The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
Steam/Source: THQ Titles (CoH) on Steam, HL2E2 release date is October 9th.
thorgot
there is special providencein the fall of a sparrowRegistered User regular
there is special providencein the fall of a sparrowRegistered User regular
Breaking News
07/17 THQ titles released on Steam, including Company of Heroes. Supreme Commander, STALKER and WH40k coming soon.
07/07 Penny Arcade available through Steam. Speculation ensues about distribution of the PA game.
06/18 Geometry Wars is $2.50 until Friday. After that it costs $4.
06/15 Episode 2 release date set to October 9th.
04/15 Zombie Master early beta released.
03/08 A second Portal trailer released at GDC. Now you're thinking with portals.
02/24 Dystopia V1 out!
02/07 HL2Ep2 pushed back to Fall07.
01/19 Free weekend for Race starts today
01/08 The big update Valve announced two days ago is out. Guest passes are still only given to a few people, but everybody can see where they would be. The different color schemes include "Ice," "Obsidian," and "Sand." Also, small updates for Defcon and Garry's mod were released.
01/06 After a long drought of news, Valve announces a huge winter update coming soon, including guest passes (coming first for DoD:S), background client updates, a new visual look, and the ability to making a list of your favorite games. This will supposedly be released January 8th.
12/26 The Crossing, by Arkane, announced.
12/22 Free weekend for The Ship started, ended 12/26.
12/20 Outpost Xen released.
12/15 Some people can't connect to Steam due to power outages across Washington. (This was fixed by around a week later.)
12/11 CS:S update out, with slightly increased pistol damages. Also, guest passes to be out in closed beta later this week.
11/30 Prey is out for Steam for $50. If you already own it, you can register your CD Key and play on Steam.
11/29 Garry's Mod 10 out for $10, $25 for CSS and GMod.
11/21 PayPal now supported on Steam.
11/20 Turtle Rock's next game is Left 4 Dead. "What Counter-Strike did for multiplayer action games, Left 4 Dead will do for co-op games." Also, singleplayer for The Ship is released for $10.
11/17 New Valve Anti-Cheat technology caught a few people cheating in Counter-Strike: Source and other games this week -- over 10,000. "We expect to see a surge of forum posts laying blame squarely at the feet of 'my little brother.'"
11/10 Episode 2 (and Portal, TF2 and the console releases) has been delayed once again; this time to Summer 2007.
Release Dates
2007
Pirates of the Burning Sea (June)
Left 4 Dead (Summer, Winter for XBox360)
HL2E2 (Portal, TF2) (October 9th)
2008
Postal 3 (Q1)
Steam
Upgrades
The Guest Pass system has been released! How it works is people who buy a game can send their friends guest passes that would allow them to try out the game for "1-5 days", depending on the game. A closed beta has already started on Steam. It is currently only for Day of Defeat Source. More information can be found at this steam support page.
Also out January 8th are a new visual look (with 5 color schemes!), favorites for games as well as servers, and background updates.
MOICHENDIZE!!
New! Head-Crab hats!!!! Also, Vortigaunt with christmas hat! The old headcrab was just a plush. The new one is a hat!!!
The vortigaunt is $30, the headcrab plushie is $25, but the headcrab hat is $30. I'm pretty sure it's the most awesome thing ever.
Also available is a new poster with DOG ripping a strider up, and a mess of other Valve MOICHENDIZE!
http://store.valvesoftware.com/
What’s new with Source?
Technology
Valve has started a beta program for testing out new source engine updates. (Mostly to ensure they don't break mod compatibility) They're currently inbetween public tests at the moment.
Valve is currently planning new tech for Episode 2, such as a new particle system, better foliage, a new "cinematic physics" system made by a member of WETA digital and a much needed upgrade to the lighting system. Not to be outdone, apparently, Valve has implemented a portal system ALA Prey. Should be interesting to see how the two compare.
Valve has released some tech demos to hardware review sites showing off their new multi-core implementation for the Source Engine, which will make it's appearance in Episode 2. Click here for the bit-tech article.
In non-Valve related news, Natural Selection 2 might include procedurally generated bacteria which slowly spreads over maps. Click here for the beauty.
Licenses
Arkane Studios - The Crossing, some sort of weird cross between multiplayer and singleplayer.
Running With Scissors - Postal 3 on the Source Engine in 2008.
Laid Back Gaming (Founded by Michael McCarthy, a former member of the art team at Troika) - a turn-based action-RPG with a 3/4th isometric perspective.
Turtle Rock Studios (Makers of Counter-Strike: Condition Zero and many, many Counter-Strike: Source maps) - an FPS called "Left 4 Dead", about which very little is known. We do know that it will be a four-player coop FPS involving killing zombies, who sometimes might be player-controlled.
Kuma-Soft - Kuma\War, their episodic, third person tactical games. (More info can be found at Kuma\War’s Wikipedia entry.)
