From a technical standpoint, Aperture Science and the Combine go together like peas in a prisoner pod. There are some startling similarities between their weapons and equipment that may point to an unseen element of the story.

We’re excited to announce that we will be hosting a livestream of the recently released ‘Portal The Uncooperative Cake Acquisition Game‘ board game, which was designed by staff at Valve and published by Cryptozoic Entertainment in September.

Comics! Who doesn’t like comics? The Half-Life fanbase has created some fantastic material through the years. From 1998’s Walter’s World to the recent hit A Place in the West, we’ve compiled all of the creations that help document artists’ love for the Half-Life series. Maybe these can also help fill that Half-Life 3-shaped void in your soul.

Fallout 4 has just been announced and there’s still no Half-Life 3 on the horizon. With no new content, fans have to create their own fun. Fan theories are an excellent way to revisit old material and put a new spin on it. So I present an hypothesis:

Chell and Alyx Vance might be related.

The upcoming and highly anticipated Portal 2 mod “Portal Stories: Mel” recently showed off a slick looking trailer for the free-to-play game, which is set to come out early this year.

The trailer, created by the popular gaming animator animator Harry101UK, has already amassed over 50,000 views on YouTube, check it out below:

“Gamma Energy” is a mod for Portal which revisits the troubles of Aperture Science.

Originally released in 2010 by Christopher Dollard, the mod contains almost 30 Test Chamber levels which each feature unique and intricate puzzles, complete with turrets, acid pools and lazers.

As a result of the recent public release of Steam Music, which also saw the release of the Half-Life and Portal soundtracks as free DLCs on the Steam Store, this week’s Community Spotlight features the work of DJ Anton Dubrovin (known online as “Thonidy”) who has created an awesome hour-long musical mix of the work of Kelly Bailey.

Four months later, I wake up from my untimely hibernation with some news regarding Portal and handheld consoles!

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.

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.