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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:
Game and System updates were all the rage this week,
as Steam received a major update to the Store and Community sections.
The updated Steam platform is intended improve the manner in which players view content
from both the community, their friends, and themselves.
The Steam Store also received a minor update several days later, which has introduced a new genre section.
This new section, entitled "Early Access," allows developers to upload and sell pre-released versions of their games
early in Alpha or Beta form in order to get the community onboard for feedback and early playtesting.
Several new pre-release games were also added to get the ball rolling,
including Kerbal Space Program and Prison Architect, both of which are on sale now in beta and alpha formats, respectively.
The "Indie Spring Sale" also began on Thursday, which acts as a week-long Steam Sale
celebrating the wealth of games from independent developers currently on Steam.
The sale will run from March the 21st until March the 29th 2013,
so be sure to head on over to avoid missing out.
The sale is also highlighting a variety of hits from the Independent Games Festival and PAX East,
both of which have their own dedicated store pages available from the main Indie Spring Sale page.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive received a sizeable patch earlier this week
which introduced some brand new content and major tweaks to age-old mechanics.
A reinvented version of the classic cs_militia map was included
alongside a major overhaul to the Main Menu, which, like the Steam interface update we just told you about,
now better encompasses the different game systems into several distinct categories.
The update also introduced a variety of significant changes to the Hostage gamemode.
Counter-Terrorists must now untie and carry a single hostage to the extraction zone in order to win a round.
Valve explained in a blog post on the Counter-Strike website that the hostage spawn locations have also been changed,
as the number of hostages has been reduced from 4 to 2,
ultimately helping to balance out matches to remove the Terrorist advantage
which featured so heavily prior to the update.
We highly recommend checking out the overhauled cs_militia, so we've included a variety of links in the video description
to help you learn more about the new map and other gamemode changes.
This week's Dota 2 update focused on introducing improvements to gameplay and visuals
while once more expanding the game's library of cosmetic items.
New item sets for Keeper of the Light, Riki, and Spirit Breaker were included
alongside in-game floor models for the Quelling Blade, Stout Shield, and Tango items.
Abilities such as Drow Ranger's Marksmanship, Nyx Assassin's Spiked Carapace, and Keeper of the Light's Illuminate
all received drastic modifications which have reduced their effectiveness
while Tranquil Boots have received a much needed boost.
A variety of new cosmetic couriers were also introduced in the update
including the Nimble Ben, Princess Penelope the Porcine, and the insanely cute Servant of Selemene.
While the Servant of the Selemene is currently the only one to be included in the game,
we imagine the other two will have their moment of glory sometime soon.
Speaking of changes coming very soon, unreleased heroes Skywrath Mage, Elder Titan, and Bristlebog
all received additional updates to particle effects and textures,
further hinting at their possible inclusion in a tri-hero update coming sometime soon.
For a more in-depth look at the patch, be sure to check out our full write-up on over on ValveTime.net
and head on over to Cyborgmatt's blog for his update analysis,
both of which are available as links in the video description.
Team Fortress 2 became the world's first game title to feature support for the Oculus Rift
after an update introduced earlier this week included official in-game functionality for the upcoming virtual reality headset.
While the Oculus Rift is not yet publicly available, owners of the pre-released developer kit
will be able to test their new virtual reality headset in-game
by adding "-vr" as a command line to Team Fortress 2's startup options.
And, what Team Fortress 2 update would be complete without the addition of a new hat?
All Oculus Rift owners will receive a genuine version of the brand new "TF2VRH" hat to wear on all classes
once they have entered a unique promotional code provided with the device.
While we feel more game developers need to provide official support for the Oculus Rift
before it can be considered a viable purchase upon its release later this year,
this is definitely a step in the right direction.
We thought we'd give you a quick reminder that the 2013 Game Developers Conference begins early next week,
so don't forget to check out all of the developer talks and reveals planned for the show.
Valve in particular have a whole host of talks planned,
including "Physics for Game Programmers," a talk by Dirk Gregorious on March the 26th;
"Why Virtual Reality is Hard (And Where it Might be Going)" by Michael Abrash;
and "Porting Source to Linux: Valve's lessons learned" by Rich Geldreich and Sam Lantinga,
both of which are on March the 28th.
Several more talks are also planned, which you can find out about on our website available by clicking the link in the video description.
We were pleasantly surprised this week to find that a small team of Valve's developers,
including Jeep Barnett and Christine Phelan, created "Lamar Goes to the Zoo"
in a 48 hour game jam last weekend.
Using Construct 2, a free-to-use 2D game development kit available on Steam,
they created a simplistic 2D platforming game focusing on Lamarr the headcrab during a trip at the Dam Zoo.
Oh, and it has hats, many hats.
While this is by no means an official Valve product or title, we still felt it was interesting enough to mention,
so we've included a link in the video description if you feel like checking it out.
Last week on ValveTime NewsTime TriviaTime, we asked you the question:
Well, congratulations to Dalannar, who mentions the gap between Half-Life 1 and 2 is around 20 years,
which is shown in the manner in which characters such as Eli, Barney, and Alyx have aged in the intervening years.
He was also correct in saying that Half-Life 1 occurs sometime between the year 2000 and the year 2009,
while Half-Life 2 is set 20 years later between 2020 and 2029.
Thankfully this means we have nothing to fear.
If the Combine were going to invade, they'd have done it by now!
We're going to take a short break from TriviaTime over the next few weeks,
so instead we'll include a short general question on the end of each episode
to create some discussion on both our forums and on YouTube.
There are no right or wrong answers, just discussions.
Let us know what you think and why.
And don't forget that ValveTime is currently looking to hire 2-3 new writers for our website and YouTube channel.
If you're interested, check out our recruitment video via the annotation link on-screen now
to find out more about how you can apply and potentially be successful.
We're only accepting applications for another week until March 30th,
so don't miss out on this chance if you've ever wanted to join ValveTime!
Stay tuned for our upcoming review of Zombie Master 2 (when I finally get around to finishing it),
which should be released early next week, if everything goes according to plan.
In the meantime, why not head on over and check out the second episode of Aperture R&D,
which was released earlier this week.
It has nothing to do with us, but we just thought we should mention it.
Thanks for watching and bye for now.