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Archived News:
Steam News
has details on Half-Life 2: Episode Two, as well as the official announcement of
the news ( story) that TeamFortress 2 will be the multiplayer
component in the next installment in the episodic expansion and more on Portal:
Bellevue, WA, July 14, 2006 - Valve®, developer of the blockbuster series
Half-Life® and Counter-StrikeTM, unveiled Team Fortress® 2 and Portal, two new
games to be included in its next release, Half-Life® 2: Episode Two. In
addition, the studio announced its plans to deliver these products, plus
enhanced versions of Half-Life 2 and Episode One, in one tremendous package for
the PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
"By evolving our development process to an episodic approach, we're able to
reduce risk from things such as schedule and funding and invest more in new
types of gameplay," said Gabe Newell, president and co-founder of Valve. "This
allows us to produce innovative titles such as Portal and Team Fortress 2 and
deliver them in a timely fashion to customers along with Episode Two."
Episode Two advances the 16-million unit selling franchise, as Valve's trilogy
of episodic single player releases continues the award-winning story of
Half-Life 2. Armed with new weaponry and vehicles, Dr. Gordon Freeman must race
through a countryside riddled with an increasingly fierce Combine threat.
Team Fortress 2, an all-new version of the title that spawned team based
multiplayer action games, features the most advanced graphics of any
Source-based game released to date. Players choose from a range of unique
character classes such as medic, spy, sniper, or engineer and must work together
to complete a variety of tactical objectives.
Portal is a new type of single player game that changes how players approach,
manipulate, and surmise the possibilities in a given environment in a manner
similar to how the Gravity Gun changed our approach to how an object may be
leveraged in any given situation.
Team Fortress 2 and Portal will be included with all retail and Steam versions
of Episode Two for the PC. In addition, these products plus Half-Life 2 and
Episode One will be available in one tremendous offering for the PC, Xbox 360
and PlayStation 3. New videos from Episode Two, Portal, and Team Fortress 2 will
be released next week.
The EA Games Forums
now offer a new beta version 1.4 patch for Battlefield 2. As with the prior
beta, there are instructions on how to safeguard your non-beta installation
should you choose to venture into these uncharted waters. Thanks Chris.
MadMinute Games
now offers downloads of new patches for the English and German editions of Take
Command - 2nd Manassas, updating the Civil War sequel to version 2.51. In
addition to all the fixes in the game's first patch, the new update adds new
commands, new hot keys, a new line of sight method, along with additional bug
fixes.
The
Pro Cycling Manager Forums have the release of a new patch for Pro Cycling
Manager 2006 bringing the sports management simulation to version 1.0.0.3. The
patch notes list the same changes as the recent beta patch
( story). Thanks Frans.
A new Panzer Elite Action: Dunes of War demo offers the opportunity to test
drive Zootfly's upcoming standalone armored combat expansion. The demo offers a
single-player mission set in Tunisia. The download is available on
3D Downloads, 3D
Gamers,
Boomtown (registration required),
FileFront, Gamer's Hell,
Internode Games Network, and
Strategy Informer.
The Project Gray
Company Website (thanks Frans) confirms our speculation that their secretive
RPG is indeed the just announced ( story) The Lord of the Rings:
The White Council. The update offers a little insider perspective on the
project. Also, the site's Developer's Corner section now offers a new video
diary from Chris Tremmel.
- Maelstrom
The
Maelstrom Q&A on FiringSquad discusses the upcoming science fiction RTS
game with Codemasters' Carl Johnson: "The game is set on Earth in the year
2050, following a cataclysmic global nuclear war, which kicked off
widespread ecological disasters and resulted in two groups of people
struggling for Earth’s dwindling recourses. To make matters worse aliens
have invaded who plan on using the planet as a breeding ground – they are
polluting and flooding the environment to get rid of the pesky humans. The
storyline involves a complex struggle for survival, and you get to look at
it from all sides, not just the heroic rebels."
- Demis Hassabis
The
Demis
Hassabis Q&A Part Two on Computer and Video Games concludes their
conversation, getting on to what he is up to at the moment: "Basically I'm
doing various things at the moment, and currently concentrating on some
neuro-science research. I'm looking at doing some experiments at UCL to see
how autobiographical memory works in the human mind - which is memory for
everyday life events. It's the condition that's covered in the film Memento.
It's fascinating because we don't understand very well how the mind supports
this memory, which basically constructs who we are."
DIRECTV and IGN Change the Face of Televised Sports. The Championship Gaming
Invitational will be taped July 21-22 to air in August on DIRECTV.
Titan Quest
Walkthrough on GameBanshee offers a detailed guide to Iron Lore's
action/RPG.
- Acer Aspire 9410 Notebook on
BIOS.
- Aerocool PowerWatch Front Panel on
ThinkComputers.
- Antec SOLO Case on
Bjorn3d.
- AVerMedia AverTV Purity 3D MCE 250 Video Card on
HTPCnews.
- Biostar TForce 6100 Video Card on
OverClock
Intelligence Agency.
- ECS KA3-MVP Extreme Motherboard on
Motherboards.org.
- Foxconn WinFast 6100K8MA-RS Motherboard on
Hardware Secrets.
- Gear Grip LCD Harness on
Hardware-Review.net.
- Intel Core 2 Extreme & Core 2 Duo CPUs on
AnandTech,
bit-tech.net,
Bytesector,
Gamepyre,
GotFrag,
Hardware Secrets,
Hot Hardware,
Legion Hardware,
Legit Reviews,
MADSHRIMPS,
Overclockers
Australia,
SimHQ,
t-break,
The Tech
Report,
TrustedReviews, and
TweakTown.
- OCZ 2GB PC2-8000 Titanium Alpha VX2 RAM on
Techgage.
- Thecus N5200 NAS Appliance on
HEXUS.net.
- Ultra MicroFly Micro ATX Case on
3dGameMan.
I got myself a new Logitech G15 Keyboard with the snazzy LCD (oops, wrote LED at first, sorry) screen and all. I
was a little worried at first that the extra macro keys down the left of the
keyboard would throw me off, but they've been easy to get used to. In fact, what
may be hard to get used to is working on keyboards without them, as I have
already programmed a couple of useful macros. My only quibble is that the
fold-out legs to tilt the keyboard don't tilt it very much, and they are sort of
flimsy to boot. I think tilting is bad ergonomics, and it's almost like they are
trying to discourage it. All in all, probably the best keyboard I've owned (with
the possible exception of the old feature-free 20 lb IBM clicky-key models).
R.I.P.: Comedian
Red Buttons Dies at 87 (registration required). He had a hit show and an Oscar, but never got a
dinner! Also,
Alan Kotok,
designer of the first video game controller, dies at 64.
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