A new version of the Front Line Force mod for Half-Life has been released. Version 1.5 has nine new maps, a new Key Capture gameplay mode, voice com support, HUD improvements and more.

Just got an email from Valve saying they Counter-Strike and Half-Life updates are coming next week. As you might know, Valve has been beta testing their Steam content system for a while now, updating CS and Half-Life in the process. These updates will now find their way to the non-Steam users, though Steam integration will start with this release. Here's what's new

CS 1.4 introduces several new features to the world's most popular online action game, including new missions (de_chateau, cs_havana), further integration of Valve's spectator technology, and more. The updates also mark the introduction of Valve's anti-cheat network, hosted in partnership with Speakeasy on the ISP's National Broadband Gaming Network (www.speakeasy.net).
In addition, this release begins the public migration of Valve's games to the recently announced Steam broadband platform (see www.steampowered.com). While it is not required, if players join the free Steam beta before next Tuesday, they will be updated seamlessly via Steam and be able to skip the traditional download process completely.

CS-Extreme has posted an interview with Valve's Erik Johnson. He answers a few questions about Steam and the Tracker software.

HomeLAN Fed starts off the week with an interview with Valve's Gabe Newell. Gabe talks some more about the Steam content delivery system they have been working on for a few years now.

Over at Valve ERC, they have released the latest version of the Valve editing tool software. Formerly Worldcraft, it's now called the Hammer editor. We have a mirror of the tool on Fileshack. Here's a list of changes, there are several fixes as well.

Splitter view layout is now preserved from session to session.

Dialog bars now pop to the top when the mouse cursor floats over them.

No longer renders the 3D views when the editor is not the active application. (This will fix most people's problems with running Hammer and Half-Life at the same time causing the editor to freeze)

Added Copy to Clipboard button to the process window.

Sped up time to bring up the Face Properties dialog when many brushes are selected.

Sped up 2D view scrolling.

Added timed selection of objects by depth in the 3D view when the left mouse button is held down.

redphive has posted a Day of Defeat interview. They talked to Matt Boone about this popular Half-Life WW2 mod and plans for version 2.1.

The Day of Defeat site has a new patch up for people who bought the April issue of PC Gamer. This patch brings the Half-Life mod up to the version released on the website.

Some new Half-Life Opposing Force files today. Gearbox has released a Modification Version (54mb) of the expansion, which allows you to play Opposing Force online without owning the expansion pack (though you do need Half-Life). Additionally, there is a new dedicated Linux server (48mb). Changes in 1108? Read about them here. A mirror of the Mod Version can be found at 3D Gamers. Update: Here's a .plan update from Randy Pitchford about the new release.

Sierra has released some new patches, updating the Half-Life expansion packs. There is a Opposing Force retail patch as well as a online multiplayer patch. Another Opposing Force patch is available for the version included with the Blue Shift expansion. A patch for Blue Shift is available as well. Thanks Blues News. You can read about the changes here.

HomeLAN Fed has conducted an interview with Phil Daniels, president of Maverick Developments. They are currently working on Machiavellian, an action adventure FPS using the Half-Life engine.

Thanks to Phalex and Corey for the word that Beta 5 of Action Half-Life has been released. There is a Windows and Linux release, the Windows download is 90mb, the Linux one is 94mb. Phalex included some mirror sites with his email, which is nice as the official site seems down at the moment.

Windows
- Jolt.co.uk
- Servebeer.com
- Gamigo.de
- Multiplayer.it
- Extremeplayers.de

Linux
- BlueYonder.co.uk
- Extreme Players
- Multiplayer.it
- Gamigo.de
- Jolt.co.uk

Fileplanet is hosting a 9.3mb movie showing some ingame action from the upcoming beta 5 release of the Action Half-Life mod. Also, on Planet Half-Life are four screenshots. Beta 5 should be out soon.

Trepidation Software has scored an interview with Gabe Newell, who is the Managing Director at Valve these days. If you are looking for new info on Valve's future products, this interview is not for you. However, Gabe does answers questions about his time at Microsoft, how Valve got involved with Sierra, if there were any particular features in Half-Life that were hard to implement and what he is particularly proud of in the game. They also ask him if his life has been affected in any way after the release of the game, what his opinion of bunny hopping is, if Valve plans to make games outside of the Half-Life/Team Fortress world, if there's any TF2 info he can share (no) and a few other things.

How did Valve become involved with Sierra?

We were going around talking to publishers about the ideas we had for Half-Life. It turns out that most of them thought we were on crack, although they were polite enough at the time. I had a friend who knew Ken Williams, the founder of Sierra, and he kept telling me that we should go pitch Sierra. I was skeptical that Sierra would be interested, but it turned out that Ken had just barely failed to get the publishing rights to Doom and was really interested in making up for that mistake. He had been around enough Microsoft people to realize that we weren't as insane as we came across to other game publishers, and he pretty much signed up Half-Life on the spot.

The first version of the Desert Crisis mod for Half-Life has been released. Release 1.0 is a 97mb download, and various mirrors are available. You can read more about this multiplayer class based modification here.

The Day of Defeat site has word that if you're having problems installing version 2.0, remember to delete the old version first. You need a fresh install or you'll have problems.

As promised (though a bit later), version 2.0 of the Day of Defeat mod for Half-Life has been released. It's a 138mb download, so it might take you a while. You can grab it from Fileplanet, FileFront, Patchez.de and various other mirrors as listed on the DoD site. Day of Defeat 2.0 features ten new maps, a new machine gunner class, new weapon models, and more.

You can also find mirrors for the Linux server on the Day of Defeat website.

Update: I can finally offer you a Fileshack mirror of the Windows release. You need an account to download.

After a cryptic message yesterday, the Day of Defeat team has now confirmed the 2.0 release is today. The new version should be available at 5pm CST.

Got word of an online radio interview tonight at 10PM CST. Rantradio and Redphive are working together to broadcast an interview with Gooseman (Counter-Strike) and Mugsy (Day of Defeat). These interviews will be broadcast during the The Sean Kennedy Show on Rantradio.

CS Nation is reporting that the next releases of Half-Life and Counter-Strike will not come with Steam. Steam is Valve's content delivery system, but is not really friendly for the bandwidth impaired.

Half-Life mapper David Johnston (creator of de_dust among other maps) let us know he has released a new single mission pack for Half-Life, ETC2. ETC2 comes 2.5 years after the release of the first ETC. It's a 13.5mb download.