Mods
Counter-Strike: Source
The most recent update was on November 1st, which implemented the final version of the new CS economy. The active economy of supply and demand will help even out the prices between items that are not bought very often, and ones that are bought almost every time. The prices have been reset many times due to outrageous prices, so many servers have disabled these prices. More information on the system can be found at http://www.steampowered.com/stats/csmarket/
Day of Defeat: Source
The most recent patch for DoD:S (Released June 28th) included two new maps (Jagd and Colmar) of a new detonation game-type; as well as cinematic effects for spectators and a slew of bug-fixes. Videos of the two new maps, done in WW2 propaganda style, can be downloaded from Steam's media area.
07/17 THQ titles released on Steam, including Company of Heroes. Supreme Commander, STALKER and WH40k coming soon.
07/07 Penny Arcade available through Steam. Speculation ensues about distribution of the PA game.
06/18 Geometry Wars is $2.50 until Friday. After that it costs $4.
06/15 Episode 2 release date set to October 9th.
04/15 Zombie Master early beta released.
03/08 A second Portal trailer released at GDC. Now you're thinking with portals.
02/24 Dystopia V1 out!
02/07 HL2Ep2 pushed back to Fall07.
01/19 Free weekend for Race starts today
01/08 The big update Valve announced two days ago is out. Guest passes are still only given to a few people, but everybody can see where they would be. The different color schemes include "Ice," "Obsidian," and "Sand." Also, small updates for Defcon and Garry's mod were released.
01/06 After a long drought of news, Valve announces a huge winter update coming soon, including guest passes (coming first for DoD:S), background client updates, a new visual look, and the ability to making a list of your favorite games. This will supposedly be released January 8th.
12/26 The Crossing, by Arkane, announced.
12/22 Free weekend for The Ship started, ended 12/26.
12/20 Outpost Xen released.
12/15 Some people can't connect to Steam due to power outages across Washington. (This was fixed by around a week later.)
12/11 CS:S update out, with slightly increased pistol damages. Also, guest passes to be out in closed beta later this week.
11/30 Prey is out for Steam for $50. If you already own it, you can register your CD Key and play on Steam.
11/29 Garry's Mod 10 out for $10, $25 for CSS and GMod.
11/21 PayPal now supported on Steam.
11/20 Turtle Rock's next game is Left 4 Dead. "What Counter-Strike did for multiplayer action games, Left 4 Dead will do for co-op games." Also, singleplayer for The Ship is released for $10.
11/17 New Valve Anti-Cheat technology caught a few people cheating in Counter-Strike: Source and other games this week -- over 10,000. "We expect to see a surge of forum posts laying blame squarely at the feet of 'my little brother.'"
11/10 Episode 2 (and Portal, TF2 and the console releases) has been delayed once again; this time to Summer 2007.
Release Dates
2007
Pirates of the Burning Sea (June)
Left 4 Dead (Summer, Winter for XBox360)
HL2E2 (Portal, TF2) (October 9th)
2008
Postal 3 (Q1)
Steam
Upgrades
June 20, 2007 -- This summer Valve will ship a major update to its online gaming platform Steam, introducing an advanced set of community features to more than 13 million gamers around the world.
Beginning in July, Steam users can set up their own personal Steam pages and profiles, create and join groups, schedule games with friends, review who they've played with, see how well everyone played, chat with groups, chat via voice, and more. These new community services and features can be used with all Steam games, which include new releases and classic titles from leading publishers and independent developers.
Free of charge, the new community features will be accessible via the Steam desktop client and via the web.
"Our community has given us great direction on the ways they want to see Steam evolve," said Gabe Newell, co-founder and president of Valve. "Adding these new community features to make it easier to connect with other gamers is something we've wanted to see on Steam for a long time and this latest update is just the start. We've got a long list of items that we're working on to make it easier for gamers to connect and play games on Steam."
This upgrade marks the largest extension to the Steam platform since its first commercial release in March 2004. In its three year history, Steam has defined the next generation online gaming platform delivering hundreds of games to millions of users with services such as Guest Passes, Automatic Updates, Free Weekends, and allowing gamers to access their games from any PC.
The Guest Pass system has been released! How it works is people who buy a game can send their friends guest passes that would allow them to try out the game for "1-5 days", depending on the game. A closed beta has already started on Steam. It is currently only for Day of Defeat Source. More information can be found at this steam support page.
Also out January 8th are a new visual look (with 5 color schemes!), favorites for games as well as servers, and background updates.
MOICHENDIZE!!
New! Head-Crab hats!!!! Also, Vortigaunt with christmas hat! The old headcrab was just a plush. The new one is a hat!!!
The vortigaunt is $30, the headcrab plushie is $25, but the headcrab hat is $30. I'm pretty sure it's the most awesome thing ever.
Also available is a new poster with DOG ripping a strider up, and a mess of other Valve MOICHENDIZE!
http://store.valvesoftware.com/
What’s new with Source?
Technology
Valve has started a beta program for testing out new source engine updates. (Mostly to ensure they don't break mod compatibility) They're currently inbetween public tests at the moment.
