geekosystem

If you haven't played Team Fortress 2, you should really go do that. The team-based shooter video game's found a kind of longevity that publishers and developers that aren't Valve dream about. TF2's received numerous updates over the years, dropped to being a free-to-play game, and even added a third faction of robotic enemies. Community-made items have appeared in various packs over time, but their latest update is the first that's been 100% made by the community.

The good news for everyone still playing Half-Life 2 because Half-Life 3 hasn't come out? You'll have a whole new way to play the game soon, as Freeman and friends are coming to play on the Oculus Rift headset, with a beta version already available for developers. The bad news, of course, is that this is not Half-Life 3.

Oculus Rift is getting a lot of attention lately -- and considering it can bring things like a guillotine simulator to life, that attention is due -- but the headset isn't the only way developers are trying to move past the traditional controller/keyboard inputs. Over the weekend, experimental psychologist and Valve consultant Mike Ambinder discussed some of the ways Valve wants to use biofeedback to immerse players in upcoming games. One plan on the horizon? In new games, Valve wants the way you sweat to change outcomes -- just like being on a first date!

You might recall the rumors of an Age of Empires II HD update that made the rounds earlier this week. If not, that's okay, because it's now empirical fact. Age of Empires II HD is officially a thing that's happening on Steam, and we couldn't be more excited. You may also remember this particular PC video game as the last time Age of Empires was any good.

Hey, Linux users, Valve heard you love games, so they released the official version of Steam for Linux today. To make the deal even sweeter, they're also offering 50 Linux compatible games at 50 to 75 percent off the regular price. Looks like you might have to cancel that Valentine's date tonight. You've got games to play.

In his continued attempts to control everything we love, today J.J. Abrams said he's in talks with Valve co-founder Gabe Newell about bringing Portal and Half-Life to the big screen. These talks are in the very early stages, and a lot can happen to derail the projects, but Abrams has said, "Both a Portal and Half-Life movie are things I want to see." Us too, Mr. Abrams. Us too.

Can Gabe Newell, of video game company Valve fame, do no wrong? The breathless way some fans speak of the company's products like Half-Life and Portal seems to indicate that they believe he can't. Even if you're not a fan of the various and sundry products that Newell's been associated with, Valve's structure as a company is fascinating: People just sort of decide on what to work on, and then they do it. Newell spoke recently in Texas at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, and they recorded the whole fascinating thing. Check it out after the jump.

This morning brought some eagerly-awaited details about Valve's upcoming foray into the console/set-top box gaming world from the company's apparent partner on the so-called Steam Box, hardware manufacturer Xi3. The company, which specializes in tiny, high-performance PCs was on hand with a Valve-branded piece of hardware known for the moment as 'Piston.' What else do we know about the little box that might be Valve's inroad to living rooms across the nation? Precious little, for now.

With so many budding video game designers vying to get seen and heard in an increasingly crowded marketplace, getting a project noticed by major publishers can seem just this side of impossible. The organizers of the Independent Games Festival -- a showcase mecca for both established and up-and-coming developers -- are working with Valve to offer finalists an amazing opportunity to more than get their foot in the door. All Main Competition finalists will receive a distribution deal offer from Steam to have their game made available on multiple non-console platforms.

If you've been patiently (or impatiently) awaiting Steam for Linux, some good news came out of the Ubuntu Summit. Speaking at the conference, held in Copenhagen, Denmark, Valve Engineer Drew Bliss said that Steam for Linux will not employ "industrial strength" copy protection.

Everybody loves crazy rumors about what's going on at Valve. From trying to will Half Life 3 into existence by putting rumors out on the internet to more legitimate teases about forées into wearable computers, when somebody starts talking about Gabe Newell and Co, people start listening. So listen to this, folks. For third time this year, concept art from a possible new IP from Valve has managed to find its way onto the internet. Based on the art (and more rumors), it sounds like Valve is working on an space-travelling MMO of some kind.

Last month, we got word that Steam would be venturing into new territory, and hosting software -- not gaming software, but productivity software -- on the famed distribution platform. The software hosting is now live, and you can now browse through your favorite PC games distribution service in search of things that aren't games.

Steam Greenlight, and by extension Valve, has been accepting community votes to determine what games they should bring to the service. The list of the first ten games chosen for review was released two weeks ago, and now the very first title of the initial batch has been made available: McPixel. Granted, McPixel was already available through the developer, but this is first of what hopefully will become a long line of titles brought to Steam through their Greenlight endeavors.

It's always fun when you order something in the mail, forget about it because standard shipping takes too long, then find it on your doorstep a week later. It's like a surprise present you gave yourself. If you're Valve, though, you get much better presents in the mail, like an enormous Portal turret from Weta Workshop.

It's been less than two weeks since Valve first launched their Steam Greenlight service, but the company has already made their first batch of picks. This comes after the community waded through the various submissions to cast their votes as they saw fit, allowing those games eventually chosen by Valve to reach a certain threshold. Only 10 made the cut this first time, and now the real discussions start happening with the folks behind those games on bringing them to Steam.