collection? We were invited to get some hands on time with the game at San Diego Comic Con to find out if its worth it.

The demo was a strange mash up of characters that we would never have imagined would share a game together. Try to picture this; Gandalf, Scooby Doo, Batman, the 13th Doctor from Doctor Who, Portal protagonist, Chell, and The Lego Movie‘s Wyldstyle, (with a cameo from Homer Simpson), running through one of GLaDOS’ test chambers, complete with her taunts through the PA system and adorable turrets who look to rip you to shreds. Yet, in the world that Lego Dimensions has established, it makes perfect sense. What was especially noticeable about having so many characters on screen at once was the fact that unlike other games in the genre that typically restrict you to two characters at a time, you can bring in as many characters and vehicles as you can fit on the portal.

On the subject of the portal itself, this base is divided into three sections. The back section is where the world is placed, which much like Infinity‘s Play Sets, is a piece that unlocks the single player world that players will traverse through. Characters and vehicles littered the left and right side in front of it, but this set up wasn’t just for show. Some puzzles required the characters to grow bigger or smaller depending on the situation, which was achieved through moving each Lego person onto the respective side that was assigned the proper power. Using the base as part of the game play is an interesting idea, one that brings a level of interactivity to the game that its competing titles lack.

Yet, despite these unique features, the core game play is exactly what we’ve come to expect from a Travelers Tales Lego game. The platforming, movement, stage progression and even combat felt almost exactly like any one of the many Lego titles that have hit the market over the last ten years. So if you pick this up, expect to fill a stud meter, destroy objects in the environment to rebuild them into new items and solve character specific puzzles. The advantage that Lego Dimensions has however, is that unlike the standalone games that typically have a half a dozen character types that have unique puzzle solving abilities, this one has the potential to offer many more than than. Chell for example, is the only character that can use the Portal Gun, which was necessary to transport the team from one spot to another at times.

With so many characters already announced, I can only imagine what kind of possibilities they might bring to the game. Then again, more characters means more money to spend, so we hope you have that cash ready! At the very least, each game piece doubles as a real Lego set, so once you finish the game, the fun can continue by making new objects with the pieces provided and integrate them with the rest of your real sets. Or you can just display them, if you’re more like the Will Ferrell type. Either way, gamers and collectors alike will want to keep their eyes peeled and their imaginations open when Lego Dimensions launches on September 29th, with the starter set bundled with Batman, Gandalf, Wyldstyle and the Batmobile priced at $99.99.

Steam Hardware Pre-Order On Now

by BigyanksJune 4, 2015

Valve has been teasing the gaming community for quite a while now with their proposed invasion into the living room. With their Big Picture mode. Steam OS and their Steam Machines, it appeared that Valve was ready to take on the Big Three!

Now the dream becomes a reality as preorders for their first and third party hardware start TODAY! You can get your hands on a preorder by hitting up your local GameStop or through Valve directly. If you preorder you will get the hardware on October 16th! That is almost a month early, when the entire catalog goes public November 10th!

About the Steam Hardware devices:

remote

Steam Controller — An innovative input device that allows you to play games from all genres, including traditional gamepad style games as well as games usually reserved for play with a mouse and keyboard. The Controllers are wireless, completely configurable, and available for pre- order in the U.S. and Europe for an estimated $49/?54.

steam link

Steam Link — The Steam Link allows Steam gamers to easily expand the range of their current gaming set up via their home network. Connecting any TV to your Steam host PC, Mac, or Steam Machine, the Link allows you to stream your games at 1080p 60 fps, and is available for pre-order in the U.S. and Europe for an estimated $49/?54.

SyberSteam_bk_400 alienware-steam-machine

Steam Machines — Available from Alienware and other manufacturers, Steam Machines can serve as a stand-alone device for enjoying the Steam gaming experience in one box, with more than 1,000 titles available for native play. In addition, Steam Machines have the ability to broadcast and receive In Home Streaming, allowing you to stream your games to a Steam Link, or receive a stream from another Steam Machine or PC. Steam Machines will vary in price, offering a range of hard drive sizes, graphics performance, and more. Available for pre-order in the US, starting at an estimated $449.

Personally, if I were you, I’d just invest time and money on a full sized PC. With the ever increasing quality of hardware, and the cost of said hardware DECREASING in parity, you’d be better off building your own machine.

That being said, the Steam Machines are a great investment for someone wanting to explore the HUGE Steam library, without getting wrist deep in computer parts.

Valve Announces ‘Source 2’ And First Party Hardware At GDC

by Shane O'HareMarch 3, 2015

This year’s GDC was going to be an exciting one. With Valve making a very large up front announcement that they were going to be having a press conference full of content (It was today, 3/3/2015. I guess they CAN count to three.). Well we have an official press release from the company that outlines some VERY exciting products from Valve. The most exciting (for me anyway) is the announcement of the Source 2 engine!

