Jul 11, 2011

Team Fortress 2 - SZ

Head over to the <a href="http://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=5816">TF2 blog</a> to check out some of the outtake footage and get the back story on the making of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/teamfortress#p/a/u/0/36lSzUMBJnc">Meet the Medic</a>.

Jul 11, 2011

Meet the Medic: Behind the Scenes

Team Fortress 2 - SZ

Head over to the TF2 blog to check out some of the outtake footage and get the back story on the making of Meet the Medic.

Jul 11, 2011

Valve Shows How Team Fortress 2's 'Meet the Medic' Sausage Was Made

Team Fortress 2

"Meet the Medic," the eighth and penultimate video in Valve's "Meet the Team" shorts was a long time a-comin'. Why the long wait between "Meet the Spy" and the video introducing Team Fortress 2's Medic class?

Well, Valve scrapped (at least) two previous attempts at "Meet the Medic," one that involved the doctor coming back from an extended vacation and one that sounded more like "Meet the Medigun." The Team Fortress 2 developer explains in a "behind the scenes" look at the Medic class' video the difficulties in bringing this support-based character to the forefront and how one pretty good train gag didn't survive.

The Team Fortress blog has some never before seen (outside of Valve) animatics from previous stabs at "Meet the Medic," walking us through the though processes that made the movie finally happen—and why that severed Spy head was in his fridge.

Meet the Medic: Behind the Scenes [Team Fortress]

Jul 11, 2011

Meet the Medic: Behind the Scenes

Team Fortress 2

Coming up with a Meet the Team short is a lot like a game of Jenga. 99% of it involves making room for an idea and seeing what happens.

Most of the time what happens is the whole structure collapses. Then you have to figure out why it collapsed and rebuild it, this time making sure to add in some structural support for your idea so it doesn't bring the whole short down.

As you'll find out in this Behind the Scenes blog, though, sometimes you can spend so much time adding all that structural support that it’s not until you step back that you realize your short is now nothing but structural support.

You can spend a lot of time building around an idea, in other words, before it occurs to you that the simplest solution is to get a better one.

Jul 11, 2011

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Portal Gun

Portal

Proving once again that everything plays better when you add Portal, the folks at Dorkly arm Zelda's hero with a little cutting-edge tech, courtesy of Aperture Science. The ensuing madness knocks the pig right out of Ganon.

Jul 11, 2011

How Steam Brought a Console Convert Back to the PC Gaming Fold

Half-Life 2

In this Monday morning episode of Speak Up on Kotaku, commenter Cobaltios tells the story of how he drifted away from PC gaming, only to have Valve's downloadable PC game service drag him right back in.

Well, if it wasn't official before, I'd say it is now...

Steam has officially re-converted me to a PC gamer. Wait, what do I mean by "re-converted"? Well...

I actually debuted my gaming experience on the PC with DOS games, and for the most part, had always rather enjoyed playing games on the PC. Some of my favorite games were on the PC; SimCity, Roller Coaster Tycoon, MechWarrior, StarCraft (later on), Muppet Treasure Island (point and click adventure game that I thought was good) and a few other games that I've forgotten but were still definitely part of my gaming time.

However, at the time, installing a game and getting them to work was hella tricky. There would be settings that would prevent a game from working, components that needed to be upgraded for them to work... it was annoying.

Once I got into video game consoles, I started to go with that path and stick with it since it was far simpler to play video games on. Sure, I'd stick with consoles for the most and play some PC games on the side, but I wasn't playing as many games on the PC as I'd used to.

Eventually, I decided to completely stick with consoles for my gaming needs. I thought it was a good decision; games were cheap enough if you knew where to look, extra controllers were easy enough to find, and getting the game to work was relatively a simple matter. So, I pretty much just switched sides.

Then, sometime a little into 2007, during my last year of high school, I was introduced to the Half Life series (I had actually heard about it before, but was a bit apprehensive about it at first). Didn't give it much thought, but hey, okay cool. Then the whole buzz about Portal hit, so I checked out a few videos. My god, I had to play this! Only one problem, it was for 360/PS3/PC... but I didn't have either of the HD consoles... and I seriously doubted my PC could run it, but I decided to go through with it anyways. At this time, I had just moved to a new location (used to live in Alberta, now I live in Ontario) and therefore didn't have a job. So, yes, I pirated Portal. Granted, after actually giving the "burnt" copy a try, the game would crash after attempting to go through the first portal. Found out the "crash" was due to hardware being inadequate :P.

Somewhat discouraged, I came across something that essentially acted as a "free" version of Steam; PacCafe/Steam. It was designed to enable people to get certain games off of Steam for free. Lacking any means of actual funds, I gave it try, and decided to go with Half Life 2. Having already watched a walkthrough of the game, I knew what I had to expect and therefore was looking forward to it.

