Beginning in July, Steam users can set up their own personal Steam pages and profiles, create and join groups, schedule games with friends, review who they’ve played with, see how well everyone played, chat with groups, chat via voice, and more. These new community services and features can be used with all Steam games, which include new releases and classic titles from leading publishers and independent developers.

Valve Announces Major Update for Steam

While this may seem like YASN (Yet Another Social Network), this one actually makes sense.  Steam has expanded in size recently, taking on Capcom.  And Counter Strike is still one of the most played network games.  Giving players the ability to create an identity within the Steam network that is more than just their name, is a good idea.  I imagine we’ll soon see widgets that can be used on blogs, iGoogle & Desktop aps to display game scores & rankings.

The 7th Columnist has video of 2 multiplayer maps for Halo 3 - Epitaph & Last Resort (aka Zanzibar Mark II). They look brilliant. 

He also has a full video of the Gamekings interview with the Bungie guys.

I love the soundtrack, the way it slowly builds up from a haunting choral tone and then breaks into the Halo theme, I really need to get a 360!

<p><a href="http://blog.slaven.net.au/archives/2007/06/07/halo-3-multiplayer-maps-video/"><img src="http://i.ytimg.com/vi/WljegcnKrCs/default.jpg" alt="" /></a><br /><em>There is embedded content here that you cannot see. Please <a href="http://blog.slaven.net.au/archives/2007/06/07/halo-3-multiplayer-maps-video/">open the post in a web browser</a> to see this.</em></p>

I couldn’t agree more. 

Looks like it’s “games I’ve been waiting ages for” week. Starcraft 2 has finally been announced by Blizzard at a special event in Korea.  There’s no release date yet, so we may yet be waiting a while. So until then, check out this 1UP page for more details, demo videos and a few in-game images.  The official site has a whole bunch more screenshots & details on the game units (it only has some of the Protoss at the moment).  We also know that this will be a PC-only game.  Not surprising as RTS games don’t tend to port to console all that well.

Blizzard have done quite well in the past. They’ve stuck to a fairly niche market with the War/Starcraft and Diabolo games and they seem to be more interested in expanding the games they have rather than developing competely new games.  Not common in the games production business, but it seems to work for them!

I saw a trailer for Team Fortress 2 ages ago & I thought it could be great.  These videos leave me with little doubt that it will be a heap of fun.  Make sure you watch the second one all the way through, the rocket-jump gymnastics at the end is classic.  Definite party game, good to see a FPS that isn’t taking itself too seriously too!

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Nintendo has done a deal with Telstra to give DS owners free access to Telstra Wireless hotspots all around the country.

Nintendo Australia, in conjunction with Telstra, is pleased to announce that Nintendo DS users can now enjoy Wi-Fi service to Nintendo DS at over 1,000 Telstra Wireless Hotspot destinations across Australia.  Destinations include McDonald’s Restaurants, Starbucks Cafes, airports, hotels and city hotzones throughout Melbourne and Sydney … When a user brings a Nintendo DS unit and a Wi-Fi-enabled game into a Telstra Wireless Hotspot destination, the user simply launches the game in Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection mode. No setup is required.

Very nice.  This is the sort of cross-promotional thing that will start to get wireless internet access into the mainstream. Australia really needs to do some catchup in this area, the quality of broadband internet access in this country is really lagging behind most other developed countries.

[via AusGamers]

The Halo 3 Multiplayer Beta will go live on May 16th at 12:00 AM PDT and run through June 6 ^th at 11:59 PM PDT. That means that folks who purchased specially marked copies of Crackdown, or won a spot in the Beta through the “Rule of Three” or other regional promotions, will be able to log into their Xbox Live Gold accounts, download and play the Halo 3 Multiplayer Beta and enjoy an early peek at the multiplayer aspect of the game.

…

The Beta itself consists of three maps – Valhalla, High Ground and Snowbound – graphically improved since our first MP screenshots – and all three will be playable in Matchmaking only (that is after all, what we’re Beta testing here). All three maps are suitable for a wide variety of gameplay types, and you will have the chance to try all manner of game types, familiar and new.

There are a number of new features you’ll get to test out – including a new grenade type, a completely different class of weapon and some of the enhanced online functionality we plan to bring to the game – but it should be noted, a lot of secret features are hidden in this Beta. We’re keeping a lot of our powder dry for Fall. In May, when your firing the Spiker, sniping vehicles with the Spartan Laser and sticking fools with the Brute Spike grenade, remember that it’s just a peek-a-boo fraction of what’s to come.

Bungie.net: Multiplayer Madness!

Check out the “Is Quisnam Protero Damno!” vidoc too.