“We continue to see very strong growth in PC Gaming, with Steam growing 50% in the last 12 months,” said Gabe Newell, Valve’s president. “With these announcements we hope that we are helping build on that momentum.”

Steam Machines, Windows PCs, Macs, and Linux PCs will be able to take advantage of a new product announced at GDC called Steam Link. Designed to extend your Steam experience to any room in the house, Steam Link allows you to stream all your Steam content from any PC or Steam Machine on the same home network. Supporting 1080p at 60Hz with low latency, Steam Link will be available this November for $49.99, and available with a Steam Controller for an additional $49.99 in the US (worldwide pricing to be released closer to launch).

Steam Machines from partners Alienware and Falcon Northwest are being shown, with Machines from a dozen other partners slated to release this November. Steam Machines will start at the same price point as game consoles, with higher performance. Customers interested in the best possible gaming experience can choose whichever components meet their needs. Epic will give a demonstration of the newly announced Unreal Tournament running on a 4K monitor driven by the Falcon Northwest Steam Machine. “We love this platform,” said Tim Sweeney, founder of Epic Games. “Whether you’re running incredibly detailed scenes at 4K or running 1080p at 120 FPS for an intense shooter experience, this brings world-class gaming and graphics to televisions with an open platform true to Valve’s PC gaming roots.”

Valve will show a virtual reality (VR) headset. Developer versions of the headset will be available this spring, and partner HTC will ship their Vive headset to consumers by the end of the year.

Two new technologies are part of the VR release – a room scale tracking system codenamed Lighthouse, and a VR input system. “In order to have a high quality VR experience, you need high resolution, high speed tracking,” said Valve’s Alan Yates. “Lighthouse gives us the ability to do this for an arbitrary number of targets at a low enough BOM cost that it can be incorporated into TVs, monitors, headsets, input devices, or mobile devices.” Valve intends to make Lighthouse freely available to any hardware manufacturers interested in the technology.

“Now that we have Lighthouse, we have an important piece of the puzzle for tackling VR input devices,” said Valve’s Joe Ludwig. “The work on the Steam Controller gave us the base to build upon, so now we have touch and motion as integrated parts of the PC gaming experience.”

“We’ve been working in VR for years and it was only until we used SteamVR’s controllers and experienced the magic of absolute tracking that we were able to make the VR game we always wanted to make,” said Alex Schwartz of Owlchemylabs.

VR demos being shown at GDC include work from Bossa Studios, Cloudhead Games, Dovetail Games, Fireproof Studios, Google, Owlchemylabs, Skillman & Hackett, Steel Wool Games, Vertigo Games, and Wevr.

Valve announced the Source 2 engine, the successor to the Source engine used in Valve’s games since the launch of Counter-Strike: Source and Half-Life 2. “The value of a platform like the PC is how much it increases the productivity of those who use the platform. With Source 2, our focus is increasing creator productivity. Given how important user generated content is becoming, Source 2 is designed not for just the professional developer, but enabling gamers themselves to participate in the creation and development of their favorite games,” said Valve’s Jay Stelly. “We will be making Source 2 available for free to content developers. This combined with recent announcements by Epic and Unity will help continue the PCs dominance as the premiere content authoring platform.”

Also as part of supporting PC gaming, Valve announced that it will be releasing a Vulkan-compatible version of the Source 2 engine. Vulkan is a cross-platform, cross-vendor 3D graphics API that allows game developers to get the most out of the latest graphics hardware, and ensures hardware developers that there is a consistent, low overhead method of taking advantage of products. Vulkan, previously called Next Generation OpenGL, is administered by the Khronos Group, along with other standards such as OpenCL, OpenGL, and WebGL.

GDC 2015 will mark the 13th anniversary of Valve’s first public announcement of Steam, which has since become the leading platform for PC, Mac, and Linux games and software. In the last year, Steam realized the addition of many new services and features – including In-Home Streaming, Broadcasting, Music, and user-created stores – as it grew to over 125 million active accounts worldwide.

Source 2 is going to be HUGE for games going forward. The source engine is in desperate need of an update. It had a “partial” update with the release of Counterstrike: Global Offensive (think of it like source 1.5), but a complete version upgrade is needed to keep the platform competitive. With products like Unreal Engine 4 recently being released for FREE, Valve couldn’t compete with it’s physics engine alone.

The Source 2 release comes on the heels of HTC announcing their partnership with Valve on the Vive VR project, which looks like it is going to give the folks over at Oculus and Sony a run for their fucking money.

Valve also touched on their first party hardware releases. Announcing more Steam Machine units and availability, as well as giving a launch date for their controller (November 2015).

The most interesting of the hardware products has to be the Steam Link product. A small small streaming device ready to broadcast your Steam library from your beefy gaming PC, to your TV in the living room.

