Slashdot Mirror

kalpatin writes "The ever so popular game, Counter Strike:Source developed by Valve, has a new feature added to the game: A virtual marketplace for the weapons and equipment. According to Valve, every item's price will be updated on a weekly basis depending on the global market demand. Some users have posted their anger toward the new change on the Valve forums and have even started a petition to stop the change. Is Valve turning into Microsoft by introducing features that are not needed or wanted by the community, or are they merely spicing the game up?"

Hatedlegion writes "Half-Life 2: Lost Coast has been released on Steam." Gamespot has details, and a hands-on look as well. From that article: "If you've played through Half-Life 2, the gameplay in Lost Coast isn't going to set the world on fire. You fight your way up a sheer cliff face, trading fire with those pesky Combine soldiers every step of the way. You'll occasionally have to deal with some of the more vicious sorts of headcrabs, and at the end you'll have to bring down a Combine gunship with Gordon Freeman's trusty rocket launcher. You'll have to solve a couple of light physics puzzles as well, which we won't detail for the sake of preserving at least a little of the surprise. You'll even get to talk to an old man at the beginning of the level, who provides you with the impetus to head up into the hills and engage the Combine in the first place."

Primotech writes "It appears that Valve has secured EA as its new publisher. When the developer settled its lawsuit with Vivendi back in April, the company was left without a publisher to distribute boxed copies of its games. The company has tapped EA, which will publish and release Half-Life 2: Game of the Year Edition and Half-Life 2 for the Xbox sometime this year. From the article: 'EA is the worldwide leader in bringing best of breed games, for all platforms, to market...By combining EA's unparalleled operation structure and distribution channel with Valve's award-winning development teams and games community, we've established an awesome combination for delivering great products to console and PC gamers around the world.'"

Chris_Yates writes "A hardware survey containing over one million entries has been made public by Valve, the creators of Half-Life 2. Some interesting facts include: 65.89% now have SP2 compared to 17.04% for SP1, AMD and Intel almost split 50/50 with nVidia edging out ATI 50.72% to 41.03%. The Radeon 9800 and 9600 take the top two spots with 20% combined."

KrunchTime writes "The Steam network seems to be having some problems tonight. This is not good new for fans of counter-strike, day of defeat and other half-life mods. Some people seem to be able to log on fine while others, like me :(, cannot connect at all. The steam forums were filling up with invective when I was last able to get on. The forums now seem to have imploded under the strain of complaints. The question that was being asked most is why there isn't more redundancy on the log-in side of steam. They say that if one of the master servers goes down that the accounts held there become unavailable immediately. The other big problem is that while the Steam network is down even the offline games are unplayable. There was no sign of responses from Valve staff or forum moderators."

quan74 writes "The folks at Valve have announced that "The official Counter-Strike Bot will be released for Counter-Strike: Source on Monday (January 17th)." This is great news for those of us that have been anxiously awaiting the feature." The new CS bots have been enhanced with some improved pathing, a better understanding of the foibles of grenades, and a more human-like attention system. Details on the bots available on the forums.

quan74 writes "The folks at Valve have announced that "The official Counter-Strike Bot will be released for Counter-Strike: Source on Monday (January 17th)." This is great news for those of us that have been anxiously awaiting the feature." The new CS bots have been enhanced with some improved pathing, a better understanding of the foibles of grenades, and a more human-like attention system. Details on the bots available on the forums.

bryhhh writes "Valve has announced that they have banned another 30,000 steam accounts which had been used to try to illegally gain access to Valve games without a valid purchase. Only last month 20,000 accounts were banned for the same reason, only this time Valve states that, 'The accounts that are disabled today will not be reactivated'."

Bishop, Martin writes "Steam's latest client update on the 14th of December broke support under Transgaming's Cedega software, however, as stated on the transgaming forums the latest 4.2 build of cedega includes a fix for Steam."

Satertek writes "Following up a previous post, a teaser was posted on the Steam website with the image HL2DM.jpg entitled 'Soon', confirming rumors of a Half-Life 2 Multiplayer Deathmatch game. It was also brought up on the forums by Valve. It will be released alongside the SDK sometime this week." Update: 12/01 13:49 GMT by T : Since this was written, "this week" has turned into "now"; the update was released last night.

Satertek writes "Following up a previous post, a teaser was posted on the Steam website with the image HL2DM.jpg entitled 'Soon', confirming rumors of a Half-Life 2 Multiplayer Deathmatch game. It was also brought up on the forums by Valve. It will be released alongside the SDK sometime this week." Update: 12/01 13:49 GMT by T : Since this was written, "this week" has turned into "now"; the update was released last night.

