The lambda (λ) is an iconic symbol of the Half-Life series, forming part of the logo for all of the games to date, being displayed on the chest of the HEV suit, and signifying the resistance movement in Half-Life 2 and it’s episodes, not to mention being the main logo of a certain Valve fansite.
But what does this logo mean, exactly, outside of Half-Life?
There has been a lot of impressive Valve-related art over the years, from the Team Fortress 2 propaganda contest to WillHelmKranz’s works on DeviantArt, and among them, Chemical Alia’s paintings have to be some of the most impressive pieces of fanart we’ve seen. In this community spotlight, editors ThePerson5 and Jeff share and discuss their favourite pieces of Chemical Alia’s artwork, and present an interview with her.
Welcome to the first part of Indie Focus: Kentucky Route Zero. We intend the Indie Focus series to be an ongoing discussion between LambdaGeneration writers about the indie releases on Steam that intrigue us, and that perhaps warrant more coverage than just a single review.
In this first edition, editors ThePerson5 and Ingsoc, and guest writer Boff, discuss the first act of Kentucky Route Zero, a recently released point-and-click adventure developed by Cardboard Computer. The full game is due to be released in five separate acts; so far, two have been released. Please keep in mind that there will be major spoilers in this article, so be warned if you haven’t played the game yet.
Welcome to the first article of the ‘Cinematic Spotlight’ series, a new feature being introduced to the film/multimedia section on LambdaGeneration.
Hello LambdaGeneration readers! For our second Community Spotlight, we have chosen to feature Combine OverWiki, a wiki-encyclopedia focusing on the Half-Life and Portal video game series.
With Valve having recently released the full version of their new ‘Steam Trading Cards’ feature, after a surprisingly short beta period, there has been much discussion around the Internet about the purpose and usefulness of the system. Some have praised the system as another way for allowing users to get more involved in the Steam Community, and rewarding dedicated Steam users; others, however, have criticized the system as being gimmicky and even exploitative, and nothing more than a money-making scheme on Valve’s part.
A quick run-down for those of you who are unfamiliar with the system: Steam Trading Cards allows users to receive random trading cards for playing various games, which they can then craft into ‘badges’ in order to increase their ‘Steam level,’ a new, RPG-like feature added to Steam. Higher Steam levels grant users additional Steam features, such as the ability to customize their Steam profiles further, or have larger friends lists. Trading cards can obviously be traded with other users, and can also be sold for money. At first glance, the system seems like a fantastic idea: it rewards you for playing games you like, which you can then use to unlock additional features; meanwhile, people not interested can simply ignore the system altogether. Thus, everybody is happy. The truth is not that simple, however.
