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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:
A Facepunch user by the name of "DevinWatson" was recently digging through the now-open Steamworks SDK
when he apparently unearthed a rather interesting reference which hints at the possible existence of Left 4 Dead 3.
The Left 4 Dead 3 page, shown here, contained no other information besides the game name and SteamID.
And, while the SteamID can be easily located using SteamDB,
the page notes that there have been no signs of active development
as the page hasn't been updated or changed in months,
meaning that it may have just been an experiment by Valve in regards to Source 2 or Steam for Linux.
On the other hand, the game may very well be real,
or it could be an entirely scrapped product which will never see the light of day.
As much as we'd like to totally spill the beans regarding this leak,
this time we sadly just don't have any more information regarding the possible existence of Left 4 Dead 3,
and we'll be sure to keep you up-to-date if we learn anything.
Links to the Steamworks SDK, the SteamDB page, and our own write-up over at ValveTime.net
are all available in the video description.
Valve have continued to update and improve the Steam Trading Card beta this past week,
as support for trading cards, backgrounds, and emoticons was added for Gearbox Software's Borderlands 2
alongside an announcement that the Steam team are currently working with more game developers
to bring more titles to the service soon.
Valve were also keen to ask for comments and suggestions relating to which game titles
the community would want to see added next.
We'll stay in line with the brief announcement page for this week's discussion,
The Steam Trading Card beta also saw a minor visual improvement
after a new blog post was uploaded to the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive website earlier this week.
A section at the base of the post explained that CS:GO trading cards and game badges
have been updated to a much higher visual standard,
helping to bring them up to the same level of quality as the other available game titles.
More interestingly, however, is the mention that apparently over 20,000 CS:GO badges
have already been crafted from over 120,000 individual trading cards,
showing that a large portion of the community have already taken an interest in getting involved with this recent Steam trend.
On the flip side, the blog post also discussed the 'Overwatch' community investigator system we mentioned on the show last week.
According to the post, Overwatch investigators have found evidence of disruptive behavior in around 90% of highly-reported cases,
with resulting decisions being generally unanimous in those cases.
If you'd like to learn more about the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Overwatch system,
or if you just want to check out all the new game badges,
be sure to head on over to the new blog post on the CS:GO website via a link in the video description.
This week's main Dota 2 update introduced some major improvements to the DotaTV in-game spectator system
and a variety of new cosmetic items.
Broadcasters using DotaTV can now access an all-new menu which can be used to create custom notification pop-ups
to inform spectators of game statistics such as important item purchases, farming information, and much more.
The system also allows broadcasters to display queries or poll results using dynamic hero, item, and game icons in a visual format,
hypothetically replacing a variety of similar stream-only alternatives
widely used on the GD Studio and Beyond the Summit live streams during the International 3 qualifiers.
Speaking of the International, last week saw the conclusion of the Eastern qualifiers,
as favorites-to-win LGD Gaming beat RaTtLeSnAkE 3-0 in the grand finals on May the 30th.
LGD Gaming are now set to appear in the main International event,
while RaTtLeSnAkE must go head to head against Western qualifier runners-up DD.Dota
on August the 6th 2013 in order to try and secure the final Wild Card winner slot in the tournament.
A day later, on May the 31st, Valve released a second major patch,
an update which introduced a series of new cosmetic couriers including Cyril the Syrmeleon, El Gato, and Itsy.
Cyril is awarded to purchasers of the Defense Season 4 tournament ticket,
while Itsy is now available alongside Cyborgmatt's Shagbark in the Dota 2 Store.
Six new individual hero taunts were also introduced for Crystal Maiden, Anti-mage, Lina, Drow Ranger, Juggernaut, and Pudge.
All six of the brand new taunts are being given out as a pack to compendium owners
after the fourth goal of $2.2M was reached earlier this week.
A texture overhaul for unreleased hero Abaddon was also found in the game files,
hinting that Valve is once again shifting their focus back to releasing new heroes
in order to get the game as ready and balanced as possible
for the upcoming main International 3 tournament in early August of this year.
For more information on this week's pair of patches, including a trio of new alternate HUD skins,
head on over to ValveTime.net for our full write-up and, as always,
we recommend you check out Cyborgmatt's full changelog analysis,
both of which can be reached via links in the video description.
Elsewhere in the Dota-verse, popular community site joinDota uploaded a large playlist of videos
featuring a massive amount of uncut behind-the-scenes footage from the International 2 tournament,
which took place in August and September of 2012.
There isn't really a whole lot more to say, other than we've included in a link to the playlist in the video description
and that we'd highly recommend taking a look if you're at all interested in Dota 2 or competitive e-sports.
Valve also uploaded a blog post to the Dota 2 website earlier this week
in order to discuss a variety of player concerns regarding the recently updated mute and report systems.
The blog post, named "Communication Reports," takes an in-depth look at the systems
and explains that only 1% of the active player base in the last month are actually mute banned,
meaning that their in-game voice and text chat are inactive, and their map pinging is limited.
According to statistics provided in the post,
60% of mute banned players go on to modify their behavior and therefore do not receive further bans,
thus helping to make the community a more friendly, positive place,
which Valve mention in the post as being one of their current primary goals.
We've included a link to the blog post in the video description should you want to head over and read about it for yourself.
A small blog post uploaded to the News section of the Team Fortress website earlier this week
revealed the next phase of Valve's continued partnership with Adult Swim.
The short post mentioned that a 15-second commercial starring the Team Fortress 2 mercenaries
would air on Sunday June the 2nd at midnight, during the Venture Bros. premiere.
Aside from this little tidbit of information,
we've been left relatively in the dark regarding the contents of this 15 second video.
Is it simply an advertisement for Team Fortress 2? A preview of the upcoming 15 minute short?
Or something entirely separate or new? Only time will tell.
As always, we'll keep you posted.
In merchandise news, Valve partner NECA released a sneak preview image
of the upcoming Soldier action figure to their Facebook page on Friday of this week.
The status uploaded alongside the image explained that both the Soldier and Heavy action figures
will be available for purchase in July 2013.
While no other information was discussed regarding availability or pricing,
we can assume from the previously released Pyro and Demoman figures
that these new models will most likely be priced around $21 and will be available from participating international stores.
We can also predict that the new Soldier and Heavy models will be extremely popular upon their release
given the fact that the previously released Pyro and Demoman action figures remain almost constantly sold out on the Valve Store.
We'll keep you up-to-date with any future updates regarding any Valve merchandise.
That brings us to the end of another week of Valve news.
Don't forget to subscribe so you can stay tuned for new ValveTime video content hopefully coming sometime next week.
Thanks for watching and bye for now.