DALLAS, Jan. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- The Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL) today announced the launch of the CPL World Tour, the first-ever, year-long, competitive tour for the growing sport of video game competitions.

The CPL, which has produced 35 national and international live gaming events since 1997, is the owner and principal operator of the World Tour.

The head sponsor of the tour is Intel, the world's largest chip maker and a leading manufacturer of computer, networking and communication products. In addition to their top sponsorship and local activities at all ten stops, Intel will provide the microprocessors inside every gaming PC used during the entire CPL World Tour.

Other tour sponsors include: NVIDIA (the world's leader in graphics and digital media processors) and CompUSA (the nation's largest computer superstore retailer).

Boasting the largest competitive purse, a Million-Dollar pool for a single computer game, the World Tour will debut in Istanbul, Turkey on February 10, 2005. Following are confirmed stops in Spain, Brazil, Germany, United States, United Kingdom, Sweden, China and Chile. A $500,000 Grand Final is planned for late November 2005.
The landmark CPL World Tour represents:

The largest, first-ever, year-long competitive tour spotlighting the growing new sport of video game competitions. In addition to the primary game of the tour: Painkiller; event-specific competitions will be added to the stops based on local appeal.

The establishment of a February-to-November, sports season, complete with a unified, competitive points system and the crowning of year-end champions.

Massive, multi-platform marketing commitments, utilizing both internal and external resources in support of the competitors and the new tour. Marketing platforms will include various television, radio, print, online, and event marketing initiatives.

Read the entire press release at the new CPL World Tour website.

Concept Artists: We want someone who we can take our Ideas and draw them. Who has a knack for drawing, creatures? And a scanner to upload them to the site. Would like to see concept artist have adobe Photoshop skills or paint shop pro but not a necessity.
3d Models: We will need at least 2 more modelers in the group who know how to model well. if you can create human models and animate them then you are who we are looking for. Texturing, adobe Photoshop, animating not a necessity but they should know how to do some work in it.
Web Site Designer: Know how to make a website stand out, then please drop us a line. Don't expect to get full rights right away. Need to show us some ideas you might have for layouts for the site.
Half-Life 2 Programmer: Know how to create mod's in Half-Life 2 then we are definately looking for you. We need those people know how to make the source works.
All these jobs pay absolutely nothing other than the satisfaction of making an awesome game that lots of people will play. And even thats not absolutely guaranteed. If you are interested in any of these jobs email me or post a message on the forum. You can email me at brendan_21@hotmail.com or post at The Job Forum.
Visit us on the web at http://burningblades.hl2files.com

This week a few of us at Valve have been playtesting the upcoming Counter-Strike: Source map, cs_compound. The map is still on track for a February release.

Here's a sneak peek:

If you are involved in building a Mod or Half-Life 2: Deathmatch maps, be sure to check out the updated SDK (available in your Steam games list). About a week ago it was updated to include source files for six Half-Life 2 maps, a new interface for adding bots to mods, and more.

We'll have some news soon on the Half-Life 2: Deathmatch map contest winners, and also on the winners of the Half-Life 2 Gold "VALVE HQ TRIP GIVEAWAY". Stay tuned.

Hollywood, CA - Following other successful movies based on computer games like Mortal Kombat and Double Dragon, Sony Pictures Entertainment will produce Counter-Strike: Movie. Based on the popular Counter-Strike multiplayer mod from Valve, the movie is guaranteed to be "a rollercoaster ride of thrilling action and witty banter."
At the helm of the picture will be German filmmaker Uwe Boll. Currently, the king of game-to-movie conversions is taking time off from producing Bloodrayne and Hunter:The Reckoning to work on the script.
"When I picked up the project, I sat down and played the game to get in touch with its soul," the director explained. "Trust me, this is going to be the most honest, true conversion ever. Everything you love about the game will be in there. The action, the group dynamics, the excitement."

We are looking for skilled perople to fill severel open positions in our team.
Below is a list of what we still need to get our mod team complete and finish off this mod.

Texture artist(s)
You must be able to make high quality, high resolution textures and if possible matching bumb and/or normal maps.

Animator(s)
You must be able to make high quality animations and export them to HL2 format.

Vehicle modeler
You have to be able to model high quality vehicle models like beach buggy's and other home made vehicles, so some imagination is required.

