After what seems like an eternity spent waiting for custom campaigns to be fully compatible with L4D, Valve has finally rolled out the update most of us were waiting for:

• Players download third party campaigns as single .VPK file
  
• Players can manage and select add-on maps and campaigns via game UI
  
• Added matchmaking support and download/update prompt for add-on campaigns

Oh, they also fixed that pesky infinite moltov/pipebomb glitch that's been around since, well...forever.

Source: Steampowered

I don't know how they managed to do it, but someone got ahold of my Steam account and sold it off.  If anyone was wondering why I magically disappeared from your friends list that's why.  I'm in the process of getting it back.

Much to my surprise, Steam support provided an amazingly fast turnaround and restored control of my account to me this afternoon.  I know a lot of people rag on Steam support for being slow, but I was honestly expecting to be without my account for as long as two weeks.  My gratitude to the guys at the support desk for sorting it out.

To all the server regulars and friends who were wiped from my friends list during the hijacking, please re-add me (apex_001) and I'll sort through the invites ASAP.

P.S.  Wartorn 1942, you may want to be careful who you buy accounts from online next time.

I know Swiss will probably gouge his eyes out at the mere mention of a gun-related post on the front page, but I'll at least promise not to get technical lest he need to learn to play TF2 blind.

As anyone in any way involved in the gun trade is aware, there's a MASSIVE ammunition shortage going on and finding ammo for anything (even .22 and 12-gauge shotgun shells) is getting increasingly more difficult.  The general line is "blame Iraq" because the military is indeed buying up millions of rounds of ammo from every major factory they can throw money at to fuel the war effort.  You would expect the major calibers our military uses to be in short supply, like .223 (5.56x45mm NATO but contractors often use civilian .223 Remington too) or 9x19 but why are hunting cartridges like the powerful .300 Winchester Magnum so scarce too?  Well, here's why...Read more

I knew this day would come, but prayed it wouldn't none the less.  My Xbox 360, purchased on launch day 2005 and ridden harder than a derby horse has finally succumbed to the dreaded Red Ring of Death.  It went out with a bang, watching a Siege target building crumble during a chain explosion in Red Faction Guerrilla, freezing solid and rebooting to the crimson error code we all hope we'll never see.Read more

I like it when games that aren't big-name blockbusters sneak onto the market with really innovative ideas and thoroughly enjoyable gameplay.  It turns out Red Faction: Guerrilla is just such a game.  As a fan of both Volition's other titles (Saint's Row comes to mind) and the first Red Faction title on the PS2, I was both excited and dubious of what the game promised.  A third person open world shooter rather than a FPS?  Claiming that every building in the game can be destroyed from the foundations up?  While the former left me on the fence, I was understandably suspicious of the latter claim, given the less than stellar track record of games that try to play the "destructable environment" card.  I'm looking at you, Fracture and Bad Company.Read more

What would you think of a sandbox building game where the maps are entirely procedurally generated, from bedrock up to the trees dotting the map?  What if you could destroy everything in this map down to the furthest boundaries, and build it back up into anything you want using half a dozen tile types?  Oh, and it's a basic 3D engine, written entirely in Java, by one guy.  And he's adding multiplayer.Read more

One of the members over at L4Dmods sent out an inquiry to Mike Durand, the SDK manager at Valve, about the beta L4D SDK lacking any model import/export tools, and what the future holds for custom model and skin creation in the game.  Mike's reply affirmed that model tools are in the works, and will be packaged into the final SDK release in the near future.  Near future is in Valve time of course.

The original post is here, via L4Dmods.com.

Well, after quite a lot of bitching by the community at large, Valve decided to keep the random drops but also add the old milestone system over top of it, allowing players to unlock weapons through arbitrary amounts of achievements.  On one hand it's great because I can just fire up ye olde achievement unlocker and get that goddamned Huntsman I can't seem to find normally, but conversely it means we're pretty much back at square one.