Valve is currently planning new tech for Episode 2, such as a new particle system, better foliage, a new "cinematic physics" system made by a member of WETA digital and a much needed upgrade to the lighting system. Not to be outdone, apparently, Valve has implemented a portal system ALA Prey. Should be interesting to see how the two compare.
Valve has released some tech demos to hardware review sites showing off their new multi-core implementation for the Source Engine, which will make it's appearance in Episode 2. Click here for the bit-tech article.
In non-Valve related news, Natural Selection 2 might include procedurally generated bacteria which slowly spreads over maps. Click here for the beauty.
Licenses
Arkane Studios - The Crossing, some sort of weird cross between multiplayer and singleplayer.
Running With Scissors - Postal 3 on the Source Engine in 2008.
Laid Back Gaming (Founded by Michael McCarthy, a former member of the art team at Troika) - a turn-based action-RPG with a 3/4th isometric perspective.
Turtle Rock Studios (Makers of Counter-Strike: Condition Zero and many, many Counter-Strike: Source maps) - an FPS called "Left 4 Dead", about which very little is known. We do know that it will be a four-player coop FPS involving killing zombies, who sometimes might be player-controlled.
Kuma-Soft - Kuma\War, their episodic, third person tactical games. (More info can be found at Kuma\War’s Wikipedia entry.)
Mods
Suds wrote:Battle Grounds 2
www.bgmod.comStatus: Released (v0.17)wo different teams battle for the control over the american colonies. The Royal British Army loyal to the crown is trying to maintian it's influence in "New England". Driven by high taxes and the dream of being an independent country the American rebel forces try to push the british troops out of the contintent.
Black Mesa
www.blackmesasource.comStatus: Not releasedBlack Mesa is a Half-Life 2 total conversion remaking VALVe Software's award-winning PC game, Half-Life. Utilizing the Source engine, Black Mesa will reintroduce the player as Doctor Gordon Freeman, along with the original cast of memorable characters and environments seen in Half-Life.
Dystopia
www.dystopia-game.comStatus: Released (Version 1.0)Dystopia is a Half-Life 2 modifcation which places the player into tense combat situations in a high tech world spanned by computer networks. As either Punks or Corp Mercenaries the player will fight through the physical world to gain access, via jack-in terminals, to cyberspace.
Eternal Silence 2
www.eternal-silence.netStatus: Released (Beta 1.1)A massive deep space war has broken out. The United Terran Forces must subdue the Neo Galactic Militia outburst and restore the order of the systems. Your role in Eternal Silence will be within vital strategic battles between two massive capital warships. You will need your wits, your precision, your strength, your endurance, and above all your courage to take on the fierce challenges which await you.
Forsaken
www.forsaken-game.comStatus: Not releasedForsaken is a post-viral urban warfare mod for Half-life 2, where players take on the role of a team member of one of three surviving factions. Players can suit up as the tactical but brutally efficient Governors, the resourceful and stealthy Civilian resistance, or the zealous and carnage driven Religious cult.
Fortress Forever
www.fortress-forever.comStatus: Not releasedFortress Forever is a Team Fortress mod for Half-life 2's Source Engine. Our independent team is creating this mod entirely from scratch.
Fortress Forever should please those who have stuck with or been a part Half-life: TFC over the years while at the same time doing more for new TF players than any prior Fortress attempt.
GoldenEye: Source
www.goldeneyesource.comStatus: Released (Beta 1)GoldenEye: Source is a modification of Half-Life 2, with only one goal in mind; to bring the memories and experiences from the original GoldenEye64 back to life using Source Technology.
Ham and Jam
www.hamandjam.orgStatus: Not releasedHam and Jam is a teamplay orientated, first person WW2 mutliplayer game centred around the British and Commonwealth campaigns from 1939-45.
Insects Infestation
www.insectsinfestation.comStatus: Released (Alpha 1.0)Obviously based on the insects point of view, II will offer its players to choose among three different insect species, Ants, Termites and Alliances. Each of these will have its own set of unique weapons, powers, behaviour and abilities.
Insurgency
www.insmod.netStatus: Not released- modern infantry combat on valve's source engine
- chain of command - commanders control their squad/cell with ease
- morale - morale system to set high value on teamplay
- reinforcement waves - unique reinforcement wave system
- depth of realism -- iron sights, free aim, ricochet, bullet penetration, weapon weights, and more
- no bullsh*t hud - only see what's important, when it's important
- global stats - a simple forum signup keeps track of your stats forever
Iron Grip: The Oppression
www.isotx.comStatus: Released (Beta 1.3)Iron Grip: The Oppression offers a unique gameplay that combines RTS (Real Time Strategy) and FPS (First Person shooter) in a completely new way. We’re focusing on generating an intense cooperative feeling by pitting a group of human players against superior numbers of AI opponents in the first ever real computer game guerilla warfare!
Minerva
www.hylobatidae.org/minervaStatus: Released (2 levels)Minerva is a series of 4 singleplayer levels, completely seperate from the Half-Life 2 storyline.
