NS2 related news in the podcast:
In Natural-Selection (on HL!) the commander camera view was static at a certain hight. This forced the level designers (me to) to create overal flat maps to make sure that the commander it not to far or to close to the action and be able to do his demanding job.

In NS2, they are NOT going to introduce a zoom feature. Instead they are going to use a heightmap system for a map. With this the commander stays at the height, preset by the mapper. It also does not add to the workload of the commander as it it will be fully automated.

This will open up new doors for map design in terms of vertical map design.

Other news, which you will have to listen to for youself. They had their development platform "decoda" reviewed and also are moving into an office (finally) and haven been accepted into the Xbox 360 Middleware program.