Gabe Newell AMA tomorrow

Caporegime
OP
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
39,299
Location
Ireland
"The issue with Half-Life for me is that I was involved in a much higher percentage of the decisions about the games, so it's hard for me to look at them as anything other than a series of things I regret. There's no information in my response about what we'll do in the future. It's simply easier for me to be a fan of things that in which I was less directive."

Thats in response to his favourite game theyve created.
 
Associate
Joined
21 Jan 2010
Posts
1,293
Location
London
According to ArsTechnica he also confirmed there is a new single player experience in the works.
Separately he also said "yep" when asked whether there is a new IP in development that combines the HL and Portal universes.
 
Soldato
Joined
8 Dec 2005
Posts
10,541
According to Forbes Gabes net worth is $4.1B....that more than anything is why no HL news as he simply CBA & who can blame him when your wealthy why waste your life on making a sequel if you do not even care much for the franchise anyway according to his AMA remark!
 
Associate
Joined
21 Jan 2010
Posts
1,293
Location
London
Exactly. He should be focusing on Steam and fixing its issues as a platform. I personally think Valve has a lot more to offer there and in hardware than in games dev.
 
Soldato
Joined
31 May 2005
Posts
15,622
Location
Nottingham
Valve and Mr Newell have a lot of "goodwill" banked in my book and would have to do an awful lot "WRONG" for me to write them off as a company. Paid for mods is probably the closest they have come to making a withdrawal from that bank book but they are still in credit.

They alone have single handedly done more for PC gaming than ANY OTHER ENTITY.

Imagine if Valve did not exist?

Sure, someone may have filled the gap but I have saw nothing remotely close.

Without Steam for example, GFWL might have been a success? The Windows Store might be the default "goto" place for PC games in the digital age. I am sure Indie devs would rather deal with Valve than Microsoft. Saying that, without Steam, would GFWL ever have existed?

The "open" architecture of the PC regarding online gaming was a problem and not a problem many had answers to at the time. The original Xbox live showed that a centralised matchmaking service was the way to go. The PC had many takes on this, Gamespy for example but they were a bit of a mess to be honest.

Valve took a massive gamble with Steam, it would have took a large amount of investment and this was at a time when dial-up was still popular and the whole concept of such a platform/service was alien to "Where is my compact disc" consumers.

It has to be said, Steam was not initially the "Golden Bullet". Those "early adopters" had reportedly many fun and games in the early days. I did not encounter Steam till Half Life 2 (as with many many others) but for the most part, on a "broadband" connection, it did what it was supposed to do.

I remember selling my "Retail" Day1 HL2 to a friend as I had changed my mind and realised that digital/Steam was the way to go (That and the fact the Silver Edition was a complete steal) :D
 
Last edited:
Associate
Joined
21 Jan 2010
Posts
1,293
Location
London
Yep, though i was very annoyed at the time at having to create a Steam account just to play my disc of HL2. It took a good 5-6 years before i was comfortable with Steam as a platform. Before then all i owned on it was HL2, HL2: Lost Coast and CS Source.
 
Soldato
Joined
8 Dec 2005
Posts
10,541
No question Valve have done a lot for PC gaming but they also made a LOT of $$$ with their 30-40% cut per game sold on Steam forcing publishers like EA & Ubisoft to make their own offerings rather than blindly pay the Valve tax :rolleyes:

Its clear Gabe & the other senior managers at Valve are very wealthy & staying deep into the night developing triple aaa PC games is not their bag anymore hence the lack of major news & the way Steam support is still so lacking on certain issues.
 
Soldato
Joined
29 May 2007
Posts
4,898
Location
Dublin
Don't forget all the hentai games that I can't seem to filter out of my recommendations despite adding their tags to my "less of this ****" list. I don't want to do weird sex games with cartoon criminal girls who definitely look under age.

That is shocking. Absolutely disgraceful. What are the names of these games, so I can, eh, avoid them…
 
Soldato
Joined
29 May 2007
Posts
4,898
Location
Dublin
...<snip>

Imagine if Valve did not exist?

Sure, someone may have filled the gap but I have saw nothing remotely close.

Without Steam for example, GFWL might have been a success? The Windows Store might be the default "goto" place for PC games in the digital age. I am sure Indie devs would rather deal with Valve than Microsoft. Saying that, without Steam, would GFWL ever have existed?

...D

*shudder* good lord that does not even bear thinking about. It’s like a nightmare dystopian alternative universe. I will never forgive MS for GFWL. Never forget what MS is capable of. Valve are the closest we will get to the good guys in this life.
 
Associate
Joined
6 Mar 2010
Posts
1,136
I used to be a firm supporter of Valve, and I held on to the hope that HL3 was still in development, they were just making sure it was absolutely perfect before release, but now I really couldn't care less about them. There's only so much goodwill I can afford before they start draining the savings account, and they've long passed that point in my books.

You see early interviews about TF2, and how adamant they were with "maintaining the aesthetic", which was very unique and they did build a very cool universe. But then you look at it now and it's a complete embarrassment. Props which have absolutely no place flying left and right.

They created one of the most beloved series in gaming history with so many people anticipating HL3, and they're just stringing people along without a single peep, despite being more than financially capable of developing it.

But no, I suppose they'd prefer using their time developing SteamOS and Steam Machines instead of giving their fans what they want, because they turned out to be oh so popular.

They just seem to have completely lost sight of what they were first and foremost - a top calibre game developer. Now they'd rather just crank out some stupid hats or weapon skins and call it a day.
 
Back
Top Bottom