This is probably the most compelling product they’ve announced. The concept of the Steam Machines being a living room replacement for your gaming PC is great, but the individual units haven’t really been competitively priced for a comparable gaming PC. This takes that concept, and puts it into a small form factor and lets you stream from your existing hardware WITHOUT limiting you with the Steam OS.

All and all I am very happy with Valve’s announcements. The future of Valve Software looks bright with Source 2…and hopefully we’ll see the rise of Half-Life 3!

Geekscape Games Podcast: Level 3 – The Evil Within Smash Bros.

by GeekscapeStaffOctober 24, 2014

We’re a day late and a Derek short, but Josh, Juan and Shane are here to bring you up to speed on everything we’re hype for this week in games!

This Week

Nintendo Direct for Smash Bros.

Capcom Investor Report: Games need to sell 2 million copies to warrant a sequel.

Hatred’s controversial announce trailer.

Rob Riggle as Frank West in the Dead Rising Movie.

Developer for Paranautical Activity threatening Gabe Newell on Twitter.

Shane’s PSN account gets HACKED!

The Evil Within.

Smash Bros.

Hyrule Warriors and it’s skimpy character clothing.

Dust: An Elysian Tail.

Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse.

Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire.

This Week’s Listener Mission Objective

What is your proudest gaming achievement?

Leave a comment below, tweet us OR email us: shane (at) geekscape (dot) net

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:00:34 — 41.6MB)

‘Free to Play’ The eSports Documentary From Valve Gets A Release Date AND A Trailer

by Shane O'HareFebruary 19, 2014

The people at Valve certainly love what they do, so much so that they’ve created this intense Documentary that follows eSport Professionals on their road to the biggest video game tournament ever. Check out the trailer for “Free to Play” below!

FREE TO PLAY is a feature-length documentary that follows three professional gamers from around the world as they compete for a million dollar prize in the first Dota 2 International Tournament. In recent years, E Sports has surged in popularity to become one of the most widely-practiced forms of competitive sport today. A million dollar tournament changed the landscape of the gaming world and for those elite players at the top of their craft, nothing would ever be the same again. Produced by Valve, the film documents the challenges and sacrifices required of players to compete at the highest level.

Dramatic music? Check. Human element? Check. Topic geeks love? Check.

Free to Play looks like it will hit all the points of a great documentary. I am very excited to see this when it comes out on March 19th. You can get it FOR FREE on Steam. There will also be a Dota 2 item pack available for purchase, with contributions going to people featured in the film.

For more info be sure to check out the official website.

UPDATED: CES 2013: Valve Announces 13 Hardware Partners For Steam Machine

by Shane O'HareJanuary 6, 2014

Fresh outta CES 2013, we got a nice bit of news about the very much sought after Valve Steam Machine. Hot on the heels of beta hardware, Valve has just announced who they are partnering with to release the production hardware.

13 hardware companies will be joining forces with the video game giant from Seattle. They are:

Alienware, Alternate, Cyberpowerpc, Digital Storm, Falcom Northwest, Gigabyte, iBuyPower, Materiel.net, next, Origin ( the custom PC manufacturer, not the digital distribution service ), Scan Computers, Webhallen.com and Zotac.

Valve stated that these manufacturers will be releasing Steam Machines on their own release schedule and will also be shipping their own Steam Controllers.

No word on pricing or release dates just yet; details are still coming in.

UPDATE

We just got our hands on a handy dandy press release, a gallery AND pricing!

Valve, creators of best-selling game franchises (such as Counter-Strike, Dota 2, Half-Life, Left 4 Dead, Portal, and Team Fortress) and leading technologies (such as Steam and Source), today announced over one dozen Steam Machine designs now in production from leading manufacturers and targeted for release in 2014.

The lineup of Steam Machines announced today offers a wide variety of price and performance options made possible by the Steam Machine’s open design, with systems starting as low as $499 and top end systems rivaling today’s bleeding edge gaming PCs.

Every Steam Machine includes an innovative Steam Controller designed for use with a wide variety of game genres, and is powered by the SteamOS, a custom OS built atop Linux.

“The first generation Steam Machines offers something for every gamer, which is a critical part of extending Steam into the living room,” said Gabe Newell of Valve. “With over 3,000 games and more than 65 million gamers on Steam, it’s important to offer gamers a variety of Steam Machines that allow them to select what makes the most sense for them.”

Announced earlier this year, Steam Machines are new entertainment systems targeted for use in the living room and leveraging Steam, the popular online platform for gaming and software with over 65 million accounts worldwide.

Steam Sale Offer Great Games, Awesome Prices

by S.J. BorgerNovember 27, 2013

In case we didn’t have enough to be thankful for, good guy Steam has put a number of top-rated games on sale (a one-two whammy of awesome, because (a) they’re like 70% off and (b) we don’t need to actually leave the house or put on pants to get this kinda-grey-Wednesday deal).

What games, you ask? Well, we’ll tell you:

Skyrim: $7.49 (seriously, if you don’t have this already, get it–hell, if you do have it, get it. We mean, you could lose a copy and then where’d you be.)

