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Half-Life fan film 'Escape From City 17' concludes
It's been a few years since we last heard from the Purchase brothers, co-creators of the "Escape From City 17" live-action short. The duo makes the wait worth our while, however, with this thrice-as-long sequel to their original 2009 Half-Life fan film.
Fan created Half-Life trailer's animation is out of this world
A six-week labor of love, this fan-made trailer for the original Half-Life is a thing of beauty. If the first-person animation work doesn't impress you, then we're pretty sure you've got a crab where your head used to be.
Half Life: Portal to Black Mesa parody makes fun of Freeman
Ever wonder what Valve's Half Life would be like with fewer headcrabs and a little more humor? YouTube comedy duo mikeNgary promise to show you just that in the parody Half Life: Portal to Black Mesa, for which you can see the first trailer here.
Portal 2 preview: the first five minutes
Spoiler Alert! The headline should make it pretty clear: the following is a detailed recap of the introductory moments of the game. Only click past the break if you want to know how the story begins.
Beyond Black Mesa short film is live and incredible
It's finally here! After over two years of work, a small group of indie filmmakers have released Beyond Black Mesa, a twelve-minute short film set in the Half-Life universe. If you're a fan of the series, you've got to tune in after the jump. (If you're not a fan, what's wrong with you?)
Portal gun to be auctioned off for Child's Play charity
The Portal gun. If you've been alive over the past year and change, you know exactly what we're talking about. We can safely say our lives were changed after spending a few good minutes with Harrison Krix's handmade replica in 2009, and soon you'll have the golden opportunity to know exactly what we mean. Krix has constructed a new Portal gun, one that's arguably more bodacious than ever, and there's only one way to get it: outbid the Bro Montana next to you on December 7th. A Child's Play Charity event auction will be held on that fateful day in Seattle, and it'll be the one and only opportunity to have the pink slip transferred to you. Of course, monies received from the auction will benefit Child's Play (a gaming industry charity dedicated to improving the lives of children with toys and games in a network of over 60 hospitals worldwide), and the bragging rights afforded to the winner will be fairly epic in scope. Head on past the break for a video of what's up for grabs.
Beyond Black Mesa trailer makes us mesa our pants
Earlier this year we got our first glimpse at fan-created Half-Life film "Beyond Black Mesa" ... and it made us kinda freak out. Knowing that more was coming, you'd think we'd have prepared ourselves, but we couldn't have been ready for the sheer excitement that resulted from watching the latest trailer -- it picked up our expectations for the film with a gravity gun and fired them into space, in so many words. Beyond the fact that the action is blistering and the feeling of Half-Life's world is spot-on, Gordon Freeman's infamous crowbar makes an appearance. Sure, we realize it's a bit bizarre to have our heart rates increase after briefly glimpsing a crowbar, but, well ... okay, we don't have a logical explanation. We just love Gordon Freeman. How could you not?!
Half-Life 2 Headcrab Zombie figure pre-orders open Oct. 4
Some people like coffee when they need a pick-me-up, some people like a snack -- heck, some people do sit-ups. But, for a select few, only mortal fear can motivate. So don't judge anybody who may be interested in pre-ordering Gaming Heads' Crabhead figurine on October 4, okay?
Video game characters need business cards too
Getting in touch with heroes can be difficult. Typically, they only bother to roll out of bed and show up when something goes really wrong.
Steam arrives for the Mac with 57 games in tow, all your PC using friends are really happy for you
Thanks to Valve, Mac users can finally claim to own a "gaming rig" without resorting to Boot Camp or causing PC gamers to burst into laughter. Sure, you're still going to be better off cost-for-pixel-crunching with a mid-range PC desktop than anything Apple offers, but for a MacBook Pro user looking to get in a few frags during lunch, the arrival of Steam for Mac is probably the best news they've heard this year -- and luckily that Source engine isn't too hard on older hardware. Mostly the same crop of games that were available to beta testers are available in the final product, with Portal and Team Fortress 2 standing atop the heap (Portal's even free for a limited time!), while Half-Life and Left 4 Dead remain notably absent. Check out Joystiq if you want a full breakdown of the games, including a few of the highlights, we have... um, some stuff to do. You know, boring work stuff. You probably wouldn't be interested. Hit that source link for the download. Update: We're not seeing Team Fortress 2, and we're not getting an option for picking up the Mac version of Civ IV, even though it's a "Steam Play" title. The free Portal download isn't working either, but at least we're relatively certain that it will at some point.
