Archive for the ‘PC’ Category

Do you remember the awe you felt first firing up Half-Life 2 in 2004? Now fire it up in 2010. It’s more like “aawwww”. Flat textures, dull lighting. It’s a shame! What this game needs, then, is a makeover.

A makeover like the one provided by Filip Victor. It adds HDR lighting, new models, new textures, an upgrade to the Orange Box engine (Valve performed their own tweaks for the 2007 re-release of the game on Xbox 360) and even some new Steam achievements to the ageing PC version of the original Half-Life 2.

You can see examples of the improvements made in the clip above (though be advised, you’ll want to kill the sound). If you like what you see, you can find instructions on how to download the mod below.

Hl2 Pc Achivements & HDR Released [Steam, via Rock, Paper, Shotgun]






In November, we reported that Eric Ruth Games was creating a Nintendo Entertainment System-style Left 4 Dead “de-make” for January. Guess what? It’s January. And the game is now available for free download for PCs. Here’s a description of the game from Eric Ruth’s official site: Pixel Force: Left 4 Dead is a retro de-make [...]

Fans of StarCraft's Protoss may not have to wait until 2011—or later—to get their hands on the teleporting, psionic blade-wielding alien race. The Protoss will apparently get their own mini-campaign in the first part of StarCraft II‘s trilogy.

While we weren’t expecting to take control of the Protoss in anything but multiplayer until StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void shipped, looks like we’re getting a small taste of the faction’s single-player action this year.

A Blizzard employee writes on the official Battle.net forums “there will be a Protoss mini-campaign that lets you control Protoss units” in StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, the Terran third of the campaign.

“This part of the campaign mode is of course way shorter than the Terran part, but it is very fun to have a very different playstyle to add even more variety to the game,” wrote the Blizzard Europe RTS Community Team member.

Just don’t expect it to go too far beyond “mini.”

“That being said, the Protoss mini-campaign will not prepare you for the multiplayer as Protoss, you won’t be using all units or getting to know buildings and upgrades,” indicated the Blizzard staffer. There go my dreams of moving to Korea and going pro, mini-campaign! Thanks for nothing.

Protoss short campaign in Wings of Liberty [Battle.net via Joystiq]






window.google_analytics_uacct = “UA-2281360-3″; Authoring tools and a player software package that will allow for the creation and play of custom Left 4 Dead 2 campaigns for the PC were released Wednesday by Valve. Players wanting to play home-grown campaigns will need to install a sizable update (available via Steam under the Tools heading) in order [...]

window.google_analytics_uacct = “UA-2281360-3″; Bohemia Interactive, creators of Operation Flashpoint and ArmA, are working on a remake of the classic Carrier Command. Things had been pretty quiet on that front, but then we got these new screens.

If the weather outside is frightful, there’s a good chance Victor Fries is out there somewhere. Sony Online Entertainment reveals the DC Universe Online look for one of Batman’s most tragic villains, and I’m not even counting the movie appearance. Cryogenecist Victor Fries dedicates his life to saving his wife Nora from a rare disease, [...]

Totilo’s shining BioShock 2 preview was big on words, but where were the images? Here are the images, and they are just as lovely and enthralling as the experience Mr. Totlio describes. I’m getting chills already, and these are merely still images from 2K’s upcoming sequel. I can only imagine what stumbling across these scenes [...]

“Zombies in the south”. Simple premise, but sometimes even a simple premise needs a little visual representation before it becomes real. Cue Left 4 Dead 2′s concept art.

Nokia 3G Booklet

In: PC

24 Aug 2009

Balance is a crucial thing for Valve when it comes to Team Fortress. Get a map wrong and there’ll be emails, petitions…hell to pay. Thankfully, most maps get it right! Here’s how they’re made!

Valve have released a couple of videos showing the evolution of a Team Fortress 2 map (Viaduct), from planning to completion, as the team tinkers with not just the look of the map, but the layout and design as well.

The clips are accompanied by an interesting run-down courtesy of Valve’s Corey Peters, which basically boils down to: we do a lot more work getting these maps right than any of you have probably ever realised.

This point ain’t gonna cap itself! [Team Fortress 2]