Seeing as almost all of us have been playing Alien Swarm over the last week, I can see a time in the near future when the default campaign no longer holds any interest or challenge for us.

Downloading new levels is easy, as is installing them.

To start with, I have downloaded a bunch of new custom level - there aren't too many, as the game is still in its infancy. If you have and use P2P software, a torrent containing all the levels we will be trialling can be found here:

http://swarmarmory.com/maps?action=view&id=280-Mid-August+Map+Pack

If you are not au fait with torrents, the individual levels can be downloaded from the Swarm Armoury site (http://swarmarmory.com/), and a list is below:

Artic Infiltration - by Specur
http://swarmarmory.com/maps?action=view&id=259

Call to Cathalu - by xentrix74
http://swarmarmory.com/maps?action=view&id=278

Cold Catwalks - by hemuuuli
http://swarmarmory.com/maps?action=view&id=187

Drone Lab - by XionOfChaos
http://swarmarmory.com/maps?action=view&id=270

Exploring Osiris: Breaching The Door - by Blackley1
http://swarmarmory.com/maps?action=view&id=239

Forbidden Space - by Dragonfly
http://swarmarmory.com/maps?action=view&id=177

Frosty (Survival) - by Lycosa
http://swarmarmory.com/maps?action=view&id=238

Ground Zero - by BioHazard
http://swarmarmory.com/maps?action=view&id=268

Juno Outpost (Survival) - by Muffin
http://swarmarmory.com/maps?action=view&id=260

Midnight Harvest - by jarhchief
http://swarmarmory.com/maps?action=view&id=265

Paranoia: Episode 1 - by Eclipse
http://swarmarmory.com/maps?action=view&id=212

Tears for Tarnor - by Ezekel
http://swarmarmory.com/maps?action=view&id=273

Woodland Holdout (Survival) - by Darkslime
http://swarmarmory.com/maps?action=view&id=202

Yanaurus Mine - by Ayanamifan
http://swarmarmory.com/maps?action=view&id=258

Once they are installed (they do so automatically when you run the .vpk file), they will be available in your level selection screen, and will also appear when you search for a new Public game.

Happy Downloading!

Chop x

To keep things short, I realised that I had STEAM friends with whom I was playing all kinds of different games with all kinds of different peeople. Everyone has their favourites, and if I invited all my STEAM friends to one group, people can get together and play with people they would not normally meet.

The deciding factor is that the group is invite only, so anyone else in the group is a pleasant, fun person and would be great to blast a few rounds of your favourite shooter with.

The group will in all likelihood be kept small, but any helpful suggestions are welcome!

Games our STEAM group are known to play are:

World of Warcraft (on Kilrogg realm)
Left 4 Dead 1 and 2
Team Fortress 2
Counter Strike: Source
Alien Swarm
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
Supreme Commander 2
Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne
Starcraft 2
Borderlands
Diablo 2
Dawn of War 2

Drop me a line if any more need to go on the list.