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Half-Life one of the best game endings ever? According to Andy Robinson at CVG, the ending of Half-Life [1] is among the eight best game endings in video game history. Hmm. Do you agree or disagree? Tell us.More >
WaW Interview The developers of World at War answer some informative questions regarding their upcoming modification for Half-Life 2.
PHL Film Festival Have you submitted your film yet? We're accepting until April 20, but that doesn't mean you should slack off! Remember that your entries should be 5 minutes or less, and you can enter as many times as you like!
World at War Interview 13:49 PST | AdmiralQuesadilla | Print News | Mail News Our very own D3pth has conducted an interview with members of the World at War team. Read through all three pages as he asks the questions that have been on everybody�s mind. I recommend you all read it � it is very interesting as the team discloses some technical information about the mod, as well as how the gameplay mechanics will work. There are also plenty of exclusive images scattered throughout the interview.
Battle Grounds 2 Media Update 13:06 PST | AdmiralQuesadilla | Print News | Mail News The Battle Grounds 2 team has been hard at work to deliver you some brand-new media. They are gearing up for their first beta release, which will take place on the third of February. To celebrate, they have put together a trailer video and a few screenshots.
Mirrors for the video trailer are provided on the Battle Grounds 2 website. Have a gander at the mod in action and don't forget: the release date is coming up this Saturday!
New Poll 10:02 PST | Pratt | Print News | Mail News This week's Poll Results are in. In this one, we asked for your impression of the new Steam design:
(50%) Like it: 646 votes
(17%) Don't like it: 213 votes
(33%) There's a new Steam design?: 428 votes
Total Votes: 1287
In the end, it seems you like the new GUI by a 3:1 margin, while 1/3 of you didn't even realize there was a new design (oops!). Thanks everyone for voting!
A little off-topic this time, this week's poll asks how soon you will buy the new Windows Vista, set to be released (depending on what part of the world you are in) in mere hours.
As always, we've hidden the new poll somewhere on this page ...
Black Mesa Teaser Trailer 11:57 PST | AdmiralQuesadilla | Print News | Mail News If you haven't read the news already (take a look at the Mod of the Year post from yesterday), Black Mesa has won first place for the best upcoming mod for the second year in a row. For the occasion, a teaser featuring level flythroughs has been added to their ModDB page.
A high resolution version is now available on FilePlanet.
On a side note, the Black Mesa team is now accepting voice acting applications. Check their website for more info.
Without a doubt, the charts were all dominated by Source and GoldSrc games. Congratulations to the mods that received recognition this year and good luck next time to those who did not. In any case, I can tell you that this year will be an exciting one for mods as Half-Life 2 has been out for quite some time and those development teams working since the beginning are inching closer to release.
The Beloved Crossbow 13:40 PST | AdmiralQuesadilla | Print News | Mail News In case you have not yet noticed, a brand-new article has been posted to Planet Half-Life. Now, I love my crossbow as much as the next bunnyhopping Half-Life aficionado (especially when I get that blast of euphoria when nailing that NPC or player from half-way across the map), but Vodstok takes the cake with his in-depth analysis on what makes the crossbow so damn great. Take a read through the article and post your own opinion on our forums.
Disabled picking up chests in your own teams zone (mp_preventchestpickup)
Reduced keg damage and blast radius
Removed keg secondary attack
Kegs can be pushed with the use-key
Bunny hopping reduced
LoD's added to Models
Fixes:
Fixed duck-jumping attack passing through block
Fixed skirmisher special rolling off players
Fixed voice status not showing up in the HUD
Fixed friendlyfire increasing pecial
There is also a competition in progress! If you have a good idea for a map, draw up the layout and submit it. Though, you have to hurry up as the competition ends February 1st. You can find out the details at the Pirates Vikings and Knights II website.
Insects Infestation Patch #4 9:57 PST | Chief-Phillips | Print News | Mail News Although we're a few days late reporting on it(sorry about that, my desk is swamped and my head a-poundin'), the Insects Infestation guys have released their fourth patch addressing issues and bugs brought forth by the ever-growing community. This last batch of changes includes some of the following:
Added:
A lot of new sounds!
Player can now votes to kick plant or pheromone path
Added message when player from your team built plant
Updated:
Local player is scaled in minimap (up/down animation)
French language
Removing plant give 50% of res if health is 100%
Geastrum shoot linear spore when something on top of it
All plant follow surface angles now
More plant validation while creating a plan
You can bash your team mate if friendly fire is off (no damage)
Player that carry RES give automatically give the RES when near to queen/upgrade
Improved grab termite soldier attacks
Improved queen spawn weapon
NPC don't spawn as larva anymore
NPC don't collide with Coca berry/barricade anymore
Menu background is now darker
The team has also recently put out a series of tutorial videos for those of you who are having some difficulties adjusting to such a different type of gameplay. To grab the patch (if you haven't yet already) and/or to take a look at the videos, head on over to insectsinfestation.com.
