Awesome Valve

Not to be confused with Elgato’s similarly-named gadget, Valve’s Steam Deck is a powerful handheld gaming PC. Running a custom AMD Zen 2 + RDNA 2 APU, the portable plays all the games in your Steam library smoothly on the go. It has analog thumbsticks, a D-pad, trackpads, triggers, and ABXY buttons built-in. Drops 12.2021

The music video for the Talking Heads track Once in a Lifetime is one of the most memorable clips of the 1980s. Using Valve’s Source 2 engine, Corey Laddo managed to perfectly replicate the clip, replacing the lanky and awkward David Byrne with the mysterious G-Man from the Half-Life series. Here’s the original for comparison.

While it’s not the Half-Life 3 game we were hoping for, we’re still happy that Valve has revealed a new game in the classic franchise. Half-Life: Alyx is designed to be far more immersive than the prior games as it plays out entirely in virtual reality. Requires a SteamVR compatible headset, and drops March 2020.

Valve’s Index headset packs dual 1440×1600 RGB LCD screens with a 120Hz refresh rate, the latter being a first for virtual reality headsets. Its controllers have buttons, thumbsticks, force sensors and finger tracking. It works with two to four base stations for a large play area.

an0nymooose presents an awesomely silly machinima about a man who goes back in time and makes a new friend. Created with Source Filmmaker, which allows creative types to make their own films using assets from Valve’s games like Portal and Team Fortress 2.

Valve let folks try the HTC Vive virtual reality headset in a room with a green screen so we can see what the wearers were seeing. Unlike its biggest competition, the Vive comes with motion tracking sensors, which means apps can incorporate movement and gestures.

YouTuber crazyhalo envisions a variant of Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. that’s filled only with the characters from the VALVE universe – Team Fortress, Counter-Strike, Half-Life, and Portal. We’d buy this game in a heartbeat.

Made by Valve, Free to Play is a feature-length documentary that followed three professional eSports players on their journey to Valve’s million-dollar Dota 2 International Tournament. It’s also on Steam and iTunes.

And we thought this replica was impressive. Weta followed up the Sentry Gun replica with a model of the turret from Portal. It has a motion sensor, protracting guns and it doesn’t hate you.

Valve has released a beta version of Big Picture, a new interface for Steam members that’s meant to be used with HDTVs and game controllers. Just hook up your PC to your TV and head to this link.

If you need more reasons to work for the guys behind Half-Life and Portal, enjoy their employee handbook, chockful of clever illustrations and perks like massages and Stump-town roasted espresso.

The first trailer for Valve Software’s upcoming RTS-action RPG hybrid DOTA 2. The lead designer for the game is IceFrog, who is also the current developer of the original DOTA WarCraft III mod.

IGN explores the hotly-anticipated sequel, showing off puzzles we’ve not seen before. Co-op mode looks awesome. We can’t wait to get our grubby little hands on it this April. (Thanks Jonathan!)

WETA Workshop (yes that WETA) built this incredible full-size Level 1 Sentry Gun from Team Fortress 2 for the guys at Valve. How much do you think shipping from New Zealand cost them?

Valve just released this new trailer showing off tons more of the depths of Aperture Science and lots of juicy sound bites from Wheatley, the personality core (voiced perfectly by Stephen Merchant).

Created by a group of designers at Valve hired from the Mod community, Alien Swarm not only looks like an awesome co-op game, it’s FREE, and comes with all game code. Hits Steam on 7/19.

One of the new gameplay dynamics in Valve’s hotly-anticipated Portal sequel is these gigantic pneumatic tubes, capable of sucking objects across rooms and sending them flying through the air.

Valve shows off a tiny sneak preview of what we might expect from the sequel to their incredibly addictive 3D platform puzzler. We can’t wait until 2011 to throw our controllers across the room.

With Half-Life 2 finally hitting Steam for the Mac today, the guys at Valve created this humorous little teaser commercial as a tribute to the classic 1984 Macintosh Superbowl commercial.

If you never played Portal, or just forgot how much fun it was, great news. The guys at VALVe are giving the game away for free for both PC and Mac. One catch – you need to grab it by 5/24.

Fans of VALVE games, rejoice! They just reached a deal with Gaming Heads to create awesome desktop figures based on the characters from HL2, L4D2, and TF2. First up, Team Fortress 2’s HEAVY.

It’s been a foregone conclusion for awhile, but it’s now official: Valve is bringing Steam and Source to Mac in April; Portal 2 will be Valve’s first simultaneous Mac/Windows release.