The Steam Podcast

File Mirrors

• High Quality MP3 - SteamPodcast.com
• High Quality MP3 - Archive.org
• Low Quality MP3 - Archive.org
• OGG Vorbis - Archive.org

This week’s podcast features the following on-air personalities:

• Bob Somers - SteamPodcast.com
• Ramzy Bekheet - SteamPodcast.com
• Rex Riepe - Eternal Silence

1337 C4T of Episode 13

This Week’s New Releases in 15 Seconds or Less
All scores are from GameSpot.

• Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 - Wii - 7.5/10
• Def Jam: Icon - Xbox 360 - 8.1/10
• Spectrobes - DS - 6.0/10
• SSX Blur - Wii - 7.4/10
• Bullet Witch - Xbox 360 - 5.5/10
• Test Drive Unlimited - PC, PS2
• Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin - DS - 8.3/10
• Sid Meier’s Pirates! - PSP - 8.6/10
• Pimp My Ride - PS2 - 4.5/10
• Rayman Raving Rabbids - DS
• NHL 2K7 - PS3 - 8.3/10
• Silent Hunter: Wolves of the Pacific - PC

The following news articles were discussed on the show:

Eidos Games Now on Steam

Eidos’s catalog of games is now available on Steam, including all 5 of the Commandos games and the entire Hitman series as well. This is another big step forward for Valve bringing on big-name third-party content creators.

Spider-Man 3 Game Trailer Released

Activision and Treyarch have released a new HD video of their upcoming title Spider-Man 3 for the PS3 and xBox360. The video includes shots of the new Subway and Sewage system, as apposed to Spider-Man 2, which only included the city streets and rooftops.

DirectX 10 Coming to the Source Engine?

Valve has stated that there will be some “advanced technology” for DirectX 10 graphics cards on Half-Life 2: Episode 2 and Team Fortress 2. However, the news seems contradictory since Valve also stated that these “advanced features” would be available to anyone running a DX10 card, even if they were running it on Windows XP (which we already know will never get DX10). What could this “advanced technology” be?

Best Buy to stop selling 20GB PS3

Best Buy has come to the conclusion that the 20GB (non premium) version of the PS3 is no longer a hot item. This really comes as no surprise though. When a Sony rep was asked about the difference between the number of 20GB and 60GB consoles sold, he answered, “Overwhelmingly, retailers have been requesting the 60GB model, the mix has been about 80 percent 60GB, 20 percent 20GB retailer orders.”

New Half-Life 2 Machinima Comedy Series: Civil Protection

These guys are trying to do for HL2 what Red vs. Blue did for Halo. They’ve got three episodes out so far, and it’s pretty funny stuff. Check it out at civil-protection.blogspot.com

Halo 2 on the PC this May

Today, with the official announcement of Games for Windows Live (the PC equivalent of Xbox Live), Microsoft revealed that Halo 2 for the PC will be released on May 8. The game will require Windows Vista and is in development by Hired Gun, an internal Microsoft Studio working with Bungie.

Woman Sues Archive.org

The reason I bring this up is that all of our podcasts are hosted at archive.org for free. This lady is a nut job who is suing the Internet Archive because her website has a statement that says “If you copy or distribute anything on this website you are entering into a contract.” This is a load of crap. Her phone number is 719-749-2971, her address is 14053 Eastonville Rd. Elbert, CO 80106, and her email address is dsshell@ix.netcom.com. Give her hell, guys.

Big Thanks to Eternal Silence

We really appreciate Rex Riepe from Eternal Silence taking the time to come on the show and talk about the mod. For more information about their mod or to download the beta and try it out for yourself, check out their website at www.eternal-silence.net

Funny Videos

• Guy Gets Owned by a Ceiling Fan
• Reporter Crashes on ATV

Wrap Up
Keep your fan mail, suggestions, and comments coming. The coolest email address on the net is still fans@steampodcast.com, and the coolest IRC channel is #steampodcast.

File Mirrors

• High Quality MP3 - SteamPodcast.com
• High Quality MP3 - Archive.org
• Low Quality MP3 - Archive.org
• OGG Vorbis - Archive.org

This week’s podcast features the following on-air personalities:

• Bob Somers - SteamPodcast.com
• Ramzy Bekheet - SteamPodcast.com

1337 C4T of Episode 12

This Week’s New Releases in 15 Seconds or Less
All scores are from GameSpot.

• Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 - Xbox 360 - 8.7/10
• GTA: Vice City Stories - PS2 - 7.2/10
• Titan Quest: Immortal Throne - PC
• Sonic and the Secret Rings - Wii - 7.6/10
• ArmA: Combat Operations - PC
• Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - DS
• Tony Hawk’s Project 8 - PSP
• Xiaolin Showdown - Xbox

The following news articles were discussed on the show:

Eurogamer Gives Thumbs Up to Left 4 Dead

Valve’s calling Left 4 Dead the next Counter-Strike, and according to Eurogamer it looks like they’re going to deliver. The AI is brilliant, giving you a unique and different experience every time you play the game. Check out the full article for more info.