My PC could just barely run it. Slow, chugged, lagged, but still relatively playable. I eventually had a period where I sort of decided to ignore PC gaming for a while, and headed back to my other 2 consoles at the time, Wii and PS2.

However, after acquiring a better video card, and some extra RAM for my computer (CPU was still a bit "old", but still relatively functional at the time), I was then able to finally play Half Life 2 properly. I eventually tested it with Portal, and although a tad sluggish as well, it was still actually playable. I later bought both Portal and Half Life 2/Episode1/2 later on, but was still unable to use Steam properly due to lack of means to actually pay for things (didn't own a credit card).

I was still pro console gamer... up until a point in 2010. That was when I was in college, and I needed to pay for some food, but I had yet to receive my student loan. What did I do? I activated my credit card... and soon after, I would discover how to use it to pay for online games.

Hoo boy... started it with Knights of the Old Republic, after a classmate informed me of Steam having a $5 deal on it. I later bought Minecraft, which would essentially be my undoing. Minecraft would be my slow convergence into the PC gaming side... but it wasn't done yet. I later found out about the Left 4 Dead deal involving buying both games, plus the special event DLC... all for $10. You could imagine my surprise when I did this; after having bought console games for more than that for a single game, having all that... for $10, was a surprise in itself. Team Fortress 2 was next, being sold for $10 as well.

At this point, PC gaming for me was gradually picking up. The games that originally brought me back to PC gaming would also be acquired for the Xbox 360.

Then the Black Friday Steam sales hit last year. Man did I buy a lot of stuff. Some of it were indie packs, others were games I had initially pirated, but decided that for such a low price, I'm buying it!

When I finally did upgrade my PC proper (better CPU and motherboard), playing some of the more... troublesome games were a snap! Minecraft, being the bigger one, worked flawlessly (almost), and playing other games wasn't so bad. I eventually started playing more and more PC games. Many of them I had initially wanted for console, but the prices really appealed to me.

Things took an immense change just recently after both this year's summer sale, and me purchasing a PS2 to PC adapter; allowing me to use a PS2 controller to play my games with. Or at least those that could be optimized with one.

Now? My computer still can't quite play the vast majority of the games I've recently purchased, but now that I know of the components I need to upgrade in order to make them work, it's not so bad. Installing them is easier than ever, and even if they don't work the first time, patches, user feedback and the general community is there to make sure getting to play these games is incredibly easy.

Verdict: I haven't entirely reconverted, but let's just say I can understand the perspective of PC gamers more than I used to be able to, and my old PC gaming self is learning to make compromises between my console gaming self.

I still find the term of the "Glorious PC Gaming Master Race" a tad... "snobbish", as it were, but I do respect for their general views and the fact that PC gaming is quite versatile; even though it does require a decent cash deposit to get things working optimally. But, once you do, purchasing the software needed to make use of that, is a joke!

About Speak Up on Kotaku: Our readers have a lot to say, and sometimes what they have to say has nothing to do with the stories we run. That's why we have a forum on Kotaku called Speak Up. That's the place to post anecdotes, photos, game tips and hints, and anything you want to share with Kotaku at large. Every weekday we'll pull one of the best Speak Up posts we can find and highlight it here.

Jul 11, 2011

Valve comic collection out in November

Team Fortress 2

A 304 page collection Valve comics is set to be released in the US later this year, according to listings on the Dark Horse site, spotted by Kotaku. The tome will be called Valve Presents: The Sacrifice and other Steam-Powered Stories, and will contain all of the promotional comics Valve have released online over the last year or so, including Left 4 Dead comic, The Sacrifice, the recent Portal 2 comic, and the excellent Team Fortress 2 shorts. The collection will cost $29.99 and is out on November 16. You'll find the cover art below, click to view it full size.

Jul 11, 2011

Tree-Killers: The Valve Comic Collection

Portal - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Alec Meer)

Over the last few years, Valve have been quietly honing the fine art of viral marketing in an online age, and comics have been a big part of that. A cartel of in-house writers and the excellent pencils of Michael Avon Oeming (and others) have created some rather splendid words’n'pictures. Of course, they were merely digital. HOW DARE YOU INSULT OUR EYEBALLS WITH YOUR CRUMMY JPEGS? Why, that’s for philistines> and people too damned lazy to turn paper pages. This horrendous oversight and offence to everything that some angry guy somewhere probably holds dear is about to be corrected, thanks to a hardback compilation of Valve’s various Portal, Left 4 Dead and Team Fortress 2 comics due from august comic publisher Dark Horse later this year.
(more…)

Jul 10, 2011

Valve Comic Book Due Out This November

Portal

For a while now, Valve has been releasing comics on its own websites in order to promote games like Left 4 Dead and Team Fortress 2. If, however, you'd rather read them on the can or in bed, this November, you'll be able to.

