We reported last month that Valve had confirmed that Mac users will finally be able to use Steam this April. As many of you know, the month of April is over, leaving all of us wondering what is next?
Sources at Joystiq.com, have received an email from platform provider developer slash.
Valve today announced the public release of Steam for the Mac is May 12. Please stay tuned for more information
Yesterday, the developers over at Teamfortress.com released a new blog stating that they have reached the 119th (or so) update to Team Fortress 2. This calls for a celebration. From September 20th, 2007 till now April 29th, 2010 Team Fortress 2 has have about 119 updates, if not more. Many of the updates range from class updates to miscellaneous fixes within the engine itself.
On September 20th, 2007 Teamfortress 2 cache size was 2.45 GB and Today’s cache size is 4.83 GB.
Well it started by us first whetting your appetite with a few Meet the Team trailers.
On April 28th, 2010 Teamfortress 2 developers released a blog announced some major updates:
Added new community map cp_freight
Added missing physics models for several items
Added jiggle bones to the Sam & Max items, and The Buff Banner
Added Crit-a-Cola
Gameplay Changes
Pyro changes
Flamethrower direct damage reduced 20%.
Burn duration reduced (10 -> 6 seconds).
Airblast re-fire delay reduced by 25%.
Airblast ammo usage reduced by 20%.
All reflected rockets/grenades/arrows now mini-crit.
Airblasting enemies into environmental deaths now awards the death credit to the Pyro.
Heavy changes
Minigun spin-up/down time reduced by 25%
Minigun firing movement speed increased to just under half-normal (from 80 to 110).
Throwing a sandvich to a teammate now earns a full bonus point (was half a point).
Bonk! changes
Post-use movement penalty removed.
Now has a re-use cooldown time, like The Sandman.
The Chargin’ Target changes
Direct charge hit now does 50 damage + 10 per head (up to 5 heads).
Capped the turn rate from +left and +right while charging.
The Huntsman changes
Removed restriction that arrows need to be aimed before they can be lit by a Pyro.
Bow can now be lowered without losing the lit arrow.
Changed bow so you can start charging it while you’re jumping, but you can’t fire until you’re on the ground.
Fixed bug where flame effect would get stuck on if you change weapons with a lit arrow.
Backpack changes
Moved Crafting button out to the root class/backpack selection panel.
Dragging and dropping items in your backpack now makes appropriate sounds.
The Sandman change Added a slight speed reduction to stunned players.
Added new items to commemorate our 119th (or so) update.
Fixed several issues with the Source SDK
Scout’s “Retire the Runner” achievement updated to be
“Kill a Scout while they are under the effect of Crit-a-Cola.”
Added a 20% damage bonus to The Backburner
Fixed the Flare Gun’s afterburn duration being lowered by the Flamethrower’s duration reduction
Fixed the teleporter exit using the wrong particle effect
Fixed HUD damage indicators not appearing
Fixed Teleporters not reverting to level 1 when their other side is destroyed
Fixed receiving damage not causing view-kicks on players
Fixed Engineers & Spies being able to circumvent build restrictions
Fixed Server Browser not saving filter settings properly
Fixed a client crash in the targetID on clients running custom HUDs
Source: Teamfortress 2 Blog
Call of Duty: Black Ops has been announced and is expected to be released on November 9th, 2010. The new game was announced on Joystiq.com this morning. UK retailer, GAME, has reported that the story line of Call of Duty: Black Ops will take place in a number of different locations from “Cuba to the Arctic and the jungles of Vietnam”.
It was reported last year around this time that the next Call of Duty would be set to take place in Vietnam. Activision has released the Call of Duty: Black Ops website and the game trailer is expected to be released later on tonight. Treyarch, the developer of Black Ops released a blog on the Black Ops site saying:
We at Treyarch are excited to reveal our latest development Call of Duty: Black Ops! Be sure to head over to CallOfDuty.com/blackops as more details begin to unfold! Follow @JD_2020 and @Treyarch on Twitter for the latest news & discussions regarding Black Ops.
In addition, Treyarch’s Studio Head, Mark Lamia, says in the official press release:
“We can’t wait for our community to experience Call of Duty: Black Ops. We have focused our entire studio on this game, with dedicated multiplayer, single-player and co-op teams creating the most intense, gripping and riveting experience possible for our fans on all fronts.”
Treyarch has tweeted saying:
The #CODBlackOps teaser trailer will be on Black Ops FaceBook and Call of Duty: Black Ops Website after it airs on GTTV tonight!
It has not yet been confirmed if Black Ops will be released for the PC. Many are wondering if Black Ops will follow the same footsteps as Modern Warfare 2, leaving the competitive scene behind.
Sources: Cadred – Joystiq – Call of Duty: Black Ops – Treyarch Twitter
Banner and Rotator by: Arcane Shadow
Today the organizers of the Arbalet Cup series announced structure changes, expansion and development for the future. The group will be holding an amazing nine events a year, including a summer tournament in Dallas.
Arbalet has held a total of 9 tournaments in 2010 thus far, with the Female Arbalet Cup starting tomorrow. A total of $184,250 has been given out in prize money from the Arbalet cups and qualifiers.
The Arbalet Cup organizers have just released their structural changes and revealed the huge increase in prize money.
1. The Arbalet Cups have reached international status and will therefor allow any international team wishing to participate do so.
2. All tournaments will take place in an open format, but will feature a limited total number of participants at the final stage (16or 32). Decided by qualifiers and invitations.
3. Tournament names will be determined by the host city. For example, Arbalet Cup Stockholm, Arbalet Cup Moscow.
4. When a tournament features sixteen teams, there will be prize money for every team, to serve as a motivation boost for participants.
