Okay, back to my cab ride…and the rest of the weirdness. Want to play ’em? All you need is Half-Life 2 with Steam, plus the FRAPS video codec to see some of the intro videos (but I don’t believe FRAPS is required). I’ve found some really odd Half-Life 2 mods that, coincidentally, all came from the same academic program: the National Academy of Digital, Interactive Entertainment in Denmark ( DADIU, in their native tongue). However, I wanted to showcase a couple of my own picks. To wit, the 2009 Independent Games Festival recently announced the ten student-showcase winners, some of which are based on mods. The mod scene also happens to be a breeding ground for tomorrow’s great game designers. (In fact, I highly recommend that you check out Mod DB for a huge selection of game mods.) That means lots of extra, free games derived from what you’ve already bought. Old-school gaming nerds crafted game levels, weapons, character models–heck, entire games have been built using the guts of game engines for ages. What the heck is a mod? User-created game content–it’s been around since long before YouTube ever made do-it-yourself entertainment a household concept. I’m playing Karma Cab–a goofball mod for Half-Life 2.

Nope, this isn’t some deleted scene from the end of Slumdog Millionaire. So a fat pig jumps into my cab, and then he busts out into song while I carve through city streets.

Half life 2 sound mods