Shameful copy & paste from Valve's e-mailed press release follows:



Valve and 2K Games today announced an agreement to power all PC versions of the highly anticipated Mafia® II with a host of Steamworks features. All Mafia II players will enjoy the benefits of the Steamworks features included in all PC versions, such as auto-updating, Steam Achievements, statistics, downloadable content, and more.

Customers who pre-order the standard or Digital Deluxe Edition of Mafia II through select digital retailers, including Steam, will be given a free digital copy of the award-winning original Mafia® game that they can access and play now.

"Using Steamworks to power Mafia II has been a great benefit for 2K Games and our development team," said Christoph Hartmann, president of 2K. "It's meant that we can spend more time creating content and a great experience for our customers because we know that Steam and Steamworks are enabling these important features within the game."

"Mafia II is joining Sid Meier's Civilization® V as the next title to use Steamworks from 2K Games," said Gabe Newell, President of Valve. "Our focus for Steam is on building services that create value for our customers and for creators, and Mafia II, with its all-new game engine and inclusion of Steamworks, is a great example of that."

Mafia II is rated M for Mature by the ESRB and will be available in North America on August 24, 2010 and internationally beginning August 27, 2010. For more information visit Steam Games.

And related news is that you'll need a super next gen NASA PC to run the game on uber PhysX/APEX settings:

MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP (SP2 or later) / Windows Vista / Windows 7
Processor: Pentium D 3Ghz or AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ (Dual core) or higher
RAM: 1.5 GB
Video Card: nVidia GeForce 8600 / ATI HD2600 Pro or better
Hard Disc Space: 8 GB
Sound Card: 100% DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card
Peripherals: Keyboard and mouse or Windows compatible gamepad

RECOMMENDED SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP (SP2 or later) / Windows Vista / Windows 7
Processor: 2.4 GHz Quad Core processor
RAM: 2 GB
Video Card: nVidia GeForce 9800 GTX / ATI Radeon HD 3870 or better
Hard Disc: 10 GB
Sound Card: 100% DirectX 9.0c compliant card
Peripherals: Keyboard and mouse or Windows compatible gamepad

PHSYX & APEX ENHANCEMENTS SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP (SP2 or later) / Windows Vista / Windows 7 Minimum Processor: 2.4 GHz Quad Core processor
Recommended Processor: 2.66 GHz Core i7-920 RAM: 2 GB
Video Cards and resolution: APEX medium settings

Minimum: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 (or better) for Graphics and a dedicated NVIDIA 9800GTX (or better) for PhysX
Recommended: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470 (or better)
Video Cards and resolution: APEX High settings

Minimum: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470 (or better) and a dedicated NVIDIA 9800GTX (or better) for PhysX
Recommended: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 for Graphics and a dedicated NVIDIA GTX 285 (or better) for PhysX NVIDIA GPU driver: 197.13 or later.
NVIDIA PhysX driver: 10.04.02_9.10.0522. Included and automatically installed with the game.

Great news for Duke Nukem Forever peeps, seems that 3DR and T2 have settled their differences. Namely by filing to dismiss their litigation over Duke Nukem Forever.



"The above action, including any and all claims that were or could have been asserted by the parties, is dismissed with prejudice in accordance with the terms of the Settlement Agreement executed by the parties on May 14, 2010,"

Great news indeed. Let's hope both parties can get back on the horse, finish Duke and get it into our grubby paws! And you never know, perhaps a show at this year's E3 is on the cards?

Source: Shacknews

With rumours, fake images and wild speculation about anything Valve at E3 are running rampant at the moment, VG247 has received a tip that Valve's E3 2010 'surprise' will be the unveiling of Source Engine 2.



The source, who wished to remain anonymous, said it’s possible Valve will also be showing Half-Life 3 running on the new tech. Seems unlikely to me, but you never know with Valve.

Full story here

EDIT: Seems it's all a load of bull dish. Valve's 'surprise' will in fact be "PORTAL 2 THEMED FOR GOD'S SAKE"

Epic's/PCF's serously OTT title, Bulletstorm gets the trailer treatment.



Coming to PC, PS3 and X360 in 2011.

