First impressions of the new Zombie Panic:Source modification – this is one cool mod. The install through steam was straight forward. Just find Zombie Panic in Steam, use the search feature to do this. And then click the “Install Game” button.

The total download size is around 2 gigs – 2,006,974 kb in the GCF file and another 52 megs in a Zombie Panic! Source folder in steam apps/ profile name / Zombie Panic! Source.

When the player first joins a game, they start in a room with three exits – spectate, survivors (humans) and the zombie team.

When I played on the survivors team, I started out with a keyboard and a pistol for weapons. Personally I could think of a lot better weapons laying around the office, such as a mop handle or even a drawer from a metal desk. My team and I quickly ran into a couple of zombies who were finished off with a few rounds from the pistol. When I ran out of ammo for the pistol, the player did not automatically switch weapons and go to the keyboard.

While playing the zombie, there are some blood vessel looking things that go around the screen. Only one zombie can infect the human players. This seemed to go against the classic zombie movies. Zombies attack, eat and infect human players. It seems strange that only one zombie out of a whole group can infect the humans.

Overall, the Zombie Panic! Source modification is a well worth downloading and playing. The amount of time and effort put into this modification is staggering. The attention to the little details truly adds to the overall effect of the game.

Post your comments in the Zombie Panic! Source thread of the forums.

The developers over at the Black Mesa website have released a podcast.

Discuss this news article and video in the Black Mesa podcast thread of the Half-Life 2 forums.

Black Mesa is a modification for the Half-Life 2.  Over the past 4 years, the BM developers have remade the orginal Half-Life 1 with the improved physics engine and improved graphics of the Source engine.  The BM project started In November or December of 2004 and is supposed to be released sometime in 2009.

Black Mesa is a remake of the original Half-Life, but with the Half-Life 2 Source engine and improved graphics.

In a PC Gamer magazine from October 2004 there was a review of Half-Life 2.   It was one of those “First Look” reviews that was published just weeks before the full release of HL2.  (Just for reference, the issue of PC Gamer that is being referred to was published in October, 2004.)  Included with the review of HL2 was some history of the series, just for those that did not know how it all started.  This section of the review was called “recommended playing” and discussed HL1, Blue Shift and Opposing Force.

At the end of the article, the author mentions that he had asked someone at Valve about a Half-Life 1 remake but with the Source engine. The reply from the person at Valve software went something like this – “Valve has already been contacted by different groups asking permission to remake HL1 with the source engine.”

Since this article was published in the October, 2004 issue PC Gamer.  The play test and interview had to be several weeks before October.  This puts interest in a remark starting around July, August or September of 2004.

When the Black Mesa developers were asked if they were the ones that contacted Valve before October 2004, the answer was “no”.  The official start date for the Black Mesa Modification is somewhere around November or December 2004.  Which is a couple of months after HL2 review issue of PC Gamer was published.

This brings up another question.  If it was not the Black Mesa developers that contacted Valve back in mid – late 2004, then who was it?  And what happened to those other projects?

With a start date of December 2004.  That means that BM has been in development for 4 years and 4 months – at the time this article was written.

Visit the official Black Mesa website.

To discuss this article, visit the Black Mesa thread in the Half-Life 2 forums.

Besides all of the history on Black Mesa, it has already won several awards before it has even been released.

Awards and Recognition:
Mod DB – Top Unreleased Mod for 2005
Mod DB – Top Unreleased Mod for 2006
Mod DB – Honorable mention for Top Unreleased Mod for 2007

Rumors have it that BM is going to be released in 2009.  But we will have to wait and see.

Before we begin, I would like to thank TacticalLobos for posting these Insurgency videos on youtube.

INSURGENCY: Modern Infantry Combat is a modification for the Half-Life 2 engine.

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The truth about beta testing! What your dev’s and beta’s really do to test the game! Be sure to visit the Fortress-Forever Youtube Page for more videos like this one.

If you are looking for a discussion forum for Team Fortress or Fortress-Forever, Visit the Fortress Training Forums and the Fortress-Forever Forums.

As posted on the Fortress-Forever website, they will be moving to a new server.

Scuzzy posted in the Fortress-Forever Forums – “We will be moving the website and forums to a new host in the next few days. There may be outages from time to time as content is transfered over.

Thanks,
Scuzzy”

The down time is not expected to be for very long.  So if you visit the Fortress-Forever Forums and can not get through, check back later.

If your looking for a pickup game in Fortress-Forever, head on over to FF Pickup. These games are organized so they are fun for the entire family.

Some information about Pickup games.

1. What is a pickup?

A pickup is an organized match with randomized teams; it is a way for players to experience a league match environment without the necessity of being in a clan or joining a league.
2. Who can join a pickup?

Anyone in the channel can join a pickup. All they have to do is type !add once a pickup has been started.
3. What are the pickup modes?

There are three pickup modes:

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Once again people, if you haven’t already, please join the Fortress Forever Steam Group! It’s the first place you’ll hear about the latest, greatest FF updates!

Got a competitive streak?

There’s two competitive leagues for Fortress Forever. UGC has served the community well for a year, and Team Fortress League is starting up again with support for FF in a 7v format.

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Fortress Forever’s 2.1 patch was released Friday, September 12th!

We’ve also worked hard and waited for the right time to get this done: FF is finally listed in the Steam Store!

Click the picture, see the listing!

In the meantime, here’s a tantalizing 8 1/2 minute long video showing some of the new maps and features in Fortress Forever 2.1:

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