Satertek writes "Following up a previous post, a teaser was posted on the Steam website with the image HL2DM.jpg entitled 'Soon', confirming rumors of a Half-Life 2 Multiplayer Deathmatch game. It was also brought up on the forums by Valve. It will be released alongside the SDK sometime this week." Update: 12/01 13:49 GMT by T : Since this was written, "this week" has turned into "now"; the update was released last night.

Satertek writes "Following up a previous post, a teaser was posted on the Steam website with the image HL2DM.jpg entitled 'Soon', confirming rumors of a Half-Life 2 Multiplayer Deathmatch game. It was also brought up on the forums by Valve. It will be released alongside the SDK sometime this week." Update: 12/01 13:49 GMT by T : Since this was written, "this week" has turned into "now"; the update was released last night.

Satertek writes "Following up a previous post, a teaser was posted on the Steam website with the image HL2DM.jpg entitled 'Soon', confirming rumors of a Half-Life 2 Multiplayer Deathmatch game. It was also brought up on the forums by Valve. It will be released alongside the SDK sometime this week." Update: 12/01 13:49 GMT by T : Since this was written, "this week" has turned into "now"; the update was released last night.

Satertek writes "Following up a previous post, a teaser was posted on the Steam website with the image HL2DM.jpg entitled 'Soon', confirming rumors of a Half-Life 2 Multiplayer Deathmatch game. It was also brought up on the forums by Valve. It will be released alongside the SDK sometime this week." Update: 12/01 13:49 GMT by T : Since this was written, "this week" has turned into "now"; the update was released last night.

paniq writes "SteamWatch has opened a forum to discuss the pros and cons of Valves online distribution software Steam 'due to constant deletion of complaint threads in the official Steam forum', as the site states. Installation of Steam to play Valves newest cutting edge shooter Half-Life 2 is mandatory, but forum members criticize Valve for meager Support, violation of consumer rights and formulate alternative ideas for Steams implementation. A 'Steam Watch' news section covers articles and rants about Steam found on the net."

paniq writes "SteamWatch has opened a forum to discuss the pros and cons of Valves online distribution software Steam 'due to constant deletion of complaint threads in the official Steam forum', as the site states. Installation of Steam to play Valves newest cutting edge shooter Half-Life 2 is mandatory, but forum members criticize Valve for meager Support, violation of consumer rights and formulate alternative ideas for Steams implementation. A 'Steam Watch' news section covers articles and rants about Steam found on the net."

RaidRaider writes "Hardware Analysis makes a good effort at answering the question that has been on every enthusiast's mind; what are the specs for a baseline system I need to enjoy Half-Life 2 to the fullest? They take a good hard look at the Steam survey results and work their way up from there, replacing CPUs, graphic cards and add more memory. They back it all up by offering the demos used up for download so you yourself can gauge exactly what kind of upgrade you need."

We passed on your questions to Tycho and Gabe of Penny Arcade a while back, and today we have their answers. Tycho primarily answered the questions with consultation from Gabe and discusses the PA comic creation process, their views on the industry, and the possibility of an animated Penny Arcade venture. As usual, they do so with wit and verve: "I am not an industry analyst, so I dont feel like I'm qualified to talk about ebb and flow of hojillion dollar industries. However, it is easy to imagine a universe where small developers don't huddle in blasted out wreckage, waiting to be vivisected by the the next wave of EA Scion-class sawbots." Read on to check out their responses.

1.) Tools by cbrocious

My question is very simple: What tools do you use (both physical and digital) to create your comics?

I'm a long-time reader and have always wondered :)

Tycho:
He uses a pencil and paper for starters, and once he's scanned that in he does all the finishing work with Photoshop 6.1 and a massive 12x24 Wacom Intuos.

2.) Your Job by JediLuke

How much of your personal life does Penny-Arcade consume? On that note, great job, I love your strip.

Tycho:
Thank you for saying so. It is hard to know, actually, where to draw the line between our personal lives and Penny Arcade. The scripts come from our normal conversations. You knew almost to the moment when Gabriel was born. The site is virtually our diary, so I'm hard pressed to determine what corner of my life it hasn't yet been dominated by.

3.) First gaming webcomic by genessy

Was Penny Arcade the first, regularly produced gaming webcomic? I read approximately 20 webcomics on a daily basis, and many of them are dedicated to gaming humor or frustration. Were you guys the first, and if so or if not, who or what inspired you?

