VALVe Planning Major Update for Steam

This summer Valve will ship a major update to its online gaming platform Steam, introducing an advanced set of community features to more than 13 million gamers around the world.

Beginning in July, Steam users can set up their own personal Steam pages and profiles, create and join groups, schedule games with friends, review who they've played with, see how well everyone played, chat with groups, chat via voice, and more. These new community services and features can be used with all Steam games, which include new releases and classic titles from leading publishers and independent developers.

Free of charge, the new community features will be accessible via the Steam desktop client and via the web.

"Our community has given us great direction on the ways they want to see Steam evolve," said Gabe Newell, co-founder and president of Valve. "Adding these new community features to make it easier to connect with other gamers is something we've wanted to see on Steam for a long time and this latest update is just the start. We've got a long list of items that we're working on to make it easier for gamers to connect and play games on Steam."

This upgrade marks the largest extension to the Steam platform since its first commercial release in March 2004. In its three year history, Steam has defined the next generation online gaming platform delivering hundreds of games to millions of users with services such as Guest Passes, Automatic Updates, Free Weekends, and allowing gamers to access their games from any PC.

For more information, please visit www.steampowered.com.[Planet Half-life]

It's cool VALVe is adding some new features to Steam. I can't wait to create my own profile and have another way to advertise my LAN Parties. Hopefully VALVe will be able to implement the upgrades without screwing it up and creating another community backlash.

Orange box gets a release date.

Yesterday, during a pre-E3 press event held at Electronic Arts' Los Angeles offices, members of Valve Software revealed the official launch date for the highly-anticipated Half-Life 2 game compilation, The Orange Box. The big day is October 9th.

This is exciting news for just about any gamer because The Orange Box includes a little something for everyone: Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode One, Half-Life 2: Episode Two, the unique physics-based first-person puzzle game Portal, and the long-awaited Team Fortress 2. The Orange Box is scheduled to ship simultaneously on PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.Source

I'm glad to see that valve set a date for the release of this fantastic set of games. I can't wait to play them at our LAN Party. Please Valve don't suddenly decide to delay it again and ruin our LAN Party plans

Steam Update

Valve just released a major update for Source servers. They final made official a new feature called "Pure Servers" that prevent files that were not download from Steam from loading. This will help close several loop holes that have allowed some players to gain an advantage like using custom skins and textures. For server admins, they were kind enough to keep this update in beta for the few months so we could test and work out any bugs with 3rd party plugins.

Updates to the Source Engine are now available. Previously this was in Beta, behind srcds0407. Please run hldsupdatetool to receive this update. The specific changes include:

Pure Servers:
Servers can now force the client to match the server's files, by becoming a pure server. When a server enables sv_pure, clients who connect and play on the server cannot gain an advantage by modifying the game content. For more information about Pure Servers, click here: http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Pure_Servers.

Source Engine:
- In-game server browser only shows human players in the player counts column. Bots column now shows number of bots instead of a "some bots" or "no bots" icon
- Fixed servers with bots reporting incorrect number of bots when
sv_master_legacy_mode is set to 0
- Fixed a server performance problem with queued packets
- Increased the maximum rate to 1 megabyte
- Added a findflags console command, which can list all cvars with a specified flag. For example: 'findflags server_can_execute' will find all console variables and commands marked with FCVAR_SERVER_CAN_EXECUTE
- Cheat protected many cvars and commands
- Removed cl_restrict_server_commands to prevent clients from being redirected
- Fixed user names reported as "unconnected" when greater than 32k players had connected to the server
- Fixed a client crash during authentication
- Fixed a crash when mashing the ~ key on disconnect
- Fixed a bug with sv_minrate and sv_maxrate not applying properly on the client
- Fixed the free roaming camera in SourceTV demos
- Fixed cl_language archiving itself and not updating correctly when the language changed
- Fixed a voice recording bug that could cause voice dropouts
- Fixed a rare crash when spectating in Counter-Strike: Source

We'd also ask that everyone please set sv_master_legacy_mode 0 again and report any problems.


UPDATE:
Like most major Valve updates, yesterdays had a few bugs but they fixed most of them today.

