Hi Everybody, every year around early Summer I run a donation drive. I don’t like asking for donations, but it’s necessary.

In the past, I have used some buttons and widgets to collect the money, but this year I couldn’t find any I liked (Chip-in has closed).

I will therefore be giving you my PayPal email address and asking you to make donations that way. I know for people without PayPal accounts, that’s not convenient but I can’t see another way to do – if you know a good way, please let me know.

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The community hub for each game on Steam is an absolutely brilliant concept. It gives users a single place to find and share stuff.

I have to admit that until Black Mesa was released, I never really used a hub before. Yes, I’d seen it for Ep2 etc, but I had no interest in using it. My interests don’t really include 99.99% of the content shared on the hub, that was until Black Mesa came along.

With the release of single player maps via the workshop, I have had to start to use it.

Which brings us onto the Workshop.

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Today in this month’s General Chat post, Jim, he of Critical Jim fame, said “Does anyone else feel that the one map per day initiative is cluttering this site with awful maps?” and it’s certainly a valid question.

I understand that some regular users, Jason Gimba included, don’t like it and I will stop if that’s the general consensus.

I would like to explain why I’m doing and then I’ll open it up to debate. I won’t make a poll though because the numbers involved are less important that your opinions.

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Today saw the posting of the first single player map for Black Mesa retail game.

I’m posting this short article to pre-answer some expected questions.

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I am very pleased to announce that the site has a new feature. From today, it is possible to add mini-recommendation images to each entry in the Mapping Challenge releases.

The images can ONLY be used for the mapping challenges, and the section that allows you to simply click an image and add it is ONLY available if the release is a Mapping Challenge.

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Today, those clever chaps over on ModDB have launched what they call Mod Appreciation Week and I feel the gaming community should support it.

Currently can’t easily give donations to modders but we can show them how much we appreciate their work.

All the mods on their site will have a Lovebar. A place where you can tweet, Facebook or Reddit your appreciation.

It’s a bit more complicated than that, but it’s still easy to do, so instead of repeating all the details, just visit the page above you’ll understand.

Oh, I forgot to mention that by participating in the event, you’ll get a chance to win one of hundreds of Steam keys for some amazing games.

You don’t need to be a Headcrab to jump at that!

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I am looking to start the next mapping challenge this Wednesday or Thursday but would like modder feedback before I make a final decision.

As you can see from the title, I am seriously considering running a TransmissionsVille mapping challenge.

Now, I am sure that many players would like to play this but I really need to hear only from modders.

The theme would be to create a map that uses the new Concussion Gun and textures in interesting ways.

There would be no obligation to use the textures, although clever inclusion with standard EP2 textures might be fun.

However, there are some technical issues that need to be addressed before the challenge is agreed.

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I want to remind registered members that in order to sue a recommendation image your review must be of proper length.

If the map lasted 15 minutes and you write a short paragraph and use a recommendation image, that’s fine.

However, if the mod last over two hours and you write a short paragraph and add a recommendation image, that image is removed.

I don’t expect everybody to write detailed, in-depth and insightful reviews but if the best you can say after playing something for a few hours is “great mod, loved it”, that’s not enough to warrant a recommendation image.

The image is supposed to be a visual representation of a proper review, not a replacement for it.

If all this seems a little harsh, it’s because I want to avoid situations like ModDB where people can come along and rate something a 10 or 1 with no justification. That makes my faith in their system zero.

I want people to really trust the system here. Yes, you might disagree with my “soft (I say passionate) reviews, but at least I try to justify that recommendation.

I have emailed a few people over the years, but haven’t received a reply.

If you have posted short reviews recently with recommendation images, you should check to see if I have removed it, because I probably have.

If anybody has a problem with that, it’s pistols at dawn!

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Welcome to the second part of The Science Behind Half-Life. In the first part, I looked at the game names and this article looks at some of the weapons.

I’d like to mention that I’m not going to cover all the weapons used in the game, just the ones with science connected to them.

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