Change list:

• Fixed mouse problems on some systems
• Improved performance
• Improved graphics driver compatibility
• Added "30 fps"e; option

Source Continue reading Swarm Arena Updated →

Since our recent TF2maps.net Art Pass Contest, our level designers have gone back to their default state at the TF2 offices, which is to say, doing nothing, taking naps, eating lunch, and complaining. This has become a bit of a poison pill for the rest of the TF2 team, all of whom possess strong opinions about working (against it), naps (pro), lunches (very pro) and complaining (big fans).

As part of the fallout, this morning the writing team refused to do their work for the month, which was to write today’s blog post and name some hats. At first we weren’t terribly concerned—partly because most of the team wasn’t even aware the game had writing in it, but mostly because everybody here, unlike the writers, knows how to perform a skill AND write words. (Here’s a pro-tip for you youngsters: Build your career on a skill that isn’t something five-year-olds can do.)

But then someone pointed out that, even though writing’s incredibly easy work, it’s still technically work. So we reached into our comprehensive bag of solutions, and pulled out our well-worn one-trick pony: Community Contest Time!

Fans have been mailing us for some time now, asking for a contest that didn’t involve modeling or level design. So now they get their wish. That’s right: you’ll be competing over who can describe hats the best. Introducing the first ever TF2 Hat Describing Contest. In it, you can compete with other fans to write fictional missives about the glory of your favorite TF2 hat, with the prize of getting your words right into TF2 itself. The text will show up in the item descriptions, so it should be short and fun. Check out the FAQ for the full breakdown.

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You probably thought we were done for the day too, but we’ve barely started this blog post. The fine folks over at Team 17 are about to release Worms Reloaded this week. Being massive fans of their work, all the way back to the original Alien Breed, we thought it’d be fun to do something with them. So, we approached them and politely asked if we could include an iconic element of their game in TF2. The conversation was going swimmingly until they said that the best item to use would be the Holy Hand Grenade. We shuffled our feet and nervously explained that some soon-to-be-fired idiot had removed all of TF2’s grenades.

But luckily, we were saved by our own shoddy workmanship. While we removed grenades from the game during early development, we left two of them dangling on the front of the Soldier as a teasing reminder of what once was. So, to celebrate the release, we’re going to give a nifty Soldier visual update to anyone who buys Worms Reloaded before Thursday, September 2nd, allowing him to sport two Holy Hand Grenades and a new Soldier helmet. Here’s what it looks like in-game:

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Finally, a couple of quick competitive notes:

• At 11am PST on Thursday, September 2nd, we’re going to embarrass ourselves in front of the world by playing in an exhibition Highlander match. Six Valve TF2 members are going to join six pros and 6 pub players for a match that will be filled with triumph and heartbreak, most likely a lot of cheating, and maybe even some TF2. LaroLaro has created a nifty poster for the event, because winning the Polycount contest wasn’t enough for him.

• The Electronic Sports League’s Season VI Signups are up. Members of their team have also helped us track down a variety of client exploits and file hacking tomfoolery over the years, so give them a hug for us.

Source Continue reading The healing is not as rewarding as the hurting! →

Be scared. Be prepared. Another zombie apocalypse is quickly approaching from the zombie masterminds at Capcom. DEAD RISING® 2, sequel to the critically acclaimed original, is now available for Pre-Purchase.

Dead Rising 2 takes the zombie survival horror to Fortune City, America’s latest and greatest entertainment playground. Featuring a new story, two online multiplayer modes (2-player co-op campaign and a 4-player “TV show” themed Pay-Per-View event that pits humans against zombies), thousands of on-screen zombies and more, Dead Rising 2 takes zombie survival horror to a whole new level.

As Chuck Greene, you have 72 hours to save your infected daughter, clear your name and survive the hordes of hungry zombies before the military comes in and nukes the city. To ensure your survival, you can combine everyday objects to create numerous deadly combo weapons and slaughter the ravenous zombies. Dead Rising 2, it’s where Creativity Kills.

Source Continue reading Pre-Purchase Now: DEAD RISING® 2 →

Now available in North America, Mafia II and Mafia II Digital Deluxe. The release of Mafia II to the rest of the world will be Aug 27th at 12:00am GMT.

Quickly escalate up the family ladder with crimes of larger reward, status and consequence? the life as a wise guy isn’t quite as untouchable as it seems.

Source Continue reading New Release – Mafia II →

Since release, we’ve received a ton of feedback and feature requests from the Alien Swarm community. The most requested additions are more variety and greater difficulty.

With that in mind, we’ve added “Onslaught” mode, which introduces an AI Director that dynamically generates swarms of aliens based on several factors, such as the squad’s stress level. Onslaught works with any difficulty setting and ensures no mission plays the same way twice.

Speaking of difficulty, we’ve also added a “Brutal” difficulty level for those of you who told us “Insane” wasn’t insane enough. How brutal is Brutal? Nobody on the Alien Swarm team has managed to complete a mission on it.

If for some crazy reason Brutal is still too easy for you, there’s now a “Hardcore Friendly Fire” toggle. When enabled, friendly fire deals full damage immediately, flamethrowers set teammates on fire much faster, and turrets will hurt you if get caught in their crossfire. Coordinating movement and firing lines becomes an even more integral part of the game. HCFF truly tests your team’s ability to work together as an elite squad.