Note: We’ve just been informed you can also purchase one as a gift. So, that’s an option too.

Sleeping Dogs: $4.99

Left4Dead 2: $7.49

The Walking Dead: $6.24

Rogue Legacy: $5.09

Terraria: $2.49 (come on, that’s the change in your couch cushions…)

You can purchase these games through the Steam client, which, if for some reason you don’t already have that downloaded, you can get here.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Geekscape Games: Steam Family Sharing First Impressions

by Shane O'HareOctober 15, 2013

The month of Valve is over, and all of those features announced with the Steam OS are but a distant memory. All except one, that is. The Steam Library Family Sharing just hit its public Beta, and some of us here at Geekscape got our hands on it just a bit early. Here are our initial thoughts.

The Steam Family Sharing program was announced back in September to much acclaim and fanfare. It allows user to authorize another computer and let someone have access to their Steam Library. Simple as that. But how does it work in practice?

I was invited to the Press Beta Test a few weeks back, and I was very excited to give the service a try. I had just built a pretty powerful gaming PC for my Dad and he was itching for some new games. Signing up was simple enough, I just went into my Steam settings on my account and opted into the Beta, and restarted. Then I was stuck.

There was no new interface added to my Steam, so then started the long and arduous process of hunting through every single menu looking for Family Share. I crawled through the settings and found only an option to view authorized accounts and computers, but no way to ADD anyone. The original press release said that users could request access to the library of someone else, so I figured the borrower had to ask the lendee. So I walked over to my Dad’s PC and started the long and arduous process of finding the request for authorization option.

Is it found by right clicking on your friends list? Nope. Is it found on the lendee’s profile page? No. Is it found on the store page for a particular game you want to borrow? No. There IS no option to request authorization. There IS no option to GRANT authorization, and here lies my biggest gripe with the service. The vague stipulations attached to actually getting the program to work.

When the product was first announced, the general consensus was that any user could be authorized (up to 10) and then have access to your games. If you wanted to play a game and they were using it, they would be given “A few minutes to finish up or buy the game for themselves.”. That sounds like if your Dad in another room (or state/country/planet) is playing your Bioshock and you want a crack at it then he’d be kicked off. That’s not how it works.

Wanna know how it works? The lendee (owner of the games) has to log into their account on the borrowers machine, then log out. Then the borrower logs in and can see a separate list of games from the lendee’s library. There is NO option to remotely authorize an account or computer. If you want to lend your games to a family member or friend that you do not have physical access to you are out of luck. The only way around this would be desktop sharing.

So far the remote authorization is the only complaint I have with the service, and from just lurking the Family Sharing support forums it seems everyone else shares my opinion. The service works great and every game that my Dad tried fired up no issue.

We are going to continue testing Steam Family Sharing and see if we run into any glaring issues. Valve has said they are going to be adding more features when Steam OS and Steam Machines beta is launched. Hopefully they will add in remote authorization.

Valve Shows Off Their New Controller! Check It Out IN ACTION!

by Shane O'HareOctober 11, 2013

So last month was the month of Valve and Steam. They had a series of announcements showcasing their move into the living room (Check them out: Day 1 , Day 2 and Day 3). On the third day they announced their take on the console controller. We saw some pictures and some mock ups but today we can see the device in action!

After seeing this I feel a lot better about the product. The thought of two trackpads worried me, and anyone who’s tried to play a shooter on a laptop.

We will be sure to keep you updated as more info on the controller comes out, and hopefully we can get our hands on one of the beta models!

Watch ‘Half-Life: Raise The Bar’, An Awesome New Fan Film!

by Derek KraneveldtOctober 4, 2013

Briefly: You may remember a fantastic Assassin’s Creed fan film that debuted on Machinima last month. It was called Assassin’s Creed: Checkmate, and it was developed by a very talented filmmaker named Joe Miale.

Well, Miale’s back, and this time he’s taken on Half-Life.

Half-Life: Raise The Bar starts off with a bang as a catastrophic event on the Black Mesa Research Facility is unleashed when an experiment goes wrong. As scientists scramble to find a way out, the game’s iconic weapon– the crowbar– finds its rightful owner.

It’s a great take on one of the best franchises of all time, and it really makes me want to give the series another playthrough. Take a look at Half-Life: Raise The Bar below, and let us know what you think!

http://youtu.be/YiKcWZHeMG4

Valve Announces First Party Customizable Gamepad! Steam Controller Is Here!

by Shane O'HareSeptember 27, 2013

Today is the final day in the series of announcements from Valve and this one is a doozy. They are officially announcing their own gamepad! Looks like my prediction from Wednesday was right! Get eyes on this baby!

The Steam Controller really looks like it is the proper next step in video game input. No waggle controls, heart beat sensors or facial recognition. Valve has taken the greatest gaming controller, the Mouse and Keyboard and condensed them into a controller. The Steam Controller will work with all games on the Steam library, even the old ones!