Nuclear Dawn
www.nuclear-dawn.netStatus: Not releasedNuclear Dawn is a multiplayer modification for Valve’s Source engine that combines visceral and violent First Person Shooter action with fast-paced Real Time Strategy in the aftermath of an apocalyptic war. You can choose the mission or lead the attack as a commander, marshalling resources and deploying weapons and equipment for your team to use.
Pirates, Vikings and Knights II
www.pvkii.comStatus: Released (Beta 1.0)PVKII Is a Halflife 2 Modification based on 3 teams from times past locked in a never-ending battle for wealth, dominance, and power.
Plan of Attack
www.planofattackgame.comStatus: Released (Beta 4)Plan of Attack is all about gameplay. Strategic gameplay. Players are faced with important decisions each round that affect themselves and their team. What objective to attack, planning your defense, acquiring money or experience, bankrupting the enemy team, choosing your skill class, and planning your path to victory.
Resistance and Liberation
www.resistanceandliberation.comStatus: Not releasedThe goal of Resistance and Liberation is to realistically portray the events and actions taken by the 82nd Airborne during their stay in Normandy. Our initial release will follow the regiments through a campaign that mimics that followed by the men themselves.
Zombie Master
www.zombiemaster.orgStatus: Released (Beta 1.0.0)Zombie Master is a multiplayer survival horror FPS/RTS mod for Half-Life 2. A team of FPS-playing humans attempts to complete map-specific objectives while an RTS player controls the zombie horde with only one goal: death to all humans.
Counter-Strike: Source
The most recent update was on November 1st, which implemented the final version of the new CS economy. The active economy of supply and demand will help even out the prices between items that are not bought very often, and ones that are bought almost every time. The prices have been reset many times due to outrageous prices, so many servers have disabled these prices. More information on the system can be found at http://www.steampowered.com/stats/csmarket/
Day of Defeat: Source
The most recent patch for DoD:S (Released June 28th) included two new maps (Jagd and Colmar) of a new detonation game-type; as well as cinematic effects for spectators and a slew of bug-fixes. Videos of the two new maps, done in WW2 propaganda style, can be downloaded from Steam's media area.
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Half-Life 2: Episode One
If you haven’t heard, Half-Life 2 has gone episodic. The first of a planned trilogy, Episode 1 (originally titled “Aftermath”) starts right where Half-Life 2 ended, with Gordon being pulled out of stasis prematurely and having to deal with the aftermath of destroying the Citadel’s dark fusion teleport reactor. Alongside Alyx, Gordon must try and escape the Citadel and City 17 before the Combine tower goes critical and destroys the city.
Because Alyx is with the player for most of the game, her AI has been beefed up considerably; allowing her to react and comment on an extremely wide variety of situations and events. Also included is, of course, the HDR lighting techniques and the commentary system of Lost Coast, which should make the episode worth at least one additional play through. There are over 100 commentary nodes, which have a combined length of more than an hour.
Half-Life 2: Episode 1 is a standalone, four-to-six hour adventure, and comes with Half-Life 2: Deathmatch and Half-Life Source: Deathmatch, for a cost of $20. Since it includes all the non-level Half-Life 2 content, Half-Life 2 mods will work with Episode 1 even if you don't own Half-Life 2 -- for example, people who don't own Half-Life 2 will still be able to play Half-Life 2: The Lost Coast. Episode 1 was released on Steam and in stores on June 1st and currently has an 88/100 Metascore. More information can be found at http://ep1.half-life2.com/ and you can either view trailers there, or through Steam's media browser
Half-Life 2: Episode Two
Episode Two is currently slated for a release sometime during the summer of 2007. Dispite Valve's statements Ep2 was started at the same time as Ep1, it sounds like they're still going to have to put even more development time into the game. There's currently a trailer of Episode 2 shown after you beat Episode 1, as well as an extended version available through Steam’s media area. New videos were released as Liepzig in Germany and can be now found on Steam, including a new HD trailer, and several videos of pure gameplay.
Episode 2 will feature new locations ranging from forests to mines to an abandoned missile silo, and will feature large-scale battles and a new, two-seater vehicle. All told, there will apparently be nearly as much ground covered as in Half-Life 2 itself.
On the new content front, a new enemy (The Hunter), seen briefly in Episode 1, will be making Striders a bit more lethal. Now when you try and hide from a Strider to jump out and tag it with some rockets, these man-sized Synths will be communicating with their Strider brethren and trying to flush you out. Luckily, new tools designed to destroy Striders will be made available: the strider buster. A spiky ball gadget that, when shot at a Strider with the gravity gun, attaches to it and drains it of enough energy to blow it to pieces.
New technical advancements to be introduced with the episode; things ranging from better foliage, to an improved particle system, a new "cinematic physics" system made by a former WETA Digital employee (Guys who did all the amazing stuff for the LotR movies) and a moderate overhaul to the shadowing and lighting system. (Making it someplace in-between the original Source engine and a unified lighting system). Also on the table is support for multi-core processors.
