Counter Strike: Global Offensive Free Weekend - Get Schooled By Pros

For those one the fence or still hanging on to Counter Strike 1.6, Valve is giving you the chance to play Counter Strike: Global Offensive free, just for this weekend. It has got plenty of local servers to play on and new updated graphics and game modes. Some game modes I find absolutely useless like classic casual... avoid like a plague unless you like being shot at right after spawn. You can download it here. The game is also discounted just this weekend, 50% off at USD9.99. Practise mode is pretty useless, the bots are dumb at the moment. So this free weekend is pretty useful. Check it out.

Malaysian Gamer Gets A Forum - The Steam Group Forum

The new Steam community is finally out for everyone and we've got brand new forums on our Malaysian Gamer Steam group. Just open Steam or a web browser and get to Steam community and select the Malaysian Gamer group and pick the Discussion tabs.We're keeping the forums pretty basic for now and will open new sections if there is demand for them. So join in on the discussions. Talk about an awesome game you are playing. Or plan up gaming nights with fellow Malaysian Gamers. All on Steam. GO to our Steam forums now

Steam's Big Picture Mode For The TV Going Beta Soon!

I would have never expected this to ever happen, but Steam is moving to your living room now. The Big Picture mode isn't quite going to compete with console... it's still a PC, just using your TV screen. Steam will handle how the game is displayed in super high res on the TV. And yes... there is controller support. PC Gamer reports that in a New York Times article about Valve, it is stated that beta will launch on Monday. No news yet on how to get on the beta. Anyone excited about this? Or is this really not you would be interested in as a PC Gamer? Big Picture trailer below...

Black Mesa Source Is Actually Releasing! It Shall Be Good To Return To Black Mesa In High-Res

A mod that has been in development for aeon's. The first trailer for Black Mesa Source was released back in 2008. No word since... until today, the appearance of an ominous timer counting down 10 days. Black Mesa Source is a mod that recreates the original Half Life using Valve's Source engine. Black Mesa takes the story a little further by adding new stuff past the original Half Life levels... for those that can't get enough of Half Life lore, these stuff will make you go insane. Makes it oh so pretty. Using source, you favourite FPS classic will now sport sharper textures and more advanced lighting. September 14th is the date that hell freezes over... I mean Black Mesa Source gets its first release. Keep an eye out on the official site. Check out the first official trailer below

Team Fortress 2 Introducing Co-op Horde Mode - Stop Robots From Their Dastardly Plans!

The whole rumour about a the robotic faction? Turns out that you wont be able to control them. The robots will be a horde that you stop in waves. Why are we killing robots? Someone has built an army of robots and they are out to deploy a bomb in Mann Co's strongholds. "Mann vs. Machine is a new co-operative game for Team Fortress 2 that lets you and five friends wage a desperate battle to stop a lethal horde of robots from deploying a bomb in one of Mann Co.’s many strongholds. Take advantage of breaks between waves to upgrade your abilities and weapons. Survive all the waves in any of a variety of missions to earn incredible loot." More info on the official site here. The Mann vs Machine mode will go live in two days time. Prepare yourself!

Team Fortress 2 Adding A Third Robotic Faction? Powered By Australium? Who knows!

You heard em' soldier! Apparently some evil cretin is up to no good. A static page on Team Fortress.com talks about Gray who was stolen from child birth. What has this got to do with a third faction? I do not know. NeoGAF users picked up on a new TF2 comic called Bloodbrother. It's all flippin' confusing and cryptic. I'll just summarise it for you. People on the internetz has uncovered a Valve ARG that hints towards the addition of a new mode called Mann vs Machine which probably will add a robotic faction. Keep an eye out for more details.

Source: VG247

Steam To Sell Non-Games Software - Now I Can Use Steam For The Purpose Of Work

Valve announced that their digital distribution platform, Steam, will begin to carry non-games software. Beginning September 5th, a range of creativity and productivity software will be making its way onto the platform. Using Steam Cloud as an added advantage, most titles will enable you to save your work on the cloud. Not sure what I think of this. Selling non-games is cool, but using Steam as a workspace is a bit tricky. Oooo look at all the hundreds of games in my library staring at me. Valve will be using Steam Greenlight to crowd source approval of software entries.

Source: Steam

Valve Working On Source 2?

