Weekly Steam News - Jan 5

[CSN NewsBot]

Alert the Internets! The weekly Steam news update for the week of January 5th is here! This is where you run around screaming!

Next week, we will release a Steam client update with several new features. The biggest addition will be Guest Passes — a new feature that lets you give your friends free trial access to your favorite multiplayer games. Also in the update are a streamlined auto-updating mechanism for the Steam client itself, an "add to favorites" feature for the games list, and a new look for the user interface.



For a more complete description of these new features, you can get the full rundown here.



A couple of Mods caught our eye recently. Rock 24 is a single-player Half-Life 2 mission in which you (as Gordon Freeman) awake in a prison holding cell and have to rescue a scientist. Pirates, Vikings and Knights II has entered beta, with a download available on their website. Try it out and play as this barrel-chested hairy beast.



Oh yeah, by the way: Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, indeed. To those that missed the link in the news update that deals with the new Steam features coming next week, you should probably click this now. If you don't, you'll miss out on the image previews. That, or you can see just one example right here! January 8th is the target release date for the update, so we should expect to see it on the 12th.

[.Sn0w.]

good news for source bugs, oh wait...

[Zips]

.Sn0w. wrote..

good news for source bugs, oh wait...

I sure wouldn't want the Steam client crew working on game bugs...



Get a new bit already.

[Thortok2000]

But where IS the crew that is working on game bugs?



Does one even exist?



Do they know what a press release is? How about weekly updates from THEM?



*blah blah same old blah blah*



Though I've said it countless times before, it'd sure be great to hear news on subjects we care about, even if it isn't news we like, it'd still be news.



You know what I do with news on subjects that don't even mildly interest me? I toss it aside and go play more video games. This behavior has been conditioned into me since I was a small child.

[.Sn0w.]

Zips wrote..

I sure wouldn't want the Steam client crew working on game bugs...



Get a new bit already.

The current team arnt doing that great maybe its time they get someone else to do it.

[Que_?]

Shadows

Clipping

Hostage AI

Tweak all the guns (m3---LOL)

defuse bug.. (Is this one fixed)

fake reload sound



What else??

[-:Nighthawk:-]

Hopefully the guest passes are cool. Also glad to see the favorites coming, even if it's not nearly cool as that intuitive & intelligent version we saw posted a year or so ago by one of our users.

Pirates, Vikings and Knights II

Dude, where are the ninjas?



Oh wait... that wouldn't be fair, because ninjas are just sooo much more powerful than pirates, vikings, or knights -- it'd obviously be unbalanced.



*Awaits start of flame war from stating obvious truth*

[DaRk-AnGeL]

Nothing like a good old cs:s update ! :)



Mmmm, patching goodness...

[entRo]

Que_? wrote..

Shadows

Clipping

Hostage AI

Tweak all the guns (m3---LOL)

defuse bug.. (Is this one fixed)

fake reload sound



What else??

physics objects

fake grenade-throw animation

slow opening doors

DWP

"spotting" enemies on radar through smoke

stacked player height



I'm sure there's mountains more.

[omgomgz]

Did they mention the Goldeneye: Source beta in one of those Steam updates? If not you should really try it out, it's almost exactly like Goldeneye on N64. www.goldeneyesource.com

[Hutz]

Shadows

Clipping

Hostage AI

Tweak all the guns (m3---LOL)

defuse bug.. (Is this one fixed)

fake reload sound



What else??



physics objects

fake grenade-throw animation

slow opening doors

DWP

"spotting" enemies on radar through smoke

stacked player height

How about the cl_interp lag bug (it causes more lag than it's supposed to, like 50-70 ms more) that everybody knows about but Valve continually denies?

[Zips]

Hutz wrote..

How about the cl_interp lag bug (it causes more lag than it's supposed to, like 50-70 ms more) that everybody knows about but Valve continually denies?

What, you mean this one?

[Hutz]

Edited by [user="311268"] @ [time="1168193317"]

Several of us know the interp bug exists. If it didn't, why would someone be willing to spend his free time using datacentre computers to gather proof? I, and everyone else who is convinced there is a problem, would appreciate it if you wouldn't talk crap unless you have proof that there is no bug, because at the moment all signs show that there is one. Tests have been done on LAN dedicated servers that prove it, except the posted videos by themselves do not show the whole story - a big mistake, since most people don't believe it until reading up on how it was done. Your generic shit-talk doesn't prove anything except how unprofessional you are.



*Back on topic*



From the newspost, I think that DoD:S is having trouble getting new sales. It's had two free weekends already and now this free guest pass system is coming out for the game. What do I think they should do instead? Optimize the game for lower system requirements - I don't know of anybody who can play it smoothly even on small public servers. I have a pretty beastly machine and the game chugs between 30-60 fps inconsistently. Releasing more maps couldn't hurt, either...



I find that DoD:S is the most pub-friendly shooter out there (in a good way). Bring a couple of friends and watch as squad of 3-4 completely dominates flag captures. Ah, the memories...

[DaRk-AnGeL]

AFAIK, the tests that the guy on the steampowered.com forums conducted (The german guy from faculty) were conducted on a dedicated server......

[Hutz]

Yes they were.