Tycho:
No, I don't believe so - in terms of a gaming focus, that honor goes to Scott Kurtz of PvP, by five or so months. We didn't know about him when we started, but we did know about Iliad from User Friendly who covered games from time to time, typically Quake. As for inspiration, we've always made little comics, but never considered doing them in strip form until we entered an online contest that Next Generation Online (now defunct) was holding. I can honestly say that if we had not entered that contest, there would be no Penny Arcade. It never would have occurred to us.

4.) Question Two by dgrgich

A question for both of you: Name the console and three of its games that you would take to that mythical desert isle.

Tycho:
Gabe suggests that a Playstation2 would suffice, with Disgaea, Phantom Brave, and Rez. If he had Internet access, and I submitted that this island might have some kind of satellite uplink, he would gladly bring along an Xbox, with the local staples Halo 2, Pandora Tomorrow, and Links for good measure.

Consoles are, in general terms, not my bag. I have come to enjoy them but they are not my preference, but I will answer the spirit of your question. It is clear to me that I would bring along a custom PC, with System Shock 2, Missionforce: Cyberstorm, and (this is a recent addition) World of Warcraft. That is, of course, provided their game begins to work properly.

5.) Gabe and Tycho: by mcc

Just curious: Are there any webcomics you read?

Tycho:
Sure. Gabe reads Kazu's Copper, Machall, and PvP regularly. I cast a fairly wide net, but the strips I read whenever they are updated include Boy On A Stick And Slither (which I crave beyond reason), PvP, Shaw Island, 8-bit Theatre, Machall, Wigu, Deisel Sweeties, Creatures In My Head, Scary Go Round, Exploding Dog, Goats, Ctrl-Alt-Del, and VGCats.

6.) Domesitification ... by SuperRob

Jerry's bought a house, Mike's had a baby boy. How has becoming bona-fide adults changed your lives, and do you find your priorities changing away from drawing comics and playing games.

Bonus Question: What advice would you give to geeks looking to in some way ensare geek grrls?

Tycho:
We are lucky enough to have really unorthodox jobs. Drawing comics and playing videogames is what we do for a living. It is an odd loophole, I admit, but if I don't play Half-Life 2 or whatever I'm actually slacking off.

As regards the laydays, Gabriel suggests the most important thing is that you simply be yourself, unless you are poor. Then, try to be someone who is richer and better looking, because you are kind of ugly. I am only only speaking for myself, but I have had good success with traps.

7.) Halo and Bungie by SilentChris

You guys absolutely roasted the original Halo, then gradually grew to like it. You've said you've met with Bungie since then. Were the meetings amicable?

Tycho:
It's important to note that what we came to like was the multiplayer mode, and the console LAN party culture it fostered, but yes - we did come around. As for the guys at Bungie, they have never been anything but nice to us, which always makes me feel bad.

8.) Collaboration... by kayser_soze

How far does the collaboration between you two go?

Does Tycho usually come up with the text/idea for the comic, then Gabe does the art as a separate process or is it more of a collaborative venture?

Tycho:
It's the collaborative venture you suggested there at the end, for the comic at least. They are written first, in a tag-team manner suggestive of the WWE, and then the art is created. For longer form projects, the full page stuff we've done for PA Presents, I handle the writing itself almost completely - but that's only after we've both come up with what happens on a page, and he has given me a light sketch of the events we've agreed on for me to write to.

9.) Rise of the Megapublishers by CarrionBird

Do you think that the industry is doomed to be under the thumb of less than a handful of publishers, buying up every promising studio?(and keeping the cost of promotion so high that small guys could never keep up)

Or is there a chance for a new wave if independent developers breaking free from the EAs of the world?

Tycho:
I am not an industry analyst, so I dont feel like I'm qualified to talk about ebb and flow of hojillion dollar industries. However, it is easy to imagine a universe where small developers don't huddle in blasted out wreckage, waiting to be vivisected by the the next wave of EA Scion-class sawbots. None what I'm about to say applies to closed platforms, consoles and so forth, where the relationship between the developer, the product, and the platform locked to varying degrees.

If you are not already familiar with Garage Games, Totalgaming.net, and of course Valve's Steam, I can understand why you might feel dread. As for the costs of promotion, I'm confident that community sites like this one can recognize quality and deliver shrewd gamers unto products missed by larger sites or publications. I'm very curious to see if, for example, the Steam platform gives rise to a number of retail quality mods for cheap. We'll see how it goes.

10.) Favourite comic? by ecliptik

Out of all the comics you've done, which one is your all time top favourite, and why?