To be included with Episode 2 will a first-person puzzle game named Portal, and TEAM FORTRESS 2. Yes, that's right: Quake II mod turned Half-Life mod turned game based on the Half-Life engine that then disappeared is now BACK.
Portal
Portal is a new part of the Half-Life universe that centers around a company called Aperture Laboratories, and the testing of a portal generation machine known as the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device. The player (who is currently rumored to be a new female character) is forced to utilize the device to solve a series of ever more difficult puzzles through the Aperture Science Enrichment center.
The game is based upon concepts from Narbacular Drop, a student project made by a team at the Digipen Game University. Upon seeing the design, Gabe Newell hired the students on the spot to develop the concept for the Source Engine.
It is not currently known where exactly Portal takes place in the Half-Life universe, nor who the player character is, exactly. Current statements from Valve indicate that the character will make an appearance in later episodes, but whether it will be in a post or pre portal fashion is unknown.
Valve recently released a Viral Marketing website called Aperture Science.com where you can take an application test of bizarre questions, and view first hand Aperture’s obsession with cake. Just use whatever for the login and ‘portal’ for the password, then type ‘apply’ to get the application.
[realspoiler:bd18f340b7]Or type “THECAKEISALIE” for the real point of the website.[/realspoiler:bd18f340b7]
Don’t worry about the big-ass number they give you; it’ll randomly change so there’s no way you can actually type it in.
Portal will be released with Half-Life 2: Episode Two in Q2 2007 and will feature 3-4 hours worth of mind-bending puzzles. You can check out the Portal trailer on Steam, or download Narbacular Drop from http://www.nuclearmonkeysoftware.com/ to get an idea of how the game will play. Remember, there’s a hole in the sky through which things can fly!
Team Fortress II
Yes. It’s back. Having been on the back burner for a long time now, and apparently having gone through multiple iterations away from the public eye, TF2 has gone back to it’s roots and has been revealed as an arcadey, campy, cell-shaded romp that looks like a ‘60’s spy movie mated with ‘The Incredible.’
Valve has committed to bringing the old-school feel of TF to the future, while at the same time re imagining the game for today’s technology So while you can rest assured that, say, the Heavy is going to be able to spew out bullets (and death) at high rate, there will be changes to some of the classes (such as the spy’s new ability to cloak). It is said that the medic class will receive a major overhaul in Valve effort to ensure that each class has something unique to offer the team.
Team Fortress 2 will be released with Half-Life 2: Episode Two in Q1 2007, and there are lots of trailers on steam and elsewhere. For example, this great one featuring the heavy weapons guy.
Future Episodes
Episode 3 is currently being worked on by the team that made Episode 1, and is planned as the final episode of the trilogy that finishes out Half-Life 2's story arch. Current announcements place Episode 3 for a Christmas 2007 release.
Episode 4, according to an article in PC Gamer (Which I have confirmed with Gabe Newell himself that it is accurate), will have a stand-alone plot and be made outside of Valve. Interestingly enough, Gearbox Software (the guys who made the 3 Half-Life add-ons, Opposing Force, Blue Shift and decay) have recently said that while they’re working on Brothers in Arms 3, they ARE able to work on multiple projects at once and Halo “will not be the last time we work on something we didn’t make from scratch.” Not official confirmation by any stretch, but it does tantalize the imagination. Turtle Rock Studios, a company who made Condition Zero and a good deal of Counter-Strike: Source maps, recently licensed the Source Engine and could also be the mysterious third party.
Valve has said they would like to use episodes to take risks they wouldn’t be able to do with a full game, a possible example being a third-person tactical shooter that takes place in the Half-Life universe. If games like Portal are any indication, they’re taking that idea to heart.
Other Source Games
Left4Dead
Left4Dead, made by Turtle Rock Studios, most famous for CS:XBOX, CS:CZ and numerous CS:S maps, is a coop zombie game made on the Source engine. It utilizes an AI "Director" to place enemies and other things in order to make gameplay exciting and different each time. However, the four human players are not the only people in each server: players can join servers and play as boss zombies. The official website, http://www.l4d.com/, didn't work in Firefox, but the fan site http://left4dead411.com/ is said to be a great source of information about L4D.
Garry’s Mod
Not so much of a mod now, as Garry’s Mod has gone commercial. Instead of abandoning work on the sandbox mod like he originally thought he would have to, Garry has made a deal with Valve wherein a new, rebuilt version of Garry’s Mod will be sold through Steam for $10. Valve has given Garry full access to the Source engine's source code for no cost as well, and using this Garry has expanded Gmod to encompass a wide variety of new things ranging from new controls to manipulate the environment, to new objects and tools like hydraulics and hover balls, and much, much more. Gmod 10 is out, and there have already been several updates. More information is at the Gmod website: http://www.garrysmod.com/
SiN Episodes
For those of you not familiar with the original SiN, it was a Quake II-based first person shooter, made by Ritual Entertainment, released around the time of Half-Life. Having been formed out of ex-members of 3D Realms, Ritual injected SiN with loads of interactivity. Between the interactive items and scenery strewn about, to the “action-based outcomes” where your choices in one level could effect how things play out on the next, SiN lived up to this legacy.
