We are pretty caught up with E3 (the Electronic Entertainment Expo) again this year. Half-Life 2 Xbox is playable on the show floor, and lots of people are trying their hand at the Gravity Gun. We can't wait to get the game into the hands of Xbox owners.

Our HDR (High Dynamic Range lighting) demonstration of HL2's Lost Coast is also on display. This soon-to-be-released area of Half-Life 2 introduces a new character, whom we first mentioned (in the form of a concept sketch) here

Above, left: The lovely and talented Robin Walker, Valve game designer and developer, showing off The Lost Coast at E3.

Above, right: The Lost Coast fisherman as he exists today.

Updates to Counter-Strike: Source and the Source Engine have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The specific changes include:

Counter-Strike: Source

• Updated de_inferno


• Made the radio menu more responsive


• When bullets hit grates and chain-link fences they play the appropriate effects


• Bots will not join or leave during the round when bot_quota_mode is "match" or "fill"


• Improved bot ladder usage


• Bullet decals are now scaled based on distance, to make them more visible at long range


• Fixed bots filling a server and preventing players from joining after round change

Source Engine

• Fixed the compressed file mode of sv_downloadurl only downloading one file at a time

Update - We have rolled back all the Counter-Strike: Source changes apart from the de_inferno update to fix a hang bug some users are experiencing. These changes will be re-released next week.

We had a good weekend, lots of people downloaded HL2CTF Beta 1.4 and we got to play with a lot of you over the weekend. We learned an important lesson too: Never release an update on the same day as a Steam update! Most of the problems with the Steam update appear to be fixed now, and we're going full steam ahead (no pun intended)!

We've put together a small update to make HL2CTF even better. This is a SERVER-SIDE ONLY update, players do not need to apply this update. This updates will fix some of the problems that servers have been having as well as add some new items, and is available from our download mirror.

What's new in Beta 1.41?
-----------------------------

Features/Tweaks:

• Description of game mode objectives now displayed when players join a server


• CTF events now use Half-Life Standard Log Format Specification


• Players no longer spawn with combine ball ammo in Arena and CaptureStrike modes


• Fixed spectator chase cam


• Improved spectator movement


• Changed default ctf_capturestrike_timelimit to 4


• Added ability to vote on game mode using "gamemodevote"


• Added cvar for servers to disable physics props


• Added cvar to mute spectator chat to non-spectators


• Always mute dead player's chat to living players in CaptureStrike mode


• Allow dead players in CaptureStrike mode to use roaming spectator


• Modified default server config

Bug Fixes:

• Fixed possible crash from chat macro use


• Fixed voting hud showing incorrectly


• Fixed ctf_enablechatmacros cvar not working in some cases


• Fixed not being able to use roaming spectator after joining a team

Again, this is a server-side update only! You do not need to download this update unless you are running a server.

And lo, the clamouring of the community for marine renders has been answered! What we've got here my friends is a prime example of alabama blacksnake... Or possibly some new renders...

We're showing off the new variations for the marines, now, when you choose a class you're given a standard torso, but the heads and textures are randomised to give the IRIS team a bit more character and less of a "clone wars" feel.

We also have some shots from another NiceGuyEddie map, Train Depot. Which plays mighty nicely, though is still undergoing tweaking as we play test it. Check out the media page for the shots.

In other news, the code is storming along, I've solved the major issues we had - the spawn, multiple hiddens and dedicated server "say" issues. There's some minor things that I'd like to get fixed up, lack of client side blood is the major one. It's a bit strange, every other client can see blood spray except for the person firing, I'll get that cracked down on shortly though.

Once that's dealth with, it's major in-house testing for a week or so, depending on problems found, then we'll be ready for a release - the current timeframe is within the next 2 weeks, but as ever, no promises!

Where have we been? Well things are progressing is all I can really say we are really in need of some new mappers to help get this project moving at a better pace. Modelers are doing great and we got some models to show you today and next week so I hope you enjoy.

This is a render of the masher as we like to call it. Enjoy.

We also have some screens from the streets of Boone provided to you by Slimz and a great job he has done.

Next we have concept of a female that you will get to see in the mod.

Last we would like to introduce some new members to the team.

• Venom908 – He’s a highly talented object/weapon/vehicle modeler and he will be taking spot of head modeler in objects department. In coming media releases you will see plenty of his work.


• VertThrasher – Very skilled skinner and next week you will be seeing a piece of his work in the media release as well.


