Valve plans a huge ‘Dota 2′ tournament for Gamescom

Valve is sending 16 teams to Gamescom to compete in a huge tournament during the show, August 17-21. That tournament will also serve as the game’s official unveiling. “I have had the good fortune to watch the competitors as they prepare for the tournament, and the level of play is extraordinary,” said Valve president Gabe Newell. And impressing Newell isn’t the only prize here. The winners take home a million bucks. That’s million with an ‘M’. The tournament will be broadcast live in Chinese, English, Russian and German, for those of us not lucky enough to be in Cologne.

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Steam downloads are better, faster and smaller

Steam moves data. That’s its thing. This weekend, it started doing its thing a little better. Valve announced on Friday that they’ve managed to improve data delivery within the application thanks to new server and client code. This system should provide better download rates worldwide as well as allow the publishing process to be streamlined. That means more games for everyone since they’ll take less time to ship, hooray! The new system should be better at handling usage spikes (like, say, when they’ve discounted Left 4 Dead 2 to $4.99, cough) and getting past firewalls. Each user will also have to download less data when it comes to patches — only the differences between files will actually be delivered, meaning that your updates just got a LOT smaller. Future updates will allow users to schedule downloads, prioritize them and throttle bandwidth when necessary (if you’ve got limits, I know you

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Volume 2 of ‘Songs to Test By’ has arrived (and it’s still free)

Valve has released the second volume of Portal 2‘s soundtrack, and this one, just like the last, is completely free. This volume adds another 18 tracks, most of which you’d probably hear in the middle section of the game. Along with that, 14 ringtones are up for grabs for either Android or iPhone mobile devices. Among the tracklisting, you find songs like “Bring Your Daughter to Work Day” and “PotatOS’ Lament.” And if you’ve ever wanted the orange and blue portal sounds for a message alert…well, you got it. I’d never noticed there were different sounds for each, but there you are. So far, I’ve found that using these soundtracks for driving and working provide the best results. Maybe you won’t sit around and digest it like a good Mozart, but more power to you if you do. Download the new set of tracks here.

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Weekly Roundup Episode 12

This week, we’ve got a special guest — Summer from Fandomania. (Also her dog, Arya.) We talk Team Fortress 2, Pottermore, video games as crimestoppers, LulzSec (even though we put a moratorium on it), store-exclusive DLC for Batman: Arkham City and more. (There’s always more.) Listen in the player below, or find us on iTunes. Where can we be seen next? Well, Trina’s going to a Nintendo event next week, so you can see her there. But! If you want to see her on a show, she’ll be on This Week In Video Games with Jessica Villareal on June 30. You can watch that live online, so that’s awesome. As always, we encourage you to check out our partners in GamingAngels Presents: The Married Gamers, Game Dames and PrincessCast. Also be sure to take a listen to Blood Angels, our True Blood podcast. If you want to contact us, you’ve

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The first DLC for ‘Portal 2′ is controller-specific

If you don’t have Razer’s Hydra motion controller, the “Sixense Motion Pack” now available for Portal 2 on Steam is entirely useless to you. The special motion controller — which already works for several other games, like Call of Duty: Black Ops and Left 4 Dead 2 —is currently on sale for $140, and you can actually order it through Steam. Is this the first physical object to come out of the formerly-all-digital storefront? I’m not sure. But it does come with some digital content…a copy of Portal 2 that you likely won’t need if you’re the type to want this DLC. Give it to a future co-op partner, I suppose. The 10-level DLC was developed by Razer specifically for the controller, and six of these feature stretchable blocks, a brand-new feature. Repeat after me: I do not need another expensive Razer product…  

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Valve announces ‘Portal 2′ music video competition

If you haven’t run into The National’s haunting tune “Exile Vilify” in your playthrough of Valve’s Portal 2, it’s time to start over. (Really, it’s close to the beginning.) Apparently the band really needs a music video for the song, or at least that’s what it sounds like — from now until midnight on July 15, Valve is running a contest to determine the best music video for the song. To enter, upload your version of the music video to YouTube and tag it with “PORTAL2NATIONALEXILE.” Sounds like a weird movie title. The winner will receive a prize package containing an autographed guitar as well as a collection of Portal 2 merchandise. For reference, here’s the song, if you haven’t heard it yet.

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SteelSeries and Valve team up for branded mousepads

During E3, SteelSeries announced a brand-new partnership with a company that we might not normally expect — Valve. The Half-Life and Portal developer will work with the company to design gaming surfaces based on Valve properties. So…sounds like they’re making mousepads. Valve has had them available in their online store for a while, but these will probably be a bit more “pro,” so I’m okay with this. But really, wouldn’t it be awesome if some completely unconventional peripherals came out of this? What about a hat-shaped USB hub? Or, better yet, a hat with a USB microphone to help you get the full Team Fortress 2 experience? What kinds of things can you dream up? To keep up with SteelSeries, check out their Facebook page at http://facebook.com/steelseries.

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Hey, part of the ‘Portal 2′ soundtrack is free

Valve announced yesterday via their Portal 2 blog that they’re releasing the official soundtrack of the game as an “aural stimulus.” Okay, actually, it’s all written in Aperture-speak, which is far funnier than I could ever muster on my own. So I’ll just quote it. With Aperture-brand turrets, boots, bots and panels flooding the applied science aisle of your local department store, you could forgive the up-and-coming test lab for taking a breather. Judging from their latest press release, though, their laurels remain untouched by backsides. Bolstered by recent breakthroughs in the field of jazz smoothing, Aperture announced today the first of three downloadable aural stimulus packages. Whether you’re a mega-science corporation with decades of test experience, or a young start-up liberating your first test subject from non-testing with a chloroform-soaked rag, Aperture guarantees results. Wake up your test subject, open the chamber door, and press play–let Aperture’s patent-pending rhythmic

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Review: Portal 2 (PC/Mac, PS3)

Rating: E-10+ Players: 1, online and splitscreen co-op Genre: Puzzle/Platformer/Basically Undefinable Despite the Fact That I Just Tried Publisher: Valve/EA Developer: Valve Software Release Date: April 19, 2011 BUY   I’m trying my best to keep this review spoiler-free (the pictures don’t even show any puzzles!), but really, if you want the ultimate enjoyment out of this title, don’t read any reviews. Not even mine. If you want the really quick version with absolutely no spoilers, I’ll just say that Portal 2 is incredibly enjoyable. Get it. And then come back to me when you’re done. I’ll wait. When I played the first Portal, I did so after being incredibly spoiled. Well, I guess I can’t complain, since I did it to myself by watching YouTube videos of every chamber. What can I say? I didn’t know if the game was ever coming to PS3. How funny that the PS3

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Free Portal 2 DLC coming this summer

Valve Software announced this afternoon that the first add-on content for Portal 2 will be released this summer. The creatively-titled “Portal 2 DLC #1” (that’s probably just a working title, but this is Aperture, so who knows) will contain new test chambers, challenge mode for both single- and multiplayer modes and leaderboards. (I tried to get a little more detail by clicking the link offered in the press release, but that…well, it went to the Left 4 Dead blog. I don’t know whether to read into that or not, especially because of the ARG before Portal 2′s release.) UPDATE: Doug Lombardi says it’s a random mistake. It would be cool if it wasn’t, though. This content will be free for all platforms. Valve also announced that Portal 2 is its fastest-selling release since Half-Life 2, so that’s also pretty impressive.

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