NMRiH Dev Team talks Steam Greenlight and the future of Source Engine mods on Valve's Steam store.

No More Room in Hell is coming to Valve’s Steam. Why? Because you demanded it. At least, that is, if you’re one of the 54 million registered users on Steam and you also happened to participate in Steam Greenlight, Valve’s new community-based game selection process. One of the initial ten selections from the Greenlight program to be added to the Steam store, No More Room in Hell says a lot about what games will make it through the selection process. Digital Trends caught up with No More Room in Hell’s creators to discuss Steam Greenlight, its shaky launch, what opportunities the service offers independent developers, and how Steam will help the game reach an even bigger audience.

“We planned since the very second Greenlight was announced that we would try it if it was open to Source Engine mods,” says David Meade of the NMRiH Dev Team, “We didn’t know if sourcemods would be allowed on the platform. At QuakeCon2012 this year I knew a few names from Valve were attending and I wanted to know more about Greenlight. I ended up talking to Chet Faliszek [about Greenlight] in a little more detail. We exchanged emails, he told us to go for it, and it paid of quite well for us in the end here.”

Like every other developer on Greenlight though, Hell was buried beneath a wave of spam, prank, and offensive game submissions. It was rough, but Meade’s confident Valve will work out Greenlight’s kinks. “You saw the issues with spam and hiccups with percentages changing every time you refresh the page. It’s going to be some time before it’s perfect but overall we believe the service has real potential.” That isn’t to say there aren’t things that can be fixed though.

“As it is you can’t submit a game as a group, only as an individual. If you were able to say link it to a steam group or at least add moderators to manage the page it would have made things easier to manage on our end.”

Even with PC Magazine naming it mod of the year in 2011, there are still many people who never had the chance to play Hell. “The game is free, we just want people to play it and enjoy it so being on Steam will make that a much more achievable goal for us, says NMRiH Dev Team’s Matt ‘Maxx’ Kazan, “Greenlight will allow us to open up the game to a much wider audience of people who might not even know it exists.

It’s more than just a ready made audience though. As Steam has done for PC gaming in general, Greenlight will help make mods like Hell and other selectees like Black Mesa easier to run for less tech savvy players. “I don’t know if you’ve ever tried installing a sourcemod before but it can be quite confusing and frustrating for beginners,” says Meade, “We try our best to explain in detail where to download how to install etc. It’s never enough. Steam fixes all of that as it allows us to auto patch. One click download and install and you’re done.”

No More Room in Hell won’t be available on Steam right away, as the team is still trying to sort through a number of technical and legal issues to get the game available. Details on the road to reaching a broader audience. Congratulations again to the NMRiH DevTeam and the other initial Greenlight selectees.

Steve Ballmer hinted that Microsoft's yet-to-be-released Surface tablet would most likely fall within the same price range as Apple's iPad.

Squashing our collective dreams of a $200 Surface tablet, Microsoft CEO Steven Ballmer implied a price more comparable to the iPad than the Kindle Fire in a recent interview with Seattle Times.

Ballmer said the “sweet spot” for the PC market runs somewhere between $300 and $800. Not exactly a concrete price for the company’s first Windows 8 tablet, but at least it’s a ballpark number — even if it varies by $500.

Microsoft’s CEO elaborates on his opinions of budget-minded tablets in the interview:

“I think most people would tell you that the iPad is not a superexpensive device. … (When) people offer cheaper, they do less. They look less good, they’re chintzier, they’re cheaper.

If you say to somebody, would you use one of the 7-inch tablets, would somebody ever use a Kindle (Kindle Fire, $199) to do their homework? The answer is no; you never would. It’s just not a good enough product. It doesn’t mean you might not read a book on it….”

We’re not surprised Microsoft is holding off on naming a specific price for its upcoming tablet. Having an undisclosed price provides a market advantage, a chance to see what the iPad Mini will cost if its released next month. Then Microsoft can release the Surface with a competitive price that truly reflects the market.

Right now, you can get an iPad for anywhere between $400 to $800, depending on which generation, storage size, and connectivity options you choose. Based on this pricing, our guess would have the Surface RT priced around the lower side of the iPad pricing. Meanwhile, the Surface Pro — aimed at a more professional market — would cap out near the high-end of that spectrum.

If Microsoft wanted to be extra gutsy, it could always undercut the iPad and price the base model of the Surface RT at less than $400, but more than $200. That way it could still be marketed as a superior product to 7-inch tablets — as Ballmer seems to want — while still being more affordable than the cheapest iPad.

Regardless of pricing, however, Ballmer seems to have complete faith in the success of Windows 8 as a whole.

“I’m not paid to have doubts. (Laughs.) I don’t have any. It’s a fantastic product,” Ballmer told Seattle Times in the same interview.

