Dec 10, 2011

Xotic - Valve

Xotic 2.0 Released
This free update to our genre-bending FPS features new speed run game modes, new content, new achievements, support for DLC, a vastly improved tutorial and much more!

Even if you’ve already played through the game, check out the new tutorial for valuable gameplay techniques like hologram riding that are essential to Xotic. You’ll need to master them all to dominate the new speed run attack modes!

New Features:
• Scab Attack game mode: Destroy all scab plants in each level as quickly as possible. Includes 23 new leaderboards.
• Essence Attack game mode: Collect all the Orb Essence in each level as quickly as possible. New Orb Essence content exclusive to this mode added to all levels. Get ready to bust our your hologram riding technique! Includes 23 new leaderboards.
• Orb Attack game mode: Destroy all the Orb Brains in each level as quickly as possible. New Orb Brain content exclusive to this mode added to all levels. Includes 23 new leaderboards.
• Added support for additional levels via DLC packs
• New tutorial designed to teach key mechanics of the game such as hologram riding and flight.

New Achievements:
• Contagion: poison an enemy and have him poison another enemy.
• Goal Oriented: Finish all 3 level goals (scabs, brains & essence) with a point multiplier invoked.
• Gravity Defying: Perform 3 Aerial combos without touching the ground or a hologram.
• Completionist: Finish all levels (non-DLC) in all modes.
• Head Hunter: Destroy the five robot heads in the game.
• Airborne Killer: 5 consecutive fly kills.
• Mega Speed Kill: Kill 6 enemies in under 30 seconds.
• Sky is the Limit: Land on 1000 hard holograms.
• Brain Freeze: Find and destroy a blue Crystal Orb Brain (they appear after completing any level goal in a bonus level). Only available during Steam Winter Sale.
Improvements:
• Added a 3-2-1 countdown at the beginning of the levels to emphasize the importance of speed.
• Game difficulty can now be changed without starting a new game.
• Scroll boxes now respond to click-hold for scrolling.
• Perfect Chains accomplished are displayed on map screen

Bug Fixes:
• Megabrains now display the correct number of points when you destroy them.
• Fixed some exit portal cameras
• Fixed essence hidden inside level geometry
• Fixed Spine shot hit FX missing sound
• Fixed normal maps on lurkers

Dec 9, 2011

Sword of the Stars II: Lords of Winter Update Released

Sword of the Stars II: Enhanced Edition - Valve

r18454b
------

- Fixed crash when launching drones in weapon test screen, backing to design screen, and then switching mission sections
- Fixed crash caused by opening battle manager at a system where platforms are available for placement.
- Fixed crash that could occur when destroying weapons in combat.
- Fixed crash at end of turn when offering treaty
- Fixed occasional crash due to Main Menu combat
- Enemy AI will prioritize faction opponents over random encounters when choosing stance
- Strat AI will now prefer to enter conquering stance over expansion when past the war threshold.
- Modified the calculation for AI expansion factor, it will no longer take into account unexplored systems.
- Various adjustments to enemy AI's decision-making process
- Various adjustments to enemy AI to properly utilized specialized weapons
- Added combat UI for clicking on target locations for relevant weapons (Siege Driver, Detonating Torpedoes and COL).

