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If you happened to miss this weekend's Brickcon 2008 in Seattle, as we unfortunately did, you missed the appearance of the "Zombie Apocafest" project. It was one part Left 4 Dead, one part The Big Lebowski and two parts LEGO. It was also 6.8 parts awesome, with a massive zombie-filled scene of Left 4 Dead-style destruction, featuring copious amounts of LEGO gore.
To celebrate the launch of MODs on Steam, Valve is giving away five "leading Source MODs" to anyone who owns a Source-based game. The publisher is also offering Half-Life 2: Episode One on steam for $5.
The free MOD pack comes with Age of Chivalry, D.I.P.R.I.P., Insurgency, Synergy, and Zombie Panic.
"Valve has been supporting the MOD community since the company's inception, offering updates to the SDK, holding MOD Expos and being the first to bring a MOD to retail with Counter-Strike in November 2000," said Doug Lombardi, vice president of marketing at Valve. "The debut of these MODs on Steam marks the beginning of a new level of support for the MOD community by putting the leading MODs at the finger tips of over 15 million targeted gamers."
Once the MOD pack, available now, is installed it will appear in the Steam "My Games" list and the MODs will receive automatic updates just like other games on Steam. Also, the MODs support Steamworks, providing stat tracking and tighter integration with the Steam community.
Steam's announced that, beginning next week, it'll be hosting five mods that will be freely available for all who own the mod's source game. Additionally, the mods will take advantage of Steamworks' stat tracking and "tighter integration with the Steam community."
The five mods are Age of Chivalry, D.I.P.R.I.P., Insurgency, Synergy, and Zombie Panic. Full announcement on the jump.
Last week Penny Arcade's own Tycho contacted me to see if I would be interested in writing a short piece for their site about Digital Rights Management. What with the escalating brouhaha with Electronic Arts and likelihood that this won't be the last time gamers run face first into some form of DRM they don't like, I jumped at the opportunity.
In the short essay I talk about the origins of the word piracy (Daniel Defoe don't you know), and the absurdity of applying todays shrinking ownership rights to a situation closer to that origin. I also call for a sort of Gamers' Bill of Digital Rights. Not that anyone will listen.
If that sort of stuff floats your boat hop on over on the link to check it out. If it doesn't interest you, hop over there to read Tycho's take on my "wavy locks and hard-arse goatee."
The Origin Of The CD-Keys, Part One [Penny Arcade]
We can't say we didn't see it coming, but to hear, straight from the mouths of Valve's Doug Lombardi and Gabe Newell, that PlayStation 3 owners are going to get the shit end of the Team Fortress 2 stick still hurts. I *have* that version! I also have the Steam and Xbox 360 versions, but still... ouch.
1UP confirmed with Gabe and Doug that the updates PC users are currently enjoying, which are coming to the 360 later this year simply won't be hitting the PS3. Why? Valve simply has no PS3 manpower to speak of. And EA is "not doing ongoing development on The Orange Box" on Sony's box.
It's simple really. We just hope that the boys and girls at EA do right by the few of us who opted for the PS3 SKU — and will think about this kind of stuff in the future.
Spore's digital rights management and copy protection has gotten a lot of people up in arms. The reaction has been so strong, with nega-reviews flooding Amazon and DRM creatures flooding the Sporepedia, that Electronic Arts said they're planning on implementing a patch to loosen up their current installation guidelines.
But Electronic Arts isn't the only company to ever use a built-in online copy protection system. A small company called Valve, publishers of such indie titles as Portal, Half-Life 2 and Team Fortress 2, knows all about the ups and downs of DRM and copy protection.
Back in 2004 Valve was at the heart of a hurricane of controversy surrounding the use of online authentication after their relatively new digital distribution system, Steam, ran into a hiccup and was unable to keep up with the online validations for mega-hit Half-Life 2. But things have run relatively smooth since then, with the exception of a major outtage in 2006. I talked to Valve's Doug Lombardi yesterday to ask how they've managed to smooth out the wrinkles of DRM with Steam and how their copy protection compares to Spore's.
Are you still feeling bad about that whole Weighted Companion Cube incident? Still pining for it's friendly, rounded corners? A new mod promises to take you back in time to before the events of the original Portal, when your little inert buddy was still free to.. remain motionless.
And what a mod - Portal: Prelude is huge, actually bigger than the original game. It has 8 new chapters, 19 test chambers, a new plot and over 400 lines of dialogue (with English and French subtitles!).
You will need Steam, a copy of Portal and possibly some other bits and bobs like Counter Strike Source - the developers have, rather endearingly, forgotten.
This trailer should give a taster of what to expect when the game is released later this month...
So the folks at Forbes are thinking that Google could become a big name in the games industry, and now rumours are swirling about the internets that they are planning on doing just that in the way of all giant corporations with way too much money - buying someone else. In this case, the target is Valve, makers of Half-Life, Portal, Team Fortress 2, and oh yeah, Steam. The enormously popular digital gaming distribution platform would indeed present a tasty takeover target for the company that loves making money off the internet.
The rumours originate with The Inquirer, which cites well placed sources saying that such a purchase is not only possible, but imminent, as in "any second now". Our take on the rumour? Very iffy. These sort of stories generally don't just pop up one day, though of course Valve's Doug Lombardi has stated that they're willing to be bought. We've contacted Valve for comment and will let you know as soon as we hear back.
Google to buy Valve [The Inquirer]
Crytek and Valve have reached an agreement to bring both Crysis Warhead and Crysis to Steam this weekend. So if you drop 7 hundy on your Crysis-branded PC rig but don't want to shell out or drive to the store for a retail copy of its namesake, there you go. And if you're keeping your old setup and want to know what you need on board, check the specs. Valve says both titles are available for pre-purchase now, and will release "mid-September." Warhead's commercial street date is Monday.
