Hasta La Gadget!

It’s a beautiful late winter day in Bellevue, Wash. Instead of enjoying the outdoors, I’m sitting in a rectangular white room with three programmers, surrounded by three walls covered in augmented reality markers. Not that I’m complaining: Valve Software’s Joe Ludwig, the programmer in the room who most resembles a member of Anthrax, is walking me through his company’s latest work in the world of virtual reality. It’s the first anyone outside of Valve will see of the company’s VR efforts thus far.

As it turns out, the software company is working with Oculus VR to port the tremendously popular free-to-play first-person shooter, Team Fortress 2, to the upcoming Rift development kit. The free update, dubbed “VR Mode,” is the latest benchmark in Valve’s ongoing hardware initiative. “We think that both augmented and virtual reality are going to be a huge deal over the next several years,” Ludwig tells us.

Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals, Software, HD

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Valve and Capcom got together to discuss the upcoming release of Resident Evil 6 for the PC come March 22nd. While they were getting into their excitement and discussions over the game, they had the brilliant idea of creating a Resident Evil 6/Left 4 Dead 2 crossover. The cross over would help revitalize Left 4 Dead 2, and it would bring some very interesting features to Resident Evil’s game play.

In Resident Evil 6, players will be able to use the Left 4 Dead 2 characters, Coach, Ellis, Nick, or Rochelle, in RE6′s The Mercenaries No Mercy mode. The characters will have their own set of abilities and weapons that Capcom believes lives true to their stories and nature. Not only will the main characters in L4D2 make it to RE6, the villains will make their way there too. The Witch, and Mini Tank will be joining the ranks of the infected. The DLC will be available beginning April 5th.

In Left 4 Dead 2, while you won’t be able to play as any of the Resident Evil 6 characters (without mods anyways), you will be able to fight some of their villains. The monsters, Lepotitsa, Napad, and Ogroman, will be making their way to L4D2 to terrorize you and your friends, alongside the other special enemies like the Witch, Tank, and Boomer. Valve says the DLC will be available in the “Spring”.

Both of the DLCs will be available at no extra cost to the gamers. This crossover is a gift to Valve’s undead enthusiasts and will possibly increase sales for both Left 4 Dead 2 and Resident Evil 6. These new DLCs are a PC exclusive, meaning those of you who have Left 4 Dead 2 on the Xbox 360, and Resident Evil 6 on the PS3/Xbox 360 are out of luck.

[via Geek]

Resident Evil 6 and Left 4 Dead 2 cross over headed to Steam is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
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The Xi3 Piston opened for pre-orders on Monday, and seemed to be the first of many Steam Box type devices powered by Valve’s online gaming store and service. But Valve quickly came out and said that despite their investment in Xi3, the company has no “official involvement” in the development of the Piston itself. Now Xi3 is firing back, admitting that while it received investment and the Piston console was built as the result of a request to build a device specifically for Valve, Valve isn’t currently involved in the project.

Xi3 says that Valve president Gabe Newell personally asked its founder and CEO Jason A. Sullivan not to disclose any info about the relationship between the two companies, and that’s just what it has done. The Piston was never an official “Steam Box,” Xi3 says, which is also what we pointed out in our article. Instead, we suggested it would be one of many devices from third-party OEMs that could fit the generic description of a PC console designed for Steam.

The release from Xi3 also goes on to claim that the Piston can actually do one better than any official hardware, since it’s fully open to support a whole host of different gaming platforms, not just Valve’s. Xi3 also says that it’ll ship with Windows initially, since that’s where the “vast bulk of game software and computer gamers are today,” not Linux (thought it is Linux-compatible). Xi3 says this is where Valve and it have a philosophical difference, and where the Piston will be able to offer consumers more choice than any officially blessed Steam Box.

Sullivan says in the release that pre-order demand has been very strong so far, and the company is actually concerned it won’t be able to meet holiday 2013 demand for the console. But the tone overall seems a little like that of a child whose affection was spurned: it gives the impression that Xi3 was slightly taken aback at the force with which Valve distanced itself from the Piston project.

Whatever the situation between Xi3 and Valve, the upshot is that there will be ‘Steam boxes’ and there will be ‘Steam Boxes,’ (Official) and Valve might have trouble keeping the public educated as to which is which. And in the end you have to wonder if it matters, so long as both provide full access to Steam and its games in a console-style environment.

It was early yesterday morning when we brought you word that Valve has washed their hands off any involvement concerning Xi3′s PISTON console, and so it is always nice to hear both sides of the story, as folks from Xi3 has something to say about their PISTON console. Xi3 mentioned via their CEO, Jason A. Sullivan, “We reaffirm the fact that we received an investment from Valve Corporation (as we previously disclosed during the 2013 International CES trade show), and we did so with Valve’s written permission. Second, we were asked to build a product specifically for Valve, and both companies showcased this product—the PISTON Console—in their respective booths at CES 2013. Then, during a meeting with Valve at CES, Gabe Newell personally asked me that we not disclose additional information about our relationship with Valve. We have honored that request and will continue to do so. That said, there are other items we need to cover.”

For the record, the PISTON console is not the official Steam Box, but Xi3 has not closed the door on a more formal involvement between Valve and Xi3 down the road. The PISTON console will also enable gamers to access Steam, in addition to offering support a slew of other Internet-based gaming and entertainment platforms – which would mean it offers far more compared to what Valve has penciled in for their official Steam Box. In a nutshell, the PISTON console would play a complementary role to the official Steam Box, and the market should be large enough to accommodate both of them. [Press Release]

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Nintendo Lost 3D Display Patent Infringement Lawsuit, Blizzard To Announce New Game At PAX East Next Week,

It was at this year’s CES when we officially got to see Valve’s long-rumored Steam Box, which Valve teamed up with Xi3 in order to make it into an actual retail product. It’s only been two months since the Piston PC debuted at CES, and already its manufacturer Xi3 has started taking pre-orders for the device.

Xi3′s Piston Console, which is what the company is officially calling it, will probably be the most expensive “consoles” we’ve ever heard of as the company is setting its pre-order price at $999.99, although Xi3 is discounting it by $100 if potential customers place their order before 11:59 P.M. CST on March 17, 2013. (more…)

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