10 Year Anniversary

Who would have known that I would have woken up this morning checked /., http://www.slashdot.org/ (News for Nerds for those who don't know), and loe doth I find that it is the 10 year anniversary of the release of Half-Life. Link to that all the great mods and sequels that have spawned just from this one revolutionary game and it would naturally lead one to assume that this is one of the great moments in human history. Well that might be taking it a big far, though its pretty darn close.



For those who don't know Half-Life is the story of the physicist Gordon Freeman in a typical day at the Black Mesa Research Facility, as the day turns from typical to one of alien invasion. The story is unveiled entire through in-game interaction and dialog with the characters, not through in-game cinematics or cutscenes, which was revolutionary at the time. A tightly scripted story about alien invasions, a government coverup, and one lone physicist just trying to make his way out alive won the game of the year for over 50 publications at the end of 1998.



Beyond that Valve released extensive modding tools with the original release of the game. The is the other source of Half-Life's longevity and critical acclaim. It allowed virtually anyone with little to no programming experience to make their own mods. Which spawned the mods Counter-Strike, Day of Defeat, Team Fortress Classic, and many others among them. Particularly Counter-Strike generated its own momentum and spawned innumerable mods of its own.



In celebration of the annivesary today Valve is offering the original Half-Life for 98 cents, for its release back in 1998. A timeline history of Valve, its development, and its games is offered here. Lastly here is another quick overview of the first ground breaking mods that were introduced via the Half-Life toolset.



And with this grand anniversary I bit a happy gaming to all of you out there.

News on the Library Front

Librarians are always on the cutting edge. Whatever the cutting edge is we're there. New technology and ways of applying it to help students, we're there. Innovative new approaches, we're. The stories below are just a little showcase of what dedicated Information Professionals are doing.

Biblio Burro
The cutting edge here is in the green and renewable transportation employed by this columbian librarian to get books to rural villages with little to no main roads.

New Reference Technology
The Librarians at this public library are employing the latest in renewable, self regenerating reference sources.

Democratization of Literature
And finally in this last story of literature and dark times, a new literary form has worked its way from the masses up into the library.