Valve updates HL2 Deathmatch with new weapons, map
With Source SDK updates allowing for deathmatch mods and custom shaders. CS: Source update due next week.
Valve has updated Half-Life 2: Deathmatch with new weapons, a new level and various other tweaks, fixed various Source Engine bugs and added some new functionality to its Source Software Developer's Kit.
Of primary interest to the average gamer will be the addition of the SLAM, Stunstick and Crowbar to the Deathmatch mode, which is famous for letting people chuck things at each other using the Gravity Gun, and also the addition of a new level - dm_steamlab - which hadn't been expected in this run of updates.
Steamlab was designed by Valve and is reportedly based on the Half-Life Deathmatch Classic map Datacore designed by Jess Cliffe. The SLAM is for remote trip mine stuff, and the Stunstick is the weapon used by the Civil Protection chaps in Half-Life 2's single-player.
The crowbar is where crows go when they realise Kia-ora is too orangey.
The Source Engine and Source SDK updates - the latter including the addition of the HL2 Deathmatch source code - will give the mod community a lot more to work with, and apparently developers can even write their own custom shaders now, which should lead to some very unique visual changes. Anyone remember pencil-shaded Quake total conversion?
Moving on, Valve reckons next week will see the release of a big Counter-Strike: Source update, including a new map called cs_compound, along with a number of other changes and bug fixes.