Due to long load times (See the first Penny Arcade comic, ever), several crippling bugs and, well, being released next to Half-Life, it didn’t meet the success it could have, even after the load times were shortened and the bugs fixed. Years later, unable to locate a publishing deal for SiN 2 that would allow them to keep control of their intellectual property, Ritual ironically has teamed up with Valve to use Steam and Source to produce an episodic sequel, currently slated for nine episodes, split into three groups of linked stories.
SiN Episodes will continue in the interactive tradition started by the original, and action based outcomes will be taken to the next level as development of future episodes will be affected by how players react to the previous ones. SiN Episodes also features a dynamic difficulty system where the game will adjust depending on how you play. Do poorly and it might make more explosive barrels and canisters populate the level, whereas get headshots all the time and you’ll soon find most enemies running around with helmets. This system also keeps detailed statistics, which are viewable in game, and can be exported and shared with other people.
In the original SiN, you played John R. Blade, the commander of HardCorps. In the near-future city of Freeport (a sort of hybrid of New York, San Francisco and Tokyo), crime spiraled out of control, forcing the legalization of private security firms. HardCorps is one of these. Together with his hacker sidekick, JC Armack, Blade investigated a sudden drug epidemic named U4, a rash of “monster” sightings, and a sudden crime wave. They all lead to successful biotech company, SiNTEK, and it’s CEO, Elexis Sinclaire. Blade managed to stop Elexis before she could enact her plan to try to mutate humanity and speed-up the evolutionary process, but she escaped at the last second.
SiN Episode 1: Emergence
In the first episode, Emergence, Elexis has returned and despite his best efforts, Blade has been unable to bring her down. Bitter and obsessed, Blade continues to try and stop Elexis and her army of mutants with the help of JC, and Blade’s newest recruit, and partner-in-arms, Jessica Cannon. A new cime lord, Viktor Radek, may hold the key to Elexis' new plan and Blade goes in to find out.
SiN Episode 1: Emergence is $15, and comes with the original Quake II powered SiN. Emergence was rated 85% by PC Gamer, calling it "macho death-mongering with ladies." It currently has a 75/100 on Metacritic.
There is no demo as of yet, but Ritual hasn't ruled out the possibility of one now that the game is released. There are also plans to create a Source version of the original SiN with upgraded graphics, but the project was put on hold so Ritual could finish Emergence.
Ritual has plans to keep the game updated and add new game-play modes in-between episodes. The first thing they've released (On June 26th) after Emergence shipped was a new "Arena Mode" where players fight it out in a Deathmatch arena against waves and waves of computer control enemies running on the dynamic difficulty system. Arena Mode, Multiplayer and the SiN SDK will be free to owners of Episode 1. There are also plans to include co-op, though nothing concrete has been announced.
The Crossing
A unique concept with two gamemodes blended together. Skirmish is two teams fighting against each other, and Coop is two players working their way through the game. However, on certain levels the Skirmish people will somehow have the option to jump into the Coop game and fight against the Coop heroes.
Very little information can be found at the wikipedia page.
The Ship
Originally a proof-of-concept Half-Life 1 mod, the Ship is now a full fledged budget title running on the Source engine, made by Outerlight ltd.
The Ship is a unique multiplayer game with stylized, cartoonish graphics, that takes place on a series of replica cruise ships based on designs from the 1920's. Invited by a mysterious Mr. X, players are given the name of someone else on the ship, and have to use any methods necessary to kill them. Weapons are potential traps are scattered about the ship, but players has to be careful, as having a weapon out where the law can see it will get them tossed into the brig.
Luckily, in a very Sims-like fashion; everyone has needs they need to take care of; which means plenty of chances to whack them while no one is looking. Players always have to be cautious though; as there is always the chance that someone has THEIR name.
The Ship was released on July 11th through Steam for $20, and a singleplayer game was released for $10. It was due out sometime in September for a brick-and-motor release. It has a current Metascore of 74/100 and is being kept up to date by the creators, who have released multiple patches in the time the game has been out. The Ship's website can be found at http://www.theshiponline.com
Vampire: the Masquerade – Bloodlines
Based on the popular and innovative gothic-punk “Vampire: the Masquerade” table-top RPG, Bloodlines is a Source-powered, first-person RPG made by the now-defunct Troika games featuring non-linear gameplay with multiple paths to achieving objectives.
Troika “finished” development of the game several months before Half-Life 2 was released but due to contract issues they were unable to release it; so it pretty much sat around for awhile. Upon release, it was revealed to have been an extremely buggy mess; despite already having the v1.1 patch added to it pre-release. Sadly, after releasing a v1.2 patch, Troika went bust and their game was left with a multitude of bugs and problems. Luckily, some enterprising fans have taken it upon themselves to make fan-patches that not only fix a ton of bugs, but also add new features.
