now Gabe you've paved every possible piece down, I can't see any more reasons you don't go back on making new games which is Valve supposed to do and due long time ago, now we see everything with a bit of steam imprint here and there, we'd like to know if Valve is really able to count to 3, at least ep3 for whatever's sake!
Thats kind of an odd statement.
Valve still makes games. Dota 2 isnt that old and its one of the most played games out right now. The same can be said for say Blizzard, they are not releasing games at every turn, but when they do pop something out it has impact.
We already know Valve is working on Half Life 3. There was already a leak as to some of the people working on it as well as an "accidental" (who knows) picture taken that had some of their projects on a bug tracker displayed on a monitor.
Whatever Half Life 3 be, or any of their sequels, it will probably be tied to a new version of their game engine (source). If so, its natural that it would take longer because not only is there a game(s) in development, but a new engine as well.... and if I am reading the flow right... The new Source engine will most likely be based around an open asset creation and game development platform in the same way Unity and UDK are, it will also have to fit into their larger plans in regards to where their Steam and Steamworkshop targets are. Valve has been that one company that doesnt rush content, when its ready and the time is right they will drop the ball.
The Steam Controller has no inclination sensor. But the companys can sell with sensor because the valve controller is the minimum more features are possible.
I wait for the first scream when somebody buy a maybe smartphone/tablet game from steam and cant play it because he has the false comtroller from the false company.
I think the Steam boxes are aimed at those who are serious about gaming, but do not want to learn how to build their own computer. That $500 computer seems like a good deal, although I worry that the motherboard and the PSU were skimped on to get it to that price point... hopefully they just setup some deals with hardware manufacturers to be able to get that sort of price.
Actually, can you build a computer with an i5 and 760 for $400 these days? I say $400 for consideration that they must also buy the keys for Windows licenses as well.
Valve still makes games. Dota 2 isnt that old and its one of the most played games out right now.
The only games Valve has made are the entries to the Half Life series, the rest were from mod teams they brought aboard the company. That fact alone is what he is talking about I think.
Valve hiring the team and supplementing them with resources, artists and coders had a huge impact on the resulting 'Portal'. Same goes for DOTA. They didn't conceive the initial idea, but they damn sure put effort into making the games. If you think all they did was buy in and then market for profit, you're severely misguided.
Like someone once said, Ideas are cheap, it's the execution that really matters. Why else would stuff like CoD, NFS and every sports game ever still sell?
Nevertheless, it's another game that didn't really gestate in-house.
Is that really the requirement for a game to be considered made by Valve developers?
Take Portal-Portal 2 for example, it was a project created by Digipen students under a different name and a different theme. Valve hired the team of, I think 8 and then worked alongside them to come up with Portal. With Portal 2, the number of developers working on it increased to around 40. Are these not valve developers? Does valve not guide the direction of the game in some way or develop the games around its engine while creating tools to fit the game's needs? Source Film Maker?
Its one thing to have a different business model which leans more towards hiring modders and talent for their projects, and another to suggest that they are not developed by Valve.
The amount of Valve in Portal and their other games is incredible and downplaying it is disingenuous. GladOS, the robots, the back story, the portal gun, the turrets, the companion cube ... everything iconic about the game was added by Valve, FFS.
My main complaint with "Valve time" is the fact that if there are any issues with their software, you are pretty much screwed until Valve releases some kind of fix which always takes forever. I remember a couple of months ago, I was unable to connect to any competitive matches on CS:GO due to a problem caused by the Arms Deal update(which shouldn't even be a thing). I tried literally everything imaginable on my side to fix the issue until I contacted Steam support in which the clueless agent told me that they heard about the problem from others. Of course, the problem wasn't fixed until a whole month later.
I don't see Valve as the holy savior of PC gaming that many people seem to believe they are. When their software works, it is great, but if you have any issues at all, you are basically screwed unless you get lucky. This is mostly noticeable in CS:GO. Valve doesn't care about CS anymore since it doesn't make as much money as Dota 2. Valve threw away the franchise that helped define competitive PC gaming in order to focus on a new franchise that they have absolutely no history with, then they go and insult the CS players who have been waiting for fixes since beta by updating the game to add micro-transactions. Steam itself can be problematic at times as well, and that really sucks because there is no real alternative if you want to play some of the newest games out there.
Valve can do amazing things sometimes such as the Steam Greenlight program, but I wish they'd get fixes out sooner.
The amount of Valve in Portal and their other games is incredible and downplaying it is disingenuous. GladOS, the robots, the back story, the portal gun, the turrets, the companion cube ... everything iconic about the game was added by Valve, FFS.
Seriously. This way of thinking is running rampant on NeoGAF too and it's just ridiculous. The original Portal was indeed mostly the team from DigiPen, but the developers themselves have said it would have been no where near as good without the guidance from so many of the other employees. Not to mention Chet and Erik invented the setting, story, characters, etc. The things that really sold the game as a classic to most people.
Valve finds people with interesting ideas, and then brings them in-house to make the final product so much better than the initial one. Play Narbacular Drop and then Portal -- there is a stunningly huge difference in clever game design. I think they're doing a great service to the industry, as they take things that are somewhat clever (e.g. Tag: The Power of Paint) and then turn it into something unbelievably better.
Portal 2 was a different beast altogether as that was a 40+ man team IIRC. It had a totally new mechanic called F-Stop that was going to replace portals, but playtesters insisted on the old stuff. Valve hasn't said anything about what F-Stop even is as they plan to use it in a different game at some point.
so...steam machines, right is there a uk sales chart anywhere? those prices in dollars worry me because a lot of companies are mean and just decide that dollars = pounds, which is absolute bull.
