Following the release of Half-Life 2: Episode Three, and a long period of PC FPS development, it would only be natural for the free men at Valve to try their hands at something new.

But according to Valve's Doug Lombardi, the Bellevue, Washington-based studio may move further away from its typical territory than you might imagine.

"There's a lot of people at Valve who are parents and would love to make a game for kids," said Lombardi to CVG. "We all play the Wii a lot and we think that the proper way for Valve to approach the Wii would be to make something cool designed specifically for it.

"I mean, I'm not making any announcements, but there's a lot of desire internally to do something for kids, do something on the Wii."

And as long as we're talking extreme divergence, why not a Valve MMO... Read more

Independent developer Valve today announced the release of its Steamworks software development kit, a set of free tools that will allow PC game developers to add a number of supporting services to their products.

The list of features includes product key authentication, copy protection, auto-updating, social networking, matchmaking, and anti-cheat technology.

Those interested in the nitty-gritty details can check out the Steamworks partner site, which has now been updated with additional documentation.

An exclusive version of Nunchuck Games' Ninja Reflex (NDS, PC, Wii) built with the Steamworks tool set is now available on Steam, Valve announced today.

Retitled Ninja Reflex: Steamworks Edition, the new revision of the reflex-testing game comes equipped with Steam-exclusive features including 50 achievements, as well as a slew of Half-Life and Portal-themed Easter Eggs to be discovered.

Ninja Reflex: Steamworks Edition is available now on Steam at a 10% debut discount for $8.95.

Unreal creator Epic Games today joined the ever-growing ranks of game studios that sell their products through Valve's PC digital distribution platform Steam.

Epic's initial offerings constitute five titles: Unreal Gold, Unreal II: The Awakening, Unreal Tournament: Game of the Year Edition, Unreal Tournament 2004: Editor's Choice Edition, and Unreal Tournament 3.

Each title will be sold for 10% off until March 24. An Unreal Deal Pack is also available, containing the five titles for $59.95--a savings of over $46. The discount applies to the Unreal Deal pack as well, making it $53.95 until March 24.

"Epic is a leading developer of game engine technology and has produced some of my favorite games of all time," said Valve president Gabe Newell. "It's an honor to be working with them and offering their current and classic titles to the millions of Steam gamers around the world."

Valve today confirmed reports that the PC version of its critically acclaimed compilation the Orange Box (PC, PS3, X360) will be split for individual retail sale on April 9.

Portal and Team Fortress 2, which had previously not been available individually at retail outlets, will be sold for $19.99 and $29.99, respectively. Valve is also planning the Half-Life 2 Episode Pack, which will include both Episode One and Two in addition to Half-Life 2 Deathmatch for online play, priced at $29.99.

All three games will be identical to their Orange Box and Steam counterparts. The individual titles will be available in North America on April 9, and worldwide on April 11.

The Orange Box--Valve's acclaimed compilation containing Portal, Team Fortress 2, and Half-Life 2: Episode 2--will be split into separate PC titles on April 9, according to Joystiq.

The move is not one of desperation. While The Orange Box has done well on consoles, with well over a million copies sold between the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions, Valve's Doug Lombardi characterized the PC release as "significantly stronger," citing a two-digit percentage increase over the console editions.

No official prices have been announced for the individual packages.

The topic of a full Counter-Strike sequel has been cautiously broached by Valve during a series of interviews with GameTrailers TV.

"We will never abandon Counter-Strike," asserted Valve director of marketing Doug Lombardi, who went on to explain why the game hasn't received a major update since the release of Counter-Strike Source in 2004.

"It's a little bit unfair to compare Counter-Strike, I think, to your classic game that's gonna have these sequels. It looks a little bit more like an MMO where it's constantly [being updated]."

Of course, even the most successful MMOs get sequels eventually, and it appears that Valve is at least tentatively working out the details of a Counter-Strike refresh.

"With Counter-Strike 2, there's a big question between, do we go start over from scratch and build this whole new game, do we do something that looks more like Team Fortress 2 that is rooted in the old game but has a ton of new stuff, or do we just sort of take everything that's new that we've released and put that out in a new box," remarked Lombardi.

"I think we're leaning more towards the two more radical places than... Read more

Music and video downloads may be headed to Valve Software's digital distribution platform Steam before the end of the year, according to the company's marketing VP Doug Lombardi.

"We're also looking at other types of content like video and music," said Lombardi to Tom's Games.

"We're definitely having those conversations and meetings, and we're reaching out to folks with other types of digital entertainment. I think before the end of the year, you'll probably see some pilot programs with other digital entertainment on Steam."

