Portal was one of the biggest surprise hits of 2007

After updating Portal on the PC a few times this month, with little things such as this alternative ending sequence to tease a potential sequel, Valve have officially announced Portal 2.

The only info so far is that the game is set for a Holiday 2010 release – which means November/December time in American-speak. The game was rumoured a while ago to be a prequel, but these rumours were circulating about two years ago, so who knows?

I am definitely looking forward to doing some new crazy tests with the ‘help’ of good ‘friend’ GLaDOS…

The new Team Fortress 2 update ends the battle between soldiers and demomen...

To celebrate the release of the latest Team Fortress 2 update, Valve is giving Steam users the chance to play the game online for free this weekend.

The new update entitled “The War” brings two new maps and a new item for the soldier class. Users of Valve’s popular online content delivery system, Steam can download the game and play for free over the course of this weekend only (so act fast!)

The game is also 50% off to buy over the same weekend, so if you enjoy playing it for free then you can buy it cheap and keep playing. I am in the process of downloading it right now, and I would advise that you do the same!

The characters from the first Left 4 Dead game will return in the form of DLC

Valve has announced the first piece of downloadable content for Left 4 Dead 2, with a little bit of information that will certainly please fans of the game.

The DLC entitled “The Passing”, is a new campaign set after the events of “Dead Centre” features a cross-over between Ellis, Coach, Rochelle, and Nick (L4D2) and Bill, Francis, Zoey and Louis (L4D1). Valve had hinted at something like this, and while players are still controlling the new characters, it could make for an interesting plotline.

“The Passing” should be released in “Early Spring 2010″, and no information has been released about pricing just yet.

Portal co-creator and Valve game designer Kim Swift has decided to pack her bags and head over to another Seattle-based studio, Airtight Games, the company announced.

“We are thrilled to work with Kim,” Jim Deal, President, Airtight Games, said. “Her addition to the team represents a strategic move by Airtight Games into new and broader gaming markets.”

Swift was hired directly out of college by Valve to create the critically acclaimed first-person puzzle game, Portal. As part of the game compilation title for consoles and PC released in 2007 called The Orange Box, Portal quickly became the most popular and beloved game on the collection.

“I’ve learned so much and had some amazing experiences at Valve,” Kim said. “But when I heard I had the opportunity to work on innovative titles with my friends over at Airtight, I couldn’t pass it up.”

Swift’s new role at the studio will be to focus on developing titles aimed at a more diverse audience.

Airtight Games is currently set to release Dark Void, its first title, next month.

Unless you’ve been disconnected from the Internets for the past six months, it’s likely you’ve heard about the large group of people unhappy with Valve’s decision to release a sequel to Left 4 Dead. The main gripes of this group are:

• The release of Left 4 Dead 2 as a stand-alone sequel will split the communities and decrease the quality of multiplayer gaming.
• The announced content of Left 4 Dead 2 does not warrant a stand-alone, full-priced sequel and should instead become updates (free or otherwise) for Left 4 Dead.
• Left 4 Dead has not yet received the support and content which Valve has repeatedly stated will be delivered.
• The release of Left 4 Dead 2 will make Left 4 Dead an obsolete purchase and inferior piece of software after only one year since release.

In the latest news, Valve has flown two of the group’s moderators to their Washington headquarters, putting them up in the Hyatt and giving them the full guided tour.

Amazingly, the representatives seem to now be more happy about the prospect of Left 4 Dead 2 after their encounter with corporate hospitality:

“Things seemed balanced and ‘tight’ and did not feel like a rushed job. While we were visiting their offices we personally witnessed what can only be called a small army of artists, coders, mappers hard at work, which explains the rapid transformations in artwork that we’ve all seen.”

“What we can say with confidence is that the quality of gameplay in Left 4 Dead 2 is not in question; and it will only get better.”

The 41,846 other members of the boycott group don’t seem to agree, surprisingly, and the word “sellout” seems to appear often in their comments.

Valve wants to sell us user-created mods on Left 4 Dead 2, with all the money made going back to the creators of that particular mod.

“We’ll have to filter them, we can’t allow any copyrighted materials, so it’s going to have to go through a process. But we’re hoping perhaps we can shepherd the really popular campaigns onto 360. And you know, if they are a paid system, perhaps that could go back to the authors. I think that would be a great story.”

So, shmucks like you and me make these mods, Valve release them as if they’re DLC and we get all the credit and the money? I’m down with that.

If this goes ahead, I doubt we’ll be seeing good old Shaun running around, or even a naked Zoe, but all the ingredients are in there for some crazy yet originate ideas.

Check out the full article here.

Left 4 Dead 2, the sequel to Valve's award winning co-op zombie shooter

Another game being shown off at PAX in Seattle was Valve’s Left 4 Dead 2. They were showing the third of the five new campaigns, entitled “Dark Carnival”.

They are also showing off a new special infected, this quote taken from ComputerandVideoGames.com:

“Valve is also unveiling a new Boss infected monster coming in the full version of Left 4 Dead 2. Known as “The Jockey” this is the third new Boss infected from L4D2 revealed thus far (the Charger was revealed at E3, The Spitter at Comic Con). The Jockey lets you attack lone Survivors and wrestle control of their movement away from them-into fire, off ledges, or straight into the middle of a zombie horde. “

You can watch a two minute gameplay clip of the new campaign here