Garry Newman has a lot to celebrate this holiday. It’s been two year since he offered his Half-Life 2 mod up on Valve’s Steam for just $9.99. Over 312,000 downloads later, Garry is thrilled that his passion could also make him a living. Do the math. That’s a lot of cash, no matter what his cut is. Garry sums the experience up on his blog.

“The popularity took me and Valve by surprise. As soon as it went on sale the steam servers were temporary knocked out, due to the demand. On the first day it sold 5,729 copies. Wowzer.

I kind of expected that it would sell a big number of copies for the first day, then sell very few after that. I was kind of wrong, because over the next 2 years it went on to sell 312,541 copies. Which has totally knocked my socks off.”

Garry’s Mod is not just an innovative mod its a great tool. Built on the Source Engine, this sandbox mod allows gamers to create their own levels and items for games. It can also be used place and pose ragdolls making it possible to create comics. For more details on Garry’s Mod and what you can do with it visit the Garry’s Mod website.

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• Garry's Mod Update on Steam
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• Steam: Microsoft and Yahoo's Loss, Valve's Gain

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Runescape beats out Naruto, Lindsey Lohan in Yahoo! search results originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 01 Dec 2008 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wow, looks like there might be a lawsuit in the foreseeable future against the Ultimate Fighting Championship, because apparently they have dropped fighter Jon Fitch and several others from the American Kickboxing Academy championship after they refused to sign over their likeness for a videogame. Supposedly, according to Sports Illustrated, their refusal stems from the contract stating that the rights of their likenesses would be owned for life and to be used in games based upon the UFC and currently under production with THQ.

Number one welterweight contender Jon Fitch and some of his teammates–along with a number of the UFC’s biggest names–where axed when they refused to sign a contract which granted the lifelong merchandise and ancillary rights to someone other than themselves. One of the main reasons was that the promoter’s share of the revenue share was substantially larger than anyone else who had a stake in it. Go figure–that is a promoter for you.

During this past summer, a contract discussing toys and other merchandising reached a standstill, so to get things moving on the videogame deal and prevent yet another contract standstill, UFC President Dana White approached one of the head trainers for the AKA, Bob Cook, with the contract, and according to Jon Fitch, it was nothing short of signing over their souls.

“We thought that was kind of crazy,” Fitch said. “Why would you sign anything away for your lifetime?”

Upon Fitch’s and the others refusal to sign, he said he was told “either you’re in if you sign this, or you’re getting cut.” Fitch and some of the others chose not to sign and then latter received an email from the UFC stating that their current contracts were now officially terminated.

“To have this happen is crazy,” Fitch added. “This sport is definitely not about fighting anymore. It used to be about finding out who the best guy was, what the best style was. It’s not about that anymore. It’s about the top company making the most money.”

In response to the fighters not signing their rights away, UFC President Dana White proved he was a class act when the old an interviewer for Yahoo!: “F*** them. All of them, every last f***ing one of them.” This statement was directed not only at Fitch, but also Josh Koscheck and Cain Velasquez–but not Mike Swick, because he signed the deal.

Coach Cook is in agreement with the fighters though:

“Basically, they didn’t want to sign all their rights away. [With] Fitch, he wants to be in control of what his image is on. He doesn’t want to just sign blankly away, and be endorsing a product he might not believe in. He’s got his beliefs, and some of the other guys, they want to be in charge of their own deals. They don’t want someone else brokering their deals for them, and then getting the crumbs of what’s left.”

Agreed. Most promoters are shady, scum sucking individuals anyway.

So now, if the game is made after all, and you go out and buy it, just remember who is a sell out and who is not.

(Thanks VG247)

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• Yahoo! Games (100/100): "Call of Duty: World at War is clearly one of the top games of this year, and a must have for any action gamer."
• Team Xbox (92/100): "Call of Duty: World at War was a surprisingly satisfying experience all around. Developer Treyarch really showed that they could be trusted with the keys to Dad's car, and made a game that could be compared favorably to anything Infinity Ward has done."
• OXM UK (90/100): "Maybe Call of Duty 3's harsh reception has turned out to be a good thing. Treyarch has pushed itself further than ever before and come up with a Call of Duty game that comfortably matches, and sometimes even dares to excel, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare."
• Giant Bomb (80/100): "Call of Duty: World at War is a perfectly competent game with exciting multiplayer options and a campaign that's worth playing. But in most of the ways that actually count, last year's game was better."

Metareview -- Call of Duty: World at War (360, PS3, PC) originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 14 Nov 2008 10:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Plenty of Fallout-related news popping up across the web. Let’s get started.

If you’re missing the weekly Penny Arcade Fallout comics, there’s plenty of other comics filling the void. At Spookingtons, there’s a new Fallout 3-themed comic from Jeremy “Norm” Scott (creator of the popular EGM comics “Hsu & Chan.” I’ve got it posted above, but head here to see the full-sized comic.

The creators of the Oblivion comics Philip of Oblivion, which will soon celebrate its 99th comic, have begun a similar series based off Fallout 3 — appropriately titled Philip of Fallout.

Wrapping up the comic coverage, Ctrl-Alt-Delete has a Fallout 3 comic of their own.

In other news, the guys at Planet Fallout have some new features on their site. This week they unveiled their Interactive Capital Wasteland Map, as well as new game databases. Both are extremely useful, and contributions from the community are welcome.

Reviews are still making their way online — including the LA Times, Yahoo! Games, GameTactics, Games for Windows, and the Sydney Morning Herald.

Finally, at Game Design as Cultural Practice, Metro DC Area resident Bobby Schweizer reflects on how Fallout 3 has allowed him to explore the DC Metro in a new way.