In an announcement perhaps meant to obliterate the definition of "Valve Time," the publisher announced that Alien Swarm has been rebuilt in Source Engine and will be released -- for free, no less -- tomorrow, Monday, July 19. The team that originally built the mod for UT2004 has since been hired on by Valve for work on the Left 4 Dead series and Portal 2, but luckily found enough time to move their game over to Valve's game engine between bouts of working on those other two games.
If you're so inclined, you can pre-load Alien Swarm starting right now before it goes live tomorrow. Oh! And when it does go live, Valve will also release the full SDK for the game, allowing users to get a more thorough look at what makes the game tick. Us? We're just excited to blast swarms of aliens with the totally insane looking flamethrower seen above. Hit the break for a trailer of the game in action.
@Shadowbender Actually, my Mac is incapable. It's a tad old, and it doesn't have Intel Processor. Then, just recently, the Mac got a virus. So now all I have is a netbook and an iPod touch. Hopefully I'll be able to get a newer Mac model sometime this year.
Uh... all the money you save on the hardware has to go towards all the software you have to install to keep malware off your machine and little utilities that make WIndows work the way it should right out of the box.
Penn & Teller need to do a Bullshit episode on the "PC is cheaper" mantra because I can't think of anything other than religion that is so widely viewed as true yet is so plainly false.
@dogmaticatheist You don't have to spend anything to keep your PC clean if you're not a complete moron. Sure, if one needs to spend money on a helmet because they can't keep from cracking their skull on things then that's money well spent, otherwise just don't be an r-word.org.
Umm first off, you only need antivirus software if you have no idea what you're doing. If you have some common sense, you won't get a virus. Second, antivirus software doesn't even come close to the premium Apple charges on their computers (usually at least $500).
Lastly, Macs are easier to hack than Windows computers. If you think Macs are secure because they're good, you're wrong. Macs are secure because banks, defense companies, universities don't back up all of their important information on OS X running Macs. The fact of the matter is that Macs are "secure" because there's no reason to challenge them.
So far my only major investment has been an antivirus program. I got Kaspersky Internet Security (Firewall, AV, and more) for about $140-160 for 3 years valid for up to 3 computers.
A comparable MacBook Pro costs $2000 and comes with: Core i5 (2 cores) at 2.6GHz, 4MB DDR3, 500GB HDD (5400RPM), OSX, GeForce GT 330M, screen: 15" (1440x900px).
Why does a comparable Windows-based laptop cost almost $900 less than a Mac-based laptop? Even when you add in an AV program (which, by the way, you should also get on a Mac), it's still a good $700-800 more for a computer with a smaller screen, slower hard drive, lower resolution, and other "faults"?
Macs certainly have their uses, don't get me wrong, and they are still good computers that are very well built and designed (except for the lack of a fan/vents in the case), but the difference in price is ridiculous.
Are you actually an idiot or just trolling? You have deliberatly chosen the most expensive laptop you can find (despite the fact there are many other cheaper ones around). Chosen one with a better class processor (your macbook is duel core, the sony is quad core , unsurprisingly you pay for those extra 2 cores), choosen one with much better screen (the sony is capable of 1080p, your macbook is not) and then you compare them?
You know i can get a much cheaper PC than ANY macs out there, my mate down at the scrapyard can sell me one for £15, its a pentium2 with a 300mhz processor and a full 258MB of ram!
@Milky1985 OK downvote me, i only just saw the typo in the price in your message (was wondering how you manged to find a laptop for 10K :P). Actually shows the laptop being much much MUCH better value than the mac :P
You're like the Fred Phelps of atheists aren't you? Who needs to advertise their belief on a gaming blog? I'm a Christian (and therefore an idiot as far as you're concerned) but I don't feel any need to bring up issues like the validity of religion on a blog where it wasn't even the point, nor make my username relate to Christianity. Either wake up, grow up or take your trolling elsewhere.
@mrmobius I can't walk outside and turn my head 90 degrees without seeing some monument to Jesus. Your God is on my money. The President has to command people to pray once a year. I can keep going.
If you can't handle one guy's username and comment on a gaming blog, grow some goddamn balls. I'm sick of you guys always playing the victim.
@Omnistatic It was only announced on Friday. Believe it's the shortest time between the announcement and release of a game in history.
The team worked on it in their down time between the L4D games and Portal. Apparently Valve decided to use it as a promotional tool for the implementation of Steamworks to interest and educate developers on how to use the technology. It may not have been intended for public release, and if that was the case, they may have put so much work into it and made it good enough for release as an actual game, which might explain the fact that it was never announced despite it being in development since after the first L4D was released.
Wait, does this mean the Source SDK is now free, and you can play mods without paying money? Because I see this as a great way to get some friends in to Insurgency...
Alien Swarm is a game and Source SDK release from a group of talented designers at Valve who were hired from the Mod community. Available free of charge, the game thrusts players into an epic bug hunt featuring a unique blend of co-op play and squad-level tactics. With your friends, form a squad of four distinct IAF Marine classes.