Tycho:
Gabriel has suggested to me that his current favorite is Mr. Period Returns, where Mr. Period and his Bad Boys of Punctuation resolve issues in a collected, helpful manner. It often changes for me, typically I say Red and Blue in: We Deliver to deflect the question. Honestly, I just went into the archives looking for my favorite comic and I was stuck there for like forty-five minutes. The last strip we did is usually our favorite one.

11.) Life outside of games by hng_rval

How do you spend your free time outside of gaming?

Tycho:
I guess we don't understand the question.

And on that note, what do you and your spouses do for fun (outside of the apartment)?

Tycho:
Gabe and Kara don't really leave the apartment. They do escape from time to time to see a movie, but he just suggested that a fire might also make them leave. I typically accompany Brenna to interesting cultural events, like shows and plays, that are very interesting and cultural.

12.) Do you feel the pressure to self-censor? by Drunken_Jackass

As you get older and as PA's popularity increases to more of a mainstream level (thanks to the great job you did on last year's Childplay), are you starting to feel the pressures of self-censorship? I mean, how many news anchors could reference the good work you do with Childsplay without giving a Within that site, there be fruitfuckers warning?

Are you becoming too popular to maintain your riske side?

Tycho:
Not censoring ourselves is what made us popular, so locking up our most depraved ideas hardly seems like a recipe for success. The question itself implies that we are monitoring some kind of meter that determines how mainstream we have become, and can altering the mix of ideas to match our audience. You're giving us way too much credit.

The Child's Play thing is an issue, though it's more an issue for Child's Play itself than it is for Penny Arcade. I think about this a lot. Is it proper that a site like Penny Arcade should host or operate a charitable organization? I'll tell you where the thinking usually leads me: Maybe not, but that doesn't absolve us of our social responsibility.

13.) Difficulty of making a living via online comics? by Zeddicus_Z

Guys,

At the last SAGE-AU [sage-au.org.au] conference in Brisbane we had J.D. Frazer (Illiad) as guest of honor.

At dinner J.D. spoke of the difficulties he faced in the early years attempting to make a living from comics - the insanely difficult process of being sydicated into newspapers, working out a revenue model for a web-based comic when he realised syndication was too restrictive, and generally attempting to make a living doing something he loved.

With PA and UF being roughly as popular as each other these days and thus (hopefully!) both providing decent incomes, I'd like to hear how you guys coped with the early years and how you faced some of what seem to be the common difficulties such as the syndication process, creating a viable revenue model and dealing with early set backs.

Tycho:
Well, we walked different paths somewhat, and that should be firmly delineated. One of the few things we have in common with J.D. is that we both upload images to webservers. Gabe and I have never sought syndication as an end or a means to it. Don't forget that Illiad also made Userfriendly a public company at one point - try to imagine buying stock in Penny Arcade. The mind reels.

The main thing we share, and this is something that we have in common with all cartoonists making a living on the web, is that we keep at it until we find something that works, and when that stops working - and it will - we try something else. We don't confuse that business model with our creative work, imagining that its failure has revealed some desperate flaw in ourselves.

Over the course of six years, we have cycled through nearly every sequence the tumbler can produce. The first year and a half, we worked regular jobs until it could support one, and then both of us. We've done advertising, outside projects, joined a content aggregator for a percentage of the revenue, supported the site solely on donations, eventually moved to the quid pro quo, donations-for-gifts method that is fairly commonplace now, went hybrid with donation gifts and very limited advertising (no more than two per month), and finally stabilized on advertising alone. We've gone back and forth from doing our own merchandise to having someone else do it a two or three times, trying to find the right balance.

14.) Strawberry Shortcake by Anonymous Coward

A little while back, PA had a run-in with American Greetings over the use of the copyrighted and trademarked likeness of Strawberry Shortcake in what was obviously a (protected) work of parody.

American Greetings got called Nazis, but American McGee's Strawberry Shortcake is still missing from the PA archives.

What are the reprecussions of the Strawberry Shortcake debacle? If you had it to do over again, either the strip, or your interactions with American Greetings, would you have done anything different?

Tycho:
I think we made the best decision that we could have, and in retrospect I haven't gained any wisdom on the subject that leads me to believe we erred in judgement. We got the best advice we could from places like the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, and the final analysis was that we weren't absolutely, one-hundred percent in the right. We could have been a good deal more feisty legally, but we're still in court over something that happened five years ago and I think we were hesitant to open up another front when the first one was already as much as we could afford.

