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Denver, 4:47 PM
Wed Nov 25
53 posts in the last 24 hours
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11/08/09
So it just means I dont really care about Valve & they never get any of my money. #valve
11/08/09
All three consoles and both handhelds kick ass, though each also have their issues. #valve
11/08/09
And like 20 other developers have complained about the PS3 development as well. #valve
11/08/09
11/08/09
Learning fluent German may have improved my English, but not by very much. #valve
11/08/09
Or put it another way, it'd be more like learning Latin and then applying that knowledge to the major European languages. You may not know every word in the English dictionary but having learned Latin, you're essentially better prepared to deal with words that you've never seen in your life on the SAT/GRE because of the root words that are based on Latin. #valve
11/08/09
11/08/09
Programming for the PS3 is very much like programming for Windows and then porting the same program to Mac System Classic, the architecture, the design principles, it's all very different.
Where as programming for a 360 is the same as for a PC and programming for the Wii is very much the same as for a PPC unix system (Mac OS8 to OSX pre-intel to continue the mac comparison xD) #valve
11/08/09
I think this is pretty well known, so I don't know if you were so much deceived, as it is one of those weird facts that somehow eludes you. I know that's happened to me a few times, though I can't think of any examples off the top of my head. #valve
11/09/09
Instead, Newell comes out and says the PS3 is [news.teamxbox.com] or "a waste of everyone's time" and just comes off sounding ignorant and fanboyish when you look at all the developers who don't have these issues with the system, and can make a game that actually runs smoothly and properly on it. There are other companies who don't support the system, but they don't make a big show of it and badmouth it just because they can't handle it.
11/09/09
But perhaps it's just me. #valve
11/08/09
Anyway, what the crap does this jackhole's opinion matter regarding Valve and the PS3 anyway? Maybe he and his company should pay more attention to how their products work on which platforms (*cough*Borderlands*cough*PC) before he goes about throwing stones. #valve
11/08/09
Anyway, what the crap do these jackhole's opinions matter regarding the PS3. Maybe their company and them should just learn to shut their mouths instead of alienating an entire demographic of gamers. (*cough* See it works both *cough* ways.) and quit dicking around and make HL2 Ep 3. #valve
11/08/09
11/08/09
It pains me to say this, as it was only recently that I started "console" gaming in any serious way. My childhood was dominated by Civilization 2 and my teenage years were dominated by Battlefield 1942 and Everquest. It greatly pains me to see that the PC has been reduced to what it is now. But Steam is one of the only things preventing the PC from just completely going the way of the arcade, and I'm getting really tired of this "everyone hate the guy at the top" mentality that's emerging. They f'ing bend over backwards for the customers, and there are still people running around screaming about how Valve screws them over. There is no reason to hate Valve other than the fact that they are the top dog or because they use DRM. The second reason is valid, I guess. But even their DRM is the most flexible, more permissive form I've yet seen. Hell, by letting you install a game simply by downloading it to any computer you own, eliminating disk checks, adding achievements, and letting you chat in-game with your friends, it's one of the only DRMs that actually add value rather than purely punishing the consumer. I actually *like* buying games on Steam now, whereas not even a year ago I would never buy a purely digital copy.
Kill Valve, and you kill PC gaming. Sorry. But it's the truth. Kill World of Warcraft, and you might kill the MMO genre, though I suspect SOE will continue on. But kill Valve, and you will see a mass exodus of all major publishers. Mark my words. #valve
11/08/09
The only people who say PC gaming is dying are those who don't remember the last 4 times this has been said (it's a 5 year cycle as PCs start to outpace consoles), and believe only exclusives make or break a system, which is a dumb label to slap on a PC to begin with.
If PC gaming were truly dying, then why is almost every major release also given a PC version?
"Sorry. But it's the truth."
Yeah... it really isn't... #valve
11/08/09
Can I just raise a point.
"Well you Valve don't really think that, because look what you've done on the PC side. You've supported that, you've added all this content to Team Fortress 2, and you've left us hanging."
Valve have repeatedly stated that the reason they haven't been able to support the 360 version is twofold. Firstly they do not want to have to charge for it, so are hoping to get it all out of the door in one update that they can release for free (Microsoft allow one free DLC unless you fuck around with them to get more).
Secondly, the 360 cannot physically process the amount of information TF2 now has to load. They have pointed this out already, that in order to load all the new updates into the current 360 release of TF2, they will have to find new ways of compressing the information and making it less memory intensive. It is not viable to put any real work into this until all the class packs are released, otherwise any work done will go to waste when even more data has to be added.
While I appreciate Valve are a bit unfair towards Sony, I understand that they would most likely need to split the company up to code for the PS3, something they don't want to do.
I also appreciate that the above two things are pretty common knowledge, but I had to raise the point! #valve
11/08/09
Valve is the closest to a first party the PC has, but people keep looking at it as if it's small business, as if it's a bunch of kids in a garage saying "The PS3 sucks, dude!" It kind of reminds me of the gradual, horrified realization that Google was actually a huge multinational company with monopolistic tendencies in the last few years. I'm expecting a similar change of positioning for Valve, soon.
11/08/09
While it seems trivial, the fact of the matter is that Valve is a private company and not a publicly traded one. This means that there's no real way to enforce a check against the company executives the way you normally would with a publicly traded company. For example, if you own 1% of Microsoft's stocks, you have the right to attend its shareholder meeting and say straight to Ballmer/Gate's face how much of an idiot you believe them to be and they will actually listen mostly because they have to. With Valve, since there aren't any stockholder meetings, you can't go up to Newell's face to say that he's a fatso mostly because there aren't any stocks for you to own in the first place. Remember, these are examples; extreme examples, but ones that illustrate the difference between what you can do to a publicly traded firm with one that isn't publicly traded.
What it boils down to is leverage; rather, the ability to leverage your interests against Valve.
What Gearbox might be doing is to provoke Valve into doing something stupid so that they can highlight/appeal it to the FTC or something and sic an anti-monopoly suit against Valve in order to split Steam off of Valve. It's a convoluted process and many things could go wrong but it's possible to pull off. #valve
11/08/09
11/08/09
The only reason Valve likes the 360 is that they can hide behind Microsoft's policies and charge for what little DLC they deem the 360 users worthy of. Despite that, they've still failed to deliver any additional content besides the expansion for L4D... It really doesn't look like they care for 360 either.
11/07/09
Pitchford hit the nail pretty firmly on the head there. #valve
11/08/09
11/08/09
It's a 100% factual statement. Simple as that. Business is business.
You can't act butt-hurt when someone calls you out over it, though. #valve
11/07/09
11/07/09
but anyone who buys a Valve product on anything other than a PC is really harming themselves.
Valve tastes best with the PC. just like Chocolate tastes best with Peanut Butter. #valve
11/07/09
hehe, he should watch his step. #valve
11/07/09
Step 2) Get Gearbox guy to counter-shit talk Valve guy on Kotaku
Step 3) Valve and Gearbox get publicity, Kotaku gets content.
What's that about underlying sleaziness, Randy? #valve
11/07/09
I don't really see any sleaziness there dude. It's the Kotaku editors jobs to find and post articles like this for you to read, and even if it weren't, how is that Randy's fault? #valve
11/08/09
11/07/09
11/07/09