Coincident with the second anniversary of Portal 2's release (at least in this timezone!), this blog is finally operational, after ten days in limbo! Around this time, I am starting an unofficial attempt to port Xash3D to GNU/Linux - I find it pretty strange that the actual GoldSrc engine has been ported, but the FLOSS alternative hasn't. I have also been informed that an unofficial walkthrough of our own Aperture Ireland mod will soon make its way onto YouTube, so I'm looking forward to that.

At the moment, I'm also waiting rather impatiently for Valve to roll out SteamPipe across its single-player Source titles. Since I finally realised that my old content-porting model for Aperture Ireland was very unpleasant, the current version is in the awkward stopgap position of having Source Filmmaker as a requirement. Once SteamPipe is supported by both Portals, I can move to a much more efficient model that doesn't require you to download or duplicate anything on your hard-drive. SteamPipe will also mean GNU/Linux ports. That's good for me, as I dislike playing on Windows and can't seem to make Portal 2 work under Wine!

P.S. Given the day that's in it, I originally thought of making a Portal 2 reference in the title of this post, to Rick the Adventure Sphere's line, "Happy Explosion Day, gorgeous!", but it hardly seems appropriate, given the tragic occurrences of the preceding week.