What do you think the ideal price for Microsoft’s Surface tablet would be? Do you think it will be a success no matter what it’s priced at?

Need some help kicking the habit? Turn to your trusty smartphone for a smoke-free life.

I started smoking in my early teens. I live in Scotland and when I was young, you could smoke legally from the age of sixteen. Actually that’s not accurate — in Scotland you could smoke at any age because it was only illegal to sell tobacco to anyone under the age limit. That age limit has now been raised to eighteen. In 1996, UK government statistics revealed that 13 percent of young people aged between eleven and fifteen were smokers. It was easy to buy cigarettes when I was growing up. You could get them at a corner shop. The ice cream van that came round my area even sold “singles” – a single cigarette and a match.

I never went beyond a pack a day, but I was definitely one of those smokers who thought they’d never quit. Lighting up after a big meal, with a pint in hand, or after some bedroom gymnastics was just unbeatable. I remember going to Seattle for a conference a few years ago and being surprised that not only could you not smoke inside; you couldn’t even stand near a door and smoke. In 2006, the Scottish government banned smoking in workplaces and enclosed public spaces. I went outside to smoke. 

The process of giving up smoking has spawned a huge industry. There are loads of books out there, patches and gum, hypnosis and pills. I have a friend who hasn’t smoked in over ten years, but is still chewing the gum daily. Before you think about what will help you quit, you need the right motivation.

After twenty years as a smoker it was the pitter patter of tiny feet that finally persuaded me to quit. I couldn’t smoke around my pregnant wife and having children made me really consider my lifespan for the first time. Since I’m a big fan of technology I decided to turn to it for help. I discovered that your smartphone can help you quit. Here’s how it helped me.

Quit smoking apps

You’ll find a lot of smoking cessation apps on the market. When you go to choose a quit smoking app, you need to decide what approach you’re going to adopt. Are you quitting “cold turkey” or do you want to gradually reduce smoking toward a final quit date?

My favorite app is QuitNow! It’s a free, ad-supported app on the Android platform. It offers up some stats showing you the time since you quit, how many smokes you have avoided, and how much money you have saved. There’s also info on the health benefits, as well as some tips and advice from other smokers trying to kick the habit. I’m a gamer so the achievement unlock feature appealed to me, as well. Basically, you unlock achievements by not smoking; it’s the same principle as AA chips.

To be honest, most of the smoking cessation apps offer the same features. Get Rich or Die Smoking is my favorite title for one of these apps. It shows you what you could buy with the money you’ve saved by not smoking. You’ll find Quit Smoking: Cessation Nation and Breathe freely! are both worth a look as well. If you need an app for the iPhone then LIVESTRONG MyQuit Coach is good, although it does cost $4 — expensive for an app, but cheaper than a pack of cigarettes.

Your smartphone is your cigarette

One technique I’ve used is replacing my need to do something like smoke with my phone. Every time you get the urge to smoke you should play with your phone instead. You can always dip into a quit smoking app for some inspiration. You can also call someone for support or just as a distraction. Some of the most helpful apps for me giving up smoking weren’t smoking cessation apps at all, but addictive tower defense games with the power to distract me for long enough that the craving passed.

Once you crack the actual physical addiction, you’re just left with the powerful mental urge to smoke. Mostly it’s all about triggers, like finishing a meal, taking a break at work, drinking alcohol with friends, whatever you used to do when you enjoyed those golden smokes. If you can keep your hands busy then that’s a good start towards beating the need to smoke. That’s why playing with your touchscreen is so good — whether it’s dipping into a quick game or checking Facebook for the 237^th time that day — it’s not smoking and that’s the point.

Emotional blackmail

The most powerful way to kill that urge to smoke is to use your motivation for quitting in the first place. For me, it was my kids and, as cheesy as it sounds, looking at photos of them or calling them is a powerful form of emotional motivation that makes me reconsider taking that smoke. This method is not advisable at all times though, especially since you’ll face some of your worst temptations when you are drunk.

With smartphones, we have the means to contact people wherever we are and the equivalent of a family album of photos and a pile of home videos in our pocket. Use it. A smartphone is a handy tool in life and so it should come as no surprise that it can help you quit smoking too.

Can’t quit, change your addiction

If you really can’t kick the habit no matter what you try then maybe you should consider e-cigarettes or even e-cigars and e-pipes. They’re the closest thing you can get to smoking without actually smoking and they’re likely a lot healthier for you.

Your smartphone is also a great replacement addiction. According to a “Mobile Mindset Study” by Lookout a while back, nearly 58 percent of us can’t go an hour without checking our phones, 39 percent check them on the toilet, 54 percent check them in bed, and 30 percent check them during meals with others. I’m guilty on all charges, but at least I don’t smoke anymore.

No matter how you slice it, your smartphone can be one of your best tools to fight your urge to smoke. Use it.