The first thing you will notice about this gamepad is the dual trackpads. Each trackpad is super high resolution like that of a mouse, is clickable and opens up categories of games that were once unable to be played with a traditional gamepad. From the Press Release:

Whole genres of games that were previously only playable with a keyboard and mouse are now accessible from the sofa. RTS games. Casual, cursor-driven games. Strategy games. 4x space exploration games. A huge variety of indie games. Simulation titles. And of course, Euro Truck Simulator 2.

The Steam Controller will also feature brand new Haptic feedback. Featuring “dual linear resonant actuators”, they are saying that they will be able to deliver the kind of resistance that is missing from modern controllers and even might be able to improve on the Mouse and Keyboard!

Next we have the Touchscreen. High resolution, back lit touch screen is also one giant button that is clickable. It can be used to bring up menus, rotary options (Think weapon wheels) and even run entire in-game functions. One great feature of the touchscreen is the game integration. You won’t be forced to separate your attention between two screens. When you tap the touch screen it will overlay what it is displaying on the main screen!

Steam Controller Portal 2 Bindings — The Steam Controller will also appear as a standard Mouse and Keyboard so that you will be able to use it on OLDER games.

The best part? Is that this controller is totally open! Valve plans on releasing tools for consumers to edit the controller to their personal taste!

Personal thoughts? I didn’t really think I was going to be THIS excited for a controller, I was hoping for some #3 games (Hal-Life, Portal L4D). After reading over the entire release I honestly think Valve is making the proper next step in input. Being able to properly replicate the preciseness of a Mouse has been a goal of controller designers for YEARS. The best manufacturers were able to come up with were adapters that you plugged your mouse and keyboard in and up to your console, and even those were pretty sketchy. It’s hard to say how WELL they’ve done with this controller until we can get one in our hands, one which will be included in the hardware beta, but just from looking on their proof of concept I’d be surprised if this came out badly.

Feeling lost? Check out our Day 1 and Day 2 coverage of the year of Valve announcements!

UPDATED: Valve Announces Dedicated Gaming Hardware! Steam Machines BETA!

by Shane O'HareSeptember 25, 2013

This is the week of Steam! With the announcement of Valves dedicated OS on Monday, gamers and journalists alike started speculating right away what the next two would be. Well speculate no further! Valve has officially announced dedicated hardware, lets take a look at Steam Machines!

Valve is finally getting into the home “console” market. They are going to be partnering with hardware manufacturers (who those are have yet to be released) to create dedicated Steam Machines that will run Steam OS. There will be multiple devices available come 2014, but they have created a Beta device as a proof of concept. No pictures of the Beta, but they have listed instructions so that you could be one out of 300 people lucky enough to test the hardware. Instructions are as followed:

THE HARDWARE BETA ELIGIBILITY QUEST:

Before October 25, log in to Steam and then visit your quest page to track your current status towards beta test eligibility

1. Join the Steam Universe community group

2. Agree to the Steam Hardware Beta Terms and Conditions

3. Make 10 Steam friends (if you haven’t already)

4. Create a public Steam Community profile (if you haven’t already)

5. Play a game using a gamepad in Big Picture mode

No pictures of the Steam Machine has been released yet, but Valve is saying that it will be open and upgradeable (want to tear it apart and put a different OS on it? Sure go ahead!), and that there will be several options to choose from. They also state that this will NOT interfere with their PC market and you will not be forced to purchase additional hardware to continue using Steam.

This is a HUGE step in the direction for Valve. They’ve been a huge thorn in the side of home consoles for almost a decade now, and with Gabe Newells public disdain for companies like Microsoft, it’s obvious he wants to create a truly open platform.

Thoughts? Well, I am of course excited being a Steam/Valve fanboy, but at the same time I have to step back and look at this objectively. The concept of open gaming, much like Communism, sounds great on paper but in practice is hasn’t done so well. The Ouya is a perfect example of the “Open Gaming” platform and that hasn’t done to well. I believe Valve has the foresight to not fall into the same hole that Ouya did. A Steam Machine will of course lock you into Valves ecosystem, so those giant AAA titles like Battlefield and Need For Speed will still require you to saunter into the computer room and fire up Origin.

As more information is released we will be sure to keep you updated. Be sure to come back FRIDAY for the final bit of news from the company. What do you think it will be? Lets hope Half-Life 3, but with our luck it will be Ricochet 2.

UPDATE:

After some exploration I found THIS patent from valve. It depicts a controller/gamepad with user swappable components. It looks a LOT like the third picture, don’t you agree?

Still we can only speculate as to what will be presented Friday, but this looks like a pretty serious contender.

