Our old friends over at Voodoo Extreme are running their annual Readers’ Choice awards – Killing Floor is up for awards in the categories for “Best PC Game Expansion” and for “Best PC Shooter”. For good measure, Red Orchestra: Heroes of Stalingrad is up for “Most Anticipated Game for 2010″. So if you like us, like Killing Floor, like all our FREE expansions for Killing Floor and/or like the look of Heroes of Stalingrad – GO VOTE FOR US! Click on the Voodoo Extreme logo above to jump to the voting.

Have a good holiday!

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Tripwire Interactive is pleased to announce the massive Snowstorm game event featuring free content updates and deals for all Tripwire Interactive games. The quick summary is:

• 4 stunning new maps for Killing Floor, from the winners of the Grindhouse Custom Map Making Competition.
• Defense Alliance 2 – a free total conversion mod for Killing Floor, featuring team-based futuristic combat. And more zombies, too.
• A huge update for the Mare Nostrum mod for Red Orchestra
• A price reduction on Red Orchestra to $9.99, with a weekend sale at $4.99 (a further 50% off) from Friday through Monday 14^th December
• AND 2 Guest Passes for all owners of Killing Floor

 Firstly, this Killing Floor update features four of the top maps from the Killing Floor Grindhouse Custom Map Making Competition:

•  KF-Icebreaker – Winner of the $10,000 grand prize in the mapping competition and one of the most ambitious, creative, and visually stunning Killing Floor maps ever made,
• KF-Departed – Winner of second place in the final wave of the mapping competition, Departed is a visually impressive level set in an industrial city area outside of London..
• KF-Crash – Winner of third place in the final wave of the mapping competition, Crash is an impressive remake of a classic custom map for the original Killing Floor mod.
• KF-FilthsCross – Winner of second place in Wave 1 of the mapping competition, Filth’s Cross is both incredibly fun and intense.

 Defense Alliance 2 is a total conversion mod for Killing Floor featuring team based futuristic FPS game play. DA2 blends fast paced action with class based tactics to create an experience that is instantly enjoyable while still offering very deep gameplay. Two teams face off in attack/defend scenarios where the attackers must complete their objectives before time runs out. The mod features six different classes: Medic, Mechanic, Rocketeer, Machine Gunner, Sniper and the Rifleman, each with their own special abilities. Players can set up their own turrets such as cannons, miniguns, and rocket turrets, place ammo boxes, heal other players, use EMP grenades and rocket launchers against turrets, and more.

 In addition to the regular DA2 gameplay mode, Defense Alliance 2 for Killing Floor now features a new gameplay mod called  Co-op Specimen Survival. A small group of players are set against waves of specimens. Players can use turrets and mines to build up their defense then have a limited amount of respawns with which to defeat the waves of incoming specimens. You can find the video and download details on the Steam page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/901098/.

 Mare Nostrum brings the British Commonwealth to Red Orchestra, focusing on the deserts and towns of North Africa and the surrounding Mediterranean. A trailer is available on the Steam web page (http://store.steampowered.com/app/1230/), along with screen shots and more information. Now you can play as British, Polish, Australian and Italian troops, with a huge range of additional features:

• 26 all-new Steam achievements.
• 14 new infantry weapons, such as the ever-distinctive Thompson submachine gun, Bren machine gun, Beretta 1934 pistol, and the SMLE rifle.
• Full Italian and Polish localizations.
• Over 20 new crewable vehicles including the Italian Carro Armato M13/40 and Semovente 75/18, countered with multiple Valentine tank variants, plus the Stuart I, Matilda II and Vickers Mk VIB.
• 12 new maps, including:
  • Crete — Fallschirmjäger units dropping into the midst of Australian defenders in this classic battle.
  • Ancona Approach — The Fallschirmjäger are back in action, this time defending against the Polish advance in eastern Italy.
  • Gazala Line — Desert tank warfare does not get bigger than this. Start your engines and prepare for total war.
  • Road To Tunis — The war in North Africa is almost over, but the British must first push the Axis tanks from one last mountain valley to reach Tunis.
  • Tobruk Central — The Australian defenders have been under siege for longer than they can remember, how much longer will they be able to hold out?
  • Bardia — The Italian garrison is surrounded, but they will not give us this cliff top town and its valuable port without a struggle.

 So whether it is the North African campaign, roaming the deserts in the armoured vehicle of your choice or the bitter fighting in Crete and mainland Italy, new and old players alike will get a chance to see why RO remains a classic. Now with the opportunity to re-play those battles RO-style, courtesy of Mare Nostrum! For more information on the mod (and to see the trailer) head to the Steam page at http://store.steampowered.com/app/1230/.

And, of course, some screenshots to go with it:

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With another 50 entries in Wave 2 of the Killing Floor “Grindhouse” Mapping Contest, the quality has truly astounded us this time. The judging came down to the wire, with the top two maps being separated by the smallest possible amount. After many re-counts, KF-Icebreaker, created by Damien Laurent and Yoann Guilloud takes the grand prize of $10,000, just edging out KF-Departed, created by Jeroen van Wamelen and Jessy De Lannoit. Both are superb maps and the judges have enjoyed playing them!

Our congratulations go out to all the entrants in the contest. Once again, the Killing Floor community has put in a huge effort, creating over 100 maps during the course of the competition. The top 3 maps from Wave 2, along with their prizes, are:

• First Place – KF-Icebreaker by Damien Laurent and Yoann Guilloud wins the $10,000 grand prize. One of the most ambitious, creative, and visually stunning Killing Floor maps entered in the contest, Icebreaker is set on a large icebreaking ship that is pitching and rolling in the middle of a fierce storm.
• Second Place – KF-Departed by Jeroen van Wamelen and Jessy De Lannoit, wins an Nvidia 3D Vision bundle (22″ 120Hz Samsung LCD + 3D Vision glasses), plus a G19 keyboard, a G13 advanced gameboard and an MX518 optical gaming mouse, all from Logitech. Departed is a visually impressive level set in an industrial city area outside of London. Featuring hectic gameplay this map plays as good as it looks.
• Third Place – KF-Crash by Michael Hewish and Corey Sine wins a G19 keyboard, a G13 advanced gameboard and an MX518 optical gaming mouse, all from Logitech. Crash is an impressive remake of a classic custom map for the original Killing Floor mod. The map is set in an urban storage facility where your team’s helicopter has crashed.

Here is the full list of runners-up, along with their prizes:

• KF-Suburbia by Paul Peccia and Carson Smith – Logitech G15 keyboard
• KF-RaccoonInternationalAirportSP by James Lovegrove and Allan Scott – Logitech G15 keyboard
• KF-Chthon by Florian Liederbach – Logitech G13 keyboard
• KF-TheDarkestRoads by Justyn Toohill – Logitech MX518 optical gaming mouse

The maps can all be downloaded from ModDB’s Grindhouse webpages here: http://www.moddb.com/games/killing-floor/grindhouse. Finally we’d like to thank contest sponsors Nvidia and Logitech for putting up some great prizes for the entrants.

And some screenshots for you:

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We are happy to announce that Killing Floor is now available in stores in Australia. The first chain is JB Hi-Fi, across the country. Our thanks to N3V Games, the local distributor in Australia, for this one. MSRP for the retail version is $29.95 (Aussie dollars) and the game is rated MA 15+, for the same version available on Steam or in stores across Europe and North America.

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