On Saturday, 13,000 Half-Life fans showed up on Steam to play Half-Life 2 multiplayer simultaneously. That’s 10k more HL2 players at one time than the Steam servers are accustomed to. Their reasons for gathering to play? They want to know the status of Half-Life 3.

30,000 players originally signed a pledge to play over the weekend, but in the end, less than half of them showed up. The idea was cooked up by the Steam Community Group, who (like many of us) have grown frustrated at Valve’s refusal to comment on future plans for Half-Life 3 and/or Half-Life 2: Episode 3. But rather than risk ticking off the games’ developers, SCG decided to hold a more positive “protest” to send a message to Valve.

In their own words, that message is:

Your oldest and longest running fanbase would like better communication.

Waiting patiently for over four years can be challenging as a fan… Valve had stated that information was scheduled to be released towards the end of 2008, and we believe that if they have chosen to change those plans, fans should be acknowledged, regardless of developmental plans for the next Half-Life project.

The entire trilogy of [Half-Life 2] episodes was scheduled to be completed and released by 2007, and if Valve have decided to do other things for the time being, that is fine; all that we ask for is a basic response on the matter, and to let fans know whether or not the current story arc is scheduled to conclude at another point in time.

I’m all for creators keeping their secrets. Creative expression is largely dependent upon surprise, after all. But I sympathize 100% with these Half-Life fans. I will cheer them on until they get results, because I think they’re in the right. They’re not asking for Valve to spill all their secrets. They just want some idea of whether or not Half-Life 3 and/or Half-Life 2: Episode 3 are even in the cards, particularly the latter, which was due for release five years ago.

You know, if they’re saving their big reveal for E3, that’s perfectly understandable. But throw the fans a bone in the meantime. A morsel. Anything. Something as vague as, “We can’t comment on Half-Life at the moment, but stay tuned!” would appease the masses.

Valve is in no way required to respond to their fans. Delays are inevitable, and Valve has a history of them, due to the uncompromising quality of the games they produce. Then there’s the industry, which goes through seasons of change, financial/business considerations, employee turnover, and any number of other reasons why developers alter their plans all the time. No doubt Valve has a very good reason for not releasing Episode 3 when they said they would.

But they’ve fostered a symbiotic relationship with their fans based on mutual communication from the start. Now, after making promises to their fans regarding the future of the franchise, they’re dead silent. This is unacceptable. Valve has a moral responsibility to at least comment on any change to the promises they’ve made to their fans. And it’s not like we’re talking about a few months of silence, here. Valve has been in total black-out on the topic of Half-Life for five years.

There’s a word for that kind of blatant neglect of fan interest and enthusiasm.

It’s called disloyalty.

With very little fanfare, Valve has suddenly made its popular online PvP shooter Team Fortress 2 a free game. As in, free to own, free to play, as much as you want. Forever.

It’s an unexpected move, but hardly an unprecedented one. It’s not the first time that an online game in the later days of its life cycle has been made free to play. Champions Online recently became free-to-play — and on Valve’s own proprietary digital game service, Steam. Valve’s bold claim of keeping TF2 free and up & running “forever” is perhaps the more bold part than the “free” bit alone is.

In an interview with Develop, TF2 patriarch Robin Walker explains that the move was made as part of Valve’s ongoing restructuring of their company’s policies, where they now view games more as “services” rather than “products.” Valve will still offer some customization items as in-game purchases, but nothing that’s required to play the game competitively.

So does this change mean a Team Fortress 3 might be in the works? Valve is known for keeping its secrets very, very close, so it’s anybody’s guess what they have planned for the future. Personally, I’d be a lot more excited to hear that Half-Life 3 is in-progress.

It continually amazes me how little love the space program gets. From the media, from the public at large, you name it. It seems that no one but space enthusiasts bother to care about any of the work NASA is doing — you know, unless they do something huge, like land on Mars. Nevermind the endless triumphs and scientific advancements along the way that it takes to get there. NASA is in the business of trying to understand the universe, and discover our origins. How can they not be in the news every day?

Well, okay, even I have to admit that a lot of what they do is pretty dry stuff. But that doesn’t make it any less important.

In an effort to increase public awareness and passion about the space program, NASA has released a professional-quality video game called Moonbase Alpha. The game, which is described as a “first person explorer,” puts you in the boots of an astronaut working at the first self-sufficient human base on the moon.

The game’s main challenge sounds like the perfect scenario for an indie scifi flick: upon returning to base after a research expedition, you witness a meteorite crashing into the life support systems of Moonbase Alpha. You and your team of astronauts have to fight the clock to repair the equipment before the station runs out of oxygen. You’ll control robots, rovers (which look like WALL-E’s bigger brother), repair tools, and more, and NASA says that there are multiple paths to success, though speed is the most coveted aspect of your work.

There’s a 20-minute single player mission, or you can play it online with co-op, allowing you to work as a team with up to six of your friends, to maximize your repair efforts. There are even leaderboards, where the best repair times are tracked.

Moonbase Alpha runs using the same 3D engine that America’s Army — the free action title from the U.S. Army that pits you as a real soldier on the front lines of war — uses (Unreal Engine 3), simulating the actual gravity and physics of what it’s like to be on the moon. It’s available now, for Windows users (no Mac version? the horror!) to download for free, on the Steam network.