I think I would be much more unhappy about the situation if people didn't have access to the comic, if they wanted to find it - it's not difficult to type strawberry shortcake penny arcade and have it revealed in all its sensual splendor. In fact, and I think I've said as much, I almost prefer that there is this hole in the archive where a comic should be. If the strip was just there, I think it would have been forgotten by now - you wouldn't be asking me about it. As it stands, virtually every time I'm asked to speak to people the Strawberry Shortcake Issue comes up, which keeps the notion that corporations overreach in these matters front and center.

Update: 11/30 19:09 GMT by Z : Tycho sent this in to answer some questions brought up in comments -

The "ongoing legal battle," and it's still with us, is over the book we printed a few years ago. People often ask us why we haven't produced another book, and there's people who don't know about the first one. Our publisher never paid us for the first book, and then told us the second book had to be in black and white, and we'd better start writing it for them if we ever wanted to get paid. Obviously, we did no such thing, but since they own the print rights we can't make books for ourselves either. Hopefully it's something that can get worked out in arbitration here in a few months.

15.) Question for Tycho by Captain Splendid

Despite the fact that you've mentioned a few times that your aspirations don't go much beyond PA, is there any chance your unique writing style may be found elsewhere in the future? Is that even a remote consideration for you?

On a related note, what kind of offers have you received from mainstream (and not-so-mainstream) publications?

Tycho:
Not having aspirations to write outside my comfortable context is sort of my cover story, I'm afraid. I shudder to think how the things I write would be perceived outside of my own comfortable context. Even inside what I consider my own community, there is considerable disagreement about whether my output has merit. So there you go.

I've been offered this and that every now and again, but I'm not unsatisfied with my life or the way I spend my time, so I'd usually rather reserve my energies for Penny Arcade. Offers to write for gaming blogs, do community management, editorials in magazines that cover games, review sites and the like make up the bulk of such offers. I'm very lucky, which is another way of saying our readers are good to us, but neither of us needs to take work that we aren't genuinely interested in.

16.) An Animated Penny Arcade by Altima(BoB)

Have you ever considered trying an animated form of Penny Arcade? It seems that your brand of humor makes particular use of precise timing, and while you tend to be successful at conveying that through comic strip panels, the formula could translate to animation quite well.

Tycho:
When we're writing a comic, we will often become too elaborate than we can reasonably achieve with three panels. Sometimes, we try to make it fit - but more often than not, we say That's One For The Animated Series, which is to say that it would be well served by the properties of that medium. We have been approached on multiple occasions to do just this sort of thing. In fact, there is something percolating even as we speak.

Biomemetic writes "Valve announced yesterday that they'll be releasing the Source SDK next week, along with a "surprise for the community". Incidentally, the sound stuttering bug (actually three bugs, to do with texture loading problems), has been solved and an update released through Steam." Relatedly, Highpriest writes "According to gamerankings.com, Half Life 2's average review is higher than Halo 2's. Half Life 2 has recieved a 96.6% overall rating wheras Halo 2 came in with a 95.1%."

BrookHarty writes "There is a large number of users reporting nausea while playing Half-Life 2. There is a thread on the Steam powered forums that talks about the wide spread problem. Some other sites are actively talking about the motion sickness, PlanetHalflife, 3DGPU, usenet group comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action has an active discussion, and gaming IRC network Gamesurge on channel #Halflife2." In related news from people with too much time on their hands, Jacques Chester writes "Folks discussing the visual merits of the Source and Doom 3 engines might want to look at this. The goal is to see what Half-Life levels might look like in Doom 3. An eerie result."

BrookHarty writes "There is a large number of users reporting nausea while playing Half-Life 2. There is a thread on the Steam powered forums that talks about the wide spread problem. Some other sites are actively talking about the motion sickness, PlanetHalflife, 3DGPU, usenet group comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action has an active discussion, and gaming IRC network Gamesurge on channel #Halflife2." In related news from people with too much time on their hands, Jacques Chester writes "Folks discussing the visual merits of the Source and Doom 3 engines might want to look at this. The goal is to see what Half-Life levels might look like in Doom 3. An eerie result."

An anonymous reader writes "Valve have disabled 20,000 steam user accounts belonging to users who have been caught using a pirated version of the game, or have attempted to use a cdkey to bypass the securom protection found on the retail version of the game. The Steam Forums have been swamped with people now claiming they are unable to play, many claiming they have had their accounts disabled for no reason. A Valve spokesman says, 'The number of people who actually had bought HL2 and used the CD key cheat was VERY small. VERY small. Most people just tried to rip off the game and not bother buying it.'" People are discovering that when you buy any product that is subject to "activation", you haven't really bought anything.