Finally, to reward the most dedicated players, we’ve added 3 new IAF Promotion Ranks: Platinum Star, Osmium Star, and the coveted Iridium Medallion.
Source Continue reading Alien Swarm Adds AI Director, New Difficulty →

Demolition Company is now available On Steam and 15% off until 8/27/2010.

In a city where buildings are constructed as rapidly as they are torn down again, you get to take control of an emerging demolition company. A multitude of missions lead you to various demolition sites in different districts of the city.

Source Continue reading Now Available – Demolition Company →

As usual, the results of this month’s Steam Hardware Survey have been collected, processed, and published, creating a useful cross-section of the overall community’s installed computer equipment. Thanks to all of you who chose to participate, sharing your system information with us! We mentioned recently that as of July the survey collects a list of participants’ installed software as well, and so it is now the Steam Hardware and Software Survey.

Valve has a long history of collecting statistics through our products and then sharing that information with the community (and whoever else will listen.) We use this kind of information to improve our games and services as much as we can, and we’ve heard from others in the software industry who also consider these reports to be invaluable. So this month, we’ve posted the software results online alongside the hardware information. There’s some pretty interesting information in there, and there’s more on the way as we continue to refine our data queries. Have a look and let us know what you think.
Source Continue reading Survey Results Are In! →

Now available on Steam, City of Heroes Going Rogue Complete Collection.

Complete Collection Includes:

* Access to the full City of Heroes® and City of Villains® games via downloadable client.
* Access to the full City of Heroes Going Rogue™ expansion via downloadable client.
* One month of game time. Activation with a valid credit card or game time card is required.
* Exclusive in-game item: City of Heroes Going Rogue: Complete Collection Item Pack.

Source Continue reading New Release – City of Heroes Going Rogue Complete Collection →

Week 18: Last Man on Earth Returns!, Bill?, Favorite Mutation

Last Man On Earth Returns

You will become legend to the infected as the last human left.

You are the only Survivor left in the world. No split screen help. No Survivor bots. But don’t worry you aren’t entirely alone. While there are no common Infected, Special Infected will hunt you down and become close, close friends with you.

This Mutation is available in Single Player Mode.

Bill?

Last week we asked if you had a guess to how Bill dies. We won’t be giving away the answer yet, you will have to wait for the final chapter of the comic for that. Until then, here are your guesses by platform:

PC

28% Killed by Tank

24% Overrun by Zombies

20% Friendly Fire

16% Old Age

12% Killed by Witch

xBox 360

29% Killed by Tank

25% Overrun by Zombies

17% Old Age

16% Friendly Fire

13% Killed by Witch

Favorite Mutation?

While we still have more mutations to come, we are going to cycle through the first group for a few weeks. Excluding Realism Versus and Last Man On Earth, out of your previous favorites, which ones would you like to see come back?

To vote in this week’s poll use the in-game blog.

Next week’s Mutation? ????
Source Continue reading Week 18 →

Get the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Bundle at 75% OFF now through August 23rd, 2010 10AM (PDT).

The bundle includes critically acclaimed S.T.A.L.K.E.R. – Shadow of Chernobyl and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Call of Pripyat.

Source Continue reading Weekend Deal – 75% OFF on S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Bundle →

• First, we’ve finally got the TF2 Community Submitted Avatar Gallery up, containing the thousands of avatars that you fine folks have submitted to the TF2 Contribute page. If you find a submission you like, all you need to do is click on the link below it to switch your steam avatar over to it. There’s a ridiculous number of great avatars in there, so we’re sure you’ll find something to your liking.

• Second, we love eXTV’s latest video, an Intro to Competitive TF2. It’s an awesome primer on competitive TF2’s terminology, class usage, and common strategies.

Source Continue reading Two Quick Notes →

Arcania: Gothic 4 is now available for pre-purchase as part of The Arcania Bundle (bundle includes Arcania: Gothic 4 and Gothic 3). Pre-purchase before release and start playing Gothic 3 right away!

Source Continue reading Arcania: Gothic 4 Available For Pre-Purchase →

Valve Welcomes paysafecard to Steam

Valve today announced that Steam, a leading worldwide platform for PC and Mac games, has added paysafecard to its collection of payment options for customers in many European countries. In celebration, customers who spend 20? / ?20 on Steam using paysafecard will receive a free copy of Portal™, the ground-breaking title that earned over 40 Game of the Year Awards, when they shop before August 25th.

Supported countries include: Austria, Belgium, The Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and The United Kingdom.

The addition of paysafecard makes it easier than ever to purchase and play any of the 1,200-plus games available via Steam from leading publishers and developers around the world.

For more information about this promotional offer, please visit www.steamgames.com/paysafecard.

About paysafecard group
The paysafecard group, founded in 2000 in Austria and Germany, operate in 25 countries worldwide with offices in Vienna, London, Bern and Buenos Aires. With their successful online prepaid vouchers, the group have established themselves as Europe’s leading provider for prepaid payment solutions. In 2009 the group won awards for being the ‘Leading Prepaid Organisation’ and the ‘Best Prepaid Company outside USA.’ For more information, please visit www.paysafecard.com.
Source Continue reading Use Paysafecard on Steam and Receive a Free Copy of Portal →