I fort The Combine and The Combine won

The team from SourceForts has announced the release of version 1.9.2 of their Half-Life 2 mod:


SourceForts is a Half-Life 2: Deathmatch mod where Combine and Rebel teams face off in a Capture The Flag style game with a twist. Players can build bases and other structures with blocks and plates in the "build phase" to protect themselves and their flag (which is actually a ball), and then fight it out to capture the enemy flag in the "combat phase". Once the combat phase has ended, it's back to the build phase, where players can repair, improve, and change their structures to prepare for the next round.

More information on SourceForts can be found here.

Mapping gets sexy?

Good news for anyone who can't get enough of Alexis Sinclair's assets - the SiN Episodes Software Development Kit is now available for download in the Tools tab of your favourite content delivery system, Steam.

Among other things, the SiN Episodes SDK contains a level editor that allows players to create their own singleplayer levels and Arena Mod maps. Three source map files are also included, giving the community the ability to view these maps in the editor and see how Ritual go about their business.

To help you along with your SiN mapping, the Ritual Editing Community Wiki has also gone live, offering editing information and tutorials for SiN Episodes, Star Trek Elite Force II and Heavy Metal FAKK2. While the Wiki is primarily a reference tool, users may also find the SiN Episodes Editing forum on the site useful if they need to ask questions about making maps and other content for SiN.

More information about the release of the SiN Episodes SDK can be found here.

Mod makes the move from BF1942 to Half-Life 2

In 2005 the Who Dares Wins mod team announced that they would be making the move from Battlefield 1942 to the Half-Life 2 Source engine - a move which they believed would give the mod increased flexibility and a more powerful graphics engine. After a year of apparent inactivity, the team has come out of hiding and let the community in on their plans for the Source version of Who Dares Wins:


Who Dares Wins is based on real-life missions undertaken by Special Operations forces from around the world, including the British Special Air Service, American Delta Force, Russian Alfa, French 1er Regiment Parachutiste d'Infanterie de Marine and the Australian SASR. Missions are all historically based and range from the siege of the Iranian Embassy in London in 1980, to the battle of Qala-I-Jangi Prison in Afghanistan in 2001.

The full news article and additional media can be found on the website.

Empires mod for Half-Life 2 goes 1.07

The Empires Mod is by far one of the more impressive mods for Half-Life 2, and with the 1.07 release this week, this first-person shooter/real-time strategy hybrid continues to shape up as one very professional-looking package:


Empires is definitely worth the download, although like many good mods, it's often difficult to find anyone playing on local servers - quite a shame, given the amount of time and effort that has gone into its development. Show your support of quality mods by getting out there and giving Empires a go!

More information on the Empires mod can be found here.

Beta 1 Released

The Obsidian Conflict team has announced the Beta 1 release of their new Half-Life 2 mod:


The Obsidian Conflict is a cooperative multiplayer mod that thrusts players into the role of a former prisoner who has been taken to a Combine Research facility in the arctic - a facility where The Combine weed out humans with the potential to become great warriors in a process called "The Obsidian Trials". The Obsidian Trials consist of placing humans into a holographic chamber so realistic that they cannot tell the difference between virtual reality and the real world. Are the challenges you face real, or just an illusion?

More information on the Obsidian Conflict mod can be found here.