ValveTime

Valve were up to their usual Linux shenanigans this week as a pair of Linux beta clients were released, one for Portal and the other for Left 4 Dead 2. Elsewhere, Elder Titan was introduced into Dota 2 while an update Steam Greenlight introduced four new Greenlit titles to the service. Don't forget to check out all of our other media content from this past week, including ValveTime TalkTime Episode 4, our Minerva: Metastasis review and our spotlight preview of the mod.


If you're a fan of TalkTime, be sure to leave a question in the comments below as Episode 5 will hopefully be a Q&A session in which the ValveTime staff will cherry pick a few select topics submitted by the community! And if you're not a fan of TalkTime, what's wrong with you? Head on over to our most recent episode to find out what you've been missing!

In the fourth episode of ValveTime TalkTime, Glenn, Nick, James and John discuss what they would like to see Valve do for the next Half-Life game, and argue about what does or does not need to be done for the game to be considered a success. Don't forget to leave your questions in the comments below as TalkTime Episode 5 will be a question/answer session where the ValveTime staff will talk about what you submit!


Feel free to leave your feedback regarding what you think of this series! If you would like to see more, let us know! If not, tell us! Our series can only improve with your help.

As promised last week the Left 4 Dead 2 Beta Client is now available to everyone that owns the game, bringing Linux Support to Left 4 Dead for the first time, continuing Valve's commitment to the platform alongside the Portal Beta reported yesterday.

The Beta also allows access to the Extended Mutation System, an SDK extension that allows the creation of complex gamemode alterations that were previously impossible with the existing toolset. The EMS tools have been available to modders for the last three months, meaning that players downloading the new client today should discover a collection of new mutations ready for testing on the Beta Workshop.

If you would like to take part in the Beta, simply find the "Left 4 Dead 2 Beta" in your Steam library and install it. Existing Mac and Windows users should be advised that the Beta Client will require a second copy of the game to be downloaded.

Also in today's Left 4 Dead Blog Update was the announcement that four custom campaigns have been selected for official server support: City 17, Diescraper, Back to School and Urban Flight will now be available to play on Valve servers. Players can find all four of these campaigns via the Steam Workshop.

This week's Dota 2 update arrived last night and introduced a brand new hero known as Elder Titan. Elder Titan, who acts as Valve's Dota 2 recreation of Tauren Chieftain, is regularly played as durable initiator capable of starting fights with the use of his "Echo Stomp" ability, which can temporarily knock out all enemy targets in a 475 radius for up to 5 seconds. His ultimate, named "Earth Splitter", allows Elder Titan to send out a massive 2400 long shock wave which explodes after a 3 second duration, the result of which causes all targets caught in the blast to lose 35% of their maximum health while being slowed for up to 50% for a 5 second period. Elder Titan is voiced by Jim French, who is well known for playing various characters in previous Valve titles including Bill in Left 4 Dead and Father Grigori in Half-Life 2.


New cosmetic item sets were also released for Alchemist, Centaur Warrunner, Keeper of the Light, Lina, Mirana, Phantom Assassin and Sand King. On the unreleased side of things, two new themed HUD were also found in the games files including the "Cold Depths" and the "Empower" skins, both of which appear as slightly alternated variants of the default rock HUD. With the International 3 qualifiers just around the corner, Valve has already included two new DotaTV League Passes for the respective East and West tournaments, which will presumably become available alongside the release of the main tournament tickets on May 7th at 10am pacific daylight time.

Today Valve's 2007 puzzler Portal joins the growing list of Linux games on Steam. It is not officially listed as Linux compatible on the Steam store just yet but a beta version can be installed by any Steam Linux users who own the game. If you for some crazy reason don't have this game already it's available for $9.99 on the Steam store here.