An anonymous reader writes "Valve have disabled 20,000 steam user accounts belonging to users who have been caught using a pirated version of the game, or have attempted to use a cdkey to bypass the securom protection found on the retail version of the game. The Steam Forums have been swamped with people now claiming they are unable to play, many claiming they have had their accounts disabled for no reason. A Valve spokesman says, 'The number of people who actually had bought HL2 and used the CD key cheat was VERY small. VERY small. Most people just tried to rip off the game and not bother buying it.'" People are discovering that when you buy any product that is subject to "activation", you haven't really bought anything.

An anonymous reader writes "Valve have disabled 20,000 steam user accounts belonging to users who have been caught using a pirated version of the game, or have attempted to use a cdkey to bypass the securom protection found on the retail version of the game. The Steam Forums have been swamped with people now claiming they are unable to play, many claiming they have had their accounts disabled for no reason. A Valve spokesman says, 'The number of people who actually had bought HL2 and used the CD key cheat was VERY small. VERY small. Most people just tried to rip off the game and not bother buying it.'" People are discovering that when you buy any product that is subject to "activation", you haven't really bought anything.

sinner0423 writes "Due to recent complaints on several forums, Steampowered announced they are working on a fix to this stuttering problem in Half Life 2. Usually, a game bug isn't news-worthy, but the sporadic nature of this bug makes me wonder - who else has problems with HL2 pausing/skipping? This site outlines the problem certain users are having in a very clear & concise manner, and also includes some stopgap solutions from Erik Johnson & other Valve employees."

sinner0423 writes "Due to recent complaints on several forums, Steampowered announced they are working on a fix to this stuttering problem in Half Life 2. Usually, a game bug isn't news-worthy, but the sporadic nature of this bug makes me wonder - who else has problems with HL2 pausing/skipping? This site outlines the problem certain users are having in a very clear & concise manner, and also includes some stopgap solutions from Erik Johnson & other Valve employees."

rpdillon writes "According to Half-Life Fallout, Transgaming Technologies has announced that they will be releasing version 4.2 of Cedega, their Wine based software allowing some DirectX games to be played under Linux. The new version will be released Dec 7th with official support included for Valve Software's Half-Life 2 and Steam, Valve's online software store and distribution system, and a required component of Half-Life 2."

duckle writes "The Inquirer reports that "The World has come crashing down around Half-Life 2 players today, as Steam's authentication servers in Europe have died.", and deemzzzz_k writes "It looks like even Valve wasn't quite prepared for Half Life 2's popularity. HL2 requires registration to unlock the game and although the Valve/Steam homepage claims that it fixed registration issues the servers are still overloaded. Registration is "delayed" and temporarily unlocking the game takes 20-30 minutes over a 1.5MB DSL line." This seems to primarily be an issue for folks who bought the game from a store; I purchased the game via Steam and was playing at 12:15 am PST on launch day.

Thomas Scovell writes "After over half a decade of development, stolen source code debacle, a promised deadline that was missed by a year, and a feud between the developer and the publisher that is still in court, Half-Life 2 has finally started to activate for those who have purchased online via Steam online or who grabbed the boxed version at the retailers that let it slip early. Go play!" Reviews are available via Gamespot, Gamespy, HomeLAN Fed, and IGN.

wolrahnaes writes "It's finally available to the public. According to a post on The Valve ERC Collective, the tools needed to create maps and mods for Half-Life 2, Counter-Strike: Source, and other Source engine based titles are now available on Steam. Some documentation is available here."

dasmurf asks: "Many users have discussed this possibility. Now that Steam has pioneered the biggest online game delivery system to date, is it as simple as that? Read my concerns about the Steam Subscriber Agreement. Has anyone else read this agreement? Should Valve change it? If you love Valve's games but you've never religiously kept an eye on your credit card statement, maybe this will give you more reason. ;)"

dasmurf asks: "Many users have discussed this possibility. Now that Steam has pioneered the biggest online game delivery system to date, is it as simple as that? Read my concerns about the Steam Subscriber Agreement. Has anyone else read this agreement? Should Valve change it? If you love Valve's games but you've never religiously kept an eye on your credit card statement, maybe this will give you more reason. ;)"

aWalrus writes "The long wait for Half Life 2 and bundled games through Valve's online distribution system, Steam, ends today. Steam news reports that Half life 2 packages will be available at 11 am PST. With HL2 still trapped in publisher approval limbo, these packages don't have the game yet (available upon products' release), but they do have Counter Strike:Source. This could be a good bargaining chip for Valve and a boost to Steam distribution."

richie2000 writes "Valve asked Steam users for their hardware specs and more than half a million responded. Check out the survey results. Perhaps the most interesting tidbit is that OpenGL beats Direct3D by a healthy margin."

