Not That There's Anything Wrong With That

For straight gamers, videogames can often be an escape from a painful reality. But for gay gamers, videogames offer little respite from prejudice and homophobia. Robert Yang recalls his experience developing a Half-Life 2 mod featuring gay characters and the response it provoked.

Left 4 Dead 2: The Boycott: The Visit: The Aftermath: The Interview

in late 2004 when Steam kept me waiting for three goddamn days before letting me play my newly-purchased Half-Life 2 has gotten me absolutely nowhere; ...

You Can't Be the Hero If You're the Rapist

Valve Replies To Fake Order Form For TF2 Items

Team Fortress 2 Does Super Smash Bros.

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The Future of Resident Evil

 NC The next Resident Evil should take a cue from the talent at Valve and mimic the Half-Life series' storytelling technique. That is, abandon cut-scenes, or at least don't use them heavily. Use in-game storytelling as much as possible. ...

Squeenix: "We Take Too Long" to Make Games

 NC After taking five years to release Half-Life 2, Valve spent almost eight years in development of Team Fortress 2, announcing the game back in 1998 and releasing it in 2007. Development on StarCraft II started back in 2003 after the release of Warcraft ...

String Theory: The Illusion of Videogame Interactivity

There's a debate raging in the game development community over the role of storytelling in game design. But two recent games have managed to make a compromise between narrative and interactivity. Anthony Burch analyzes how key scenes in Half-Life 2: Episode Two and Metal Gear Solid 4 tric...

Guest Column: Why DLC and Single-Player Don't Mix

 NC Episodic DLC is often limited to an extra couple hours of gameplay, which just isn't enough time to do that. That's because games take a long time to develop. When Valve set out to release episodic content for Half-Life 2, gamers were excited about the ...

Red Dead Revolver Finds Redemption This Fall

 NC - not to mention the Western themed Half-Life 2 mod A Fistful of Frags, but still there aren't nearly enough lone riders in the gaming landscape. ...

Half-Life Fire Drill

BBC News  NC Researchers at Durham University, England, have modified Gordon Freeman's escape from a resonance cascade and turned it into a fire drill simulator. Durham University's Dr. Shamus Smith, who helped spearhead the project, has said that that while ...