Valve has posted up a sneak peak of an upcoming "Portal 2 Puzzle Creator" designed to make maps more simple. As most of us here are seasoned Hammer veterans, I'm really curious to know what everyone thinks of it! There's also mention of a Steam powered map distribution system to allow players to more easily find and download maps. Here's a snippet:

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The simplified puzzle creator will let players easily carve out their creations in a straightforward but powerful way. They'll then be able to immediately upload those levels to their Steam Cloud and share them with other players online.

In other news, Team Fortress 2 is having their annual Halloween event going on right now. Our friends at F7Lans.com have setup Halloween servers to play on if you want some friendly faces to enjoy some TF2 with!

Lastly - TWP is looking for new staff members! Specifically, news posters and map reviewers for Spotlight and Roundup posts. If you are already active in the community and interested in helping out, post here or send me a PM and let me know!

The free "Peer Review" DLC for Portal 2 has just been released on Steam! Play it now and let us know what you think on our forums.

If you somehow don't already own Portal 2, you can get it for 50% off between now and October 6th. This is a deal you shouldn't pass up, one of the best games of the year for only $15!

Portal 2's first DLC has been confirmed to be released October 4th! The DLC includes a new Co-op campaign, as well as Challenge Mode and leaderboards! Here is the full press release, news via Rock, Paper, Shotgun:

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FREE PORTAL 2 DLC SHIPPING OCTOBER 4th
"Portal 2: Peer Review" Available on PC, Mac, PS3 and Xbox 360

September 29, 2011 -- Valve, creators of best-selling game franchises (such as Half-Life and Counter-Strike) and leading technologies (such as Steam and Source), today announced the free DLC update for its bestselling game franchise Portal 2 will be rolled out across all regions on Steam, Xbox LIVE and PSN starting October 4th. The free DLC, titled "Portal 2: Peer Review", is available to all owners of Portal 2 for download on PS3 and Xbox 360, and will be automatically downloaded via Steam on PC and Mac.

In "Peer Review", you and a friend will continue the story of loyal bots P-Body and Atlas as you puzzle your way through a mysterious new co-op test track and once again match wits with GLaDOS. The DLC also features a single player and co-op Challenge Mode, and leaderboards to compare Challenge Mode scores with friends and the Portal community.

Also, the third installment of the Portal 2 soundtrack is available on the official Portal 2 site. Volume 3 includes songs from the last act of Portal 2 including "Want You Gone", as well as more music from the Co-op campaign. Check it out now!

We also have put up a new Community Spotlight, highlighting of all things one of the best Portal 1 maps Try Anything Twice by long time community contributor, HMW. Install Portal 1 if you don't have it already (you did get it when it was free, right?) and give it a play!

Lastly, there is an amazing 20 minute long Aperture fan video that showed up on Youtube yesterday. This was really well done and is a lot of fun to watch. Here it is:

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Valve is up to it again, giving away some of their best titles for free. This time with TWP favorite Portal 1:

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When we heard the buzz surrounding the new role video games are playing in education, we had to throw our hat in the ring. Today, innovative educators are finding ways to incorporate Portal and Portal 2 into their classrooms?helping teach physics and critical-thinking skills. It's eye-opening to see how video games can be used in amazing and unexpected ways to help educate our next generation.

Get it while you can, the offer only lasts until 9/20!

Learn With Portals free Portal 1 download

Semi-official Portal 2 and general gamer clothing site J!nx.com has just come out with "Long Fall Socks" that look rather stylish.

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While the Long Fall Boot is currently unavailable outside of Aperture Laboratories' testing tacilities, you can still sport the latest look in test subject fashion with these Long Fall Socks. As part of a previously mentioned test protocol, we are required to tell you that these socks won't actually help you survive any long falls, however they will make your feet look attractive whether you're safely on the ground or plummeting towards an imminent demise.

At 10 bucks it's not a bad price non-functional Long Fall Socks that are still functional normal socks.

Portal 2 Long Fall Socks at J!nx.com