Hit the big red button. Hurry though, as the offer expires on 24th May.



Portal used to cost money. Until May 24th, it's free. End of story. Well, technically speaking, there are some strings attached. Fortunately, they're entirely decorative. We just like the way they look, swaying in the gentle breeze created by a million people simultanously fainting from shock at the news that Portal is free. Now you have no reason not to try Portal.

"I have a reason," some of you are probably typing into an angry email. "You see, sir, I own a Mac."

Well guess what: For the first time ever, Portal is also available for the Mac.

"Capital news! But the excellent puzzle adventure Portal won over 40 Game of the Year awards; Surely it must cost at least five or six hundred dollars."

You'd think that, especially since it actually won over 70 Game of the Year Awards. But, like we keep saying, Portal is free. Free on the Mac. Free on the PC. But only until May 24th. So you only have a few days to decide if your free copy of Portal is worth the price we're currently charging.

Valve expand their digital reach to Apple's shiny see through box of tricks. Here's the skinny:



Each Wednesday a new group of games highlighting an area of Steam functionality will be released. This week's titles, which show off Steam Play, include:

And Yet It Moves
Atlantis Sky Patrol
Bejeweled 2 Deluxe
Bob Came in Pieces
Bookworm Deluxe
Braid
Brainpipe
Chocolatier: Decadence by Design
Chuzzle Deluxe
City of Heroes: Architect Edition
Civilization IV: The Complete Edition
Cooking Dash
Diaper Dash
The Dig
Diner Dash: Hometown Hero
DinerTown Detective Agency
DinerTown Tycoon
Dream Chronicles: The Chosen Child
Escape Rosecliff Island
Fairway Solitaire
Fitness Dash
Football Manager 10
Galcon Fusion
Gemini Lost
Guns of Icarus
Hotel Dash Suite Success
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
KrissX
Loom
Luxor
Luxor 3
Luxor: Mahjong
Machinarium
Mahjong Roadshow
Max and the Magic Marker
My Tribe
The Nightshift Code
Nightshift Legacy: The Jaguar's Eye
Parking Dash
Peggle Deluxe
Peggle Nights
Portal
Professor Fizzwizzle and the Molten Mystery
Quantz
Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse
Tales of Monkey Island Season 1
Toki Tori
Torchlight
Trijinx: A Kristine Kross Mystery
Unwell Mel
Valarie Porter and the Scarlett Scandal
Wandering Willows
Wedding Dash 2: Rings Around the World
World of Goo
Zenerchi
Zuma Deluxe

Gamers who download Steam between now and May 24th will also receive a free copy of Valve's game of the year award-winning Portal.

"The Mac is a great platform for developers," said Gabe Newell, president of Valve. "And it's also great that we now have the ability to connect with Mac gamers via Steam. This is the beginning of a groundswell of games coming out for and fully utilizing the openness and power of the Mac."

Head over to the Steam Website for more info.

Valve send news of a limited Beta for their old school Source powered shooter, Counter-Strike.



Features new to the beta

■144 achievements added
■New lifetime player stats and summary screens
■New match player stats and summary screens
■New end of round display with MVP and interesting fact about a player
■Updated scoreboard with new icons, visual style, MVP stars, and avatar pictures
■New cinematic death camera
■New domination and revenge system
■Added avatar icons to voice chat, scoreboard, and end of round display
■Incorporated many source engine updates

Only available to those own already own CSS (I doubt there are many PC Gamers that don't).

Update via steam should prompt you, if not, head Here

Sticking to the Alan Wake Theme, GameTrailers have favourably reviewed Remedy's Survival Horror shadowy shooter.

Beautiful and stunning.



Coming this May to Xbox 360.

Steam are currently having a few weekend deals, the one that stands out for me is the Codemasters Racing Pack. This is a bundle of racing games (Dirt1, 2, Toca 3, Fuel and Grid). You can buy the whole bundle at a 75% discount, which adds up to a ridiculously low price of £12.50 for the whole lot.

(Click to enlarge)



Both Dirt games and Grid are worth the price alone!

Check out this loony deal at the Steam Store