Steam OS Announced! A Free Operating System Built Around Gaming

by Shane O'HareSeptember 23, 2013

With next gen home consoles being released just around the corner, a lot of gamers have been wondering what’s next for PC gaming? Well look no further, for the collective geniuses at Valve have done it again. Check out Steam OS!

Steam OS is a 100% free Linux based operating system that is designed around the Steam digital distribution system. It’s goal is to bring the Steam PC gaming experience into the living room on your big screen TV. Valve says that they have achieved a new level of graphical processing performance, and they are well on their way to better audio and input performance as well. They state game developers and hardware manufacturers are making new products with Steam OS in mind.

Steam OS Livingroom — Bring a Steam Machine into your living room!

Four new features (well three new ones and one old one) that Valve is bringing to the table are: In-home game streaming, Streaming media services (Think Netflix, Hulu, ETC.), Family Sharing and Parental Controls. These are all bullet points you can find on any home console right now, having them on the Steam OS is a huge step in the right direction.

I expect to see hardware partnerships in the near future, specialized console sized PC’s from hardware manufacturers like Asus, Lenovo, HP and Dell. I’ve always said that the moment Gaming on a Linux based machine was on the level as a Windows machine (No need to run virtualization, emulation or shoddy drivers) I would make the switch. My big concern with the Steam OS is the In-home streaming. This makes me believe that not all games will work on the Steam OS and you will still need a second PC, and if at the end of the day that is the case I don’t see the need to switch right away.

There are still TWO more announcements coming this week, so be sure to check back Wednesday and Friday to see what Valve has planned next!

Steam OS Announcement — Speculation is the second announcement is specialized hardware and the third is a new series of games.

Introducing The Steam Trading Card System

by Shane O'HareMay 15, 2013

Valve is a company that likes to take risks and innovates in ways other companies don’t. Their inventory and item crafting system for Team Fortress 2 changed how the community interacted. Now it appears that they are doing it again. This time with, trading cards? We got a Press Release from Valve today and it reads:

May 15, 2013 — 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 Steam Trading Cards, a new service that rewards gamers for gaming on Steam.

Released in beta today, Steam Trading Cards allows customers to earn Steam rewards for playing the games they love. Those who participate will receive game-specific trading cards that can be collected to earn rewards such as game badges, profile backgrounds, emoticons, coupons, and more.

The group of titles participating in the Steam Trading Cards beta includes Don’t Starve, Dota 2, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Team Fortress 2, Portal 2 and Half-Life 2. The service will expand over the coming months to include many more titles on Steam.

They seem like they are taking what they did with TF2 and bringing it to the entire system. Some of the cards can be obtained just by playing the game while some need to be collected through other means.

The biggest feature that this is bringing is the Badge Crafting. Players can take certain cards they’ve collected and craft them into badges. Badges give the player experience points that level up their Steam Profile. This gives them on gameplay bonuses like avatars, emoticons for chat and more friend slots. The big feature you can get are random rewards. These can range from profile showcases for certain games, background image wallpapers all the way up to free DLC and discount coupons.

For more information on the new cards or to sign up for the beta head on over to the official trading card page.

Capcom And Valve Team Up With Resident Evil 6 x Left 4 Dead 2!

by Shane O'HareMarch 15, 2013

So this just in, the two BIGGEST zombie franchises are coming together in what can ONLY be described as a chocolate-peanut butter situation. From the posted press release:

Capcom and Valve are pleased to announce the Resident Evil® 6 x Left 4 Dead 2 project. This crossover project between two of the interactive entertainment industry’s most respected publishers will see characters from Left 4 Dead™ 2 featured exclusively in the forthcoming PC version of Resident Evil® 6, while enemies from Resident Evil 6 will invade the PC version of Left 4 Dead 2. All content will be made available completely free for fans of either game to access and play.

Owners of Resident Evil 6 PC will be able to select one of four survivors from Left 4 Dead 2’s iconic cast – Coach, Nick, Ellis and Rochelle – when playing PC exclusive mode, The Mercenaries No Mercy. Each character will have a special customized weapon load-out created just for use in Resident Evil 6. In addition to the four survivors, two of the infamous Special Infected zombies from the Left 4 Dead franchise – the Witch and Mini Tank – will also make a cameo appearance in this mode, relentlessly attacking players regardless of whether a character from Left 4 Dead 2 or Resident Evil 6 is chosen. This new and exclusive content will automatically be downloaded in the background to all owners of the PC version of Resident Evil 6 from April 5.

Making the leap to the PC version of Left 4 Dead 2 will be some of Resident Evil 6’s most fearsome enemies – Lepotitsa, Napad and Ogroman. All three characters were brought to life in Left 4 Dead 2 by Valve’s renowned developers using its Steam Workshop tools. Owners of the PC version of Left 4 Dead 2 will be able to face a new deadly challenge when Resident Evil 6 characters infect Valve’s classic zombie title this spring.

