Valve celebrates Half Life 2’s anniversary

Half life 2 turned 20 last week, and Valve made some big announcements to celebrate the anniversary. Also, does Steam have a hate problem? All this plus Microsoft’s new ad campaign and all the latest gaming news. Let’s go!

Half-Life 2 turns 20

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Half-Life 2, Valve published a two hour documentary on the classic game. A number of big announcements and reveals came from the documentary, and also from Valve itself, including that Half-Life 2 is currently free on Steam until Nov. 18 at 10 a.m. PT. Some additional announcements:

• In the interview, Valve founder Gabe Newell says the reason Half-Life 2: Episode 3 never happened was because “I couldn't figure out why doing Episode 3 was pushing anything forward.”
• An update to Half-Life 2 adds content and fixes issues with the game. From the 20th anniversary site, “Every map in Half-Life 2 has been looked over by Valve level designers to fix longstanding bugs, restore content and features lost to time, and improve the quality of a few things like lightmap resolution and fog.”
• Valve is re-releasing the Half-Life 2 art book “Raising the Bar,” after it was out of print for 20 years. 
• Valve released lost footage of Half-Life 2's earliest public demo from 2000.

You can read more about the updates and other announcements on Valve’s official Half-Life 2 20th anniversary page. Also, Ars Technica takes a deep dive into the impact Half-Life 2 had on PC gaming.

Steam’s hatred problem

In a new report published last week, The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) is accusing Steam of “normalizing hate and extremism in the gaming community.”

After analyzing data from Steam, the ADL found “millions of examples of extremist and hateful content, including explicit hate symbols.” According to the report, over 1.5 million users and nearly 74,000 groups “used at least one potentially extremist or hateful symbol, copypasta or keyword.” Pepe the Frog and swastikas were the most common extremist symbols found on Steam. From the report:

The clear gaps in Steam’s moderation of this content inflict harm by exposing untold users to hate and harassment, enabling potential radicalization and normalizing hate and extremism in the gaming community. Understanding the extent of extremist and hateful content on the platform is key to fighting the proliferation of hate online.

Since the report was published, U.S. Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) sent a letter to Valve CEO Gabe Newell asking if the company intends to take measures to curtail extremist content on Steam. At the time of this posting, there was no response from Newell or Valve.

Microsoft’s memed marketing

Xbox is moving beyond the console, and their new advertising campaign wants to make sure you know. 

Microsoft's “This is an Xbox” campaign launched last week and instantly became a meme. The goal of the campaign is to let people know that Xbox games can be played on a variety of devices, thanks to Game Pass. 

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Xbox CEO Phil Spencer explained the new advertisements:

It’s an interesting topic because as we look at the brand, as we’re changing the brand, [it] means something different. It literally was a box when it first launched. It was the Direct X box. What it’s grown into now is more accessibility. Xbox isn’t just one device, Xbox is on your smart TV, Xbox is on your PC, Xbox is on your phone, and we’re in the middle of that transition.

GamesIdustry.biz has a great breakdown of Xbox’s new business plan. More news from Microsoft this week:

• Spencer says despite buying Activision last year, Microsoft “definitely wants to be in the market” for more video game acquisitions. 
• Spencer also says Xbox is building a handheld console, but it’s “years away.”
• Xbox released a 30-minute documentary for their upcoming game South of Midnight.

Side Quests (more stories worth reading)

🌨️ Blizzard announced and released a remastered version of Warcraft I & II.

🚢 Trump’s promised tariffs on China could damage board game and TTRPG publishers, cost consumers more and put game designers out of work.

🗃️ Epic is letting its first two Unreal games live on via the Internet Archive. Meanwhile, GOG announced their new preservation program that keeps classic games playable “forever.”

🎮 Rockstar has given the Grand Theft Auto Trilogy a big graphical update. However, the update also removed the developer credits from the games. 

🥊 Street Fighter 6 cosmetics are coming to Destiny 2 - Revenant Act II.

⚪ Valve announced a limited edition white OLED Steam Deck.

🏆 The Game Awards confirmed that DLC, remakes and remasters are eligible for their Game of the Year award.

⚖️ Investors are suing Hasbro for allegedly misrepresenting and concealing its excessive inventory buildup.

🕹️ A limited-time Overwatch 2 mode brings back the original heroes, abilities and maps.

🏅 The Summit Award, which recognizes historical board games, revealed their 2024 finalists. 

🎶 An interesting read on the impact of jungle music in '90s video game development.

🥽 Sony will soon stop supplying a PlayStation 5 adaptor that allows the original PlayStation VR headset to work on the console.

🤦🏽‍♂️ Nintendo sued a player who kept streaming pirated Switch games and taunted “I can do this all day.”

⛔ The United Kingdom indie-focused video game expo WASD has been canceled and will not return. 

🏒 EA Sports NHL 25 announced a multi-year deal with the Professional Women's Hockey League.

👏🏿 Magic: The Gathering fans raised $2.1 million for cancer research to honor late Sheldon Menery, creator of the massively popular Commander format.

7️⃣ Part 3 of the Final Fantasy VII remake enters full production, as the plot “is complete.” 

🏆 Remedy creative director Sam Lake will receive the Andrew Yoon Legend Award, which is presented to those who have made a significant mark on the game industry.

New Releases this week:

Check out our article on 12 New Games to Play in November.

11/19: Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 (Xbox and PC)
11/19: Towers of Aghasba (PlayStation and PC)
11/20: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl (Xbox and PC)
11/21: On Your Tail (Switch and PC)

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