Ambitious modders brought the original Half-Life conversion Counter-Strike to life, and it became the most played online multiplayer game of all time.
Now with tools for Half-Life 2’s Source Engine in hand, a new generation of modders is trying to recreate Mario Kart, Nintendo’s highly successful racer.

The Media Gallery has some highly polished models. And the Videos show off a little of Source’s physics engine applied to a kart.
Its a long way to go, and will hopefully end up better than GoldenEye: Source.

First things first, Halo 3: Behind the Scenes is up. Its a 7 minute video documenting the process of creating the Halo 3 announcement trailer for E3, as well showing off the trailer in real time from multiple angles. The also confirm speculation that it is a Forerunner structure underneath the New Mombassa, and even acknowledge the frustrations of Halo 2 players when they reached the ending.IGN tries to go Beyond the Trailer buts ends up with little more than speculation and some editors on the verge of geeking out.
What is impressive: Halo 2 has reached Half a Billion Games Played on Xbox Live. Thats roughly 600 games a minute since the release in November 2004. Halo 2 on Vista will not however, use the Live Anywhere service or make matches with Xbox players. Surprised? Don’t be, that was a long shot.
Finally, theres a Halo Graphic Novel Sneak Peek with a few more pieces of artwork. The full book is slated for release July 12.

TNI has revealed the next 4 figures in the DC Superheroes line from Mattel.
After a huge leap in quality for the Superman wave, they’re going back to Batman. This time its Mr Freeze, Robin, Batman (modified wave 1 sculpt) and Azreal.
Here’s wave 1 and 2 if you missed them.

In this third installment of Ubisoft’s “Splinter Cell” spy-thriller franchise, you use unique gadgets and stealth to foil yet another terrorist plot as the series’ grizzled protagonist Sam Fisher. The graphics have leapt miles over Pandora tomorrow, making this one of the best looking games for current generation systems. Environments are more open, and there is less of a penalty for alarms. Environments include Asia, a lighthouse in South America, and a bank in Portugal. The multiplayer has recieved a facelift as well, offering a cool alternative to the Halos and Perfect Darks of online gaming. The co-op mode can almost stand on its own as a seperate game. Since the Splinter Cell series first arrived in 2003, many games have tried to copy its blend of political intrigue and stealth action, but none have come close. The only games that compare to Splinter Cell are Metal Gear and Thief, and those games are different enough as it is. If you don’t have Chaos Theory, grab it now while it’s cheap (The Xbox version is only $13 used at Gamestop), because Splinter Cell: Double Agent will be out very soon.

Cars.com has an nice interview with NPR’s famous Car Talk hosts Click & Clack on their roles in ‘Cars’ from Disney/Pixar.
Cars opens wide June 9, 2006.
Official site

Major Nelson has announced the Xbox 360 Dashboard release schedule. This comes right on the heels of his fright filled podcast, dreading not having any news for listeners.
Major Nelson is Xbox Live’s Larry Hryb, who frequently speaks of internal workings at Microsoft and about gaming in general. If you don’t listen to the podcasts already, its worth catching up on some of them. Tales of wandering into Sony’s VIP Booth at E3, interviews with Microsoft staffers, and playing Mario Kart against Tycho from Penny-Arcade in an airplane are common topics.

Lost in the E3 shuffle since most people were actually playing the game was the 1 minute montage of in-game footage showcasing new aspects of Metroid Prime 3.
Game Informer was patient enough to record this footage and bring it to us now.
Included in the video are lots of new characters (some looking like rival hunters), the gunship air strike, and a new zip-line Samus (pictured).
Theres also 3 other gameplay movies if you missed the demo the first time around.
via 4CR

Action-Figure.com is reporting that the Onslaught Series of Marvel Legends figures (Wave 13) has hit store shelves and sightings have been reported. One of their readers has also submitted the case breakdown for the figures.

• Abomination x3
• Loki x3
• Deathstrike x3
• Blackheart x2
• Green Goblin x2
• Pyro x1

It appears as though Pyro will be foolishly shortpacked, while Abomination, Loki, and Deathstrike will become shelf-warmers.

On a side note, I noticed that Onslaught is only about 8 inches tall. So don’t be shocked when you put him together and he is half the size of the Sentinel. On the bright side, with this wave we return to the 6 piece build a figure, instead of the 10 piece that is nigh impossible to find a single piece of.

Good Hunting, Collectors!