- Fixed bug where platforms weren't showing up in defense manager
- Fixed bug where ships built with new Gate designs would not be available for the Gate mission.
- Fixed a bug where dissolving a fleet would lead to empty fleets.
- Seige Drivers working for all factions
- Fixed known issues with mine laying in combat.
- Fixed missing repair capacity on relevant ship sections.
- Minelayer sections working for all factions
- Fixed mine behaviour (depending on mine - tracking, etc.)
- Fixed various Torpedo sections that weren't firing
- Fixed arc of movement on all Zuul free-beam turrets
- COL weapons added.
- PD weapons now only engage PD targets
- Targets engaged per turret, not per bank (allowing PD, Torps, etc. engage multiple targets)
- Fixes for various weapon icons/names
- Fixed handful of missing tech descriptions
- Salvage missions are now properly being generated
- Fixed prototype modifiers for Human faction
- Fixed salvage profits
- Fixed weapon cost calculation in designs
- Ship option savings cost multipliers are now applied per section instead of per ship.
- Fixed various diplomatic messages that weren't displaying
- Fixed incorrect calculation of turret efficiency based on power and crew.
- Technical knowledge now gathered during combat
- Research progress now displayed in Research screen
- Completed technologies now clearly marked in green
- Fixed bug where players were unable to build habitations for their own race
- Fixed bug where Zuul players could build alien habitations
- Allowable distance between systems in a province has been increased to 8-ly.
- Fixed various turrets with odd parameters and placement
- Fixed various weapons with odd parameters
- Fixed Morrigi BR AM engine label (not a streak engine)
- Added ability to set initial fire mode and target filter when creating a ship design
- Any ships left in a removed fleet are now properly cleared
- Introduced new Scan Satellites and Torpedo Satellites
- Any remaining ships in a removed fleet will now be deleted
- Fix to a constraint violation between diplomacy and turn events
- Combat ready ships will increase the calculate strength of an empire more than utility ships
- Fixed defense platforms not showing up in Combat
- Fixed known issues with tracking speed on turrets
- Introduced initial pass diplomacy requests and demands
- Fixed a sound bug when constructing stations (event played when ordered, not completed)
- Fix potential issue where system/planet killer would not avoid a station in its path
- Added weapon panel configuration to design screen
- Fixed known issues with direct-fire torpedoes behaving incorrectly
- Fixed known issues where boarding pods and assault shuttles were not able to connect to ships
- Fixed rider patrol paths around a star

Known Issues
*** This update breaks old save games. ***
- Human faction unable to select typo of COL for COL section ships.
- Slaves and system information are not yet hooked up to diplomacy.

Dec 9, 2011

Men of War: Assault Squad Updated

Men of War™ - Valve

General

• Added IS-2 new 3d model
• Added Cromwell MKVIII new 3d model
• Added T-60 new texture
• Added passenger seats to ISU122/152
• Added ability of all small arms to penetrate armor
• Added additional camera control functions
• Increased arc of grazing howitzers
• Increased arc of light howitzers
• Increased arc of StuH 42
• Increased HE strength of Type99 at-rifle grenade
• Increased stamina of scouts
• Reduced speed of Vickers AA
• Reduced speed of FlaK 37
• Reduced turret speed of M4A3 Calliope
• Fixed that in some occasions the repair marker would not disappear
• Fixed volumes of mines to be larger

Multiplayer

• Added the ability to launch with teammates but no enemies (unranked only)
• Changed rank score to start with 0 instead of 500
• Changed resource distribution curve to increase mid-game duration
• Changed resource distribution to be no longer bound to game time
• Changed Assault Troops special unit to carry new shock troopers on T-34/85
• Changed middle flag buildings in 1v1 Winter Church
• Increased resource distribution length from 22.5min to 25min
• Optimized multiplayer map data
• Reduced price of Cromwell MKVIII from 375 MP to 360 MP
• Reduced "Sturmtrupp" price from 5 to 4
• Removed Panzergrenadiers from "Sturmtrupp"
• Fixed D1 giving no points
• Fixed some Day of Victory flag sizes
• Fixed small map issues