Source Engine
- Fixed a client crash
- Fixed sv_allow_wait_commands restricting the server using wait
- Fixed a crash in "soundlist" command
- Reallowed fps_max value of 0 (= unrestricted fps)
- Fixed exploit that showed spectator radar when not a spectator
- Fixed a crash playing back demo files recorded with the previously-released engine
- Client forwards server commands it doesn't understand back to the server
- Allow servers to execute chooseteam in Counter-Strike: Source
- Allow servers to execute retry
- sv_pure 1 now allows custom spray decals by default
- Fixed "Has Users Playing" checkbox not using the new change where we only display human players in the players tab, so you'd see servers with 0 players (they actually had only bots) listed

Radeon Owners Get Free Valve Games

Just in from Valve:

Valve just announced that for a limited time that all ATI owners can download a free copy of Half-Life 2: Lost Coast and Half-Life 2: Deathmatch through Steam. The software will automatically check to see if you qualify. If you already have an ATI Video Card you download the free games here

In related news, Shacknews says:

Steam will be included with the ATI Catalyst driver and software suit until early 2008 and ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT owners will, upon release, receive Team Fortress 2, Portal, and Half-Life 2: Episode Two through Valve's content delivery application.

I haven't had a chance to test any of this but it is great to see ATI and Valve working out a great deal to give out my favorite LAN party game. In my opinion, ATI's plans to bundle Steam with their drivers is good and bad. It will make it easier for new gamers to get their free games but for the rest of us, it will just bloat our drivers. I hope they made it an optional download that can be triggered from the driver installer.

New TF2 Movie - Heavy

Valve just released a funny new Team Fortress 2 Video highlighting the "Heavy" class. It shows off Valve's new facial animation system. The video reminds me of the intro to the Incredibles.

[Read More] (steampowered.com)



[Download] (Fileshack)
[Download] (steampowered.com)

My favorite LAN Party Game

If you look at the pictures of my past events, it is easy to tell what my favorite game is: Half-life 2: Deathmatch.

The game is cheap to buy on Steam (it is only $9.99) and its also available as part of Valve's Temporary Tournament Steam Accounts if you wish to provide the game free at your event. It is relatively easy to learn and the gaming action is non stop. If you die, you respawn in a couple of seconds rather than have to wait till the next round starts like in Counter-Strike. It is great fun to yell at the person who just threw a radiator at you only to return the favor a few seconds later. It can get to be very competitive as the final seconds of the round approach and there is a three way tie going on only to be broken by the guy sitting next to you. For veterans, there are plenty of great community maps to play on. My only grip is that the game doesn't have any bots for n00bs to play against or fill servers with when there is only one player is on the server. This game has been the center of most of my LAN Parties because of the number of people who enjoy playing it. You can't beet the fun of creaming the next to with a toilet or making someone fly with the RPG.

Over all this is the one game I will always host at my events.

Top Half-life 2: Deathmatch Maps

I've gone through 200 maps and I've looked them over and scored them. I didn't follow a rubric but the ones I scored high tended to be unique, fit in with the half-life universe and be fun to play on.

The whole list is posted in a Google spreadsheet- original copy and an editable one. Feel free to add your ratings to the discussion panel and I will add them to the chart or I may even invite you to collaborate with me on it.

Eventually I will release a map pack with all of my favorite maps.

All About the Temporary Tournament Steam Accounts

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

The Counter-Strike 1.6 Ads Debate

As many know, in this weeks Steam update, in game advertisements were taken out of beta and added to Counter-Strike 1.6. This has launched a long debate about in game advertising. For those who haven't played recently, I took a couple of screen shots detailing the ads. Wall ads were added to de_dust, de_dust2 and de_aztec and ads were also added to the spectator view and on the scoreboard.

Wall Ads-


Spectator and scoreboard ads-


As you probably could predict, this has caused huge uproar in the CS community. There is a massive thread in the Steam forums on the subject. We first heard about ads coming to 1.6 a while back and the plans were detailed in an interview by CS-Nation with Doug Lombardi and ever since, the number of hurt feelings has been growing. Users are feeling neglected and alienated by a company growing more greedy. Below I've summarized the debate.

The arguments against the ads are:

• Ads should only be in free games.
• Valve shouldn't be allowed to put ads in after the fact. (ie. people knew when before they bought BF2142 that it would have in game ads)
  
• Ads interfere with game play
• Ads don't fit in.
• Ads take away from tournaments and may show ads that conflict with the tournaments sponsors.
  
• Server admins have no control over the ads.
  

Some of the arguments for are:

• Valve can do whatever the !@#$% they want.
• People buy a license to play the game, not an actual copy of the game. Valve can change what every they want.
  
• Valve doesn't charge for the server software. Advertising helps recoup the cost of development.
  