Nintendo Formally Announces Wii Release Schedule for 2007

• April 9 - Super Paper Mario - Nintendo
• April - Prince of Persia Rival Swords - Ubisoft
• April - Bust-A-Move Bash - Majesco
• April - Bioncle Heroes - Eidos
• May 15 - Mortal Kombat: Armageddon - Midway
• May 29 - Mario Party 8 - Nintendo
• May - Tamagotchi Party On - Namco Bandai
• May - Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End - Disney Interactive
• May - Escape from Bug Island - Eidos
• May - Spider-Man The Movie 3 - Activision
• June 11 - Big Brain Academy - Nintendo
• June 25 - Pokemon Battle Revolution - Nintendo
• June - Cosmic Family - Ubisoft
• Spring - Heatseeker - Codemasters
• Q2 - Legend of the Dragon - American Game Factory
• Summer - Shrek the Third - Activision
• Summer - Transformers the Game - Activision

Valve Releases Black Mesa Parking Permit Kit

That’s right folks, you can now get your own official, Black Mesa parking permit, complete with individualized serial number. You also get two bumper stickers, one that says “Dog Is My Copilot”, the other is “WWGFD?” (what would Gordon Freeman do?).

The whole kit is only $9.95, but for $29.95 you can one of the rare parking permits numbered 1-100.

Gears of War 2 Is Official

In a speech from Cliff Bleszinski (Cliffy B) rumors of a Gears of War sequel were made official. Finally some concrete news for gamers, as last November a Microsoft marketing executive mentioned Microsoft and Epic would be exploring a Gears of War trilogy, although nothing was rock solid at the time.

CS 1.6 Beta with In-Game Advertisements Goes Live

You can participate in the new Counter-Strike 1.6 Beta with in-game advertisements by adding a short command line argument to your Steam shortcut. During the beta the only advertisements shown will be for Valve, but as the program comes out of beta more companies will be added.

Screenshots: 1, 2, 3

Spielberg Working on Wii Game with EA

EA and Steven Spielberg had recently announced a collaboration to publish three games with authoritative control from the directing superstar. No information on the actual nature of the games has been released as of yet, but we’ll keep you posted as time goes on.

This news bit is a continuation of an earlier story on EA and Spielberg announcing their collaboration.

Half-Life 2 Modding Book Coming This May

A new book by Tim Holt is coming out May 1st that details the process of mapping and modding for Half-Life 2. Here’s a quote from the book’s description:

The book shows, step-by-step, how to create new maps, textures, characters, 3D objects, weapons, audio effects, game action, and much more. Readers will learn how to start out by creating new maps and models and then learn basic techniques of coding to create useful mods. The second part of the book features more advanced techniques as readers learn how to expand their skills and develop more sophisticated models and 3D action. The book also covers other important areas of mod development including creating and managing a mod development team, working with fans, and using skills to develop a professional career in game development.

Playstation Home - First Look

CVG (www.ComputerAndVideoGames.com) has released an interesting article on “Playstation Home”. For those of you who don’t know About “Playstation Home”, it’s basically Sony’s version of Second Life. And for those of you who don’t know about Second Life, i’d advise you to check out Google.com.

At first glance Home looks a bit like a MMO-style chat room. Your own character in PlayStation Home can be customised at any time in an in-depth slider-based system not too dissimilar from Oblivions. This free service will allow users to create their own realistic avatars and furnish their own private spaces. Much like a giant social network, it allows players to chat and hang out and even return to respective spaces to listen to music or watch video. There will also be various channels for particular companies and a Hall of Fame where players can collect 3D trophies for their efforts in various PS3 games.

At first, when i heard “free service from Sony”, I really thought that it would suck, but the screenshots are looking seriously good. Go check it out.

Two New Crysis Videos From the GDC

Computers everywhere are committing suicide over the new Crysis videos from the Game Developer Conference. If you were impressed by the first tech demos, you should see these new ones. The nuclear explosion looks absolutely stunning and the sandbox editor looks amazing easy to use. Good luck running it on anything but the absolute latest, bleeding edge hardware, though.

Take 2 Interactive Being Taken Over

In some breaking news, the BBC is reporting that an investor takeover is in progress at Take 2 Interactive, the folks who brought us Grand Theft Auto III and the 2K Sports games.

How will this affect gamers? Anytime management changes at a major publisher, things could change, usually for the worse.

Could this mean the end of Grand Theft Auto?

Funny Videos

• Helicopter Clips Roter on Takeoff
• Mario Theme Composer Koji Kondo Plays Piano at GDC 2007

Wrap Up
Keep your fan mail, suggestions, and comments coming. The coolest email address on the net is still fans@steampodcast.com, and the coolest IRC channel is #steampodcast.