Dec 9, 2011

Nuclear Dawn Update Released

Nuclear Dawn - Valve

Additions
• Players will be awarded double XP throughout the free weekend (15th - 19th December).
• P-900 sidearm unlock added (automatically awarded to all players who purchase during the free weekend, as well as those who have already purchased Nuclear Dawn prior.)
• Added Santa hats which will run though the holidays - starting 19th December. Server admins can control the behavior with the following CVar:
o nd_xmas - 0 = Hats disabled - 1 = Hats only for commanders - 2 = Hats for EVERYONE!
• Added squad bonuses for healing, capturing resources, and kill assists.
• Saboteur Stealth class introduced. Use Remote Explosive Devices and machine pistols, in conjunction with your Stealth Cloak teach your enemies fear of the dark.
• Four interactive FPS training courses that cover aspects of class warfare and basic gameplay mechanics
• Three interactive RTS training courses that cover the basic Commander functions (minus tactical excellence - you add that yourselves)
• Commander Graduate achievement - a special achievement earned by completing all of the interactive RTS training. In live games, players who have this achievement will have priority over candidates who did not complete training.
• Added a “Career” page to the main menu for viewing your player stats, including upcoming general and class-specific unlocks.
• Added an “Extras” tab (found via the new “Career” page) that allows players to enable/disable bonuses, such as the pre-order Veteran Medal and free-weekend P-900 sidearm unlock.
• Added bots. These should be considered BETA as most functionality is still in development. For this version, the bots will behave similarly to regular players, rather than purchased units as in other RTS titles (they will do their own thing, other than when a commander order is given to them). Below are some console variables you can use to add bots to your server:
o bot_quota = Number of bots
o bot_quota_mode [ normal | fill | match ] = If 'fill', the server will adjust bots to keep N players in the game, where N is bot_quota. If 'match', the server will maintain a 1:N ratio of humans to bots. If ‘normal’ there will be N bots in the game. Where N is bot_quota.
o bot_add_ct = Add a bot to the Consortium team
o bot_add_emp = Add a bot to the Empire team
General Issues
• Secondary Resource Point resource production has been increased to balance the dominance of the Primary. While Secondary points still remain vastly inferior to the Primary, now a commander that manages to hold both at the same time will actually be able to remain competitive against the one holding the primary.
• Fixed an issue where turrets would sometimes continue to target Stealth players even after they have activated cloak.
• Fixed an issue where Transport Gates were sometimes visible on the spawn location map, even when out of power, or EMP’d.
• Fixed not being able to perform any commander actions when running a listen server on MacOS.
• Fixed RTS camera rotation issues on MacOS
• Fixed issue where empty commander orders were being left around the map
• Fixed fog of war problem that would cause some players and structures to be invisible in commander mode, even when they are in line of sight of your units.
• Improved and re-added idle fidget animations with leg movement.
• Improved knife/blade hit detection in both regular stab and backstab modes.
• Fixed multiple instances of first person animation glitches when returning to idle from sprint.
• A number of various stability fixes.
User Interface
• The Steam server browser will now correctly display Nuclear Dawn servers.
• Improved some UI mouse-over effects.
• Improved class selection images.
• Added icons for each class on the squad menu.
• Fixed some cases where text would have incorrect spacing on MacOS.
• Added a chat message when a player is awarded an achievement.
• Added new kit selection icons for Stealth Assassin, Support Engineer and Support Medic.
Weapons/Balance
• Increased Repair Tool’s effectiveness against enemy structures by 20%
Levels
• Clocktower
o Added a extra route to deploy relay towers by scaling up the tunnel at EMP base
o Fixed a few small issues throughout the level
• Downtown
o Relocated EMP command bunker to make it less exposed
o Removed floating displacement
o Fixed bushes not solid in multiple locations
o Fixed wireless repeater floating in the alley at the primary area
o Fixed CT wincam pointing at wrong location
o Removed ropes from the City State building
o Added multiple no-build areas throughout the level

• Hydro
o No longer possible to build behind the Empire Bunker
• Metro
o Fixed getting stuck in the primary bunker in some situations.
o Fixed a few floating bushes
• Oasis
o Fixed able to capture Primary from outside the building in a certain spot
o Extended capture area
o Added extra cover around the EMP base and throughout the level for relay towers

Dec 9, 2011

PAYDAY: The Heist Updated

PAYDAY™ The Heist - Valve

The PAYDAY Xmas update!

