GameSpasm

Valve head honcho Gabe Newell got a visit from fans on 4chan.org's /v/ board for his birthday, and after paying $2.50 to unlock a real-life Mann Co. crate with a TF2 Soldier hat inside, he stuck around to talk shop. The first question (Newell specifically warned against questions about Half-Life 3) was, paraphrased from the above recording, "Is Valve working on a new Source engine?"

Newell answered, "We've been working on new engine stuff for a while." The audio then became garbled, but subtitles read, "We've just been waiting for a game to roll it out with." Regardless of the incomprehensible audio, someone asked a straightforward follow-up question: "Is it more than just an extension to Source? Like, is it an entirely new engine?"

"Yeah," Newell said.

In August a group uncovered code for a "Source 2 engine" in the Source Filmmaker application, alongside "Source 2 tools" icons. The engine was labeled "next-gen."

Also during /v/'s Valve takeover, Newell and co. confirmed that Ricochet 2 is in development.

Newell: Valve building Source 2 engine, Ricochet 2 is in development originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 11 Nov 2012 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments Tags: 4chan, gabe-newell, mac, PC, ricochet, ricochet-2, source, source-2, Source-engine, source-engine-2, V, Valve

Black Mesa, a fan-made Half-Life remake that began development in 2004, will see its first public release on September 14. According to a post on the game's official forums, the launch won't be of the entire game, but will include the team's "re-envisioning of Half-Life all the way up to Lambda Core," which constitutes about eight to ten hours of gameplay.

Black Mesa is a "total conversion" Half-Life 2 mod that uses the Source engine in order to tell the story of the esteemed 1997 first-person shooter by Valve, Half-Life. No launch date has been announced for the full version of the PC-only remake.

[Thanks to everyone that sent this in!]

Black Mesa scheduled to launch on September 14 originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 02 Sep 2012 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dodge this - er, sorry, we meant watch this. Because it's one of the best scenes from The Matrix, remade in Valve's Source Filmmaker.

The Matrix as envisioned in Source Filmmaker originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 09 Aug 2012 00:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments Tags: l4d2, Left 4 Dead 2, mac, microsoft, PC, Playstation, PS3, source, source-filmmaker, steam, Valve, Xbox

Steam's Source-based machinima crafting tool, the Source Filmmaker, is out of closed beta and ready for use by the rest of us. Valve announced the news last evening on its Source Filmmaker blog, alongside word of a database for organizing, viewing, and rating the various creations of SFM users. We found the one above in there and thought it rather appropriate for the news. We hope you'll agree.

PSA: Valve's Source Filmmaker ready for public use, goes open beta originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 11 Jul 2012 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments Tags: mac, Machinima, PC, source, source-filmmaker, Valve, valve-software

Steam's Source-based machinima crafting tool, the Source Filmmaker, is out of closed beta and ready for use by the rest of us. Valve announced the news last evening on its Source Filmmaker blog, alongside word of a database for organizing, viewing, and rating the various creations of SFM users. We found the one above in there and thought it rather appropriate for the news. We hope you'll agree.

PSA: Valve's Source Filmmaker ready for public use, goes open beta originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 11 Jul 2012 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments Tags: mac, Machinima, PC, source, source-filmmaker, Valve, valve-software

Buried in Portal 2's "Extras" menu is an "interactive teaser" for Super 8, this summer's J. J. Abrams-helmed sci-fi monster movie. "What exactly is an interactive teaser?" you ask, half-knowing the answer.

Do you remember that original teaser for Super 8, in which a train crashes and something lets itself out of a train car? This is like that, except interactive (thanks, Source Engine!), and it takes place from the point-of-view of someone inside the train. You can find it in that copy of Portal 2 you've undoubtedly already purchased or, if you're still stuck at work like we are, watch a video after the break.

Continue reading Portal 2 contains an 'interactive teaser' for JJ Abram's Super 8

Portal 2 contains an 'interactive teaser' for JJ Abram's Super 8 originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 19 Apr 2011 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments Tags: Easter Egg, interactive-trailer, JJ-Abrams, mac, microsoft, PC, Playstation, portal-2, PS3, source, Super-8, Valve, Xbox

Sure, Hulu Plus may not be part of the public beta preview of this spring's Xbox 360 Dashboard update -- at least that's what Microsoft's saying -- but that doesn't mean we can't see what it may look like when it does launch, as scheduled, sometime in the next few months. Images sent to us by a trusted tipster show the Hulu Plus app in action (and being controlled by Kinect), as well as the revamped Kinect Dashboard.

Like the Netflix app, the Hulu interface resembles the Xbox Dashboard itself, offering a rotating layer of categories with selectable content. As for the updated Kinect Hub, it looks fairly similar to what is currently available on the Xbox, only it adds access to both Netflix and Hulu Plus.

Though our tipster doesn't know whether Hulu Plus will be added to the current public beta test of the next Dashboard update, our source did note that the application seems fully functional, as does Avatar Kinect (also not currently part of the preview). Our tipster said the Kinect-controlled Avatar showcase app wasn't especially exciting, but that "it was good at tracking my movements and the response time was pretty fast like everything else with the Kinect." Hopefully we'll find out for ourselves soon enough!

Source: Take a look at Hulu Plus on Xbox and the new Kinect sub-Dash originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 14 Apr 2011 15:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments Tags: avatar-kinect, dashboard update, dashboard-update-spring-2011, Hulu, Hulu Plus, kinect, microsoft, source, Xbox, Xbox Live

The time has come, dear friends, for all of us to face down our two greatest fears: Dinosaurs, and Nazis who have learned how to wield dinosaurs as gargantuan, reptilian weapons of mass destruction. The Source Engine-based multiplayer shooter Dino D-Day is available now through Steam for $19.99 (or $59.99 for a four-pack).

The game pits nine different human soldier classes against an army of three different dinosaur types: The Velociraptor, Dilophosaur, and Desmatosuchus. Check out the gameplay video after the jump to get a taste for ... did that dinosaur just kill a player by throwing a goat at him? We must own this game.

Continue reading Dino D-Day available now on Steam for $20

Dino D-Day available now on Steam for $20 originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 09 Apr 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments Tags: 800-north, Digital Ranch Interactive, Dino D-Day, PC, source, steam

Despite a number six debut on December's NPD charts, Epic Mickey apparently can't save Junction Point Studios from post-launch staff cuts. Sources speaking with Joystiq confirm that Disney Interactive issued layoffs at the Warren Spector-helmed studio today, though exact numbers are unknown -- we've contacted Disney for comment, but we imagine those plans for sequels to Epic Mickey aren't looking so solid right now.

Following last week's closure of Disney Interactive-owned Propaganda Games, today's layoffs represent further steps back for the publisher in terms of "core" game development endeavors, and, we fear, may not be the last of Disney's cuts. Disney also owns Split/Second developer Black Rock Studios, and most recently acquired social game developer Playdom.

Update: Layoffs hit entire Disney Interactive division.

[Image credit: Flickr user 'junctionpoint']

Source: Epic Mickey dev suffering layoffs originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 24 Jan 2011 19:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments Tags: Disney, disney-interactive, disney-interactive-studios, epic-mickey, Junction Point, junction-point-studios, layoffs, Nintendo, source, Warren Spector, Wii

Got a great idea for a hat or weapon for Team Fortress 2? Valve wants to hear about it -- better yet, Valve wants you to make it. The TF2 blog reports that Valve has already seen plenty of solid submissions -- items you can get a hold of in today's update. If you're the creator of one of these items, you'll find a special version waiting for you in your backpack. Hooray for bragging rights!

And for you budding designers out there, don't just think of it as a way to get some experience under your belt, but think of it as a service for these guys. Heavy above always had an image problem (thanks, male pattern baldness!), but now he's feeling good and going out on dates like every night!

[Via Big Download]

Valve adds user-created items to Team Fortress 2 originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 19 Mar 2010 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments Tags: community, custom-items, multiplayer, source, Source-engine, steam, Team Fortress 2, user-generated-content, Valve