The article provides an informative, if somewhat biased account of Valve's early years up to the present. It raises interesting points like how the most successful of Valve's games originally started as mods, which is a testament to how flexible the Source Engine is in creative hands. Also interesting is the fact that most of the games are developed by third party developers and then hired/purchased.
FuRuy has opened a Twitter account called “Project Alice” teasing a new game announcement on April 25 at 20:30 JST.
New report from Skillsearch found that 22% of those surveyed had been laid off within the past 12 months.
It's a step forward for Stop Killing Games.
First of all, I would like to thank you for taking your time to write such a well-thought out article. Secondly, I completely agree with your issues on L4D2. I really don't see the point in having sunlight...all it will do is ruin the dark and gloomy feel the original game had. Also, it's going to cause many limitations...such as visibility of special infected like you mentioned. And I'm guessing that they're just going to put the witch in the dark rooms of the game...if there are any. If you recall, she don't like light much.
How can you not like Valve?
They've changed the gaming industry so much in the last 12 years.
And don't "baaawwwwww" about their console support. If you want to play a Valve game, you know where to do it.
They paved the way for digital distribution and you expect them not to use a system they created for one of its main purposes? You think Games for Windows users get pissed when Xbox Live gets a huge update?
yup,PC my friend.. the better version.
I sort of disagree with most of the content on this article. Except for the recent case of L4D2 (which may still prove to be worth the fast sequel with added features).
I see Valve as a company which takes on projects from the community and develops them with a bigger budget, think about this, how many of the 'Valve' games have actually been free mods originally, then the team bought out and integrated into Valve?
Sure, the mods stop being free, but look at it this way, the creators for the mods are actually being paid, with a lot more technology and funding behind them and I personally think that's a good way to work. It's not like anyone is being ripped off, look at Gary Neuman, he's getting paid now. Besides, how many game developers give the SDK that soon after a game's release?
Although I do agree, its time to get the praising of the actual teams within Valve started. When you think Valve, you think Gabe. Fact is, most of 'Valve's games' have nothing to do with Gabe maybe its time for some type of team division like the way Rockstar have different credited teams in different regions.
Also, Valve have NEVER been interested in consoles, the only reason the 360 has Halflife 2 and the Source engine is because the 360 is so easy to port to from the PC, Valve hardly have to do anymore work. Just my 2 cents.
It's a list of petty beefs that he has with the company's decisions. Like lambasting the Orange Box for not offering value. (Who really believes that?)
"Of course what was probably the most defining quality to Valve's Half-Life was the introduction to coherent voice acting and the start of an esoteric plot."
No. It wasn't voice acting, or plot - it was the narrative, the immersion and the AI. It was the whole concept of telling stories within the first person view without breaking it up with cutscenes.
"No, it did not. I'm a firm believer that stories should tell stories, not have the reader make the stories up their selves when left with little to work with."
And the vast majority of people don't believe that. There is a fundamental belief within storytelling of "show, don't tell". This is what Valve have always been doing, everything about the environment within Half-Life 2 shows you the world. The grafiti, the omnipresent citadel, the progaganda screens, the combine architecture and the dissonant combine announcer gives a much richer experience than watching an hour long cutscene telling you what the 7 hour war was about. Best stick to the Dan Brown films I guess.
I can't be bothered to continually quote this guy, but he goes onto slag off Portal as a preview of an anti-climatic tech demo. Portal has never been more than $20, and everyone disagrees with him.
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He has some points, obviously. I'm not happy about the L4D2 scenario and Steam used to suck. But I'm also not dressing up my personal opinion as a "definitive look".