Commenting on the crossover project, Chet Faliszek from Valve stated: “We’re huge Resident Evil fans, so when the opportunity arose to work directly with Capcom to combine L4D2 and RE6, we jumped at it.”

Resident Evil 6 Producer Yoshiaki Hirabayashi added: “The Resident Evil 6 team really enjoyed working on this crossover, and we’re confident that our fans will have a great time with it too! We hope you enjoy this unique content.”

That is all we got… besides this SWEET Developer Journal and these screenshots!

When we get more info we will keep you posted!

From The Creators of ‘Fallout: Nuka Break’, Watch The Trailer For ‘Aperture R&D’!

by Derek KraneveldtMarch 2, 2013

If you’re a Fallout fan (and what gamer isn’t?), you’re likely well aware of Fallout: Nuka Break, the fantastic fan film set in Bethesda’s atmospheric world.

The folks at Wayside Creations are at it again, this time taking on a Valve IP. Aperture R&D follows the scientists of the Aperture research labs… well, before everything went down with GLaDOS.

Watch the trailer for the series below, and let us know what you think! Aperture R&D premieres on March 15th!

Based in the world of Portal 2, the idiosyncratic scientists of Aperture Research Labs are in an endless battle for the meaningless title of Lab Team of the Month.

J.J. Abrams & Valve Developing ‘Half-life’ And ‘Portal’ Film Adaptations

by Shawn MaddenFebruary 6, 2013

Video game adaptations are appearing to be the next big thing in Hollywood. And the latest that could be joining the group are Valve’s Half-Life and Portal franchises.

Bad Robot’s JJ Abrams and Valve’s Gabe Newell tell #DICE attendees they’re working together on developing HALF-LIFE and PORTAL movies.

— Marc Graser (@marcgraser) February 6, 2013

Don’t worry, J.J. Abrams won’t be directing. He’s got a lot on his plate already in that department. However, Abrams production company Bad Robot will be teaming up with Valve Software to adapt each others properties for both video games and films. Bad Robot will help Valve make movies and Valve will help Bad Robot make video games.

Gabe Newell of Valve stated:

“We sort of reached the point where we decided that we needed to do more than talk.”

Keep in mind, just because they’re working together to produce these films, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they definitely will get made. However, with the rising popularity in video game adaptations the chances are quite high that we may see both come to the big screen.

Source: Variety

Speaking Of Zombies: ‘Left 4 Dead 2’ Is Free To Play This Weekend!

by Derek KraneveldtOctober 24, 2012

Almost as if it were a promotional tie in (though more likely it’s just for Halloween), Valve announced today that their popular first person shooter Left 4 Dead 2 would be free to play this weekend. It just happened to be on the same day that we announced the Kickstarter for our zombie documentary Doc of the Dead!

While not technically zombies, the infected in Left 4 Dead 2 certainly fit somewhere in the genre. In any case, the game is a ton of fun, especially if you can find a few friends to play co-op with. The included campaigns are obviously a blast, but it’s the user created levels that really make the game shine. There really is an endless amount of content for the game, so experience as much as you can this weekend!

Valve typically will offer a discount on their free weekend titles as well. Though it hasn’t been announced yet, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it available for $4.99.

If you’re a zombie fan and haven’t yet picked the game up, there’s really no better time. With all the money you’ll be saving, why not go check out a certain Kickstarter page?

Check out Left 4 Dead 2 on the Steam Store. The free weekend will start Thursday at 10AM.

‘Valve’ Gets Some More Time To Reconsider Their EULA Says VZBZ

by Shane O'HareSeptember 25, 2012

We recently talked about the threat of legal intervention by German consumer advocacy group, VZBZ, in regards to Valve’s new EULA for their online service Steam. The deadline for them to reconsider and change their EULA WAS tomorrow. Now VZBZ have just released a statement regarding this date.

Valve has a new deadline (10.10.2012) to respond to our letter now. Maybe after this time we will resolve the dispute in the court.

Whoa. Things just got steamy for Valve. After basically ignoring the request to adjust their agreement with users in order to comply with EU law, which states all software must be able to be resold EVEN online purchased games, the consumer advocacy group is ready to bring them to court.

Lets see what happens to Valve and Steam, from what it appears the Good Guy in the market may turn into a Not So Good Guy and end up in EU court.

‘Valve’ Threatened By German Consumer Advocacy Group Over Their New EULA

by Shane O'HareSeptember 19, 2012

After Valve’s recent change of their EULA in August, one that made class action lawsuits against them breaking your user agreement with them and thus forfeiture of your account, the gaming community was upset but really only for a weekend. When a similar thing happened with Blizzard over their Diablo III “always on” fiasco, people were up in arms and protested the MMO giant, but why not Valve? We’ll get back to that later.

The German advocacy group VZBZ, the same one who brought Blizzard into European Union supreme court, is now on Valves case. Back in July they passed legislation that all software should be allowed to be resold by their owners. This includes digital sales (To read that ruling check it out HERE).