Valvetime.net posted up a bit of some snooping work in the Source Film Maker script films and dug up lines that refer to a Source 2 engine. '''Return an str with the current engine version. If key doesn't doesn't exist, assume 'Source', otherwise invalid -- assume next-gen 'Source 2'.''' This would make sense considering Source has been used since the release of Half Life 2. While the engine has been upgraded and improved over time, it is about time they moved on with an improved version of Source. Probably explains why Half Life 2 Episode 3 is taking forever. My guess is that it's been changed to Half Life 3. This is no official word from Valve, so take it as a rumour.

Source: Valvetime.net

Dota 2 'The Asia' LAN Tournament Announced - To Be Held In Malaysia

E-club, alongside Rapture Gaming and Alienware will be organising a 6 team LAN tournament for DOTA 2. The tournament will be held at the Mid Valley Exhibition Centre, Malaysia this 8th to 9th December. It will also be offering a USD$30,000 prize pool... I kid you not! The Asia will feature countries from around South East Asia(including Malaysia yay!) as well as Japan, India, Australia/New Zealand and China. Those of you craving for some competitive DOTA 2 action in Malaysia have your wishes fulfilled. December is still a ways off, but I'll definitely be there.

Source: ESFIWorld

Steam Summer Sale Is Here - I'm Locking Myself In The Basement

The Steam Summer Sales are here and it's about to make us poorer. Fresh discounts everyday up to July 22nd and a bunch of publisher catalogues on massive discounts. Valve has also announced Steam Badges, an achievement system on Steam that will give you badges for doing certain stuff like commenting on friends profile etc. Some of it is event specific(like the summer sales). Your badges will be proudly displayed on your profile page so go on achievement whoring. And don't forget to buy games! Share with us which games you're getting.

Steam Greenlight Announced - Vote For Your Choice Of Indie Games On Steam

Valve announced a new system on their digital download service, Steam. Steam Greenlight will allow the Steam community and users to give their thumbs up on indie game that have not been released on Steam to be added to the Steam catalogue. Essentially users will be green-lighting games featured on Steam Greenlight to be on Steam. This hopefully would speed up the process of deciding which indie title will be published on Steam. There has been some criticism lately of Steam's rather slow process of decision making regarding indie titles, as well as the quality of some of the cheap low budget indie games on Steam. I love the way Valve are approaching this by allowing the community to give they say. Giving us a voice in telling them what games we want to play(there is an option to submit games not on Steam Greenlight in this system too). This however, is not to say that Valve will not be having their own internal submission evaluation process, but I hope this would alleviate the time it takes for this entire process and help the indie developers who have been frustrated by... Valve time.

Source: Steam News

Team Fortress 2 Meet The Pyro Shows The Pyro's Point Of View

It's the Pyro's turn to get some spotlight as Valve releases the much anticipate meet the video shorts. Meet the pyro will completely change your perspective of the pyro. No... we don't know if it's a she or a he. But what we do know is he/she see rainbows, candies and little children. Meet The Pyro below...

DOTA 2 Incoming Update To Add Tournaments & New Features For Competitive Teams

In a blog post on the official DOTA 2 blog, the DOTA team revealed that an update planned for this week will be adding new features geared to competitive play. A tournament view will be added to the in game client that will allow you to view upcoming and previous tournaments, also allowing you to purchase access to view them. Tournament organisers have a lot to cheer about here as they will be able to seamlessly integrate their content into the game. They will also be enabling better in game support for competitive teams. Expect profiles on players in the team, stats on teams with match history, even logo paint in bases. DOTA 2 has been announced to be a free to play game so no worries if you don't have access to the beta... but like all Valve games... who knows when it'll be out for good. My best guess is by this year.

Source: DOTA 2 blog

Payday: The Heist No Mercy DLC Trailer - It's A DLC For Payday, Not A Left 4 Dead Prequel

Remember the rumour I posted about Overkill possibly working on a Left 4 Dead prequel? It turns out that it's actually a DLC for Payday: The Heist. It's basically No Mercy in Payday and apparently is before the infection goes crazy... which is a prequel? Naah not really but it's still cool. No release date announced for it. Watch the trailer below...

UPDATE Payday: The Heist Devs Working With Valve Not On Left 4 Dead Prequel

UPDATE: Valve's Chet Falishek quashed this rumour by stating that while Overkill are collaborating with Valve, it is not Left 4 Dead prequel. So no Left 4 Dead prequel.

