Valve announce HL1DM: Source, begin the buildup to DOD:S release

[Varsity]

In their weekly Steam update (http://www.steampowered.com/Steam/Marketing/June10.2005/?l=english), Valve have made several very interesting announcements.
We've been pretty quiet about Day of Defeat: Source in the last few weeks. But new information and images from DoD: Source will be made available starting next week, as we lead to its release. We've been steadily working away on this project, and we're excited to see what everyone thinks of what we've produced.
In the coming weeks we'll also be releasing a Source revived version of Half-Life 1: Deathmatch. People who already own Half-Life 1: Source will receive this as a free download.

Next Saturday, Valve's CEO and founder, Gabe Newell, will be giving the commencement speech at Southern Methodist University's Guildhall, a university program offering course work in game design. Two groups of students enrolled in the program will be releasing the Source MODs they produced during their term. More information on the games they've built is available on their websites:

Eclipse: http://students.guildhall.smu.edu/eclipse/
Samurai Legends: http://students.guildhall.smu.edu/samurailegends/ For those that don't know, Valve decided to widen the remit of DOD:S and have been quietly working on these new (and unknown) features to be unveiled all at once. And no, it's not new player models. They are happening anyway. ;)

One new game, another game finishing up, and two brand new total conversion mod releases. Enough to keep the haters at bay? I'm not holding my breath.

[Borys]

What haters?

Half-Life 2 got little to no hate.
STEAM or Valve on the other hand...

[Nameback]

I'll admit that I can see why some people don't like steam, I was one of them at a time. I think all the issues have been ironed out though, and I like steam. I think we should all support Valve, their a good devloper that stays loayal to us gamers and they arnt out for all profit *cough*EA*cough*. They also hire lots of Mod teams and really respect the community.

[vladthedog]

i think the concept of steam (game developer makes game, game developer sells game, game developer makes the most profit from their hard work) is a great idea. my problem with steam is twofold... first off, and this is the more trivial side to things, i'm a collector.. i like having the "actual stuff" in my hand. this is also why i don't purchase mp3's, etc on itunes (or whatever) but instead of a CD collection of over 800 CD's... it's just my way... but i also understand that software is different.. my biggest thing is, i wish there were a program that could integrate all the various online software "stores" so i could re-download both hl2 when i need it, as well as alcohol 52, zone alarm, and whatever else i've purchased online, but now i'm going off on a tangent.

my 2nd problem with steam was how over the top they went with securing their property. every time i hafta install steam/hl2 i find it extremely frustrating just how long it takes to get it up and running. (and this is coming from a person who bought the collectors DVD edition, so i don't hafta deal w/ d/l a majority of the prog). and once you think you are done, yo udouble click on the game, and it hasta do yet ANOTHER update.

on top of all that, there were all the horror stories of people not being able to get the game going.. as was stated, many of the problems have been ironed out, but there are still problems..

oh, i thought of a 3rd problem with steam..... the forced updates. i understand many online games have forced updates to keep everything legit, cut out cheaters, etc. fine. but because i'm forced to update hl2 (i am constantly reformating my computer for experimental purposes so i'm always reinstalling) i'm always getting stuck with the latest patches. now, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesnt. the first forced update really screwed with my game (luckily i had already beaten the game once so i just didn't touch the game for a while)... even after a reinstall, my game went from perfectly smooth (except for loading points) to extremely stuttery... the only thing changing was the update of course

certain steps need to be taken to give this type of distribution a chance because i'd much rather be giving all my money to the developers of a game instead of to about 100 other companies :)

[Draft]

What haters?

Half-Life 2 got little to no hate.
STEAM or Valve on the other hand...No, I hated on HL2 a lot. Well, hated is maybe too strong a word. I criticized parts of the game I felt were subpar, like the Multiplayer, and the vehicle segments.

[Varsity]

my 2nd problem with steam was how over the top they went with securing their property. every time i hafta install steam/hl2 i find it extremely frustrating just how long it takes to get it up and running. (and this is coming from a person who bought the collectors DVD edition, so i don't hafta deal w/ d/l a majority of the prog). and once you think you are done, yo udouble click on the game, and it hasta do yet ANOTHER update.

on top of all that, there were all the horror stories of people not being able to get the game going.. as was stated, many of the problems have been ironed out, but there are still problems..

oh, i thought of a 3rd problem with steam..... the forced updates. i understand many online games have forced updates to keep everything legit, cut out cheaters, etc. fine. but because i'm forced to update hl2 (i am constantly reformating my computer for experimental purposes so i'm always reinstalling) i'm always getting stuck with the latest patches. now, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesnt. the first forced update really screwed with my game (luckily i had already beaten the game once so i just didn't touch the game for a while)... even after a reinstall, my game went from perfectly smooth (except for loading points) to extremely stuttery... the only thing changing was the update of course
I'm with you - but don't blame Steam for any of that. It isn't it's fault it was used overzealously.

[greensky]

I like steam. It's nice to not have to go to random website X to go through a PITA process to download patches to a game. I also haven't had any issues with Steam. I may feel differently if I had troubles with it at some point.

It's DOD:S I'm pissed about. DOD:S has been "coming soon" since last October. Even as last as yesterday they removed screenshots from their forum. If they would just have a more open process it would be nice. Instead of "coming soon" they should say early Q2-2005 or something like that. Even now they aren't being forthright about their release date. Wow "new images & information" next week... Thanks for nothing.

[fndarkone]

those mods look really exciting. very professional. the designers definately wont have trouble finding work.

[Liquidize105]

The eclipse's site layout is a lil too familiar, it's almost identical to morrowind's.

[Varsity]

It's DOD:S I'm pissed about. DOD:S has been "coming soon" since last October. Even as last as yesterday they removed screenshots from their forum. If they would just have a more open process it would be nice. Instead of "coming soon" they should say early Q2-2005 or something like that. Even now they aren't being forthright about their release date. Wow "new images & information" next week... Thanks for nothing.
"Please give us information"
<Information given>
"Wow...thanks for nothing."

[greensky]

Varsity,

We'll see what the information is next week. My point was that releasing information that only says they are going to release information at a future date sucks. Why not give us some screenshots now and release more information next week. At minimum stop censoring when beta testers put their screenshots up.

[Shifteh]

I hope the game is a lot better looking than those old screenshots made it look - I honestly couldnt tell the difference between DoD:S and DoD.

[Varsity]

My point was that releasing information that only says they are going to release information at a future date sucks.
You know, I think I'll just let you have this one. ;)