Portal 2 co-op gameplay video from PAX 2010

Posted by Chris Holmes at 10:03pm on September 3rd, 2010

Some kind folk have uploaded a 9 minute long gameplay video of Portal 2’s co-op mode from PAX. It shows off some interesting portal mechanics and the ability to tag your environment to tell your co-op partner where you would like a portal. Have a watch:

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Ubisoft announces Bloody Good Time

Posted by Chris Holmes at 1:14pm on September 3rd, 2010

Ubisoft has announced Bloody Good Time for the Xbox Live Arcade and Steam (PC). The game is a multiplayer shooter running on Valve’s Source engine. Essentially, the Bloody Good Time puts players on a Hollywood set and lets them decide what they want to do. It supports up to eight players and features lots of weird and wacky weapons like frying pans and explosive remote-controlled rats amongst usual gun fare. A release date is yet to be announced.

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Chime coming to PC via Steam

Posted by Chris Holmes at 5:22pm on August 26th, 2010

OneBigGame have today announced that Chime (developed by Zoe Mode) will be released on Steam for the PC at the “end of this summer”. A proper date hasn’t been confirmed yet. The game was released on the Xbox Live Arcade earlier this year, and 100% of proceeds from that (between February 1st and June 1st) went to OneBigGame. 5% of the purchase price of royalties for the PC version will also be donated to OneBigGame. The PC version will also include “Still Alive”, the famous end-song of Portal.

“We are very pleased with Chime’s performance on Xbox LIVE Arcade for Xbox 360 and want to thank Zoe Mode for their creativity and generosity,” said Martin de Ronde, Director of OneBigGame. “The game has proven to be a great fund-raiser, a quality game in its own right and possibly the basis for a unique, new franchise for Zoe Mode beyond our exclusivity period.”

Read the rest of this story »

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Alien Swarm update released

Posted by Chris Holmes at 1:19pm on August 25th, 2010

Valve has released an update for its free co-op shooter Alien Swarm. The update adds an “Onslaught” mode, which features a Left 4 Dead-esque AI Director. The director will dynamically generate swarms of aliens based on several factors, like the squad’s stress level. The update also delivers a brutal difficulty setting and a “Hardcore Friendly Fire” setting.

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New DLC for Left 4 Dead 1 and 2 confirmed

Posted by Chris Holmes at 12:04pm on August 23rd, 2010

Valve has announced a new downloadable campaign for Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2. The DLC is entitled “The Sacrifice”, and includes three maps. It’s due to be released on 5th October for 560 Allards on the 360 (PC and Mac users will get it for free). The Sacrifice lets you play as the characters from the first game and reveals how the survivors from each game met during the past DLC campaign (The Passing).

Players will be able to decide which member of their team will permanently die at the end of the chapter. Valve will also be bringing the No Mercy campaign to the sequel. Previously, that one was exclusive to the original.

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Portal 2 GamesCom gameplay trailer is full of Merchant

Posted by Chris Holmes at 1:03pm on August 19th, 2010

One cool cat has posted an off-camera recording of Portal 2’s GamesCom gameplay trailer. The recording definitely shows that Wheatley’s voice has changed from the first trailer, thanks to Stephen Merchant taking on the role of the personality core. The video is nine minutes long, so grab a brew and watch it here:

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Ubisoft ditching their DRM for R.U.S.E.

Posted by Chris Holmes at 2:03pm on August 12th, 2010

Ubisoft has confirmed that they will be getting rid of their dodgy digital rights management system, at least with the PC version of R.U.S.E. Instead, the game will use Valve’s Steamworks API. Basically, that means players need to have a Steam account and internet connection in order to activate the game. Ubisoft’s current PC DRM system requires players to be online all the time, which doesn’t seem to be impressing consumers.

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Plants vs. Zombies GOTY Edition released

Posted by Chris Holmes at 10:25pm on August 10th, 2010

Valve and PopCap Games have today announced a Game of the Year Edition of Plants vs. Zombies is now available to download on Steam. The GOTY Edition adds support for Steam Cloud, which allows players to save and access saved games from any computer. It also adds the Zombatar, which gives players the ability to add their own custom zombie creations straight into the game.

PC versions of the original game of Steam will be updated to include these new features. The game was also released on the Mac today via Steam with both Steam Cloud and Steam Achievements. PC gamers can use Steam Play to play the game on any Mac now too.

“Delivering Plants vs. Zombies via Steam helped us reach a tremendous audience for the game,” said Ron Powers, VP of Product Management at PopCap. “Adding Steam Cloud functionality to the game allows us to increase the value of the title to existing and new customers. In addition, with the title support Steam Play for cross platform play, it seemed the timing was perfect for adding Steam Cloud support.”

Mac | News | PC | PopCap Games | Steam | Valve

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Mafia II demo released

Posted by Chris Holmes at 1:55pm on August 10th, 2010

2K Games has finally released a demo for Mafia II on the PlayStation Store, Xbox Live Marketplace, Steam and other PC download places. The demo includes only one level, entitled “Buzzsaw” and seems to have a time limit of 10 minutes outside the mission. We’ve just played the 360 version and while the controls are a bit awkward, it seems to be good. The presentation is quite nice and the cutscenes seemed to be quite solid. The full game will be released on August 24th in North America and August 27th everywhere else.