Hats are still totally random though, I'm cool with that.

Apparently some smartass players printed out and mailed in the Saxton Hale forms from the class updates and Valve had the poise to respond in kind with a letter of their own, via snail mail:

Hilarious stuff, and hat tip to Muffins from the nom-nom-nom.us forums where I stumbled across this image.  If you're looking for an idle server to wait out the unlock drop fix, I've had great luck with Ratty's servers.  Not to mention his homepage is fantastic!

In other news, there's a humorous entry in the tf_english.txt string file, located in team fortress 2 content.gcf -> /resource/Read more

The Seven Stages of Death, applied to TF2...Read more

After much fanfare regarding leaked videos, blog drama and some fine trolling by Valve, the Spy vs. Sniper two for one deal just landed.  This means you get not one, but TWO class updates for the same great price - absolutely free.  Well, unless you consider the mental anguish caused by everyone playing those classes 24/7 for the next month a form of payment.  Tears are only an acceptable currency for EA games however, not Valve.Read more

I'd just like to throw a quick rundown of stuff we're working on for the site's page content.  As you've probably noticed it's woefully empty right now, aside from a couple of FAQ entries and the couple of game servers listed on the still unfinished servers page.  Spagett is doing almost all of the backend work for overhauling the navigation bar and putting in things I throw at him.  He's a real champ.

Before I ramble on about the future, I'd like to point out the existing FAQ entries that explain what a redirect is and provide a tutorial on L4D search key usage.Read more

I may disagree with many of Valve's choices regarding Team Fortress 2, but I can't fault their creativity or sense of humor when it comes to pretty much any situation.  While many companies would've hunted down whoever leaked the video and sent their rabid lawyers after them, Valve had the poise to admit they screwed up and even put a couple of jabs into the final video revision to boot.

Among other amusing panels including "defenestrated", "found dracula", "lost dracula" and numerous others.  The full resolution board is here.

On top of that, with the Day 5 release listing the new Spy achievement names Valve had some fun at their own expense:Read more

After over five months of quiet development, the Left 4 Dead Authoring Tools (otherwise known as 'the SDK') have reached a public beta stage.  To install the beta SDK, navigate to the full view of the main Steam window and go to the Tools tab.

For anyone skeptical that the update may in fact be a spy, here's proof:

Since I got peer pressured into buying Killing Floor, I suppose I should put a server up for it now.  If I can get someone to pitch in ten bucks, or any combination of people to equal ten bucks total, I'll put a KF server up.

Then we'll have L4D, TF2 AND Killing Floor ready to roll for at least the next 30 days.

Dispite the poll results (margin of error ± more-than-there-were-votes), we now have a TF2 server. The server is 16 slot, friendly fire, and, most importantly, it will block unlockable weapons.

To start, the map rotation will be a lot like how Apex's server the way it was left (4 dead). I'll be adding maps to try tonight, and don't hesitate to suggest some.

I'm putting out a call for any clans, gaming groups, networks or community sites that would like to cross-link to us!  Steam group links are fine, for any unofficial "clans" that don't have a site.  If you've got a site we'll put your banner on the affiliates ticker (which automatically links to your site) if you'll link to us.  For Steam group guys, the banner will link to your group directly, and we'd appreciate if you added us to your links or somewhere on your group profile!Read more

The site is going through an overhaul. If you see something funny, please refrain from letting Apex, Rum, or me know; chances are, we already do!

Thanks!

Also, look how good Rum is at grafix!!1!

Well, the site is mostly functional now, if lacking in content at the moment.  There's still a lot to do, but between myself, Spagett and whoever else wants to give us ideas or contribute work we'll have it sorted in no time.

That said, there are three specific things that anyone can take a shot at and submit via the forums (registering on the main site is also a forum account!) or email.Read more

As you can see, we've got a new web site! (Thanks, Spagett!)
Hold tight while we get everything sorted out.