Half Life Junkie

Check them out over at VALVe.

Tomorrow at 11 am PST all PC versions of Team Fortress 2, the class-based multiplayer action game named PC Game of the Year by Gamespy.com, will receive its largest update since the product was first made available on October 10, 2007, as part of Valve’s best-selling Orange Box compilation.

The free update includes global optimizations for networking, graphics, and player statistics, plus improvements to Source TV for tournament viewing.

In addition, three of the currently available maps (Dustbowl, Granary, CTF_Well) have been iterated for enhanced performance and gameplay.

The release is headlined by the introduction of “Badlands,” a new map that pushes control-point gameplay onto vertical landscapes.

Available free to all Team Fortress 2 PC gamers around the world automatically via Steam, there are too many features and improvements included in this update to list here. To view the full release notes and/or find out more about Team Fortress 2, please visit www.steamgames.com.

A select piece from the interview, make certain to check it out in full:

GFW: Granted, there’s a lot more to Half-Life’s story than who and what the G-Man is, but it seems that the longer those questions go unanswered, the less likely you’ll be able to answer them to everyone’s satisfaction.

GN: We have some good answers. I totally recognize, though, that you can’t become excessively cautious and fearful that the reason people are interested in what’s happening is the mystery. Because that just means you’re avoiding the ongoing problem of telling new stories and creating new characters. I think people are worried, like, what happens if we kill off characters? I was just responding to an e-mail from a fan who had this idea that somehow we could bring Eli Vance back, and I was like, “No, he’s dead!” He really is dead. People die in this universe; it’s not a kids’ TV show where the cast of characters is static, and what can happen to them is constrained by the fact that customers are able to view the TV shows out of order, right? Which is a horrible constraint to put on TV writers. That’s something we’ve never had to deal with.

GFW: How far in advance did you decide Eli’s fate?

GN: A pretty long time. There’s a difference between plot points and character arcs and other decisions that we make about set-pieces and weapons, which tend to be plastic, as opposed to story stuff, which we need to work out in order to build toward conclusions and a sense of closure. It’s a lot easier to produce smaller stories like Portal.

GFW: Are you interested in producing more stories of Portal’s sort?

GN: The interesting thing about Portal is that we know who the protagonist, Chell, is, and we’d already planned that character’s part in something that occurs later. With Portal, we sort of opportunistically said, “Oh, she fits in here. This makes sense.

Valve, creators of best-selling game franchises (such as Half-Life and Counter-Strike) and leading technologies (such as Steam and Source), today announce Steamworks, a complete suite of publishing and development tools – ranging from copy protection to social networking services to server browsing – is now available free of charge to developers and publishers worldwide.

Steamworks, the same suite of tools used in best-selling PC titles Half-Life 2 and The Orange Box, is available for all PC games distributed via retail and leading online platforms such as Steam. The services included in Steamworks may be used a la carte or in any combination.

Specifically, Steamworks offers:

• Real-time stats on sales, gameplay, and product activation: Know exactly how well your title is selling before the charts are released. Find out how much of your game is being played. Login into your Steamworks account pages and view up to the hour information regarding worldwide product activations and player data.

• State of the art encryption system: Stop paying to have your game pirated before it’s released. Steamworks takes anti-piracy to a new level with strong encryption that keeps your game locked until the moment it is released.
• Territory/version control: The key-based authentication provided in Steamworks also provides territory/version controls to help curb gray market importing and deliver territory-specific content to any given country or region.
• Auto updating: Insures all customers are playing the latest and greatest version of your games.
• Voice chat: Available for use both in and out of game.
• Multiplayer matchmaking: Steamworks offers you all the multiplayer backend and matchmaking services that have been created to support Counter-Strike and Team Fortress 2, the most played action games in the world.
• Social networking services: With support for achievements, leaderboards, and avatars, Steamworks allows you to give your gamers as many rewards as you would like, plus support for tracking the world’s best professional and amateur players of your game.
• Development tools: Steamworks allows you to administer private betas which can be updated multiple times each day. Also includes data collection tools for QA, play testing, and usability studies.

“Developers and publishers are spending more and more time and money cobbling together all the tools and backend systems needed to build and launch a successful title in today’s market,” said Gabe Newell, president of Valve. “Steamworks puts all those tools and systems together in one free package, liberating publishers and developers to concentrate on the game instead of the plumbing.”

“As more developers and publishers have embraced Steam as a leading digital distribution channel, we’ve heard a growing number of inquiries regarding the availability of the platform’s services and tools,” said Jason Holtman, director business development at Valve. “Offering Steamworks is part of our ongoing efforts to support the needs of game developers and our publishing partners.”

Steam is a leading platform for the delivery and management of PC games and digital content. With over 13 million active accounts and more than 250 games, plus hundreds of movie files and game demos available, Steam has become a frequent destination for millions of gamers around the world.

For more information regarding Steamworks, please visit www.steamgames.com/steamworks.

As reported at ShackNews:

January 29, 2008 – Valve, creators of best-selling game franchises (such as Half-Life and Counter-Strike) and leading technologies (such as Steam and Source), today announce Steamworks, a complete suite of publishing and development tools – ranging from copy protection to social networking services to server browsing – is now available free of charge to developers and publishers worldwide.

Steamworks, the same suite of tools used in best-selling PC titles Half-Life 2 and The Orange Box, is available for all PC games distributed via retail and leading online platforms such as Steam. The services included in Steamworks may be used a la carte or in any combination.

