Poll Question 189 – If you could play for as long as you wanted, how long would you play for?

Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3

I’ve discussed this before but as I get older the length of my gaming sessions (which are not very long anyway due to running the site and projects!) get shorter and shorter.

I have a fair amount of free time but can’t play for long because my mind wanders onto all the tasks and work still needed. That said, even if I didn’t have other things requiring my attention I doubt I would play for me than a couple of hours, it’s just too much for me.

What about you?


10th September 2010 20 Comments

Poll Question 187 – Should games or mods use famous voice actors?

Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3

You’ve probably seen the recent Portal 2 videos and news about the voice of Wheatley; the companion in Portal 2.

When they first released a video it apparently had one of Valve workers voicing the part and , at least for me, I thought he did a great job. However, then came the announcement that Stephen Merchant was doing the voice.


27th August 2010 37 Comments

Poll Question 186 – Should mods release demos?

Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3

I originally used to believe that the bigger mods should release demos. I viewed things from the perspective of retail sales. A player is a customer and a mod a product. Players “pay” for their mod by the time and effort of downloading and keeping up to date.

To convince players that they should play a particular mod, a demo could be used to show how good a mod is. I no longer believe that’s true.


22nd August 2010 14 Comments

Poll Question 185 – How long do you leave between replaying mods?

Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3

I read quite a lot but recently I haven’t had access to new books, so I have had to start re-reading some old ones. Some I remember very well and stop reading almost before the end of the first chapter, others seemed to have faded from memory and only some things are familiar.

At first i thought it was simply the amount of time between each reading but now I don’t think it’s that simple. I then thought it was how much I enjoyed the book the first time, and again, I now don’t. To be honest I’m not sure exactly what it is, but it’s interesting.


13th August 2010 13 Comments

Poll Question 184 – Are you interested in a recreation of the leaked HL2 beta?

Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3

Each month seems to see the announcement of a new mod whose objective is to release a recreation of the leaked beta.

The four I have heard of are: Project Terminal, Beta Source, Anonbeta mod and Missing Information.

Seems a shame that so many people are working on more or less the same thing when they could be A: working together (although that’s a lot easier said than done) or B: working on something original.

Obviously a lot of people love this sort of thing but are players really that interested? You tell me.


6th August 2010 18 Comments

The City 17 Times

The City 17 Times is a weekly newspaper produced for the citizens of City 17. It is written from the perspective of real people from within the game. The style will be a serious local newspaper, with a hint of “over-the-topness” and a touch of cliché, so don’t believe everything you read!

The idea has been shamelessly stolen from the First Person Observer, a site ” dedicated to providing you with non-stop, around-the-clock coverage of breaking news from inside the games you play and love.”


28th July 2010 3 Comments

Better Food for City 17 Residents

Celebrity Chef Jamie Oliver has chosen or been chosen to relocate to our very own City 17. So let’s give him a warm welcome.

Taking a break from his School Dinners campaign, especially since that there are no children around, Jamie has decided that he wants to focus on improving the quality of food distributed via the Food Dispensers found throughout the city.


28th July 2010 4 Comments