Gaming Heads to create lineup of collectibles based on Valve properties
It's as if millions of wallets cried out and were suddenly silenced, stripped of their precious cash money and left hollowed out and dead. We imagine that ringing in our ears has something to do with Valve and Gaming Heads, who just inked a deal to produce a line-up of collectibles based on hit Valve franchises. Pictured above is The Heavy, which will be the first in its Team Fortress 2 series -- available in Red and Blue varieties, of course. Gaming Heads will also produce statues based on other popular Valve properties, such as Half-Life 2 and Left 4 Dead 2. And if some decorative shelf or desk items aren't really your thing, there's the promise of "life-sized props," meaning there's a possibility you could actually own a Portal gun without having to make it yourself sometime in the future. Just imagine: you'll be the hit of the Halloween party! The Heavy will be available for pre-order on Monday, May 3. [Via Team Fortress 2 Blog]
Steam for Mac beta set for May 12
Steam for the Mac has been given a date: May 12th. We were hoping to see it by the time April ended, but they've pushed back the date to just a few scant weeks from today. So come the second Wednesday in May, you the public will be able to go and pick up the beta and see what the biggest digital distribution system in the world looks like running native on your Mac. Keep in mind that you'll have to have an Intel Mac running 10.5 or higher (and you might even need a more current OS for some of the games on the system), and of course this is the Steam platform, not all of the games along with it. But at the very least, the official Valve games will be Mac-ported, including the Half Life and Left 4 Dead series, and the very excellent Portal. Should be fun!
Newell intent on 'scaring' players with next Half-Life
In a recent interview with CVG, Valve head honcho Gabe Newell responded to questions about the mood of future Half-Life installments with a decidedly spooky answer. "I feel like we've gotten away from genuinely scaring the player more than I'd like, and it's something we need to think about, in addition to broadening the emotional palette we can draw on," Newell explained. While he's probably referring to intense encounters like the the zombified village of Ravenholm from Half-Life 2, we personally can't think of a scarier development for the franchise than a loose 2015 release window for the franchise's next entry.
Valve's viral plot thickens with Portal blue screen of death
Even though Portal 2 has been officially announced, it seems the clever Alternate Reality Game which gave it impetus hasn't yet come to a complete stop. Shortly after accepting a Pioneer Award at the Game Developers Choice Awards in San Francisco on Thursday evening, Valve boss Gabe Newell launched into a slideshow detailing the company's expectations of future trends, only to have it "crash" to a blue error screen. The final slide was meant to answer several infamous Valve mysteries -- Who is the G-Man? Why doesn't Valve support the PlayStation 3? -- and perhaps it did in some obfuscated way. According to seasoned ARG sleuths (posting on the Penny Arcade forums), the error code above can be read as: "S U S : P E N D ... U N T ( I ) L ... E E E." Suspend until E3? It wouldn't be surprising to see Portal 2 at this year's E3 expo, which will run in Los Angeles from June 15 to 17, but if the above decryption is accurate Valve may have additional plans to unfurl (possibly including the long-awaited Half-Life 2: Episode 3). [Thanks, Wince]
Valve confirms Mac support for Steam and Source Engine
In today's completely shocking and unexpected bit of news, Valve has announced Mac support for its Steam digital distribution platform and Source -- the engine that powers Half-Life 2, amongst others. In fact, Portal 2 will be Valve's first simultaneous release across PC and Mac. "Steamworks for the Mac supports all of the Steamworks APIs, and we have added a new feature, called Steam Play, which allows customers who purchase the product for the Mac or Windows to play on the other platform free of charge," said Valve's Jason Holtman. "For example, Steam Play, in combination with the Steam Cloud, allows a gamer playing on their work PC to go home and pick up playing the same game at the same point on their home Mac. We expect most developers and publishers to take advantage of Steam Play." If that doesn't get you all kinds of giddy, then you may just be dead inside. Steam and Valve's lineup of games (including "including Left 4 Dead 2, Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike, Portal, and the Half-Life series") will be available to Mac users this April, but from here on out, simultaneous cross-platform releases should be the norm. "Checking in code produces a PC build and Mac build at the same time, automatically, so the two platforms are perfectly in lock-step," said Josh Weier, project lead on Portal 2. "We're always playing a native version on the Mac right alongside the PC. This makes it very easy for us and for anyone using Source to do game development for the Mac." So, who's got the champagne and noise makers? %Gallery-87236%
Valve teases Apple announcement of ... something [update]
