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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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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Portal 2 dated, now includes Stephen Merchant

Posted by Chris Holmes at 5:23pm on August 18th, 2010

Valve has announced that Portal 2 will be released on February 9th 2011 in North America. The company also confirmed that Stephen Merchant will be a voice actor in the game. He will be playing Wheatley, a friendly personality core robot. Portal 2 is coming to the PS3, 360, PC and Mac. We’ll let you know about a UK date as soon as Valve tells us (or someone else). Some previously released gameplay footage shows off Wheatley rabbiting on a bit, but we never guessed he was the work of funny man Merchant. Either he’s putting on a good accent or Valve has decided to replace the voice actor of the personality core from the below video. Have a ponder yourself:

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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.”

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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.

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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.

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Valve releasing Alien Swarm for free

Posted by Chris Holmes at 12:29pm on July 19th, 2010

Valve has announced that they will be releasing Alien Swarm for free today on Steam. The game is a four player co-op top down shooter. It’s a new version of a mod for Unreal Tournament 2004, from the very same developers: Black Cat Games. Said developers are now employed by Valve and have gone on to remake Alien Swarm in the Source engine. The game comes with the complete game code and mod tools so you can muck about with it. Normal gamers can expect free achievements and Aliens, apparently.

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Team Fortress 2 Engineer update released

Posted by Chris Holmes at 12:15pm on July 9th, 2010

Valve has released the Engineer update for Team Fortress 2. The update includes new maps, achievements, items, weapons and some other bits and pieces.  Engineers can get their hands on some interesting new gadgets, including a new shotgun and the ability to control sentry guns directly, amongst others.

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Team Fortress 2 engineer update coming this week

Posted by Chris Holmes at 1:17pm on July 6th, 2010

Valve has confirmed that the long-awaited Engineer update for Team Fortress 2 will be released this Thursday (8th July). The official Engineer update page showcases some teaser artwork, Australium and a brand new Engineer shotgun. It’s called the Frontier Justice, and has a smaller magazine. It doesn’t get random critical hits, with critical hits now being based on sentry kills instead. The update will be hitting the PC and Mac versions of the game, with console owners being left out in the cold.

Mac | News | PC | Steam | Valve

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