Thanks to all you players who have robbed countless banks, snuck off with thousands of diamonds and scooped up gold bars by the tonnes!
OVERKILL Software has monitored you closely through the security cameras and here are our counter measures:

PAYDAY Xmas achievement!
Find a Christmas present on any of the levels in multiplayer - take it and you will be given a Santa mask! Plus you will get the chance to be surprised later on...

Big features
Player drop-in ability in load-out and in-game!
You can now join an ongoing game! You will no longer be locked out of games just because they have already started or because you dropped out during play. Just rejoin and continue collecting those precious dollars and gems!
These are the rules: Players who are downed or in custody and drop out only to rejoin the same game will respawn in custody. Drop-in is disabled during the "point of no return" phase of the heist, as well as on the end screen.

Heavily improved fighting and acting by team AI and enemies
New features and fixes include:
• New events and enemy tactics on all levels
• Team and enemies now pick better cover and firing positions, and use more intelligent firing lanes for suppression and sniping
• Enemies now master additional acrobatic moves (such as dashes and slides) and they can fire at you while doing them!
• More cover moves for team AI and enemies
• Enemy AI move in tighter formations and coordinate better
• Team AI now keeps up with human players much better
• Smoother turn and aim on team AI, and reduced animation glitches on movements
• Better looking weapon recoils on team and enemies
• AI teammates now pick weapons that better suit the current combat situation
• Combat will now be more mid ranged and not run-in gun battles
• Team AI no longer has "ants in the pants" (they don't move around so much) when there are no enemies around

Advanced GFX settings menu (AG menu)
Custom visual settings and optimizations, including:
• Texture resolution setting "low" to "high"
• Texture filtering "off" and up to x16
• V-synch on/off
• AA on/off
• Light streaks on/off
• Animation level-of-detail setting for better performance
• More suitable default resolutions to fit laptops etc.
• AlienwareFX on/off (for Alienware computers)
• Added eight color grade filters (inspired by a range of heist and action movies)
"Payday +"
"Dinero"
"In Traffic"
"Bastard"
"BHD"
"Xgen Brown"
"Future of Gaming"
"The Matrices"

New masks
To celebrate that yet another bunch of military shooters was released recently, we've added four new masks to Payday!

Improved network code
Disclaimer: We did not fix the Internet. Please talk to Al Gore about that.

We've added a red toothbrush to Panic Room, and we've made sure this one's worth the hullabaloo!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TT1HShMInUs&feature=youtu.be

Additional features and fixes
Slaughterhouse and Diamond Heist are now available in the Normal difficulty setting
Single Player has improved scenario and difficulty balancing
Added more money bundles to First World Bank
The legendary über killer sniper removed from Heat Street
Teammate "mugshot" icons (lower left corner of the screen) now flash to indicate who is talking over VOIP
You can now see the cash value of the "near completion challenges" in the TAB menu
Fix to better hear team AI voices
Fixes for random crashes
Fixed the drill that kept resetting to full time for some people
Fixes for fake lobby appearing
Changed [Enter] to $Continue; to fix binding of enter to block the final stats screen.
More camera impacts on explosions
All weapons now have alert ranges, unique for each weapon
Chains is no longer replaced by Wolf on rare trade occasions
Bain will now correctly call the equipment "saws" (not "drills") in Panic Room

Now have fun, fellow heisters! DLC is of course in the works, as well as Patch 4! :-)
/The OVERKILL Crew and Sony Online Entertainment

Dec 8, 2011

CrimeCraft Gangwars Updated

Product Update - Valve

CrimeCraft GangWars Expansion Released

GangWars is a massive expansion for the Free-to-Play Online Shooter CrimeCraft. GangWars revamps the experience for new users while also adding exciting end game content for veteran players.