PC Gamer posted that a 'reliable source' has confirmed with CVG that Overkill Software, developers of Payday: The Heist, a Left 4 Dead type bank heist co-op shooter are working with Valve on a new game. The big news is that it's not any game... but a Left 4 Dead prequel. That could be rather interesting. It is interesting to note that Valve's absence from E3 might mean that this game might be some ways off from an announcement. Apparently the game will tell the story of the zombie outbreak and will blend the gameplay from Left 4 Dead and Payday. Overkill are also working on a sequel for Payday: The Heist.

Source: PC Gamer

DOTA 2 Confirmed To Be A Free To Play Title

Which means you don't have to pay a single cent to play it. Once it's released that is. Good job Valve, I knew this would be the case. In a post on the official blog, Valve announced the inclusion of an in game store and that DOTA 2 will be free to play. They insist that DOTA 2 will not be pay to win(you won't have an unfair advantage buying something) and that ALL HEROES will be available to everyone. They are following a very Team Fortress 2 idea of selling personalised items for your heroes. Unique voices... hats perhaps? On the very same blog post, they also announced its inclusion in the Steam Workshop, allowing users to submit their own mods. Boys and gals, beta keys shouldn't have been sold and bought. Now you know. Kthxbye!

Source: DOTA 2 Blog

From Noob To Pro: DOTA 2 Introduction - I Will No Longer Be A Feeder!

By no means am I an expert on DoTA or any of the MOBA genre games. While I might be a huge strategy game fan, MOBA games tend to infuriate me. I tend to overextend myself too often and get labelled a 'feeder', 'noob', or just 'a problem'(things that cannot be printed... or rather posted in this blog). Often, I thought that games such as DoTA required less micro since the focus is on one hero rather than an army of tiny footsoldiers like an RTS. Not quite... in this new series, From Noob To Pro, I'll be taking you through my trials and tribulations. Learning a game to become decent in it. Perhaps... there'll be cake at the end of it.

Blizzard And Valve Settle Over The Right To Use DOTA

I have to admit I didn't see this coming. Blizzard has come to a settlement to allow Valve to use the term DOTA and DOTA 2 commercially. Blizzard's own DoTA will now be called Blizzard All-Stars which is a bit of a departure from the original title. But I suppose it clears any confusions... it is Blizzard's All-Star after all and not that other companies DOTA. "Both Blizzard and Valve recognize that, at the end of the day, players just want to be able to play the games they’re looking forward to, so we’re happy to come to an agreement that helps both of us stay focused on that," Blizzard's Vice President, Rob Pardo. He further added "As part of this agreement, we’re going to be changing the name of Blizzard DOTA to Blizzard All-Stars, which ultimately better reflects the design of our game. We look forward to going into more detail on that at a later date." Gabe Newell President of Valve said "We’re pleased that we could come to an agreement with Blizzard without drawing things out in a way that would benefit no one". With this agreement, Blizzard will retain the right to use DOTA only for non commercial use for community made maps for Warcraft III and StarCraft II.

Source: VG247

Steam Retail Vouchers To Be A Thing - You Might Be Able To Buy Steam Vouchers At Retail Soon

A source within Gamestop US sent Kotaku an image purportedly of a Steam Voucher that will be on sale from May 15. Further evidence points t hat a recent Steam beta has added a redeem Steam Wallet Voucher option which should allow users to redeem the Steam Vouchers they bought at a store to their Steam Wallet. This is a major shift for online digital distribution as Steam will then have a huge advantage for those that do not have an online payment method. Not completely revolutionary over here in Asia as we've been having similar vouchers for Blizzard games and MMO's. While this news seems to point that at least North American retailers will be having such coupons, I would rule this out for our region. Maybe in the near future we might see Steam Retail Vouchers in our store shelves. What do you think? Would you purchase Steam Retail Vouchers? A pretty handy gift for a gamer don't you think?

Source: Kotaku

Steam To Introduce Remote Downloads - Now Available In Beta Form

Valve announced that Steam will be introducing a new feature(which will be in beta) that will allow you to initiate a download... remotely. What this means is that you can purchase and start downloading a game on Steam from any web browser, wherever you are. This even works from the Steam mobile app.. which is a huge deal for Steam mobile. Obviously you'll have to leave your home PC turned on for it to begin downloading the game. There's instructions here on how to use this feature. To get into the beta, you'll have to download a beta Steam client. TO do that, you'll have to go into your Steam settings, account tab, click on change beta participation and pick Steam Beta Update. Voila! Now you can mind control your PC to download Steam games from anywhere in the game! Next up... Steam Psychic Recognition patch which will be able to read your brain waves and purchase games automatically.

Source: Rock Paper Shotgun