VZBZ have just announced they are giving Valve and Steam until September 26 to remove rescind their current EULA agreement with users or face the consequences, and litigation. We will see as that is only a few days away, I will keep you up to date as info is released.

Now back to the first part, why wasn’t Valve protested? My personal feelings are that the armchair protesters, the mountain dew activists that flipped out over Blizzard doing this, EA. The same people who blacked out their sites over SOPA and PIPA, are in too much love with Valve and Gabe Newell that they let this slide. This was the prime example of hypocrisy in our community. Valve has been a good guy Greg to every customer, doing refunds, exchanges etc. etc. Lets hope they do the right thing again, without the law interfering, and they will do the same over here.

Check Out This Awesome Portal 2 Animation: ‘You Monster’

by Shane O'HareSeptember 17, 2012

Enquaynay on YouTube has been working on this traditionally animated remake of a crucial cutscene in Portal 2, for some time now. Take a gander with me and be amazed at how AWESOME this is!

Make sure to check out Enquaynay on YouTube and her Tumblr!

‘Black Mesa Source’ Releases Today!

by Shane O'HareSeptember 14, 2012

That’s right baby! The very much anticipated mod of the original Half-Life game, the mod that has been in development for years, gets a release date…TODAY!

If you’ve been living under a digital rock for the past few years let me bring you up to speed. Black Mesa is a total graphical update of the original Half-Life game. When the Half-Life: Source game came out a lot of people were disappointed. It didn’t provide that much of a graphical update and only really changed the physics slightly. Gamers wanted a full update like what we got with Day of Defeat and Counter Strike source. So in 2004 a group of modders got together and created the Source Overhaul group which then turned into the Black Mesa project. What followed was years of Development hell and Vaporware. Pics would come out but we were never graced with a total Source conversion of Half-Life.

Then earlier this year the group said they were done. Very nonchalantly. Just “Hey guys, Black Mesa is done. It will be out this year.”. Then when Valve announced their Greenlight project Black Mesa was one of the first ones submitted and accepted.

Just as nonchalantly as they said they were done they released the mod! So check out the official site HERE. Check out the Steam Greenlight page HERE. And watch the trailer below. Be amazed.

Best part? You can pick this mod up FOR FREE!

Valve Launches Special TV Mode For Steam With ‘Big Picture’

by Shane O'HareSeptember 11, 2012

Today Valve announced their newest beta project. Putting Steam on your television. Big Picture mode optimizes the Steam application and games for your TV. Take a look at the very Pixar sounding trailer below.

So, Big Picture. Whats up with that? It is basically a full screen mode for Steam that is optimized for TVs, it runs properly formatted for the TV’s over scan and gives you access to that nice daisywheel keyboard, but is it really that big of a leap?

The first “issue” I have with it is its placement. You have to have your gaming PC hooked up to your TV, with and HDMI cable. If you have an HTPC that is capable of playing game then you already have step one solved. The next problem I see is the controller interface. Not all games will allow use of a controller, or even work that well with one.

Really the video gives you the impression that this is some next level PC-TV integration, but its just a controller mode for Steam. You still have to push the BIG PICTURE button to start it. Hopefully the guys over at Valve give us a little more to go along with this.

For more info check out the official site HERE.

‘Black Mesa’ Finally Gets A Release Date!

by Derek KraneveldtSeptember 2, 2012

Years in the making, it looks like the highly anticipated Half-Life remake Black Mesa will actually be coming out, and soon!

Not long ago on the developer’s Twitter account, the following was posted

Today is a Red Letter Day. Black Mesa is coming! Check it out!

The page linked in the tweet has gone down, as has the entire Black Mesa site (likely due to a surge of traffic or possibly the renovations that they mention). The downed page contained the following text:

We’re freaking out over here! It is so exciting to share this news with you!

You can now Download the Black Mesa Soundtrack, courtesy of our very own Joel Nielsen, at the very generous price of whatever you want! Enjoy and share!

In the near future you’ll see our Website, Wiki and Forums all taken down temporarily for renovations.

On September 14th you will see the first release of Black Mesa! This will include our re-envisioning of Half-Life all the way up to Lambda Core. We believe this is a great way to provide a complete-feeling 8-10 hour experience with a solid ending, make our fans happy and help us make the best overall game possible.

We are still working hard on Xen and BMDM, but instead of making you wait we are giving you Black Mesa as soon as it’s ready! We’re doing our best to help bring the immense vision of this project into reality, and we are very excited for what the future brings!

This is pretty great news for any fans of the Half-Life series. The then titled Black Mesa: Source was announced in October of 2004. The game is a free mod, and is a remake of Half-Life with all the power and graphical prowess of the Source engine.

Anyone else been waiting for this? I was 14 when they announced this, and now at 22 I’m finally going to get to play it!

UPDATE: The site is back online at www.blackmesasource.com. The main page features a countdown timer to the games release.