TF2 Hat Retirement
Valve is retiring a number of Team Fortress 2 hats: the Batter’s Helmet, Soldier’s Stash, Pyro’s Beanie, Demoman’s Fro, Football Helmet, Mining Light, Prussian Pickelhaube, Trophy Belt and Fancy Fedora.
Steam for Linux Beta Opens To All
Valve have now opened up the Steam for Linux beta to all! To participate, download the client here.
Steam Community Market Enters Beta
The Steam Community Market has now entered Beta, allowing players to buy and sell items for Steam Wallet funds.
Mann vs. Machine goes Live
Mann vs. Machine, the new co-op game for TF2 is now live!
This mode lets you and five friends work together to fight off waves of robots.. upgrade weapons, items and abilities.. and claim the spoils of war in the form of cosmetic items, in Mann Up mode.
Mann Up Mode is played on official Mann Co. servers, with entry limited to players who own a Tour of Duty Ticket. Tour of Duty Tickets can be purchased from the Mann Co. Store for £0.59. (more…)
Pyromania!
Part 3 of Valve’s Team Fortress 2 Pyromania update is finally here: Meet the Pyro!
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUhOnX8qt3I] (more…)
Are we being exploited by DLC?
Spurred on by the debate around the Mass Effect 3 DLC, I started writing some thoughts down.. but it quickly turned into a definite TL;DR with DLC, online passes, pre-order bonuses, retailer exclusives and the fight against used games.. as well as the all-too-common cry that customers are being exploited.
So.. I’ve split it all up, with this part mainly being about DLC, in-game purchases and other bonuses, and another part to come about the fight against used games. I’ve mentioned a few games or companies in my examples here.. either because they were the first or best example to come to mind, or because I know that product better. I’m sure I’ve missed some great examples, and although I’ve checked my facts, I may have something wrong or out of date in here.. so feel free to let me know in the comments 🙂
The first Mass Effect 3 DLC pack appeared briefly on the Xbox Live Marketplace last week, and stirred up quite a debate about exploitation.
One complaint against DLC is that it provides an incentive for developers to withhold part of the game to charge more for it later.. or even on the same day, in the case of Day 1 or unlocks of content from the game disk itself. You can’t return DLC if you don’t enjoy it, nor can you sell it on as it’s usually tied to your game account. Other complaints are about price (Modern Warfare 2’s ‘Stimulus Package’: £10 for 5 maps, two of which were re-releases), or the worth of the DLC (Oblivion’s Horse Armour), and then there’s the idea that it’s only being produced to milk consumers for every last penny. (more…)
Monoculus and More TF2 Goodness!
When we’ve managed to down Monoculus over the past few days, I wasn’t ever close enough to get in the portal to Loot Island. That changed tonight tho, as I was invited along to a friend’s server to try for the achievement and to receive presents..
Loot Island.. the bit with the skull..
Within the Skull.. the Bombinomicon! Running through the book gave me the achievement “Dive Into a Good Book”, and when I next died, I received the “Bombinomicon”.. an item which causes player deaths to be as over the top as possible! I can see the novelty wearing off after a while, but for now it’s all about the silly 🙂
After collecting this, we hung around to play.. normal playing between Monoculus’ appearances, then attacking only him once he’d arrived. The group on the server were fun to play with, and there was even an agreement in place that they’d take it in turns to grab the random Halloween gift box until everyone had received one 🙂
With the teamwork, we took the boss down a number of times, allowing enough trips onto Loot Island to experience the bombing to oblivion that happens if you try to stay on the map, and to get a look at the back of the Bombinomicon, where you can see a price tag.. $6.66.. and note some reviews on the back!
Apparently the previous two Halloween events are still accessible.. may have to look into this 🙂
Halloween Goodness!
Halloween.. time to celebrate zombies and undead things.. and time to check out the awesome extras added to certain games! 🙂
A friend pointed me towards TF2, and the Halloween map, the Eyeaduct!
This is a modified version of Viaduct, with pumpkins, candy, and ghosts roaming the map.. get too close, and you end up “Scared Stiff”!
There were freebies too: I was given a Seal Mask and Dr Gogglestache.. there were some new achievements to grab.. and there was also a boss to fight!
Monoculus spawns randomly in the map once there are enough human players, and sets about firing eyeball rockets at the players, who have a minute and a half to kill him before he leaves for another realm. He seems to have a lot of health, and he hits hard.. I only saw him killed a few times during the hours we played, versus the hundreds of times he killed me.
While alive, Monoculus moves around the map leaving behind a purple vortex which grants access to the Underworld.. a special map where you take constant damage until you escape via the second portal. Players escaping the Underworld get invulnerability and a brief crit boost.. and Monoculus gets stunned in the process, thereby helping to bring him down.
Unfortunately, I haven’t yet grabbed the Bombinomicon..
When Monoculus is defeated he drops an open Bombinomicon, granting access to Loot Island for those fast enough, and a copy of the Bombinomicon.
Last night, I had a decent run with the Demoman.. finding Stickybombs a lot of fun 😉
Tonight’s game included a bit of Heavy and Medic power, which was working out rather well between Monoculus’ appearances.. but again, I think I should play more TF2 🙂
Dungeon Defenders was the second game with Halloween additions, in the form of free DLC.. a Halloween-themed map for high level players, and some unlockable outfits. The Tavern was also decorated for the occasion 🙂
The Halloween map is available to all, but as I found, it’s far too difficult for low level players.. there are three Eternia Crystals to guard, and the enemies are very strong. I lasted a whole 48 seconds! 🙂
Steam Summer Camp Sale
After an amazing week away in Madeira, I returned to find Steam has yet another crazy sale going on, with lots of games at very low prices. Should I fear for my bank balance now?
Friends have bought me a few games: Star Wars – Battlefront II, SpaceChem and my own copy of Oblivion 🙂
I’ve added to this with two tower defense style game: Sanctum and Atom Zombie Smasher, as well as a rather large bundle of Paradox Interactive games. The Paradox Fantasy Pack got my interest because of Majesty 2, which I tried a long while back.. along with DLC for this plus the original game, it also contains a strategy game called Elven Legacy, plus follow-ups. As Majesty 2 itself cost £5.35, and the bundle £5.89, this was pretty much a no-brainer!
Along with the Summer Camp Sale, there are a large number of “Camp Activities”, which basically amount to earning specific achievements in a variety of games to earn tickets which allow you entry into the Grand Prize Giveaway, where 100 people will win the top 10 games on their wishlist. The tickets can also be spent on random in-game content, including map packs, extra characters, missions or vanity gear such as the Sunny Shades for TF2. I’m only now up to 7 tickets, with a good number of achievements to get.. the HOARD one in particular is eluding me!
As for TF2.. this game has now become free, which has meant a lot more people playing! We now even have somewhere good to play, as Jason set up his Closed on Sundays TF2 server, complete with silly Roll the Dice mod 😉
So far, the server has filled up quickly whenever we’ve played, which has meant a few good games. Roll on the weekend!