I held the previous gen controller in my hands and it was surprising, after being used to the slow evolution of the Playstation and Xbox controllers over the years it was the first time feeling something new in my hands. It was getting passed around at a bar so I didn't get to feel the haptic feedback.
I had a play with one of the cheap plastic prototype controllers a few weeks ago. Played some Hotline Miami. It's a very strange and new control system with those circular touch strips. Was only playing for about 7 minutes, so it wasn't enough time to get used to it, but I can see the potential.
This version looks to be moving to something a little more familiar with those buttons.
Yeah, from a consumer standpoint I have no idea why I would buy one of these vs build my own, when I need to have a fairly good grasp of hardware to decide which is best for me.
Because most people have no idea how to build pc.
I for one enjoy assembling my pc from scratch, and I can spend fe hours doing so from individual parts.
Most people either don't know how, don't have time for it, or both.
Yeah, not feeling the lack of diagonals either. It's actually a very strange design decision coming from valve - if they are clever enough to realize that simple, old school push buttons are much better than fancy touch input for ABXY, they should also know that separating a d-pad into 4 individual buttons is a terrible idea ... Didn't they test it out with Super Meat Boy ?
ya, the grips were my most hated feature on the control. Its just not comfortable to hold. Those ridges that run across your palm. just so uncomfortable.
Replies
Thats kind of an odd statement.
Valve still makes games. Dota 2 isnt that old and its one of the most played games out right now. The same can be said for say Blizzard, they are not releasing games at every turn, but when they do pop something out it has impact.
We already know Valve is working on Half Life 3. There was already a leak as to some of the people working on it as well as an "accidental" (who knows) picture taken that had some of their projects on a bug tracker displayed on a monitor.
Whatever Half Life 3 be, or any of their sequels, it will probably be tied to a new version of their game engine (source). If so, its natural that it would take longer because not only is there a game(s) in development, but a new engine as well.... and if I am reading the flow right... The new Source engine will most likely be based around an open asset creation and game development platform in the same way Unity and UDK are, it will also have to fit into their larger plans in regards to where their Steam and Steamworkshop targets are. Valve has been that one company that doesnt rush content, when its ready and the time is right they will drop the ball.
I wait for the first scream when somebody buy a maybe smartphone/tablet game from steam and cant play it because he has the false comtroller from the false company.
Actually, can you build a computer with an i5 and 760 for $400 these days? I say $400 for consideration that they must also buy the keys for Windows licenses as well.
The only games Valve has made are the entries to the Half Life series, the rest were from mod teams they brought aboard the company. That fact alone is what he is talking about I think.
I'm pretty sure icefrog didn't singlehandedly make dota 2.
Nevertheless, it's another game that didn't really gestate in-house.
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Valve hiring the team and supplementing them with resources, artists and coders had a huge impact on the resulting 'Portal'. Same goes for DOTA. They didn't conceive the initial idea, but they damn sure put effort into making the games. If you think all they did was buy in and then market for profit, you're severely misguided.
Like someone once said, Ideas are cheap, it's the execution that really matters. Why else would stuff like CoD, NFS and every sports game ever still sell?
Is that really the requirement for a game to be considered made by Valve developers?
Take Portal-Portal 2 for example, it was a project created by Digipen students under a different name and a different theme. Valve hired the team of, I think 8 and then worked alongside them to come up with Portal. With Portal 2, the number of developers working on it increased to around 40. Are these not valve developers? Does valve not guide the direction of the game in some way or develop the games around its engine while creating tools to fit the game's needs? Source Film Maker?
Its one thing to have a different business model which leans more towards hiring modders and talent for their projects, and another to suggest that they are not developed by Valve.
I don't see Valve as the holy savior of PC gaming that many people seem to believe they are. When their software works, it is great, but if you have any issues at all, you are basically screwed unless you get lucky. This is mostly noticeable in CS:GO. Valve doesn't care about CS anymore since it doesn't make as much money as Dota 2. Valve threw away the franchise that helped define competitive PC gaming in order to focus on a new franchise that they have absolutely no history with, then they go and insult the CS players who have been waiting for fixes since beta by updating the game to add micro-transactions. Steam itself can be problematic at times as well, and that really sucks because there is no real alternative if you want to play some of the newest games out there.
Valve can do amazing things sometimes such as the Steam Greenlight program, but I wish they'd get fixes out sooner.
Seriously. This way of thinking is running rampant on NeoGAF too and it's just ridiculous. The original Portal was indeed mostly the team from DigiPen, but the developers themselves have said it would have been no where near as good without the guidance from so many of the other employees. Not to mention Chet and Erik invented the setting, story, characters, etc. The things that really sold the game as a classic to most people.
Valve finds people with interesting ideas, and then brings them in-house to make the final product so much better than the initial one. Play Narbacular Drop and then Portal -- there is a stunningly huge difference in clever game design. I think they're doing a great service to the industry, as they take things that are somewhat clever (e.g. Tag: The Power of Paint) and then turn it into something unbelievably better.
Portal 2 was a different beast altogether as that was a 40+ man team IIRC. It had a totally new mechanic called F-Stop that was going to replace portals, but playtesters insisted on the old stuff. Valve hasn't said anything about what F-Stop even is as they plan to use it in a different game at some point.
This version looks to be moving to something a little more familiar with those buttons.
Because most people have no idea how to build pc.
I for one enjoy assembling my pc from scratch, and I can spend fe hours doing so from individual parts.
Most people either don't know how, don't have time for it, or both.
That said, even MS blew it with the new pad. I can't comfortably reach the shoulder buttons, whereas the old pad was fine