14 DAY TRIAL // It’s been a busy week for Valve, one of the most popular independent developers out there, as not only did it reveal details about a lot of upcoming projects, from Counter-Strike: Global Offensive to Dota 2, but it also launched new features for existing products, like Team Fortress 2’s Mann vs. Machine mode or the new Steam Community section.
Besides these actual announcements and releases, the company was once again rumored to reveal its long awaited Half-Life 3 or at least Half-Life 2: Episode 3.
Sadly, the studio quickly dismissed the rumor and revealed that it won’t be showing any of its future projects at Gamescom 2012, the large gaming expo that’s taking place this week in Cologne, Germany.
Even if I’m more than looking forward to the next Half-Life experience, Valve continues to make brilliant moves without touching on its cult classic series.
Case in point is Team Fortress 2. The game originally came out as part of the stunning Orange Box back in 2007 and, since then, it’s been continuously updated by Valve with new content, ranging from weapons and abilities to the hat mechanic, which proved to be one of the most profitable moves in the history of gaming. The studio even made the whole experience free-to-play last year, and released the final “Meet the” short film a few months ago.
After 5 years, many success stories, and plenty of updates, people expected Valve to start forgetting about its multiplayer shooter.
The company proved everyone wrong this week when it revealed the Mann vs. Machine update, which introduces a whole new gameplay mode to the multiplayer title by adding a six-player cooperative wave-based experience.
So big was the reception that players were forced to endure lengthy waiting times before getting to connect to one of the Mann vs. Machine servers, and you can bet that everyone will continue to patiently wait because of Valve’s dedication to the community.
As such, even if the company still won’t present to the world a Half-Life project, it’s still going to reward fans with impressive products, ranging from games, like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, to non-game projects, like the upcoming software distribution on Steam or the Dota 2 documentary.