• YGZ – A vehicle modeler, he has already done us 2 vehicles and we hope to show them soon.


• Ochlo – An animator he will be working on our animations for creatures, humans and view models so he is a great asset to us.

Last thing is, as stated above we are in some serious need of new members if you think you can help us out in mapping especially, then contact us by email or forums Thank you.

Enjoy!
Expect more very soon!


The Man-at-Arms Halberd,
The Man-at-Arms Flanged Mace (New Skin),
The Skirmisher Pirate.

Sands of War 2 is coming along great, especially on the coding front. The second milestone has just been released to the team. It does already support the following features:

• Teams


• Classes


• SoW classic gameplay

As you can see we already got the whole gameplay from SoW1 coded in! The new flag capture system has also been improved a lot compared to the one in SoW1.
There are also some other stuff in it, but it is too early to talk about for now. Further info will be released as we approach the release.

Sands of War 2 fgd
The first public version of the SoW2 fgd was released some days ago. Before I could get to post the news we already had a new version ready

The fgd is needed when you create SoW2 maps, so now the mapping can really begin! Be sure to inform all your fellow mappers that they should start mapping for SoW2!

The fgd changelog and download can be found here:
http://sandsofwar.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=258

If you want a job as level designer on the SoW team, then you can find more info here:
http://www.sandsofwar.net/index.php?page=jobs

We officially anounce that we are currently working on a source port for "Task.Force:working together", one of the biggest German modprojects for the Half-Life engine: It ll be known as “Task.Force – Recurrence”.

We regret the low player count for our Half-Life modification. However, we know the mistakes that have been made during the development.

Mistakes that are meant to be corrected: This time, our development team was decreased to work more efficient.

We plan to release a revamped full port of the HL1 version as soon as possible. In June, we ll also release a new designed web site showing all relevant information you need!

But now to the introduction of "Task.Force - Recurrence"

Basically, we stick to our genre. This means, that "Task.Force - Recurrence" will be a team based tactical First Person Shooter. We focus on improving the best parts of the mod: A high quality standard and unique features:

We will extend our Gadget system to give the player more tactical resources. Also the Weight- and the morale system will have more gameplay influence in "Task.Force - Recurrence".Furthermore, "Task.Force - Recurrence" will have a complete Story line which will add depth and atmosphere to the mod itself. That way, missions will be more complex and far more interesting.

We hope you will join us for further information on the next News post or discuss ideas and comments with us in the Forums or our Mirc chat room! Additionally we are looking forward to interview and previewrequests.

Finally we got two weaponrenders for you:

While progress on the development of Dystopia continues at a rapid rate, we're kicking the hype machine into over drive. In this months edition of PC Gamer UK you'll find a full page article focusing on Dystopia. The article includes some exclusive screenshots and an excellent overview of what we're creating. On top of this there's a very informative interview with my self on the cover disk.

Ted has taken a few minutes out of his coding to make a quick update to the coding .plan. Be sure to check it out, there's a surprise in there! I'll be hassling the other team leaders to update their .plans over the next couple of days.

I'm also very proud to give fans a sneak peak at the Dystopia player statistics system which I've been working on. Currently we're using this system to give us an overview of each testing session, allowing us to clearly see which weapons require balancing, which points of the map are being under utilised and how much each implant is being used. We also realise that this type of information is very interesting to the players themselves. It's our plan to generate these kinds of stats for every Dystopia server in the world.

Happy Birthday CW:MP! This month we turn 2 years old! That's right, some of us, like myself and Hiro, have been around here for 2 long years! Want to let us know how you feel about our 2nd birthday? Speak your mind in our active forums!

Now down to the important stuff! This is something that has slipped through the cracks, and I'm sorry I didn't mention it earlier. A little more than a month ago, the Half Life 2 Database post a new interview with the team. Make sure you check it out! And some more happy news; I'm happy to say that Joene, a former mapper, has finished up his school work and has returned to the active team again. Welcome back!

Time for the recruiting message! With the mod in full swing, we're looking for an overall expansion of the team. That means we're accepting applications from all fields you can imagine.... except historical advisor... ;). Anyway, if you're a mapper, programmer, animator, texture artist, modeler, sound engineer, whatever, we're interested. Please fill out an application here!

And now finally for the fun stuff; the media! First up we have a new Steam skin that matches the theme of the site, designed for us by AnError! You can download it here! Next, onto the visual feast! We have a small visual update for you here... two new sketches by --04-- and our skinned AK-47, courtesy of Waedoe and Salvo.