ozsource Australia

This short clip is unbelievably impressive.  If you thought a movie based off the Half Life universe was a bad idea you need to watch this video.  It is made by a talented team called The Purchase brothers on a $500 budget and it just reaks of awesomeness.

173 lives confirmed Dead and 750 homes destroyed in Victoria’s worst ever bushfire disaster.  Surpassing The Ash Wednesday fires in devastation the Death Toll is likely to be well over 200.

173 Lives lost.
Over 1000 homes destroyed.
Healsville on high Alert
Australian Red Cross Appeal
DSE Website:

Please note – due to unprecedented demand on this website, DSE is requesting [...]

Gaming
Unreal Tournament 3 deathmatch with 4-player Wiimote support. On a serious note, Steamworks support has also been added, those who own a retail copy may now register it with Steam, free of charge.
Why not try your hand at building your very own Portal gun replica with Harrison Krix
Steam
TF2 has a new critical hits system.
Steam now [...]

Public Safety Warning: Do attempt this!

Netspace have released the final survey results I mentioned in our Clean Fead article with almost 10,000 people responding.  Customers were asked about the Federal Government’s intentions regarding Mandatory Internet Filtering:

As expected, the results are overwhelmingly against such filtering.  Check out the full results of the survey: Netspace Australian Filtering Results.

Gaming
Pointless Banter has a look at the 10 ugliest consoles of all time.
Mario Kart source gets a nice media update.
Stuff
Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 295 gets benchmarked, and with it reclaims the overall 3D performance crown from a resurgent AMD.
Industry
AMD to terminate 1,100 jobs and initiate temporary pay cuts.
Judge James P. Jones gave his opinion on United [...]

With the introduction of the Nintendo Wii, the console gaming market has drastically changed and these Aussie sales figures now reflect the broader gaming  market.   Big Beach Sports being number 10 is surprising considering it is what gamers like to call “shovelware” and Wii Play is just an extra wiimote package.
1. [...]

Valve’s Jason Holtman addressed the business models behind the company’s popular Steam service at the Game Business Law summit at SMU’s law school today.  He talks about steam not just being a distribution channel but an actual gaming platform, something I iterate every now and again:
“We’re not just a way of selling game,” reiterates Holtman. [...]

Another week, another major publisher embraces the Steam platform.  Some of Sony’s biggest online games are now available to purchase and play.
Steam seems like the logical environment in which to launch a MMORPG so maybe we will see the likes of World of Warcraft soon?

Sources: Steam News , Sony’s Steam page
Jan. 16, 2009 — Valve [...]