Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Valve offers Steam functions for free

In a bold move to further establish Steam as the de facto PC gaming service, Valve has unveiled SteamWorks, a "complete suite of publishing tools" they're releasing to the PC development community at large for free ... as in no money. What exactly comprises said suite?

Real-time stats on everything from sales (seeya NPD!) to gameplay (charts are fun); encryption tied to product activation (piracy-b-gone); territory control "to help curb gray market"; auto updating to keep your games up-to-date; voice chat for the eloquent discussion of gameplay elements while playing online; matchmaking support, ala Counter-Strike and TF2; "social networking services" like achievements, avatars, etc.; and fancy development tools for things like QA and play testing.

Sure sounds like a lot, right? Devs can pick and choose at will, without giving the fine folks at Valve dollar one so, instead of reinventing the wheel, they can get down to the busy work of making fun games.
Valve shares SteamWorks toolset with PC development world
Valve Unveils Steamworks
Steamworks

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Oblivion Lost (mod)

This mod wants to get closer to the old Oblivion Lost, and give the best performance what is possible, with using the 3 best mod features: Total Freeplay, Modified A-Life, and Reality Enhancement.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Oblivion Lost (by Kanyhalos)
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Oblivion Lost (by OLP Team)

Top 5 Game-Inspired Music Videos

Top 5 Game-Inspired Music Videos
Paul Robertson - The birth of Starman
Pirate Baby's Cabana Battle Street Fight 2006

Eve Online on Steam with free 21-day trial

CCP's MMO EVE Online has had it's FSP. Fair share of problems. Sorry. From breaking PCs to breaking player's hearts, 2007 was one long line of bad press for the space-based multiplayer romp. So they need new players! A clean slate! Which is why they're offering a free 21-day trial for the game on Valve's Steam platform, as well as offering a discounted subscription rate to anyone who signs up for the game through this deal. This makes it a bargain for anyone looking for three free weeks of online sci-fi gaming, while also making it the first ever MMO to be made available over Steam.
EVE Online Trial Available On Steam

Quake Wars and Call of Duty 4 SDK's released

Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
Hot on the heels of the 1.4 game update comes the final version of the Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars Software Development Kit! There are a number of improvements and fixes in this version that you can find neatly documented and formatted after clicking the "read more" link below. In addition to the SDK itself, there's also the MegaTexture Media Pack, which anyone looking to create custom MegaTextures will find incredibly useful.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
The download weighs in at over 600MB but includes everything required to make custom levels, models and mods for the game.

To assist all you budding modmakers out there Infinity Ward has also created a 'Community Wiki' with documentation and tutorials to help you get started.

The Mod Tools do not work in Windows Vista, although it is reported that some people have successfully run them in Windows XP Compatibility Mode.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Fox News plays Mass Effect... "Special Edition"

Politician plays Mass Effect... "Special Edition"

Martial Arts skill +3


Last Thursday, I tried some Wushu. Last Sunday, there was this showreel of different arts/sports as shown in the movie, and yesterday I tried Shorinjikempo, which were the art that was the most fun and impressed me the most.

But that combined with floorball today, volleyball tomorrow, and the next Shorinjikempo training on Thursday, will result in one sore geek. Please feel free to share your sympathy with me in the comments.

Monday, January 21, 2008

Activision Blizzard becomes bigger than EA

Activision today announced that they were the number one U.S. publisher for calendar 2007, according to the NPD Group. The company's market share was 17.7 percent, an impressive 7.2 percent increase over the same period last year. The NPD Group further reports that Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare were the number one and three best-selling titles respectively in dollars across all platforms.

"For the first time in our history, we were the #1 U.S. publisher for the calendar year," commented Robert Kotick, Chairman and CEO, Activision. "We are well on our way to delivering sixteen years of record revenue growth and by far our most profitable year ever."
NPD Results Crown Activision No. 1

Dwarf Fortress graphic tileset package

Dwarf Fortress graphic tileset package
Fully interactive, persistent and dynamic world

Battlefield Heroes to be released for free

In a major departure from its traditional business model, E.A. plans to announce Monday that it is developing a new installment in its hit Battlefield series that will be distributed on the Internet as a free download.

Rather than being sold at retail, the game is meant to generate revenue through advertising and small in-game transactions that allow players to spend a few dollars on new outfits, weapons and other virtual gear.
The Video Game May Be Free, but to Be a Winner Can Cost Money

Sunday, January 20, 2008

The Top 12 'Still Alive' Cover Versions

The Top 12 'Still Alive' Cover Versions

It's the occasional poser time again!

Just fueling my narcissism...
Music puts me to sleep aswell
The occasional poser time!
Haircut'tu
Sun Burn
Who is Dopefish now?
Pure Pwnage 10 made me a poser

Dopefish and Syselkitna do Stockholm - Part 3

Dopefish and Syselkitna do Stockholm
Dopefish and Syselkitna do Stockholm - Part 2

A random picture of Andrei

Just a random picture of Andrei chilling it out in my office, testing the game. Hope you'll be able to meet up with us at Avalanche Game Developer Evening, on Thursday, February 7th.

Cooking skill +/- 2

I made a new record this time with cooking for other people, by preparing food for a total of 7 (incl. me). Although, everything went well and tasted fine, I think I shouldn't try to make a macaroni stew with 1kg macaroni and 4l of milk again, since it's pretty hard to get it boiling without getting the result depictured below: