Inside LAN-O-THON

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Orange box is finished.

In an interview posted on the web today, Gabe Newell himself said that all thee games were done. The Half-life 2: Episode 2, Team Fortress 2, and Portal box will be released on Steam October 10th at 12:01 (Pacific time). I quoted some of my favorite parts:

Game Informer: So how are things going with the development of the Orange Box?

Gabe Newell: Good. We ship to retailers on October 9. October 10 at 12:01 we let it go on Steam, and it’ll probably show up at retailers Europe on the 12th.

GI: Are all three of the games pretty much finished?

Newell: Yep.

GI: So you’re just bug testing, and everything is in its final phase?

Newell: Yes.

GI: Will it be available separately on Steam?

Newell: We’re going to announce specific stuff. But we’re probably going to have a bunch since there are no shelf-space issues on Steam, so we’ll have a bunch of different offerings. All the multiplayer products, all the single player products…So we’ll just try to figure out the most popular ways that people will want to buy it.

GI: Obviously, with Episode Two, I don’t want to get any spoilers out there. The tone seems to be, at least with what we’ve seen of the trailers, a lot darker. Like, this could be the Empire Strikes Back of the Half-Life trilogy. Do you think that’s safe to say?

Newell: Yes. I think that we tried to make it darker and also have more of an epic feel so that’s translated into the settings and some of the events that have happened. It’s got to be dark before it gets better! (laughs) That’s the rule of trilogies. This is the middle act. This is where all of the problems get worse. The depth of your problems becomes much clearer before everything gets resolved in the third act.

GI: To you have a target date for Episode Three?

Newell: No, we don’t have a target date.

GI: That’s probably a safe answer. (laughs)

Newell: If we did, would it matter? (laughs) Have we done right yet?

GI: No. (laughs)

Newell: I think a target date is when people can start yelling at us with more ammo. (laughs)

[Read More]

A new video of HL2.2 was posted online ****contains spoilers****.

Saturday, August 25, 2007

How to: Setup a Dedicated FreeBSD Web Server

Ok, you may be asking- Why Use FreeBSD instead of one of the many Linux distros like Ubuntu or Fedora? Well, these distros are great for desktop use but they are not as reliable, stable or as fast as FreeBSD is in the server environment. The only downside to FreeBSD is that it doesn't have the snazzy installers the others have and at first glance, it can be a little daunting to install but don't worry this guide attempts to make it easier. I use FreeBSD because it's what my web hosting company uses on their servers. I like to test my web applications on my own server before making them live on the web and I like it loose software license, it allows virtually unrestricted re-use and modification of the source code for any purpose, Apple's OSX was derived from it.

Step 1
This point is where I found that this FreeBSD Install Guide over at openaddict.com was far better than what I was writing. So use it! (It's like they read my mind... scary!). I still plan on making a video version though.) The guide takes the long way to install but it will give you the best results. You'll come to love the command line.

Friday, August 24, 2007

USF Architecture is Sweeeeet!

I just finished touring what will be my studio space for this semester and it looks great. By the number of desks, there should be around 16 students in the class, a great number compared to some of my past classes. I also took a peak in some of the other rooms. The wood shop looks cool with a bunch of different tools and next door, the computer lab is brand new with big monitors and fast computers. I can't wait for class to start!

Meet the Soilder

Valve has released another one of their great promo video's for Team fortress 2.


There's also an HD Version

New Address!

If you're a frequent visitor you may have noticed our domain name changed. the blog now has a more official sounding address of http://inside.lanothon.org and the main site for the event registration is http://www.lanothon.org keep in mind that I'm cheap and this address redircts back to the old address of http://lan.mcdportal.com. I'm giving google apps a try and having gmailfor our domains email. The DNS record is still updating so email won't be working for another 24 hours.

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Weekly Update 8/18/07

LAN-O-THON v4.0
While I was away, I got two more offers for sponsorships. I don't have anything to confirm yet though. I started work on some ads again. Hopefully I will have some ready to post soon after classes start.

Inside LAN-O-THON
I'm still working on more site content... I know I'm slow.

The LAN Party Initiative
I setup a group on the steam community for our group, check it out


Friday, August 17, 2007

It's good to be Home

After traveling for two weeks, It's nice to be in my own bed. My trip was great. I visited Budapest, Hungary; Vienna, Hallstatt, and Salzburg in Austria, Munich, Germany, and flew out of Zürich, Switzerland. I also quickly visited New York City during our 8 hour layover at JFK. I am working on getting some pic posted and working on a Weekly LAN Party Update.