Lombardi also mentioned that while the Xbox 360 version of The Orange Box sold over a million copies, and the PlayStation 3 edition sold an additional "few hundred thousand," sales of the PC version were much stronger.

"I'd say significantly stronger, at least a two-digit percentage increase... Read more

Caution: The full text of this article contains spoilers.

Don't tell anyone, but some of Portal's best dialog, the stuff about the importance of your weighed companion cube, came from writer Eric Wolpaw's readings of some "declassified government interrogation thing."

From that, he learned "isolation leads subjects to begin to attach to inanimate objects." So when designer Kim Swift and the rest of the small Portal team at Valve, which was never larger than ten people, were trying to make players drag "this stupid thing" (Swift's exact words) all over a map, Wolpaw had an idea.

His solution? Have a piece of dialog that implied the box was the player's only friend in the world. "After that, no one ever forget the box," Swift noted. "When all else fails, great dialog really was a great tool to give hints to players."

Making the Player Smile
"On its own, the [Portal] gameplay would be alright. Honestly, a little on the dry side," said Swift, emphasizing the importance of clever writing in the beloved title.

"If you're writing a funny game, first of all, god help you," admitted... Read more

Valve's acclaimed puzzle-action hybrid Portal will be given a sequel, according to the game's lead designer Kimberly Swift.

"Well, I believe Doug Lombardi who is our lead marketing director at Valve, has announced Portal 2," said Swift in an interview with G4TV.

Lombardi had previously stated that more Portal was on the way, but Swift's comment is the first mention of a true sequel to be made thus far.

No further details on the project were provided.

Portal won the Game Developers Choice Award for Game of the Year last night in San Francisco. It also took home the awards for Innovation and Best Game Design.

Online retail giant Amazon.com is looking to incorporate video game downloads into its digital distribution service, as revealed by a job posting on Gamasutra.

The posting calls for a software development engineer for a position in video game and software downloads. "The Software and Video Games Digital Technology Team ... is responsible for digital distribution of software and video game products from the Amazon website," the listing reads. At present, no official announcement of digital game distribution has been made.

A significant portion of PC gaming sales have shifted towards digital distributors such as Valve's Steam platform over traditional retail channels, as reflected in recent sales trends and analyses. Amazon currently only provides digital download service for MP3s, movies, and PC software applications.

Update: A representative of MTV Games and Harmonix has informed Shacknews that the leaked Rock Band DLC information "is unconfirmed and subject to change."

"Please stay tuned for confirmation of Rock Band DLC closer to their release," the representative added.

Original Story: A user on the rhythm game fan site Scorehero.com claims to have uncovered a massive list of future downloadable songs for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 editions of Harmonix's Rock Band.

The list was apparently contained in a file named spa.bin, found in the recent Rock Band DLC "(Arguably) Punk Pack 02." The leaked tracks include all of the songs tentatively scheduled by Harmonix for a March release, as well as many new offerings.

While the list does not include artist names, tracks from bands already attached to the game are easily discernible, such as classic songs by Nirvana and the Grateful Dead. When combined with previously-released material, the Nirvana tracks constitute the entire album of "Nevermind," one of the few full-album downloads confirmed by Harmonix before the game's release.

Some newcomers are present, such as "Still Alive," potentially the popular Jonathan Coulton song from Valve's Portal.

The full assortment can be found below, with the tentative March DLC removed and likely band candidates attached: ... Read more

Update: The patch is now live on Steam.

Original story: Valve has announced that the first major update to the PC version of its hit multiplayer shooter Team Fortress 2 will go live tomorrow morning at 11 AM PST.

The free update adds the new vertically-oriented map "Badlands," a reworking of a classic TFC battleground. Three previously released maps--Dustbowl, Granary, and CTF_Well--will also receive performance and gameplay tweaks.

In addition to map changes and additions, the patch will include further improvements to networking and graphical performance, player statistics, and Source TV. A full list of the changes can be found here.

Valve made no mention in its release of the forthcoming unlockable items or the previously-announced Goldrush map.

For a look at Badlands, check out Shacknews' recent preview of the map.

Electronic Arts is unsurprisingly planning future iterations for many of the hit franchises it publishes, including EA Black Box's Need for Speed, Criterion's Burnout, EA Black Box's Skate, and Harmonix's Rock Band.

EA president Frank Gibeau discussed the plans in an analyst meeting today, listing them as part of the company's "turn-around" strategy, which is focused on "a strong pipeline of innovative sequels and new IP" and increased digital revenue through titles such as Mythic's Warhammer Online and EA DICE's Battlefield Heroes.

As for the new IP, the president highlighted the company's plans to publish EA Los Angeles' Tiberium, BioWare's Dragon Age, DICE's Mirror's Edge, Pandemic's Saboteur, Valve's Left 4 Dead, and EA Redwood Shores' Dead Space.