• This game is old and valve would like people to buy the newer Source version.
• In everyday life there are ads on stuff we pay for like on the subway ride to work, cereal boxes, DVD's etc.
  

My thoughts:

• Valve has the right to do what ever they want to the game but I think it is wrong on their end to make such a major change to game after it is has already been accepted by the community.
• It was reckless on their part to release this on their most played game. Valve should have choosen a different game to test ads with.
  
• Valve should give users something in exchange for putting in the ads, such as...
• Lowering the price of the game. Knocking a dollar off the price of all of the packages that include CS 1.6 would nice move.
  
• Fix some of the bugs. There has been only one update to the game in the last year. If people saw the revenue from the ads improving the game, they might stop complaining. There is a whole list of bugs that need to be fixed.
  
• Server owners should get a cut of the ad revenue. Its their servers' that are running the ads. Run it like the way Google runs Adsense on Blogspot. Ads should be optional and allow the server admins to enable them on their servers if they would like to make a little spare change. Both parties win.
• Valve needs to make the ads fit in better. The current ads are at least double the resolution of the map textures. Reduce the quality of the ads or give the community a nice texture update. Add some wear and tear to the wall ads like some dirt, pealing corners, rips and stains. In other environments, change existing textures like on the vending machines and crates. The Spectator and scoreboard ads should be semi transparent so you can see through them.
  
• Even if I think it was bad choice to test ads on CS 1.6 ad least they were modest in the number of ads with about three or four per map. (Thank god they didn't do this)
  
• As the Server Admin at the RHA LAN-O-THON, I want the right to decide if there are ads on my server. If Valve won't give me the ability to remove the ads at least give me the ability to choose the ads that do appear. At a LAN Party, if I have to show ads, I would rather have it only show valve's own ads and not an Intel or a Shampoo ad.

Valve is losing many customers over this but the million dollar question is will they loose enough customers to make them take the time and rethink the damage they have caused. I can only hope that they think carefully before integrating ads into any of their other existing games. Will people keep playing valve games? Yes! But will the community ever recover? Only time can tell.

Followup
In a recent interview, Gabe Newell (main dude at Valve) answered a few questions related my rant.
You mentioned the need to experiment - something that's been announced in the last week is in-game advertising in Counter-Strike. Why did you choose to do that now? I read an open letter from a server admin who made the point that he's hosting the game, so why shouldn't he expect a cut?

Well we're looking at a variety of ways of funding these development projects and it probably benefits us less than other kinds of developers. We're very successful with the retail model of large-scale projects; we could have just kept turning the crank on that. I think where advertising-supported projects will be interesting is the degree to which it continues, you know the same way Steam hopefully broadens... one of the issues that it solves is broadening the distribution of games like Red Orchestra, which deserve to reach an audience. I think that we're also going to start to see games that would struggle to get traditional publisher funding find that advertising is a great way of finding and developing an audience, and that's why we're putting the effort to make it possible for people to use Steam to do advertising-supported games. So we really see this as another option that we and other developers can use to figure out how to fund projects going forward. What I would hope to see is that small developers can give away their titles for free and garner ongoing development support by generating advertising revenue, and we've done all the work to make that possible through the work that we're doing in Counter-Strike. That's certainly the hope. Another aspect in addition to broadening monetisation options and funding options, especially for new developers, is the possibility of segmenting your audience. So any time you can give people more pricing options, that's always been a good idea. Some people will prefer it one way and some people will prefer it the other way, but it really requires us - especially as the technology provider that a lot of developers are starting to depend on - to do it first and get it out there, work out the kinks in the system so that they can then use it to trial things themselves.

But do you sympathise with, say, the guy in Germany hosting a CS server who wonders why he should pay to serve your ads? Is there a feeling that they could cut in on that income?

We haven't really thought about that. If they want to talk to us about it then they can. I think in general... there are between 150,000 and 180,000 servers around the world, so I think we've traditionally done a good job of supporting those people and giving them what they need to be excited about running and hosting servers. That's why it's an order of magnitude larger than any other server community for any other group. We're certainly always interested in engaging with any server operator to find out how we can do a better job.

Steam Error "Invalid Steam User ID Ticket"

The solution to Steam error "Invalid Steam User ID Ticket" is to completely exit out of Steam and delete "steam.ui", "clientregistry.blob" and "steam.dll" files in Steam's directory, usually "C:\Program Files\steam\". Once you finish that, start Steam again.