BrainsVolpe writes "For those of us on Steam, we can continue our 'preloading'of Half-Life 2. This time around we'll be downloading 'the majority of the audio of Half-Life 2 in encrypted form.' Does this mean we'll be getting HL2 before September 30th? Only Valve knows for sure... sorta."

Nos. writes "For those of us using Valve Software's Steam platform, we can now begin 'preloading' Half-Life 2. The article explains that this will download an encrypted version of the game that you can unlock when you purchase it. They only say that purchase options will be available soon."

Thanks to Gotfrag for its extremely comprehensive review of Valve's Counter-Strike: Source PC team-based FPS, following its recent debut for select cybercafes, and, as of Wednesday, "extended to owners of Counter-Strike: Condition Zero; and ATI Fulfillment Coupon holders." GotFrag points to physics improvements as a particular highlight ("If your teammates are dead, finding their [physics-affected limb] positions may help you understand how they died"), before concluding: "While many changes are worthless eye candy to those who play seriously, the improved graphics and game play presentation will assist Counter-Strike in becoming more spectator friendly." Eurogamer also has hands-on comments on the "subtle and generally benign" gameplay alterations.

fistfullast33l writes "Valve has announced via Steam that a Beta version will be launched for Counter-Strike: Source, the multiplayer counter-terrorism mod that will now be updated for release with the Half-Life 2 powering Source engine. It is expected to be kicked off around late summer. Apparently: 'The beta will first be open to subscribers of the Valve Cyber Café Program, and then extended to owners of Counter-Strike: Condition Zero.' Seems like a good time to find out where the nearest gaming parlor is." This move is interesting in light of allegations of Valve bullying cybercafes - we also recently covered the South Korean unveiling of Counter-Strike: Source over at Slashdot Games.

fistfullast33l writes "Valve has announced via Steam that a Beta version will be launched for Counter-Strike: Source, the multiplayer counter-terrorism mod that will now be updated for release with the Half-Life 2 powering Source engine. It is expected to be kicked off around late summer. Apparently: 'The beta will first be open to subscribers of the Valve Cyber Café Program, and then extended to owners of Counter-Strike: Condition Zero.' Seems like a good time to find out where the nearest gaming parlor is." This move is interesting in light of allegations of Valve bullying cybercafes - we also recently covered the South Korean unveiling of Counter-Strike: Source over at Slashdot Games.

fistfullast33l writes "Valve has announced via Steam that a Beta version will be launched for Counter-Strike: Source, the multiplayer counter-terrorism mod that will now be updated for release with the Half-Life 2 powering Source engine. It is expected to be kicked off around late summer. Apparently: 'The beta will first be open to subscribers of the Valve Cyber Café Program, and then extended to owners of Counter-Strike: Condition Zero.' Seems like a good time to find out where the nearest gaming parlor is." This move is interesting in light of allegations of Valve bullying cybercafes - we also recently covered the South Korean unveiling of Counter-Strike: Source over at Slashdot Games.

Thanks to ShackNews for its report indicating Half-Life 2's multiplayer mode includes Counter-Strike running on the Source Engine, and "will be available at the same time as when Half-Life 2 ships", which is said to be "this summer, although no specific date was given." It's also noted that "Half-Life 1 is also ported over to the Source engine and will be available at the same time as when Half-Life 2 ships." Elsewhere, Steampowered.com has announced that Codename Gordon is being released 'soon' for PC via Steam, Valve Software's "broadband platform for direct software delivery and content management." Codename Gordon, as previously covered on Slashdot, is an initially fan-created, Metal Slug-inspired game that "...takes players through dozens of levels inspired by Half-Life and Half-Life 2, challenges players to a slew of puzzles, and showcases many of the familiar creatures in an all new, 2 dimensional playing field." But is the previous assertion that "the game gets out 100% before HL2" still true? The race is on. Update: 05/12 22:31 GMT by S : Slightly more important Half-Life 2 news added.

daitengu writes "After almost a year and a half of 'It'll be out soon', Valve Software has finally released Counter-Strike: Condition Zero. It is available on Steam for the low-low price of $29.95 or, rumor has it, you'll be able to buy it in stores today or tomorrow. Counter-Strike is the world's most popular online First Person shooter, and Condition Zero brings updated maps, skins, and graphics to the game, as well as a single-player mode. It also brings what some reviews have claimed as one of the best AI they've seen." The submitter continues: "If this game was released 9 months to a year ago like Valve was promising, I may have invested the $30 or $40 to buy it. Now, however, It's just not worth it to me." Does CS:CZ pique your interest at all?