Specifically, Steamworks offers:

* Real-time stats on sales, gameplay, and product activation: Know exactly how well your title is selling before the charts are released. Find out how much of your game is being played. Login into your Steamworks account pages and view up to the hour information regarding worldwide product activations and player data.

* State of the art encryption system: Stop paying to have your game pirated before it’s released. Steamworks takes anti-piracy to a new level with strong encryption that keeps your game locked until the moment it is released.

* Territory/version control: The key-based authentication provided in Steamworks also provides territory/version controls to help curb gray market importing and deliver territory-specific content to any given country or region.

* Auto updating: Insures all customers are playing the latest and greatest version of your games.

* Voice chat: Available for use both in and out of game.

* Multiplayer matchmaking: Steamworks offers you all the multiplayer backend and matchmaking services that have been created to support Counter-Strike and Team Fortress 2, the most played action games in the world.

* Social networking services: With support for achievements, leaderboards, and avatars, Steamworks allows you to give your gamers as many rewards as you would like, plus support for tracking the world’s best professional and amateur players of your game.

* Development tools: Steamworks allows you to administer private betas which can be updated multiple times each day. Also includes data collection tools for QA, play testing, and usability studies.

“Developers and publishers are spending more and more time and money cobbling together all the tools and backend systems needed to build and launch a successful title in today’s market,” said Gabe Newell, president of Valve. “Steamworks puts all those tools and systems together in one free package, liberating publishers and developers to concentrate on the game instead of the plumbing.”

“As more developers and publishers have embraced Steam as a leading digital distribution channel, we’ve heard a growing number of inquiries regarding the availability of the platform’s services and tools,” said Jason Holtman, director business development at Valve. “Offering Steamworks is part of our ongoing efforts to support the needs of game developers and our publishing partners.”

Steam is a leading platform for the delivery and management of PC games and digital content. With over 13 million active accounts and more than 250 games, plus hundreds of movie files and game demos available, Steam has become a frequent destination for millions of gamers around the world.

For more information regarding Steamworks, please visit www.steamgames.com/steamworks.

As reported at The Steam website, for $9.95:

Embark on a musical odyssey spanning the shades of the Orange! Featuring 19 original compositions, the official soundtrack to the Orange Box delivers troop-rallying anthems of Team Fortress 2; the rich, textural soundtracks of Half-Life 2: Episodes One and Two, and Portal’s atmosphere, sometimes temperamental, electronica.

As a special bonus, the CD features two versions of Janathan Coulton’s “Still Alive”: the in-game mix featuring Ellen McLain as the voice of GlaDOS and Coulton’s vocal mix, an exclusive track unavailable anywhere else.

Valve today revealed that it has tapped the songwriting talents of Jonathon Coulton, computer programmer turned modern day rock star, for a surprise single to be included in its massive multi-platform game offering, The Orange Box.

The original cut to be included in The Orange Box was co-authored by Coulton and the Valve design team/fans who specifically solicited Coulton to help produce the surprise single.

Coulton is known for his witty pop songs referencing subjects like science fiction, math and video games as well as his fiercely loyal following online. After quitting his day job as a computer programmer, Jonathan created “Thing a Week” where he wrote one new song every week and posted it to his website which quickly turned into over 500,000 downloads from his website. “I am delighted the Valve design team selected me to help make the surprise single a success. If it’s not every geek’s dream to be immortalized in a video game, it was mine,” said Jonathan.

Slated for release on the PC and Xbox 360 on October 10, The Orange Box features three highly-awaited new games by Valve: Half-Life® 2: Episode Two, the second installment in the Half-Life 2 episodic trilogy; Team Fortress® 2, the sequel to the game that put class-based, multiplayer team warfare on the map; and Portal, the game that blends puzzles, first person action, and adventure gaming to produce an experience like no other.

In addition, to bring gamers up to date with the Half-Life 2 universe, The Orange Box also includes Half-Life 2, the best-selling and highest-rated action game series of all time, and the episodic debut Half-Life® 2: Episode One.

The Orange Box will have a suggested retail price of $49.95 on the PC, and $59.95 on the Xbox® 360 and Playstation® 3 console systems. A 10% pre-purchase discount is currently being offered at participating retailers and via Steamgames.com.

For more information about The Orange Box, please visit www.steamgames.com.

For more information about Jonathon Coulton, please visit www.jonathancoulton.com.

Valve today announced that those who pre-purchase the PC edition of The Orange Box at Amazon and GoGamer before October 10th will save 10% off the regular price and gain access to the beta version of Team Fortress 2 for the PC. This pre-purchase program is also available at GameStop and via Steamgames.com.

The Orange Box has earned the coveted “Must Buy” Award and scored 94% in PC Gamer’s October cover review. Available October 10th, The Orange Box includes Half-Life® 2: Episode Two, the second installment in the Half-Life 2 episodic trilogy; Team Fortress® 2, the sequel to the game that put class-based, multiplayer team warfare on the map; and Portal, the game that blends puzzles, first person action, and adventure gaming to produce an experience like no other.

To bring gamers up to date with the Half-Life 2 universe, The Orange Box also includes Half-Life 2 and Half-Life® 2: Episode One.

Starting immediately, those who pre-purchase The Orange Box for PC at any of these retail outlets in the US will receive a key-code and instructions to download and activate the beta release of Team Fortress 2 from Steam. The beta will conclude with the release of The Orange Box on October 10th.

The Orange Box will have a suggested retail price of $49.95 on the PC and $59.95 on the Xbox® 360 and Playstation® 3 console systems. The 10% pre-purchase discount also applies to all three versions at participating retail outlets.

For more information about The Orange Box, please visit www.steamgames.com.