Play before December 16th and receive a special GangWars Launch Gift! This includes a powerful custom gear set, 40 gold bars, and much more…

UPDATE NOTES:

CLASSES
* Players can now select a Preset Class to use for combat.
* Choose from 24 different class profiles, such as Soldier, Sniper, Snadow Spy, and Kamikaze. Each class has its’ own unique advantages and disadvantages.
* Classes contains the full set of equipment and abilities that don’t require repair and don’t expire.
* Players can also create their own Custom Profiles, allowing the player to choose every aspect of their character including weapons, gear, boosts, and abilities.

TERRITORY WARS
* Players in gangs can fight for the control of territory in Sunrise City.
* Gangs controlling a zone will receive various bonuses such as increased cash gain or experience yield.
* Players have increased max hp when fighting in zones their gang controls.
* All players will pay a percent of their cash yield as a tax to the gang who controls the territory.
* Ruling Gang's logos will now appear around territories that belongs to them.

QUICKPLAY
* Access CrimeCraft's combat, character customization, equipment shops and social features from the Quickplay Interface,
* New Players joining the game no longer start at the lobby tutorial, which now has an option to be skipped.
* Any player can freely switch between lobbies and Quickplay by pressing a button on the interface.

TOURNAMENT SYSTEM REVAMPED
* Players earn bronze, silver, and gold coins as a reward tournament instead of cash and random items.
* These coins can be exchanged for powerful items of their choice from the Operator NPC.

BALANCE CHANGES
* Adjusted stats for items to make low-level players more competitive.
* Shock Grenade, C4 Rocket Turret, Enhanced Metabolism, Improved Detection, Liquid Armor and Blast Helmet rebalanced.
* Run speed increased for pistols. Range of all pistols increased.
* Sniper rifle accuracy significantly decreased when shooting without aiming.
* R-Sys Sabretooth, Hargan Bulldog, Valley Forge, Exeter Arret, Jericho Ragnarok, Cabrese Fucilere weapons stats rebalanced.
* Boost quality feature removed from the game. Now all boosts have maximum quality.
* Indura Liquidstone, Chemtech Supermax, Zymek Lifeline boost effects reduced.
* All unpopular boosts were rebalanced.
* Now character performs the standard jump-knife attacked when armed with a pistol.

MAPS AND GAME TYPES
* New game type – Core Annihilation added in the game. This is primary a PvP game type with an additional twist – each team consists of both players and AI bots. The goal is to destroy your opponent’s core while protecting your own core from opponent’s attacks.
* New combat location – La Famiglia Compound added in the game.
* PvP game types added on Chemtech Processing Plant map.
* Capture the Zone (3 points) game rules updated.

MATCHMAKING UPDATE
* A player can subscribe simultaneously to any number of map / game type combinations now.
* Matches launch much faster for players.

NEW BLACK MARKET ITEMS
* Change Gender Charter – this item allows changing your character gender.
* Small and Large Contract Page – this will increase the maximum allowed number of jobs.
* Custom hats added: The Spartan Helmet, Viking Crusader Helmet, The Nautilus, Spot Welder Mask, Mr. Hideous, Spec Ops Helmet and Riot Guard Helmet.
* Clan hall visual upgrades added for ceiling, walls, floor and furniture.
* Scavenger tools added that allow players to get containers for the profession of their choice from PvE matches.

OTHER
* Now players can spend gold bars or in-game cash to purchase abilities.
* Bronze coins can be exchanged for the following items when visiting Coin Operator NPC in any lobby: Weekly Tournament Passes; Ingredient Packs; Experience, Cash and Loot boosts; Bleedout episode tickets.
* A number of other major and minor improvements and bug fixes.

See the full list of new features, improvements and bug fixes on the http://www.crimecraft.com/forums/Patch-Notes/topics/GangWars-expansion-patch-notes

Dec 8, 2011

CrimeCraft GangWars Expansion Released

Product Update - Valve

GangWars is a massive expansion for the Free-to-Play Online Shooter CrimeCraft. GangWars revamps the experience for new users while also adding exciting end game content for veteran players.