Though Bloodlines is on Steam, if you don't want to use Steam, you can download the patches manually. Make sure to grab the official v1.2 patch before the v2.9 fan-patch.
Official v1.2 patch: http://www.vampirebloodlines.com/patch/
Unofficial v3.1 fanpatch: http://www.3dgamers.com/news/more/1096486121/
Dark Messiah of Might and Magic
Made by the developers of the first-person RPG “Arx Fatalis,” Dark Messiah is a first person, hack-n-slash type of RPG set in the Ashen world of recent Might and Magic games. There is an evil presence posed to invade the world, (The titular Dark Messiah), and the player is probably the only thing that can stop it.
The game features multiple paths to achieving objectives, as skill points are doled out for accomplishing tasks, not killing monsters. The AI is being designed to take advantage of everything the player can, from strategies and tactics, down to using the environment against you. The combat system is contextual, wherein your moves conform to the situation; a blocking shield will specifically be where the attacking weapon is. There many movies like sneak attacks, lunges, parrys, stuns and more, as well as special moves to finish off opponents. Ranged and spellcasting combat will also feature advanced moves. Character development is done by skills, not classes, so you can develop your character how you want.
There is a class-based multiplayer game as well, said to be like “Battlefield” crossed with “Lord of the Rings.” However, this was created by a different team than the singleplayer, and was generally agreed to be not nearly as good.
Dark Messiah was released on October 25th through Steam and in stores for $50 or you could get the collectors edition in stores for $60, which included Dark Messiah of Might and Magic on DVD, unique in-game content extras, a multiplayer skin, four single-player weapons, "Making Of" video and trailers, the game's soundtrack on Audio CD, and 12 collectible character cards.
For more information on Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, check out http://darkmessiahmightandmagic.us.ubi.com/ or check out a the trailer or the pack of videos available through Steam. Better yet, download the (very large) single-player demo through Steam.
Natural Selection 2
picture:
Unknown Worlds have have released a small, casual game in order to try and nab some funding for Natural Selection 2. The game, Zen of Sudoku, is being sold online for about 12.95, and it is currently planned to sell the game through Steam as well. You can check out the info on NS2 as well as Zen of Sodoku at http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns/
Alien Swarm: Infested
Based on the popular Unreal Tournament 2004 mod, a top down, tactical, squad-based alien shooter, Alien Swarm: Infested is a new, commercial version to be released for the Source engine. The Black Cat Games is still keeping on the down low about Infested, for the time being, but you can check out their website at http://www.blackcatgames.com/swarm/
Junction Point Studios’ unannounced project
Headed up by Warren Spector, the current word is that Specter’s company is looking for artists for a game that has a “classic Hollywood cartoon” style, of the type featuring “cartoon mice, cats and “wabbits.” This could very well be a computerized version of his the tabletop RPG “Toon” that Specter worked on in the early ‘80s
Twilight War: After the Fall
Twilight War is a Source-Engine powered, post-apocalyptic MMORPG/FPS hybrid, that contrary to popular belief, is no longer dead. While Smiling Gator Productions ran out of funding at one point and canceled production, they were later approached by General Computers who have now become partners on the project. Currently scheduled for a first or second quarter 2007 release.
(thanks to Undead Scottsman.)
EDIT: Do you need HL2 for Garry's Mod?
I am a freaking nerd.
Sven is kinda goofy.
I'm still at the early stages in Santa Monica (the first city/hub), but so far I haven't run into any major problems.
A lot of times I've seen people say "The Fan Patch adds more bugs than it fixes", and I just wanted to say that that hasn't been the case for me. Not yet at least.
edit: I did have a problem installing the game (well before the patch). For some reason, the 3-CD installation took nearly an hour and a half.
I can't play it with or without the fan patch, sadly. My machine gives me grief in tons of games, and I don't know why. (I suspect a faulty soundcard or a conflict somewhere, but I have no fucking clue)
I'm currently in Ravenholm. Man, fuck those gutter crawlers.
I already installed CS: Source, and I'm going to download Half Life 2 tomorrow. It's pretty exciting to have a system that can finally play these games at stable, consistant framerates.
Quick question: I'm downloading some demoes from Steam, as well. If my PC can run HL2/CS, it'll be able to run most of the demoes on Steam, correct?
Its pretty random whether you'll be hit or not. First time I beat it, using the release build, I didn't have any problems, but I ran into some of them on later playthroughs. Still nothing game stopping, though.
Its still incredably awesome, bugs or not. Definately the best RPG in recent memory.
Left 4 Dead looks pretty awesome, except I'm hoping they rename it Left For Dead because I hate numbers in titles that aren't sequels.
I just bought The Ship single player, not having played multiplayer. Hope it's decent.