Before anything else, Portal is now out for the Macintosh via Steam. Yes folks, after more than six years, the gaming industry has finally recognized OS X as a viable gaming platform. Even if it’s just for Plants vs Zombies.

I’ve been on Steam since 2004 and only because that was the easiest way I could download Half Life 2 without ever leaving the house. As Internet got better through the years, the discless distribution method became a pillar of PC gaming. For a select few who owned Macs though, it presented a slight inconvenience. I feel a bit duped knowing that I own Plants vs. Zombies for the Mac, PC and iPhone platforms, yet it would have been easier to do a Blizzard and make games cross-platform compatible.

Above is the new Steam application made especially for the Macintosh. Steam had barely changed throughout the years and this up to date Web 2.0 look for the Mac is refreshing. A short walkthrough: on the left side of the window is the scrolling menu of all your games whether or not you have them for a specific platform. In my case, these are ALL PC games. The surprise is that a lot of indie game developers have already made some of their titles Mac compatible outside Steam. Some games will contain a download link to the Macintosh version. In my case I was able to download the OS X versions of World of Goo and Braid, both of which I bought last year. As of late, other titles that are dual OS compatible are Torchlight, Zuma Deluxe and well .. you get the picture. Casual games.

Although the changes are mostly aesthetic, it does make the catalog browsing experience a lot easier to manage. When purchasing a game, it shows you who else in your friends list owns it. Scroll down and you get patch and community updates, and your achievements list. All Steam did really was rearrange everything and skin each game in accordance to a background splash poster.

This update is all about Mac compatibility. The aesthetic bells and whistles on the Steam site and the desktop client hitched a ride aboard the long delayed revamp bus. Not revolutionary, but damn about time!

That’s it. If you’re on a Mac, download Portal for free now!

This is probably one of the series of first wave reviews for Mass Effect 2 for the PC. One of the advantages of living in a place with GMT set to +8 is that you tend to get retail copies a few hours earlier. I didn’t get ME2 through Steam for this precise reason, and yay, USD $29 USD price tag too. Still way cheaper than Steam.

After running the install, I popped in the access key to Cerberus that allowed me to download a number of things. Since I had a copy of Dragon Age: Origins, I was able to redeem the Blood Dragon Armor through a coupon. With ME2′s retail box, I was also able to download a new playable character, Zaeed into my squad and (SPOILER ALERT) …

… the crash zone map for the Normandy. We learn from the first 5 minutes of gameplay that an unknown ship ambushes and destroys the Normandy, killing Shepherd in the process who in vain tried to rescue Joker. This is where the game first shows off the cinematic quality of in-game graphics as you cover your eyes and navigate through the Normandy to see the swelling fire and decks abandoned to the calm of outer space.

Navigation and movement is very similar to the first Mass Effect, with icons, the HUD and even the sound effects for actions (the light tones of the selection screen) bringing back a nostalgic picture of a game we truly enjoyed in 2008.

What makes ME2 truly shine, and you’ve all seen this from the previews, is the engaging character customization that really differentiates each class. I’ve chosen to play as Vanguard equipped with a Biotic Charge similar to the Leap Attack of Diablo II’s Barbarian which can be leveled up to either become an area of effect charge or a really powerful direct hit “Heavy Charge.” As for weapons, ME2′s leveling system allows you to unlock ammo types such as incendiary and cryo clips which have different effects on enemies. Picking up ammo is automatic.

ME2 introduces new puzzle challenges for unlocking doors and hacking datapads. Unlocking a door requires playing a short game of “Pairs” where you need to match a series similar looking symbols that open when you highlight them and close when your mouse leaves the nodes. Once you’ve selected the first node though, the auto-highlights for choosing a the matching pair disappears. Hacking a computer is similar to matching an encrypted photo with with a series of other photo streams that continuously flood the screen.

Just like its predecessor, character abilities work as one button “omnibus” executions. Unity (healing) heals the entire party while Pull applies to the crosshair’s general direction. The Biotic Charge works the same way, depending on what level the charge is, Shepard automatically charges towards the general direction of a target within crosshair sight.

As of this review, I’ve clocked in roughly 2 hour of gameplay, most of which was spent in “gamer bliss” admiring the scenic instances and reading the Codex. I had to stop only to write down my first impressions.

Mass Effect 2 is definitely a work of art — from its all star vocal cast, well played storyline, and cliffhanger WTF moments in just the first 2 hours of gameplay.

In a bid to make its games more readily accessible, NCSoft has joined a growing number of publishers who are now using Valve’s Steam digital distribution platform. NCSoft said that it will make available a number of NCsoft games and expansions. Specifically, the following games and expansions will be added: Linage, Lineage 2: The Chaotic Throne, Guild Wars Game of The Year Edition, City of Heroes Architect Edition, Guild Wars Nightfall, Guild Wars Faction, and Guild Wars Trilogy. NCSoft also announced that its soon to be released MMOG Aion: The Tower of Eternity will also be added to the service when it is released in North America and Europe later this year.

As a way to entice users to buy from Steam, Valve and NCSoft are offering various deals, like a 50 percent discount on Lineage 2 and a 10 percent discount on Guild Wars: Game of The Year Edition.

I have to say that I’m surprised about Steam’s performance. When it was first released, it gained a lot of negative feedback and not a few critics even predicted that it won’t last. Now, it seems like Steam is becoming an increasingly popular platform for game distribution.