Current events

Pirates, Vikings, and Knights II - Beta release

1 Jan, 2007: PVKII has hit the web, picking up the shards from it's HL1 predecessor, twisting and turning them to create leaner, meaner and prettier non-historically accurate action than ever before. Pitting nimble Pirates, powerful Knights and mighty Vikings against each other on the HL2 engine, PVKII features an innovative melee combat system, nearly 100% custom content and a complete lack of ninjas, designed to be all that its predecessor was, and more!

• Official site with screenshots, videos and download links

Poke646: Vendetta released

21 Dec: Five years on, the sequel to the acclaimed Poke646 single-player mod has been released - combining cryptic puzzles, fierce combat and stunning audio and visuals, all running on the ancient yet versatile engine from the original Half-Life game. If the original Poke646 could have been described as Half-Life's swan song, then Vendetta is a startlingly clear voice from beyond the grave - showing that good design and artistry can more than overcome any technological hurdles placed in their path!

• Official site with screenshots, videos and download links

Garry's Mod 10 Going on Sale Wed. Nov. 29

28 Nov: Garry has announced at his blog that Garry's Mod 10 will be released tommorow on Steam, Wednesday November 29. Community is in awe that he managed to pull a fast one like that. Valve has confirmed the cost at $9.99 in the store and it is assumed it will come out at 10AM PST like all major games are.

Multithreading the Source engine

2 Nov: Bit-Tech are hosting a preview of the Source engine's new multithreading technology. Valve's solution automatically scales to any number of cores and is backwards-compatible - but mods will need to recompile to take advantage of it, and of course restructure code to see the full benefit.

Multi-threading support is due out before the end of the year.

Source for Xbox 360 available now

16 Oct: Source is now officially available for licensing on the Xbox 360. Currently only Threewave Software and Valve themselves are known to be developing for Microsoft's new console with it.

Source360 is an 'official middleware solution', so it looks like MS thought it was pretty good too. :-)

Valve is pleased to announce the availability of the Source engine technology as an official middleware solution for developers on the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft.

Source, the technology that powered Valve's Half-Life 2, is already the benchmark game technology on Microsoft's Windows platform, offering state of the art performance in graphics, networking, artificial intelligence, physics simulation and more. The version of Source, available for Xbox 360, is optimized to utilize the platform's advance graphics hardware and offer full support for Xbox Live.

"The combination of Source and the Xbox 360 provides game designers throughout the industry the chance to create powerful entertainment experiences," said Gabe Newell, president and co-founder of Valve. "Whether they're pursuing a traditional FPS, RTS, RPG or delving into new genres, Source and the Xbox 360 are designed to offer the flexibility and tools to allow designers to pursue any design imaginable."

For more information about licensing Source or leveraging any of Valve's technologies, please email Jason Holtman.

The Ship SDK

03 Oct: A third-party version of The Ship SDK has been built and released for those inclined to make maps for The Ship.

Game Connect 2006

28 Sep: A few mod teams with an Aussie presence will be attending Game Connect conference on the 28th Nov - 1st Dec at the Brisbane Convention centre. Check out ModDB, ModHQ, and the mods own profiles for more info in coming weeks.

Bugzilla

06 Sep: Mike Durand has opened a Bugzilla, a bug-tracking tool, where everyone can report bugs related to the SDK.

Valve at Leipzig

24 Aug: Half-Life 2: Episode Two, Portal and Team Fortress 2 have been previewed at the Leipzig games show. See shakey-cam gameplay footage here!

SDK Project: Hammer-only mods

16 Aug: SDK Project is an experiment in creating mods that create new completely gameplay purely through Hammer and the entity Input/Output system - no code involved! The project has already led to a breakout clone, Marble Madness: Source and zombie-crushing racer, complete with slow-mo cameras and a time rewind function.

Impressive stuff indeed. Read and see more at http://www.sdk-project.com/!

Modding tutorial DVD series announced

14 Aug: Noesis Interactive launches Mod Your World DVD series for Half-Life 2.

First 2 of the DVD series "3D Content Creation with SOFTIMAGE|XSI" and "Character Design & Integration with Half-Life 2" will be available in early September 2006.

"Map Design & Integration with Half-Life 2" and "Advanced Character Design" will be available in Q4 2006. http://www.softimage.com/about_us/press_room/2006/060801_noesis.aspx