Dark Horse Comics will soon be releasing Valve Presents: The Sacrifice and other Steam-Powered Stories, a collection of Valve's comics bound in a single 304-page collection. Headlined by Left 4 Dead's The Sacrifice, it'll also include the company's Portal and Team Fortress 2 comics as well.

The book will cost $30, and go on sale on November 16. You can see its full cover art below.

Valve Comic [CBR, thanks Mark!]

Jul 9, 2011

Team Fortess 2 Sniper guide

Team Fortress 2

Team Fortress 2 is now free, so everyone with a Steam account owns it. If you haven’t played before, it can be an intimidating, hat-riddled game. Previously we gave you a handle on the basics, items and classes, now we're going in depth on each class.

We've covered the Heavy and the Medic Today the spotlight in on the Sniper. Australian killer for hire and thrower of his own urine.

Getting Started

The Sniper should be at the back of the team, slightly obscured by a stack of crates or lurking in the shadows, quietly taking out the rest of the enemy team with a steady stream of headshots. He’s the kind of efficient, calm, entirely stable mass-murderer you want behind you, rather than in-front of you. His starting sniper rifle does excellent damage when charged, but it takes a few moments to power-up. A fully-charged head-shot will kill every class, regardless of their current health.

Snipers, though, are extremely fragile. Not only do they have a minimal health-pool, they tend to get focused on peering down their scope, making them easy prey for spies, or other snipers. If they can close to range, a Sniper is easy pickings for nimble classes like the Pyro or Scout; their alternate machine gun is weak, only really useful for finishing off the wounded or infirm.

To zoom in with the Sniper’s rifle, click the right mouse button. The meter in the bottom left of the scope view shows how charged your next rifle shot will be. You’ll lose that charge if you fire, or if you unscope. While it’s tempting to wait until fully charged, if you’ve got a clear shot on the head of a stationary enemy, unless you’re absolutely sure he’s not going to move, it’s usually better to take the shot now, rather than waiting.

When you’re defending, the Sniper should be behind, or near to the capture point, with a clear view of both where the enemy will approach from, and the capture point. When attacking, the sniper should be, again, just behind the front line, supporting the other classes in their push.

While the Sniper is lots of fun to play, your team only needs a couple of them at most. If there are more than two Snipers on your team, think very carefully before switching the Sniper. You almost certainly don’t need any more. Snipers should also be very wary of being caught in a sniper-duel, or entirely focusing on kills to the detriment of helping your team. Just because you’re fragile, doesn’t mean you shouldn't capture points when you spot the opportunity. Just because you fight from range, it doesn’t mean that you can’t throw yourself at the Payload map in the final seconds of a round. Remember that your kill count means nothing if the team doesn’t win.

The most valuable alternate weapons for the Sniper

Jarate is a jar of piss that can be thrown at your enemies (in which case it will turn any damage done to them into mini-crits - a significant increase) or your friends (which will douse any flames). It will also ritually humiliate them. It’s basically brilliant, and a far more entertaining alternative to the Sniper’s boring sub-machine gun.

The Huntsman is a bow-and-arrow that replaces the sniper rifle. Huntsman arrows don’t hit instantly, unlike the rifle, and drop slightly in-flight, so it requires a slightly higher level of skill to hit with. Because of that, Huntsman snipers tend to fight closer to the front-lines, and fire head-level into crowds around a capture point or Kart, playing the law of averages, assuming that an arrow at head-height is likely to score a kill. While it’s arguable whether the Huntsman will make you a more effective Sniper, most of the PC Gamer team prefer it to the standard rifle, or any rifle alternatives. It’s awesome to kill with.

Is the Sniper Starter Bundle worth buying?

Definitely. It contains the jar of piss (Jarate) and a bow and arrow (the Huntsman). It’s the recipe for a very, very exciting evening’s entertainment.

How to help a Sniper

If a Sniper is scoped, he’s focused entirely on what’s at the end of his gun. He has no idea of what’s behind him, or to the side. He’s outrageously vulnerable to being backstabbed or flanked. Do everything you can to warn him of impending doom; shoot the baddie, or just tell the Sniper via voice-chat that he’s in danger. All it takes is a word, and he’ll thank you for it.

How to fight a Sniper

Fighting a Sniper at range is pointless; his rifle is more accurate, it hits instantly, and the damage it does has zero drop-off due to range.

In fact, you might not even need to fight him. The reality is that most Snipers aren’t very good, and miss far more often than they hit. Duck, weave and jump and they’ll almost certainly miss. And if they’ve missed once, they’re probably going to miss again.

So get in close, and fight them where they’re uncomfortable. Get a Pyro to harrass them, get a Spy to backstab them. They’ll become so frustrated that they’ll ragequit in disgust. Job done.