Gibeau also mentioned the company's plans for EA Maxis' just-dated Spore (PC, NDS), detailing that efforts to bring the evolutionary simulator to more platforms and produce expansion content are already underway. The studio is known to be working on a Wii edition of the game.

During an awards ceremony last night, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences named Infinity Wards' Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (PC, PS3, X360) as 2007's Overall Game of the Year. The title also took three other awards: Console Game of the Year, Action Game of the Year, and Outstanding Achievement in Online Game Play.

Valve's The Orange Box (PC, PS3, X360) was named Computer Game of the Year, while Outstanding Achievement in Game Design, Game Play Engineering, and Character Performance all went to Portal, one of the three new titles contained within the bundle.

Harmonix's Rock Band (PS2, PS3, X360) was honored as Family Game of the Year along with awards for Outstanding Innovation in both Gaming and Soundtrack. Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (DS) took Handheld... Read more

Addressing recent reports, casual developer PopCap has denied that a Nintendo DS version of Peggle is currently in development, though it hopes to eventually bring the beloved ball-shooter to more platforms.

"We have ambitious plans for many of our titles including Peggle, and are eager to bring its peg-popping pleasures to as many appropriate platforms and devices as possible," said PopCap video game platform VP Greg Canessa. "But Nintendo has not approved this product, we have not signed a developer to port Peggle to DS, and we have not green lighted this project."

Earlier this year, PopCap confirmed than an Xbox Live Arcade edition of Peggle was tentatively slated to arrive in Q2 2008. A sequel, dubbed Peggle Nights, is also known to be in the works.

Previously released on PC, Mac, and the iPod, the Pachinko-like offerings of Peggle have won over many a cold-hearted gamer despite its use of unicorns... Read more

Valve's PC digital distribution platform Steam now has over 15 million user accounts, with the company reporting a 158% growth in holiday sales over those of the last season.

In today's announcement, Valve trumpeted Steam's free community features, the upcoming release of the cooperative zombie shooter Left 4 Dead, and the recent revelation of Steamworks--Valve's free offering of its internal server tools to all PC developers.

"PC gaming is thriving, and has evolved into an era of constant connectivity," said Valve president Gabe Newell. "That connectivity gives us the ability to have a much better relationship with customers, not just for delivering our games, but across all aspects of our business--including the design, development, and support of our games."

Clarifying reports made earlier this week, Valve marketing VP Doug Lombardi has told Shacknews that plans to bring new maps and content to the console editions of Team Fortress 2 are still up in the air.

Upcoming free content for the PC edition of the colorful class-based multiplayer shooter--one of the many titles contained within Valve's value-packed The Orange Box (PC, PS3, X360)--includes the medic achievement pack, unlockable weapons, two new maps, and one new gameplay mode. A reworked version of an existing map, revised to accommodate CTF play, was released last week.

During yesterday's third quarter conference call, EA CFO Warren Jenson mentioned that the PC version of Valve's value-packed Orange Box would be unbundled and released at retail as separate titles.

The Orange Box, which includes Team Fortress 2, Portal, and Half Life: Episode Two, is currently only available on retail shelves in bundled form for the PC and console alike. The games were available on Valve's digital distribution platform Steam from day one. The plan comes as part of EA's strategy for the current fiscal quarter.

Distributor EA is quite pleased with the Orange Box's performance, noting in the conference call that the title "exceeded expectations." The move to break up the Orange Box may be a result of the difficulties marketing a bundle that contains three radically different games featuring unique themes, graphical styles and gameplay schemes.

No mention of pricing for the individual games was mentioned during the conference call, but the retail versions will likely be made available at prices comparable to Steam: Portal at $19.95, and Team Fortress 2 and Half Life: Episode Two for $29.95 each.

Publisher Electronic Arts posted a net loss of $33 million over its third quarter ending December 31, according to the company's most recent financial results released today.

The loss--in part due to higher costs in production, marketing, and R&D costs--comes alongside record sales numbers, with revenues of some $1.503 billion, which it claims as the largest one-quarter take of any third party publisher in history.

The achievement is attributed to strong sales of Need for Speed Pro Street, FIFA 08, The Simpons Game, Madden NFL 08, and others.

Rock Band sales were also listed, with the $160+ Harmonix-developed rhythm-game bundle selling 1.5 million units between its November 20 release and the end of December.

The game drove record performance of EA Partners, the publisher's division that handles games by independent developers. EA Partners also released Crytek's Crysis (PC), Flagship Studios' Hellgate: London (PC), and Valve's The Orange Box (PC, PS3, X360).

EA will release further information in a conference call to be held at 2:00pm PST.