Thanks to Planet Half-Life for reprinting a note from Gabe Newell discussing the latest changes and survey results regarding Valve's Steam 'content delivery system'. He compares the recently mentioned hardware survey to an earlier one, mentioning: "There's lots of interesting info, for example Windows 98/Windows ME users going from 62.8% down to 8.25%." Newell also discusses the code debugging innovations that Steam is now providing: "We've been able to increase the level and speed of our Steam upgrades by direct reporting of client bugs back through Steam. If a Steam client reports a problem, we can replicate it on our machines and jump directly to the line of code in our debugger", before ending by revealing that the much-delayed Counter-Strike: Condition Zero is now available for pre-order via Steam.

Thanks to Planet Half-Life for reprinting a note from Gabe Newell discussing the latest changes and survey results regarding Valve's Steam 'content delivery system'. He compares the recently mentioned hardware survey to an earlier one, mentioning: "There's lots of interesting info, for example Windows 98/Windows ME users going from 62.8% down to 8.25%." Newell also discusses the code debugging innovations that Steam is now providing: "We've been able to increase the level and speed of our Steam upgrades by direct reporting of client bugs back through Steam. If a Steam client reports a problem, we can replicate it on our machines and jump directly to the line of code in our debugger", before ending by revealing that the much-delayed Counter-Strike: Condition Zero is now available for pre-order via Steam.

majestik writes "Valve Software today sent out a Half-Life 2 hardware survey via their Steam content delivery app to over 270,000 gamers (and counting!), collecting various hardware and software information about their PC systems to see how they'll measure up to the forthcoming FPS. Lotsa interesting data to check out, if you ever wanted to know what kind of systems today's FPS gamers use. And yes, if you're wondering, right now Intel takes 50.02% of the CPU market, leaving AMD with 49.98%." The stats are updated in real-time, and it seems this update has again stressed the Steam servers, with a message noting "the Steam network has been overloaded, causing many Steam users to be unable to login", though the effect is reportedly diminishing.

majestik writes "Valve Software today sent out a Half-Life 2 hardware survey via their Steam content delivery app to over 270,000 gamers (and counting!), collecting various hardware and software information about their PC systems to see how they'll measure up to the forthcoming FPS. Lotsa interesting data to check out, if you ever wanted to know what kind of systems today's FPS gamers use. And yes, if you're wondering, right now Intel takes 50.02% of the CPU market, leaving AMD with 49.98%." The stats are updated in real-time, and it seems this update has again stressed the Steam servers, with a message noting "the Steam network has been overloaded, causing many Steam users to be unable to login", though the effect is reportedly diminishing.

majestik writes "Valve Software today sent out a Half-Life 2 hardware survey via their Steam content delivery app to over 270,000 gamers (and counting!), collecting various hardware and software information about their PC systems to see how they'll measure up to the forthcoming FPS. Lotsa interesting data to check out, if you ever wanted to know what kind of systems today's FPS gamers use. And yes, if you're wondering, right now Intel takes 50.02% of the CPU market, leaving AMD with 49.98%." The stats are updated in real-time, and it seems this update has again stressed the Steam servers, with a message noting "the Steam network has been overloaded, causing many Steam users to be unable to login", though the effect is reportedly diminishing.

AstroDrabb writes "WineX 3.3 has been released, with more impressive support for your favorite Windows games from within Linux. According to the Release Notes, Valve's Steam content delivery system, including the latest versions of Half-Life, CounterStrike, Day of Defeat and other mods, is now supported. The list of games supported by WineX is getting pretty impressive. So head over to Transgaming and sign up for a subscription to help further development."

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to the official Natural Selection page, where V3.0 Beta of the Half-Life mod "hybrid first-person/real-time strategy game" is now available. According to the page, changes include 10 new maps, as well as the addition of Natural Selection: Combat, a "...new fast and furious gameplay mode focusing on intense action. Combat games generally last less than ten minutes, and require very little knowledge to play." The mod can now be played using the add-on's "official Steam support", and will be "...listed under the 'My Games' section (not as a 3rd-party mod)", a laudable achievement for the Natural Selection developers, who've also implemented vital "skulk prediction fixes" for this update.