There’s no denying that Valve Software is a household name in video games, though I doubt anyone was going to do it anyway. Despite their dishearteningly slow development process (never heard at Valve: “Hurry up guys, we’ve got a deadline to meet!"), nearly every game they create is considered excellent (oops, I mean pwnsome!) The interesting thing is that most of their games have roots in unlikely sources, usually mods to their own, or to other games. Team Fortress is one such game.

What started as a mod to Quake became a standalone game in its own right once Valve bought the company that created it. That certainly doesn’t sound impressive at all, but what Team Fortress was isn’t what’s important; the important bit is what they’ve done to the game to get Team Fortress 2.

For those who don’t know, the gameplay in Team Fortress involves two components: teams, and fortresses. Most maps involve team-based gameplay either involving command posts (where one team attacks and the other defends,) or flags (you know what CTF is, you just do.) That gameplay hasn’t changed much at all in the sequel, the Valve one, if you will.

What makes TF2 so amazing…
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We’ve got a couple new releases to tell you about; lucky you!

Bridge Construction Set 1.36

Bridge Construction Set is, as its name suggests, a shareware bridge construction simulatior game. The point is to construct a bridge that won’t collapse. Bridge Construction Set comes with over 40 levels, plenty of bridge construction types and materials, a level editor, and more. If you have an interest in bridge construction, you may want to check it out; it sounds like fun!

Version 1.36 now supports Intel-based Macs and fixes a number of bugs.

The skinny

Requires:
Windows 98 or higher; Linux; Mac OS X
Intel, AMD, or PowerPC G3 800 MHz processor
OpenGL Compatible 3D Graphics card with 32 MB VRAM
128 MB RAM
20.1 MB hard disk space

Price:$19.95 US; free demo available

From: Cronic Logic

YAI (You Are Invited) 1.2

If you use your Mac in a corporate environment, you may appreciate this one. YAI—or You Are Invited—takes meeting invites sent from Outlook, Google Calendar, and other sources, and translates them for use in iCal.

Version 1.2 is available today; it fixes incompatibilities that exist between Microsoft Exchange-style invites and iCal, and is a free update for registered YAI users.

The skinny

Requires:
Mac OS X 10.4
Apple Mail, iCal, Address Book

Price:2 Great Britian Pounds (or $4.08 US); free demo available

From: John Maisey

On September 12, Valve Software, Inc. launched the new Community feature of their Steam digital-distribution software. This release follows a beta period lasting several months. The Steam client software updates automatically, so the new features have been rolled out to almost all of Valve’s users.

The Steam Community aims to compete with other gaming solutions such as the entrenched Xfire and the up-and-coming Windows Live branch of Xbox Live. At present, the Steam Community only supports Steam games for more advanced features, though any game can be added to the Steam list and receive some basic features, such as in-game instant messaging. Additionally, Steam will also communicate which game and server (if applicable) users are playing, offering quick access to joining the same server. Users can also create groups on Steam and communicate between members of these groups easily.

Expect a comparison here on Deep Thought as soon as Xfire releases their currently Beta update to Xfire In-Game.

The Steam Community’s main page from within Steam

Sony yesterday released the newest version of the Playstation Portable’s firmware, version 3.70 (up from 3.52), for both the PSP-1000 “phatty” and the new PSP-2000 “slim”. This new release includes several large features, including theming support (with theme editor upcoming), simultaneous playback of pictures and music, and the display of shortcut buttons throughout the user interface. The update is available only through Network Update on the PSP’s XMB at the time of this writing, but is expected to be available through sony.com soon.

Currently there are two themes available, though neither are downloadable through an obvious place. Instead, one must go to a part of the Sony Japan website to download them. Further instructions may be found at the linked article.

Opinion, ho: Neither of the themes are better than the default, in my opinon, but they do show off what different kinds of styles can be made (a simple color-scheme change like Pink or something more drastic like Cookie.) Whether this takes off hinges entirely on the theme editor; no one wants to leave the themes entirely to Sony (indeed they haven’t; theming is possible through homebrew, but then again, so is bricking the PSP.) The good thing is…
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Okay so you’ve just spent the last three hours playing Guitar Hero on your console, but now you have to get down to business and write that paper that’s due tomorrow on your computer. But what’s that? Guitar Hero III will be released for Windows and Mac OS X?

Goodbye, productivity; we hardly knew thee.

Yup, that’s right, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock will make its debut this fall as expected, but game port house Aspyr will also release a hybrid disc containing a version for Windows and (surprise!) Mac OS X.

In an interview with GameDaily BIZ, Jay Gordon of Aspyr states that that the company is “working toward a simultaneous ship with the console version.” He also notes that, “all of us in this business know that dates can slip, so we’ll let you know when we’re able to announce a ship date. We’re quite certain that you’ll see Guitar Hero III for PC/Mac in stores before the holidays.”

The Mac/PC version of Guitar Hero III will feature a guitar with USB connectivity modeled after a Gibson guitar. Details regarding system requirements and pricing has yet to come (I’ll be happy as long as it runs on a MacBook ).

Outstanding. My guitar-junkie brother will be pleased. It’s also nice seeing that Mac users won’t be left out of the Guitar Hero fun.