Play before December 16th and receive a special GangWars Launch Gift! This includes a powerful custom gear set, 40 gold bars, and much more…

UPDATE NOTES:

CLASSES
* Players can now select a Preset Class to use for combat.
* Choose from 24 different class profiles, such as Soldier, Sniper, Snadow Spy, and Kamikaze. Each class has its’ own unique advantages and disadvantages.
* Classes contains the full set of equipment and abilities that don’t require repair and don’t expire.
* Players can also create their own Custom Profiles, allowing the player to choose every aspect of their character including weapons, gear, boosts, and abilities.

TERRITORY WARS
* Players in gangs can fight for the control of territory in Sunrise City.
* Gangs controlling a zone will receive various bonuses such as increased cash gain or experience yield.
* Players have increased max hp when fighting in zones their gang controls.
* All players will pay a percent of their cash yield as a tax to the gang who controls the territory.
* Ruling Gang's logos will now appear around territories that belongs to them.

QUICKPLAY
* Access CrimeCraft's combat, character customization, equipment shops and social features from the Quickplay Interface,
* New Players joining the game no longer start at the lobby tutorial, which now has an option to be skipped.
* Any player can freely switch between lobbies and Quickplay by pressing a button on the interface.

TOURNAMENT SYSTEM REVAMPED
* Players earn bronze, silver, and gold coins as a reward tournament instead of cash and random items.
* These coins can be exchanged for powerful items of their choice from the Operator NPC.

BALANCE CHANGES
* Adjusted stats for items to make low-level players more competitive.
* Shock Grenade, C4 Rocket Turret, Enhanced Metabolism, Improved Detection, Liquid Armor and Blast Helmet rebalanced.
* Run speed increased for pistols. Range of all pistols increased.
* Sniper rifle accuracy significantly decreased when shooting without aiming.
* R-Sys Sabretooth, Hargan Bulldog, Valley Forge, Exeter Arret, Jericho Ragnarok, Cabrese Fucilere weapons stats rebalanced.
* Boost quality feature removed from the game. Now all boosts have maximum quality.
* Indura Liquidstone, Chemtech Supermax, Zymek Lifeline boost effects reduced.
* All unpopular boosts were rebalanced.
* Now character performs the standard jump-knife attacked when armed with a pistol.

MAPS AND GAME TYPES
* New game type – Core Annihilation added in the game. This is primary a PvP game type with an additional twist – each team consists of both players and AI bots. The goal is to destroy your opponent’s core while protecting your own core from opponent’s attacks.
* New combat location – La Famiglia Compound added in the game.
* PvP game types added on Chemtech Processing Plant map.
* Capture the Zone (3 points) game rules updated.

MATCHMAKING UPDATE
* A player can subscribe simultaneously to any number of map / game type combinations now.
* Matches launch much faster for players.

NEW BLACK MARKET ITEMS
* Change Gender Charter – this item allows changing your character gender.
* Small and Large Contract Page – this will increase the maximum allowed number of jobs.
* Custom hats added: The Spartan Helmet, Viking Crusader Helmet, The Nautilus, Spot Welder Mask, Mr. Hideous, Spec Ops Helmet and Riot Guard Helmet.
* Clan hall visual upgrades added for ceiling, walls, floor and furniture.
* Scavenger tools added that allow players to get containers for the profession of their choice from PvE matches.

OTHER
* Now players can spend gold bars or in-game cash to purchase abilities.
* Bronze coins can be exchanged for the following items when visiting Coin Operator NPC in any lobby: Weekly Tournament Passes; Ingredient Packs; Experience, Cash and Loot boosts; Bleedout episode tickets.
* A number of other major and minor improvements and bug fixes.

See the full list of new features, improvements and bug fixes on the http://www.crimecraft.com/forums/Patch-Notes/topics/GangWars-expansion-patch-notes