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Hi, and welcome to the ValveTime news.
Each week, we'll bring you the biggest talking points regarding Valve Software and the community.
Now, the news:
It was another relatively quiet week for news, but the show must go on!
First off, Steam received an important update earlier this week
which introduced Steam browser chat and the ability to send messages
to other users even when they are offline.
The new browser chat feature is currently in open beta
and allows users to access their friend's list and send messages to users via the Steam website,
a feature which could previously only be accessed by installing Steam.
Steam itself was also updated to feature support for chat histories,
displaying previously sent messages to the user, even if the chat window has been closed.
As we previously mentioned, the update also introduced offline messaging,
which allows users to instant message another, even if the recipient is offline,
a function which has been impossible until now.
Upon signing into Steam or the new browser chat,
the user will be sent all of their offline messages in regular chat windows
accompanied by the time and date the messages were sent,
allowing users to stay in contact better than ever before.
Dota 2 received yet another sizeable patch for its weekly update,
this time introducing new hero Troll Warlord and several sets of cosmetic items for various heroes.
As an agility carry, Ja'rakal the Troll Warlord, features the unique ability
to be able to switch back and forth between being ranged and melee,
giving him extreme versatility on the battlefield.
His ultimate, Battle Trance, provides a large global attack speed bonus to Troll and his allies,
making him an extremely dangerous hero to have during a team fight.
The update also introduced a variety of visual updates to animations and skins
for several heroes alongside the inclusion of the "Tools of the Haruspex" set for Lone Druid,
the "Relics of the Putrid Pontiff" set for the Necrolyte,
and the "Demonic Archivist" set for the Warlock.
And yes, that is indeed a Panda replacement for Lone Druid's bear.
The "All Random" game mode was added to matchmaking this week,
which forces every player in the game to randomly select a hero,
hopefully opening the doors for some unusual matchups.
The game's HUD also received a variety of updates in the form of a new tournament event calendar,
improvements to the store UI,
and some unreleased team themed HUD skins for both the Radiant and the Dire.
Unreleased heroes Skywrath Mage, Bristlebog, and Tusk also received update particle effects which,
along with everything else we've talked about,
can be viewed in full in CyborgMatt's full changelog analysis,
a link to which is provided in the video description.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive received a sizeable patch earlier this week
which introduced a new Deathmatch mode to Matchmaking,
alongside a wide variety of gun tweaks and minor game performance tweaks.
The update also marked the start of the private beta for the game's Steam Workshop feature,
which is now open to select map makers who submit their map portfolios to Valve.
The Steam Workshop will allow players to quickly and easily download maps to play in their game,
a feature which should help to spread community-created content much faster.
While the workshop is currently in closed beta, a link to the game's changelog
and accompanying blog post will be provided in the video description,
in which you can find an email address to submit your CS:GO mapping résumés in order to get involved.
Source Filmmaker also received a patch this week,
which has made a variety of small tweaks and changes to the UI
alongside a host of bug fixes and performance updates.
A new Valve "Crash Course" pose-to-pose tutorial was also released alongside the update,
which takes an in-depth, 33-minute look at the graph editor
in order to help new or less skilled animators to get to grips
with the many different features included in the SFM.
Also worth noting as an important update, mainly because it affects us,
is a recent change to Valve's online video policy,
which now permits video creators using Valve's assets to monetize online videos
via YouTube's partner scheme.
Yay! More money for us to not get paid with!
Half-Life--yes Half-Life 1, the original 15-year-old game--received an update earlier this week
which ported the game over to the OS X and Linux operating systems.
There isn't really a whole lot more to say other than to get on out there
and play Valve's first ever game on your edgy and alternative operating systems!
In merchandise news, NECA's Demoman and Pyro action figures are now available
directly from the Valve Store as of Friday the 25th of January 2013.
The 7 inch tall figures, which we've talked about a few times on the show already,
feature over 25 points of articulation and include their respective signature in-game weapons
along with a code for a currently unrevealed in-game item.
It was also revealed earlier this week that the BLU team variants of the figures
will be available in a limited 10,000-unit run sometime around April 2013.
We'll keep you posted.
In the meantime, why not head on over to the Valve Store via a link in the video description
to order your RED team figurines before they become sold out again.
Finally, be sure to check out Zachariah Scott's latest SFM short entitled "Turret Anthem,"
which was released to quite the fanfare earlier this week.
It's an exceptional piece of animation that stands amongst the best work we've seen from the SFM.
The video's title kind of explains itself,
so be sure to head on over to check it out via a video annotation available after...
ValveTime NewsTime TriviaTime.
Last week we asked you for the names of Team Fortress 2's first released maps, namely 7 and 8,
which were the first two available after the game's original 6 maps debuted with the game
on October 10th, 2007.
Many of you got this question right, which was of course ctf_well,
a capture the flag variant of original map, Well,
and cp_Badlands, a recreation of the classic map from the original Team Fortress game.
Now, we had a few requests last week for a change of game topic, so let's move on to Portal trivia!
We'll start with an easy question:
It's important to note that this character was eventually included in the game as a background character
as part of the Perpetual Testing Initiative DLC, which was released last year.
We'll reveal the answer on next week's episode.
And that brings us to the end of another week of Valve news.
Be sure to check out the latest ValveTime TalkTime episode, in which I interview Davey Wreden, a.k.a. CakeBread,
lead developer of the highly praised Stanley Parable mod and its upcoming remake/remix/sequel... thing.
Have a good day and bye for now.