For a long time, we had this idea of making a little something like a podcast. Now, after months of throwing ideas around, it’s finally here! This is the first episode of “All Things Lambda”!

In the first episode, Ooiman, Jeff and Dhel talk about the SteamBoy handheld, the mysterious Team Fortress 2 Bread items, and Dota 2’s ‘The International’. But of course, we couldn’t forget about the biggest gaming event of June: E3! We share our opinions about the conferences and go over a list of games announced!

This episode turned out to be longer than anticipated, too! Future episodes will be about 40 minutes long.

We hope you enjoy out first try at producing a podcast, and please do leave us feedback!

Email [email protected] or send us a Tweet.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel for future episodes!

TAITO, a Japanese publisher specialized in Arcade games teamed up with Valve to bring their highly successful co-op zombie shooter “Left 4 Dead” to Japanese arcades!

“Left 4 Dead: Survivors”, previously known as “Project Z”, will feature familiar environments from both Left 4 Dead 1 and 2, and introduces four all-new survivors.

A while back Gabe Newell stated that if The Heart of Racing charity reached $500,000+ in donations, he’d host an AMA session on Reddit. And a few days ago, they passed said stretch goal, and Gabe went on to announce that an AMA would be held on March 3rd at 1:00 PM PST.

17,000 users visited the IAmA subreddit, waiting for Gabe Newell to start the show. And they waited for a while, but nothing happened. Well, at least not for another 25 hours – then it started. Valve time, ladies and gentlemen.

Nevertheless, it happened. Erik Wolpaw, Erik Johnson, Ido Magal, Greg Coomer and Gabe Newell all sat down to answer the question that the fans might have. Let’s take a look at some of the more interesting answers we got.

This is an editorial by Lilgreenman which discusses the involvement of humour and comedic elements in Valve’s more recent games. All views expressed in this article are his own.

With all the noise Valve makes about Team Fortress 2 being “The world’s number 1 hat simulator”, their creative staff seem to have neglected a grounding in hat-based literature. Specifically, it seems they’ve never picked up a copy of the best selling hat-based book of all time (eat it, Oliver Sacks!), Dr. Seuss’ 1957 classic The Cat in the Hat.

Spoilers ahead for those who haven’t read C-I-T-H: The moral of the book is related to the two young protagonists by the titular feline, after he helps them clean up after a rowdy playtime session; “It’s fun to have fun, but you have to know how.” Which brings me, in my roundabout way, to my point. Valve’s top writers – internet comedy alumni Erik Wolpaw, Chet Faliszek and Jay Pinkerton – don’t seem to know how to have fun.

The year is 1998. A previously unknown group of game developers known as Valve Software has just released Half-Life. Of course it becomes an instant hit, entertaining a generation of gamers worldwide. But beyond that, buried away on the CD-ROM inside that ridiculously big cardboard game box is a program called “Worldcraft”. According to a note at the back of the instruction manual (remember those?) this program would allow fans to “create a replica of their garage or a fantastic alien world”. And create they did. With this tool, now known as Hammer, at their disposal, the possibilities have been almost endless. From Counter-Strike to Ricochet, from Black Mesa to deep space to World War II France, the community created a tidal wave of new adventures, far beyond what anyone might have anticipated. Fifteen years later, we show no sign of stopping.

Update: According to Deniz Sezen on the Black Mesa forums, the rumors about Black Mesa being ported to Source 2 are false: “Just to dispel a large rumor (and I know I’ll be viewed as the grinch that stole christmas): We are NOT on Source 2. It wouldn’t make sense for a company to license tech they haven’t proven yet with a released title to a mod team. Our [visual] however, WILL be improved. Don’t get me wrong though, we’d love a Source 2 license but our fans would be waiting another 9 years if we had to port again.”

Can’t say I didn’t warn ya.

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Since I am sure many of you will have mixed feelings about the news mentioned in the title, I just want to make it clear right out of the gate that an updated Black Mesa will still be available for free and will be supported!!! Now, onto the details…

Like any story with its depth and complexity, the Half-Life series leaves a lot to the imagination. In fact, considering the latest installment’s cliffhanger, it leaves more to the imagination than anyone wants.

15 Years ago, on November 19th 1998, Valve released Half-Life.

What followed was an entire revolution in the gaming industry.

Half-Life redefined the FPS genre, it implemented rich storytelling, introduced new technologies and catalysed an entire platform for user-created content, all in one package.

A new generation of gaming was born.

“Please, sir, I want some more.”

Valve was a big, healthy company; not usually easily astonished. But now they turned pale, and quiet. They gazed upon the little boy who had dared to ask for more.

“What” Valve whispered in complete astonishment.

“Please sir, I want some more Diretide…”

Gabe Logan Newell, the big guy of Valve, turned 51 today.

We at LambdaGeneration would like to wish him a happy birthday on the not-so-likely chance he will ever read this!