Player modeler
You have to be able to make high quality player modes and be able to UVW map them.

Skinner(s)
You have to be able to make high quality skins for our weapons and/or other models.

Coder(s)
You must have experience with programming for HL and/or HL2.

Do you think you can fill one of these positions?
Please apply for it on our jobs page.
Here are some screenshots of pa_uprising, this map is still Work In Progress and is made by our mapper DeathClock:


And here are some screenshots of pa_pipes, this map is still Work In Progress and is made by our mapper Sixthsense:

For quite a bit of time, preperations and conception for the Oceania mod has taken place, and now we feel it's time to start. We were aiming at trying something new and bringing an original theme to the moding industry.
Oceania will use valve's source engine and breathtaking graphics and physics to create a world submerged in water, where the player will be playing as either an alliance creature or rebel. Players will start right from the beginning, as a small organism, and with the completion of certain actions, such as eating another player or finding other sources of food, or sabotaging the opponent's environment, the player will evolve. Creatures will include a wide variety of crustaceans, small fish, mammals, whales, sharks, and other critters. Every animal will possess unique skills and we hope to include at least 30 varieties for the first release...
We need to create a full crew of dedicated, and skilled modders:

• concept artists,


• mappers,


• texture artists,


• graphics artists,


• player modelers,


• environment / prop modelers,


• web designer,


• writer,


• coders,


• cinematics,


• animators,


• etc.

If you feel you can contribute, send me an email at: cabanan@selwyn.ca or red_head_nic@hotmail.com
Please include previous works or samples with your applications.

Alright sweet, lets get started. So as you may have noticed we gave the website a little bit over an overhaul, we can thank billeh for this one. I personally like it alot more then the last. *shakes fist at last design.

Anywho along with the new site we've also been working towards our first internal release aka IR1. With IR1's deadline fast approaching the team is hard at work, but magi and eric still found time to give me a sneak peak at their current projects. First up are some teaser pics from magi, hes not revealing much about this map outside the team, but I can guarantee you its a ton of fun. The map hasn't been given a name yet, but I bet if you bug magi he'll give it you.


Second up are some WIP renders of the AK47 modelled by ripa, currently being skinned by eric:

Well thats it for now. Stay tuned because there will be a whole lot more where that came from as the team puts the final touches on IR1.

Edit - Forgot to mention above, we're currently looking to bring on some extra hands in the modelling and animation departments. If interested you can use the contact button on the left, we'll try to get back to you ASAP.

Dieblein, leader of "Return to Mana" gave an interview to ego-games.de,
which was translated to english, making it avaible for our international fans.

Translated Interview from ego-games.de

the Interview also included 2 exclusive screenshots:

here's a small glimpse:

EG|Asch: What do you expect from the HL² engine,
which seems more fitting for action-related mods like ego-shooters
and how do you want to use these in an adventure?

Dieblein: The HL²-engine has some limitations.
The size of the rooms is limited to mid-range areas for example.
We plan to create a small, contemplative world with short distances,
but creating the illusion that everything is extremely wide.
This means: no far-cry-like islands with 40km size,
but small areas with an extreme amount of detail, animation and gamedesign.

Hello moddb cummunity,
there is an update for the Half-Life 2 Realtime-Strategy-Mod "Warzone". It contains a (unskinned) render and two new interfaces for combine and humans.
First off, lets start with the render:

This shows the combine "anti-air" turret, a defense structure for the combine using rockets.

2nd: The interfaces for combines and humans.
The combine interface is now looking like the computer-screens from the game itself, as you can find them at every combine base.
Here it is:

Now the resistance version of the interface:

From Da Nang to Saigon is a new Half-Life 2 mod now in development. Based around the Vietnam ware, DTS will let players choose to fight as either a United States Marine or a North Vietnamese Army soldier. Each team will contain several classes with multiple different weapons, gadgets, and explosives. The mod will focus on realism, while attempting to keep the gameplay fun for the casual gamer- a challenge, we know.
The team started out working very hard, and we are trying to keep this momentum in order to bring you a finished, and well-tested product as soon as possible. We obviously do not have any set, or expected, release date as of yet, but stay posted for more updates and visit our website at http://dts.mako-network.com