We'd love to outright confirm that "OMG, yes, Steam is finally coming to Mac!" but that'd be a lie. Truth is, of the five images that Valve sent out to a handful of outlets (as seen in our gallery below) – each one depicting characters from separate Valve games in some form of faux Mac advertisement (from Half-Life to Left 4 Dead and everything in between) – none provide ironclad confirmation of our suspicion that the developer is likely porting Steam over to OS X. That said, given the presence of six dots at the bottom of each of the five images we've seen so far, suggesting an iTunes-like image gallery with six images, we're hoping for an actual news release in the not-too-distant future ... possibly via that sixth image. For now, we've put in a call to Valve and will be speculating wildly in the meantime. Check out the five screens so far in the gallery below and get to the speculating with us, won't you? Update: Valve kindly sent over the last image, which unfortunately doesn't "OMG confirmed!" our guesses. It is, however, the coolest (fake) ad yet. %Gallery-87236% [Thanks, Joe K]
Valve teases a Mac release of Half-Life, Portal, Team Fortress 2
Even I was dubious about the rumor the other day of Steam coming to the Mac, but now here's something straight from Valve hinting that it might actually happen. MacRumors got an image of Half-Life's Gordon Freeman via email... with an Apple logo on his chest. MacNN got another picture, this one showing turrets from Portal and Team Fortress 2 parodying the "I'm a Mac" ads. And Shacknews got a third, with the Heavy from TF2 eating a sandwich shaped like an Apple logo in a parody of the iPod dancing ads. Oh Lordy. Looks like Valve is planning to make a Mac announcement, and while it might not be quite as far-reaching as bringing the whole platform over, they might as well start with all of their blockbuster games. It's also possible that this is related to the secret message hunt going on the PC version of Portal, which itself seemed to be hinting at an announcement of Portal 2 or even the long-awaited Half-Life 3. Whatever the announcement, it looks like Valve will have something to tell us at GDC next week. I'll be there with ears open -- if we hear that Valve is bringing some or all of their catalog to our platform, you'll be the first to know. Update: Our game-obsessed friends at Joystiq have gotten copies of five of the images (there appear to be six total, according to the dots on the image above), and you can see them all in the gallery below. The rest of the images show the Steam platform itself, and Francis from Left 4 Dead. Awesome. Update 2: Looks like Macworld got the last image. You hurt us, Valve. But we still love you anyway -- how can we not after seeing that "rest of us" ad parody for Steam below? Gallery: Valve Mac faux ads
Game Informer: No Half-Life 2: Episode 3 for you in 2010
Now this is just demoralizing. According to a report in the rumors section of the Feb. 2010 issue of Game Informer (which doesn't name its source) there won't be "any game from the [Half-Life] franchise in 2010." As if that weren't crushing enough, the magazine says it's not even sure there will be a Half-Life 2: Episode 3, postulating that the next Gordon Freeman adventure might be Half-Life 3 proper. Alright, listen, Half-Life: You take as long as you need, but we know you're holding Portal 2 in there somewhere. Just let GLaDOS go unharmed and you can develop until 2020 for all we care. Please, if not for us, think of the preteens waiting to record painful cover versions of "I'm Still Alive (Again)" on YouTube.
Crysis and Street Fighter IV round out today's Steam deals
Despite discounting games as part of its ongoing holiday sale event, Valve has seen fit to offer even more games at reduced prices, this time flipping the switch on massive discounts for triple-A titles like Street Fighter IV, which can be yours for $10, and Crysis Maximum Edition -- a bundle of Crysis and Crysis Warhead -- for under $14. That's not all, as your hard-earned greenbacks can also net you cheap digital copies of Medieval II: Total War, Half-Life: Source and Shattered Horizon -- though we'd be remiss if we didn't point out the very tempting combo of Darwinia and Multiwinia, both of which can be yours for $3.
Ico developer digs Half-Life 2, interested in making 'first-person games'
Though the Japanese aren't exactly known for their love affair with first-person shooters, Team Ico director Fumito Ueda can name at least one that he digs: Half-Life 2. Speaking to G4TV (through a translator), Ueda named the Valve-developed sequel when asked which games he has had an emotional reaction to."There was variation in terms [of] locations and also [in] the way of storytelling in the game. Usually, you have to incorporate storytelling with constraints, but the way [Valve] implemented constraints was something different that I enjoyed, compared to other games," observed Ueda. He's even considered making his own first-person game at some point, stating, "I have an interest in making first-person games."If Ueda's previous development cycle lengths are any indication, we tentatively expect to see a Ueda-developed first-person game by 2025 or so ... at the earliest. [Image credit: jeriaska]