Synergy Beta 2.2 11:00 PST | AdmiralQuesadilla | Print News | Mail News Synergy has received an extensive update with plenty of additions, fixes, and general tweaks. There is a direct patch from version 2.1 available on the mod�s website. The following is a changelog for this release:
Added:
Respawn sounds and effects (so others know when you spawn)
Players now have a pain sound which increases in volume as player health decreases and depending on how much damage was done
Console variable "mp_medkit_givetime"
Console variable "bot_count" so server admins do not need to manually add bots to the server
Quick Start Game button, so users can easily start up their servers without having to manually set variables
All player models are precached on the client so there should no longer be a noticable game hitch when a new model is used
Level-defined class system; levels can create their own specific class list, making unique player classes
Human Assassin and Alien Grunt NPCs
Fixed:
Bug where players could not use the Medkit under water
Many bugs that would crash the server, due to singleplayer code
Fixed a bug with Antlion Guard that would crash the server
Updated:
Optimized new spawn system and code, including observer mode
Weapon Load HUD element; added fading border, updated text from "Load" to "Weapon Load", also fixed bug where client would crash when using a high value on synergy_max_weaponsize
HUD weapon load; much more pretty and easier to use when switching weapons
ai_relationship behavior so NPCs match their relationship correctly on the client toward players
My brother and I are proud to present Revolt, The Decimation, a team-based multiplayer total conversion for Halflife2. After almost two years of development, we now carry a prototype of our solid clan controlled combat shooter. This modification was created from the ground up only using the powerful Source Engine as our host. Every texture, sound, model and animation is homebrew between my brother, Michael, and myself, Daniel. We have been playing The Decimation on LAN with our clan internally for the past few months now as we refined everything down to a solid state. Our game types and weapon systems are unlike any other and make for true balanced competitive play that only the advanced gamer can harness.
Breaking silence, we decided to reveal early footage of our game with this short trailer. We still have a ways to go in the visuals, but the mechanics are all in place and we can already feel the potential this Revolt offers.
We are The Brothers of LANCLAN! Some of you may remember our previous TC for Call of Duty in 2004 called Revolt 1x, or perhaps some of our Battlefield42 maps. If not, head on over to lanclan.com and join our humble community. We are looking forward to your feedback and suggestions!
To check out the mod's website or see the nifty trailer, click on the respective links below.
Dystopia Version 1 Information & Media 6:16 PST | Chief-Phillips | Print News | Mail News Version 1 of Dystopia is right around the corner (although a release date has not yet been given) as the development team and testers have been polishing off the flood of new features and maps to bump the project from a demo to a true total conversion.
Many changes from graphical upgrades to completely new gameplay modes, many new weapons, and a pile of new maps will be available to the eagerly awaiting players with seven new Assault style maps and four new Phistball (the new gameplay mode) maps. Here's just a small taste of what's to come:
For a full list of changes, an audio interview with the development team (full of great information about Version 1), and more media than you can shake an e-stick at, head on over to dystopia-game.com.
Insects Infestation 1.0.3 Patch 6:04 PST | Chief-Phillips | Print News | Mail News The development team behind Insects Infestation are keeping pace with their development schedule and community feedback and have released another patch, this time addressing many more bug issues and annoyances. This, again, is a patch for both servers and clients, so regardless of your status, be sure to grab the patch! Some of the updates are as follows:
Updated:
Sound for Weapons, Footsteps, Geastrum, Cactus!
All fonts
Player need to push FIRE to spawn when dead
Cactus now use the same radius as the Geastrum during the creation
Jaw use 50% less stamina
Heavy Soldier run 2 times faster when rushing
Heavy Soldier Health from 350 -> 700
Heavy Soldier Armor from 250 -> 375
Queen Jaw Attack from 45 -> 20
Maximum plants of same type in a radius of 1500 decreased from 4 -> 3
Aloes / Reishi / Magic use 20% less particles
Fixed:
Chat text disappear when dieing
NPC Spawn if the pheromone path to the res is not valid
Player spawn when idle
Text is not completely shown on classes / plant selection
mp_timelimit does not work
mp_votemap_round does not work
Infinite angle / origin on ii_barricade / ii_crumb
Episode Two Orange & Black Box Details 5:48 PST | Chief-Phillips | Print News | Mail News Details have emerged from IGN.com about the upcoming Half-Life 2: Episode 2 packs which will contain (of course) Episode 2, Team Fortress 2, and Portal. The games will be available in two packs, those being the Black and Orange boxes.
The Black box will contain the PC versions of Episode 2, Team Fortress 2, and Portal and will sell for a retail price of $39.99. The Orange box will contain Episodes 1 and 2, Team Fortress 2, and Portal for the PC, xBox 360, and PS3 for a modest $59.99.
Eternal Silence - Beta 2 is Coming 5:41 PST | Chief-Phillips | Print News | Mail News The Eternal Silence team is proud to state that they have a concrete release date for the upcoming Beta 2.0 release of their unique and high-flying modification. On January 27, 2007, a plethora of changes, additions, and bug fixes will be released to further enhance your ES experience, which includes new maps such as es_asteroid as seen below.
For a full list of upcoming changes and the extra media, head on over to eternal-silence.net.
Tuesday, 16 January, 2007 � Planet Half-Life News
The Corporation Media Update 10:33 PST | Chief-Phillips | Print News | Mail News The minds behind the Half-Life 2 modification "The Corporation" have been hard at work to bring the public a new media release with some top-notch in-game and in-action shots showcasing four different levels and two in-game weapons.
There is more media and information available at The Corporation's website. Be sure to check it out!
