Just wanted to let you know that Valve decided to give away Left 4 Dead 2 for free today on steam (PC):
http://store.steampowered.com/app/550/?snr=1_7_7_151_150_1
It is a great shooter, that is especially fun while playing with friends in co-op mode.
Merry Christmas everyone and enjoy this great game.
A new Humble Bundle, the Humble Origin Bundle has been available for a while and will be over in 12 hours. don’t miss out on the great games.
This is a way to give to charity and get great games (or the other way around). Basically you can determine how much you give and you can even specify who should receive which amount of your donation. You can read more about the concept and other bundles in a previous blog post.
It’s also good to note that ALL proceedings will be going to charity. Even though Electronic Arts (EA) has been criticized a lot in the past, this is a great thing they’re doing.
The Humble Origin Bundle contains the following steam redeemable games:
To give you an idea what these games look like, take a look at this YouTube video:
Make sure to visit the website and don’t wait too long:
https://www.humblebundle.com/
Ever since Half-Life on the PC came out in 1998 I’ve been a big fan of the Valve franchises Half-Life, Counter-Strike, Left4Dead, Portal, Team Fortress and DOTA.
In my opinion, Valve is also the best game company in the world. I feel this way because:
So when Valve released the level editor for Portal 2 about a year ago, I couldn’t wait to create my own level. Even though the level editor is really straightforward and simple, it took me quite a while to create the level (mainly to test and prevent players from taking unintended shortcuts).
To map I created is called “TAG recruits survival test” and is a tribute to my old Half-Life Deathmatch clan called The Assassins Guild (TAG). To give you an idea of the map I uploaded a quick tour video to YouTube:
The map can be downloaded from steam: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=72096196.If you’ve played my map, please leave a comment.
I really liked making the map, but because it takes a lot of time I don’t know if and when I’ll make a new map. Luckily many other people have been creating content and at the time of writing 263,886 maps have already been created. My friend Bart Fuchs also made a map you might want to check out called: cubed laser.
Ever since I’ve been young I enjoyed playing pinball, both physical ones and virtual ones on PC and consoles.
One of the in my opinion better pinball games is Pinball FX (2) / Zen Pinball (2). At first these games were only available on consoles. Afterwards they also became available for Mac, smartphones and tablets. And with the release of Windows 8 it was also for PC/Windows tablet through the Windows 8 store. Now it is also available for PC gamers without Windows 8 through Steam with the free table called Sorcerer’s Lair:
Additional tables cost about 3 euros from the Dutch Steam store, but prices may vary depending on where you’re from and which platform you’re using.
I personally prefer Pinball FX2 on steam instead over the Windows 8 store version because:
Even though Pinball FX is a great game, there are still some things I’d like to see improved:
I hope you enjoy the game. If you’re interested to see a compilation of available pinball tables on all platforms, take a look at this video:
Even though charity is about giving and not getting, it is nice to get something as well. This is exactly what several people thought as well.
Most of the times:
(One of) the first bundles with this concept was the Indie Humblebundle and they have just released their latest bundle: Humble Indie Bundle 6 which in my opinion contains the best games I’ve seen in a bundle yet:
The Humble Indie Bundle 6 contains the following games:
PS: Even though it’s not in the Humble Indie Bundle, Torchlight 2 is coming out tomorrow as well. It is fairly priced (especially in a 4-pack), looks promising and will include modding options (expect a lot of fan made content).
Besides the Indie Humble Bundle, there are more bundles available. Not all of them involve charity and not all of them allow you to set your own price. But it might be interesting to check some of them:
http://indiegamebundle.wikia.com/wiki/Indie_Game_Bundle_Wiki
First of all, for those who don’t know Half-Life, Half-Life was created by valve (which is responsible for the steam platform) and is one of the best games ever. It was released in 1998 and paved the way for many community made mods and maps like by example Counter-Strike and Day of Defeat. After Half-Life, some expansions were made and also Half-Life 2 and Half-Life 2 : Episode 1 and 2 have been released. Since Episode 2 in 2007, people have been waiting for a new installment in the Half-Life series, but nothing has been announced yet.
So if you’ve missed out on Half-Life, there’s still hope for you. Because now you will be able to play a re-imaged version called Black Mesa Source which is made by fans on the source engine. Also if you need something to pass the time while waiting for a new Half-Life game, this might help.
Check these screenshots to see the differences or check the video below:
Black Mesa itself is free, but because it is created on the Half-Life 2 source engine you do have to install the Source SDK Base 2007. The reason I’m saying that Black Mesa has been released partly is because this release will only includes the game up until Lambda Core. Even though this will give users a solid 8 to 10 hours of gameplay, if you haven’t played the original Half-Life I would suggest you wait until all levels are released so you can play through the complete game in one go.
Another crucial part (at least for me) that is missing, is the multiplayer. In Half-Life 1 I’ve spent countless hours playing Half-Life Deathmatch and I was not bad at it. What I liked about it, where the multi-level maps with lots of routes, freedom and flexbility This combined with innovative guns and high speeds resulted in addictive gameplay (and high telephone bills because there was no unlimited broadband back then).
Black Mesa Source is currently only downloadable from their website, but I expect it to be available soon on steam as well through the Steam Greenlight program. If you want to see more screenshots made by users, check out steam.
If you want to show your appreciation towards the fans who developed this great re-imagination or discuss some things, please visit their twitter, facebook or website.
If you want to see what other Dutch people think about Black Mesa, or if you want to leave your own comments, I suggest you go to this thread about Black Mesa on the Dutch forum gathering.tweakers.net.
Have a great weekend.
blog.bjornhouben.com 