And other people who don't have credit cards, too.
http://www.halflife2.net/forums/showthread.php?t=116408
http://www.hl2world.com/bbs/valve-left-4-dead-announced-vt46502.html
I think I saw some magazine scans of questionable ethics in that latter link as well.
http://www.isotx.com/index.php?topic=1614
Plus, it's steampunk in a World-War-style Eastern European kind of atmosphere. It's like the best of seven worlds.
They haven't told us the exact date, as they are superstitious of deadlines.
I havn't played it since the first release, which although prone to lag/crashes the gameplay worked really well (they have since fixed most of those issues).
I'd highly suggest you try to get it played at the LAN since the mod was designed with that in mind.
I am excited about TF II though.
A much better RTS/FPS mod is Natural Selection. Other choices include Empires, another mod for HL2, and Savage/Savage 2, both retail games (although I think the first is free).
No, really, it seems pretty sweet. I just don't want to get my my hopes all up on it being out any time near soon only to see it delayed 4 times.
Still, the PC could use a good co-op FPS. Or even a good co-op game, there's a dearth of any real co-op sweetness on the PC, especially when you see things like co-op Gears of War in action.
That said, SWAT 4 co-op was always good to me. Here's hoping for SWAT 5.
Natural selection isn't RTS vs FPS, it's more like BF2 with the commander player and a team, although he does have some RTS abilities.
I'm talking controlling AI units and such.
What are you asking exactly? Is is the best engine to use, or is it the most popular?
I think Unreal Engine 3 is still more popular, but Source is quickly becoming a contender. I wouldn't rule out Source beating EU3 in terms of popularity.
-Unreal Engine 3-
1. Roboblitz
2. Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway
3. Elveon
4. Huxley
5. Mass Effect
6. Medal of Honor: Airborne
7. Rainbow Six: Vegas
8. Too Human
9. Lineage 3
10. Stranglehold
Made by Epic
11. Gears of War
12. Unreal Tournament 2007
-Source Engine-
1. Vampire: the Masquerade - Bloodlines
2. Sin Episode 1: Emergence
3. Dark Messiah of Might and Magic
4. Left 4 Dead
5. Twilight War: After the Fall
6. Postal 3
7. Kuma/War2
8. Unknown Warren Spectre game
9. Unknown Threewave game
10. Unknown Title from Laid Back Gaming
11. The Ship (Former MOD)
12. Alien Swarm: Infested (Former MOD)
13. They Hunger: Lost Souls (Former MOD)
14. Natural Selection 2 (Former MOD)
15. Garry's Mod (Former MOD)
Made by Valve
16. Half-Life: Source
17. Half-Life 2
18. Half-Life 2: Episode 1
19. Half-Life 2: Episode 2
20. Portal
21. Counter-Strike: Source
22. Day of Defeat: Source
23. Team Fortress 2
Plus Half-Life Source Deathmatch and Half-Life 2: Deathmatch, if you really want to count them. Also there's two titles that wikipedia lists (Dino Hunters and Prime) that I've never heard of before.
So, Valve has had more time to be prolific with their Engine, have done a decent job of getting third parties on board, and is pretty much the #1 engine that mod makers are using to go retail.
And just for comparison
-Doom 3 Engine-
1. Prey
2. Prey 2
Made or Owned by id
3. Doom 3
4. Doom 3: Ressurection of Evil
5. Quake IV
6. Enemy Territory Quake Wars
7. New Wolfenstien game
8. New IP from id.
So, basically other than Prey, every game on the Doom 3 engine is an IP owned by id software itself. On one hand, that's a major kick to the nuts for the company that pretty much kicked-started engine licensings for FPS's, on the other hand it says a lot when you have enough history, clout and intellectual properties to basically have that many titles out and on the way.
I remember when everyone thought the doom 3 engine was going to take off.. and it never did. Being a fan of id, that saddened me a little bit. But unreal 3 and source are obviously superior.
What happened is the Source Engine and the Doom 3 Engine were in two different directions. Source stuck with the older BSP technology, which limits it in some areas, but tread new ground in areas like physics, world construction and facial animation. Doom 3 went with a new way to make maps that allows for per-pixle lighting, and then went sickhouse with the bumpmapping and normal mapping.
Then UE3 came along and basically did everything the Doom3 engine does, but does it bigger, better and faster, and has more features (like the streaming technology seen in GoW).
Right now, Source has a few neat toys (and is steadily getting more and more new toys as well) and the big "WILL RUN ON SHITTIER MACHINES" card going for it. UE3 has less specific toys, but has some fantastic general features (lighting, steaming) and is definantly an engine you want to consider when making a high end game.
These are all just simple sphere and square models, with heightmaps and whatnot.
So I can definitely see Source becoming even more popular, given all the things developers can do with it, even without the source code to the engine.
I think Doom 3's problem was it relied too much on the bumpmapping and normalmapping and specular mapping, applying complex effects to textures that were uniformly shit to begin with, and using them in place of high-detail models. That's never convincing.
The over-reliance on those techniques in sacrafice to polygon count was one of the big problems I had with Doom 3.