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Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light to launch without online co-op

Posted by Chris Holmes at 1:29pm on August 9th, 2010

Square Enix has confirmed that Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light will be released on the Xbox Live Arcade without its online modes (online co-op, leaderboards and voice chat). They will be patched in at the same time as the PC and PSN versions are released on 28th September. The game will be released on 18th August in a one-month timed exclusive deal.

Apparently, five downloadable content packs will be released for the game between October and December on all platforms. The first three DLC packs will add “new puzzle, exploration and combat experiences and new areas to explore”. The last two will add some new playable “well-known videogame characters”.

Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light will set you back 1200 Allards on the Xbox Live Arcade and $14.99 on the PlayStation Network and Steam.

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Worms Reloaded dated

Posted by Chris Holmes at 2:29pm on July 30th, 2010

Team17 has announced that PC title Worms Reloaded will be released on 26th August 2010. It has almost been 10 years since the last 2D Worms PC game apparently, with the series having sold 25 million copies over its 15 year lifespan.

“Worms Reloaded has been a labour of love for the team given the legacy of 2D PC Worms™ titles such as Worms 2, Worms Armageddon etc. It has been almost 10 years since the last 2D game was released on personal computers”, said Martyn Brown, Business Development Director at Team17.  “In bringing Worms Reloaded to PC, we’ve  reintroduced so much of what gamers loved about the good old days, and it’s fitting that it is also the first Worms game we’ve self-published since the early games. We are very much looking forward to supporting the game through the community on Steam as well as our own Facebook page.”

Worms Reloaded has over 60 single player missions (including new Warzone Campaign and Bodycount Mode), alongside a landscape creator, 45+ weapons from the entire Worms series and a currency based customisation system. It’s also in HD, allegedly. If you pre-order the game from Steam, you can get 10% off and 24 hour early access to the game as well as some exclusive in-game items.

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Left 4 Dead 2 PC update released

Posted by Chris Holmes at 1:35pm on July 29th, 2010

Valve has released an update for the PC version of Left 4 Dead 2. The update aims to stop players rage quitting, something which we never deemed fixable. Valve is starting to respond to what players what fixing, after the company requested them to give them feedback.

Chargers and Tanks have been tweaked in Versus mode, with the scoring being changed for the Charger to encourage them to play properly. Tanks get an invisible stasis when they spawn, so they can’t be set on fire instantly by trolling human players.

Valve has also tweaked friendly fire in both Versus and Co-op. Bullets that go through an infected before hitting a Survivor do not count as friendly fire anymore apparently.

News | PC | Steam | Valve

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Valve unbans Steam Modern Warfare 2 gamers

Posted by Chris Holmes at 1:19am on July 28th, 2010

Valve has unbanned over 12,000 Steam accounts from accessing Modern Warfare 2 for the PC after gamers were mistakenly banned from playing thanks to their over-zealous anti-cheating software. The software was randomly banning normal gamers seemingly at random.

Valve head-honcho Gabe Newell has sent an email to all the affected users. He apologised and explained the situation to everyone and gave them all copies of Left 4 Dead 2 for free. What’s more, folks will have additional copies to hand out to a friend.

“The problem was that Steam would fail a signature check between the disk version of a DLL and a latent memory version,” said Newell. “This was caused by a combination of conditions occurring while Steam was updating the disk image of a game.”

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Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days shipping with Steamworks

Posted by Chris Holmes at 6:34pm on July 26th, 2010

Square Enix and Valve have announced that Steamworks will be a part of the PC version of Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days. Expect to see Steamworks-based stuff such as auto-updating, matchmaking, Steam Achievements, Stats and Leaderboards. If you pre-purchase the game today on Steam, you’ll get 10% off. The game will be released on August 17th in North America, August 20th in Europe and August 26th in Japan for the PC, 360 and PS3.

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Mafia II shipping with Steamworks

Posted by Chris Holmes at 9:40pm on July 21st, 2010

Valve and 2K Games have today announced that Mafia II’s PC release will ship with Steamworks. Apparently it will have features such as auto-updating, Steam Achievements, statistics, downloadable content and more. Customers who pre-order any edition of Mafia II through digital retailers (including Steam) will be given a free digital copy of the original Mafia game that they can play right now.

“Using Steamworks to power Mafia II has been a great benefit for 2K Games and our development team,” said Christoph Hartmann, president of 2K. “It’s meant that we can spend more time creating content and a great experience for our customers because we know that Steam and Steamworks are enabling these important features within the game.”

“Mafia II is joining Sid Meier’s Civilization® V as the next title to use Steamworks from 2K Games,” said Gabe Newell, President of Valve. “Our focus for Steam is on building services that create value for our customers and for creators, and Mafia II, with its all-new game engine and inclusion of Steamworks, is a great example of that.”

Mafia II will be released in North America on August 24th and internationally on August 27th on the PC, PS3 and 360.

2K Games | News | PC | Steam | Valve

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