Tag Archives: valve

Review – Portal 2: Peer Review

Portal 2: Peer Review

You may remember that a few months back, a little game called ‘Portal 2’ was released. It was no big deal or anything, just a sequel to an enormous cult success of a side-project game, which was only very slightly hyped up before release, so that a handful of people would be aware of it and maybe buy it later on. Of course – in true GLaDOS spirit – I’m lying, and it was one of the most cleverly hyped up games I have ever committed my wallet to. So naturally, when we finished that game, we did a review-thingy of the robotty co-op mode. Now, several months later, we’ve got round to trying out the brand new – and free! – Peer Review DLC, and spent roughly three hours completing the brain-melting puzzles that came with it.

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Learn with Portals

Oh Valve, what crazy awesome things will you do next? Some lucky school kids got to visit Valve HQ to learn about “spatial awareness” and “physics”, when really all they were doing is building cool Portal maps. It’s part of Valve’s new plan of helping educate children in a more engaging way or something. I’ve always thought one of the best ways to get kids to focus on boring and complicated subjects like science and maths is if somehow they were presented in game form, but its not something we see taken remotely seriously very often. Click below to see a video of some of the luckiest little sods…

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DOTA 2 – Live Tournament at Gamescom

There isn’t a single in-game trailer or screenshot available for DOTA 2, Valve’s sequel to the Warcraft 3 mod Defense of the Ancients. Yet, remarkably, they are showing the game off publically for the first time by hosting a huge tournament for it. For the next few days, you can watch the action live, right here. There’s also a CGI trailer out, which I’ve embedded below.

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Counter Strike: Global Offensive Announced

Valve have unveiled a new game, and it isn’t Half Life 3, Left 4 Dead 3, Team Fortress 3 or Portal 3. No, it’s Counter Strike 3. This is going to be huge. Read More ››

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Steam Summer Sale is Here!

That’s right kids, it’s time to spend all your money on cheap games at the Steam Summer Sale! Paul and I picked the wrong time to make a “No-New-Games Pact”. Steam has a habit of having the most absurd sales on the web, and this one seems to be no exception. Theres a load load of new and old games ranging from every genre you can imagine. Portal 2 for 20 quid stands out for me. Lots of good indie games going for cheap too. Happy spending! Read More ››

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Team Fortress 2 – Now FREE to Play

Team Fortress just went Free-to-Play. Forever. If you’ve never played the ultra-violent cartoon shooter before, now you have absolutely no reason not to. My Steam profile claims I’ve poured over 40 hours into this, but I know its at least double that in reality because I was there from the very first beta. I’ve seen it evolve from the beginning, with constant free updates which have added new maps, new weapons and yes, hats… it really is amazing how much Valve have added to the game over the years and now its available completely free. Also, Meet the Medic below.

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Portal 2 Co-op Discussion

Portal 2 came out a few weeks ago, after the gloriously frustrating, exciting, confusing and ridiculous ARG involving potatoes, Paul and I did what any self-respecting gamer would do. Yes, we set our pc’s up in a dark room, loaded up with snacks and LAN’d it up. We played through the entirety of the co-op mode and have gathered our thoughts. Here’s a clue: we liked it.

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Motherf- Portal 2 remains locked… for now.

Fuckers

Those sneaky bastards! Well, we waited with immense anticipation for today’s countdown timer on Aperturescience.com to hit 00:00:00, and most of the world – including ourselves – thought it would mean the early release of Portal 2. Sadly, we were massively mistaken, and the timer actually led us to let another timer. Good grief! Could Valve toy with us anymore?!

Anyway, the timer it led us to now is significantly more interesting, as it appears to be a page devoted to getting as many people playing a select handful of games, and gaining as many achievements as possible before the official release of Portal 2 on Steam next Tuesday. If the quota is met, then we seem to be promised an actual early release, instead of the fake one that we all believed was coming. Another suggestion has been that what is really being asked of us is that we merely play the games in one large coordinated effort, filling up the red meters on the new page, to produce enough fictional power to allow Portal 2 to release early.

Whatever the hell we need to be doing, we’re certainly going to put in some time on any of the required games that we currently own. Read More ››

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Portal 2 releasing early…

Aperture Countdown

… or so we hope! Something exciting is happening, and we really, really, really, really, really hope it’s that Portal 2 is releasing early. There’s speculation online at the moment, because this counter from the end of the recent ARG (Alternate Reality Game) to do with Portal 2’s upcoming release is highly suspicious. We have our fingers crossed for some really great news. We’ll be absolutely certain to post it here as soon as we know more! Read More ››

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Aperture Science Investment Ads

*edit*: Portal 2 will have a worldwide release on Steam – Tuesday 19th April 2011. The retail release date is slightly staggered, being Tuesday for North America, but Europe has to inexplicably wait ’til Thursday. Looks like Steam is the way to go.

PORTAL 2 IS OUT NEXT WEEK!

Ahem… If you’ve got Portal 2 pre-ordered on Steam, feel free to begin pre-loading it right now. If you do, it means you’ll be able to play the second it gets unlocked, which will be Thursday in the UK/Europe, or Tuesday night if you’re lucky enough to live in America. Damn yanks. Anyway, Valve have been making some hilarious Aperture Science ‘Investment Ads’ over the last couple of weeks, and they’re embedded below.

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Portal 2 Comic – Lab Rat

This is fantastic. In the buildup to Portal 2’s release, Valve have released some highly amusing Aperture Science videos (check back later for more on these…) as well as a new comic. Lab Rat uncovers some great little details regarding the plot to both Portal games and has a bunch of answers to some questions you might have had about the first game. Check it out over here, like, now. Read More ››

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Half Life 3 announced

It is a glorious day. After years of delays, speculation and anticipation, Valve have officially announced Half Life 3. Gordon Freeman has been absent from gaming for far too long, but he’s finally returning. We all knew it was coming, but until now we’ve had no information and not even a single screenshot to gawp at, but overnight that has all changed. Read on for all the details.

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