5. Teams will have to cover expenses such as travel, accommodation, meals etc. on their own behalf. The organizers will now focus on achieving maximum quality of the tournaments. Also, as long as the organizers do not pay for any travel or accommodation expenses, the prize pool will increase.
The organizers also hope to help CIS teams on their way to a higher profesional level and give them valuable experience against international teams.
6. Arbalet Cup is heading to the USA. Next up will be an annual tournament on U.S. soil.
Here is a list of upcoming events:
Arbalet Cup Dallas
Held: Summer once a year
Teams/Purse: 32 teams, $80,000
Prize Distribution:
1: $25,000
2: $15,000
3: $10,000
4: $7,000
5-6: $3,500
7-8: $2,000
9-16: $1,500
Arbalet Cup Kiev/Moscow
Held: February, April, October
Teams/Purse: 32 teams, $42,200
Prize distribution:
1: $15,000
2: $10,000
3: $5,000
4: $3,000
5-6: $1,300
7-8: $900
9-16: $600
Arbalet Cup Stockholm
Held: February, April, October
Teams/Purse: 32 teams, $65,000
Prize distribution:
1: $20,000
2: $15,000
3: $10,000
4: $5,000
5-6: $2,000
7-8: $1,500
9-16: $1,000
Arbalet Cup Female
Held: Spring and Autumn
Teams/Purse: 16 teams, $42,000
Prize distribution:
1: $10,000
2: $7,000
3: $5,000
4: $3,000
5-6: $2,300
7-8: $1,500
9-16: $1,200
With this massive expansion the Arbalet family has instantly become one of, if not the, largest supporters of eSports world wide.
Willson had played with majority of the members from HBK for a good portion of his Counter-Strike career. Most of the members of Heart Break Kids are local to California, making it easy for them to LAN with each other and have a friendship outside of Counter-Strike. Willson originally joined Team Loaded as a temporary player, helping replace XP3 and Evolution upon their move to compLexity.
With the departure of Willson, Team Loaded has been left with four players, but not for long. They’ve picked up a former Frag Dominant player, and a well-known player in the US Scene, Nazar “naZ” Vynnytsky. Nazar was an in-game strat caller for Frag Dominant and he could be the new strat caller for Loaded, looking to make an immediate impact to the squad.
The current rosters of HBK and Loaded are as follows:
HBK:
Chris “happa” McDonald Jon “heppler” Heppler Noah “thedOn” Alvarado Peter “supply” Lee Tyler “willson” Willson
Loaded:
Shaun “hostile” Catron Anthony “djibouti” Manosca Paul “Adrenaline” Baker Ryan “phamtastik” Pham Nazar “naZ” Vynnytsky
Pre-Game
Week 2:1 Invite / cp_gravelpit
Recently, it was announced that UMX was bringing in two new players to complete their roster for the remainder of the young ESEA season. The two additions are in the form of Travis “tuBBy” Bechtol and Dan “mehLer” Mehler, highly notable players in the North American scene.
With tuBBy playing for EG during nation based events and mehLer being a part of the very successful GB organization, one can expect UMX to soon be competing on an international level. The new roster is as follows:
Roster
Kyle “flowsicK” Mendez
Bryan “buskey” Buskey
Jon “broodex” Gibbons
Dan “mehLer” Mehler
Travis “tuBBy” Bechtol
In what appears to be an update to fit the times, or a way to lure more kids into the Boy Scouts, the organization has added Video Games to their list of awards for boys. With the organization being a notorious for building outdoor and wilderness skills in young kids and teens, the video game award seems out of place.
Below are the requirements for the belt loop:
Belt Loop
Complete these three requirements:
1. Explain why it is important to have a rating system for video games. Check your video games to be sure they are right for your age.
2. With an adult, create a schedule for you to do things that includes your chores, homework, and video gaming. Do your best to follow this schedule.
3. Learn to play a new video game that is approved by your parent, guardian, or teacher.
View the official award page by clicking here
In the past few weeks, several of the most notable 1.6 CSDM servers have gone offline, leaving players with nowhere to warm up or practice their aim. To cater to these players, we have decided to put up a few servers of our own. The coL 1.6 team will be frequenting the servers as they look to warm up before matches, so it will not be uncommon to see them fragging it up.
With your support, we will be putting more servers online in the near future. Please be sure to make any location, or mod suggestions below. The details of the server are as follows:
compLexityGaming.com – DAL FFA – CSDM 24/7
IP: 68.232.164.161:27015
Location: Dallas, TX
Map Rotation: de_dust2, de_train, de_inferno, de_nuke
Type: FFA CSDM
compLexityGaming.com – NYC FFA – CSDM 24/7
IP: 8.2.122.140:27015
Location: NYC
Map Rotation: de_dust2, de_train, de_inferno, de_nuke
Type: FFA CSDM
Enjoy and thank you for your support!
compLexity Gaming: YOUR source for professional gaming news and entertainment!
Yesterday, QUAKE LIVE announced that they now have a Player Invite System, giving players the ability to play with friends in private matches or in public servers.
Player invites will become a common element of playing QUAKE LIVE with your friends, whether you are wanting a friend to join you on a publicly hosted server or are launching a server of your own — a feature we’re working to make available to all players as part of a QUAKE LIVE Premium Service.
In addition, a new premium service known as ‘Start a Match’ is currently in private testing and allows for leagues and players to start servers for other players to join. With this feature players have the ability to:
Start servers without passwords Restrict servers by player invite Specify a custom map rotation
Lastly, with all these updates coming out, there are also additional fixes and features to be included like:
Muting players Relaxed spawn system New administrative announcement system
Match browser optimizations Nn update from Punkbuster Firefox 3.6.3+ support Backend optimizations
For additional information on the new update, check out the DevBlog.
Source: QUAKE LIVE