Valve’s recent announcements have been met with mixed reaction; Steam OS will certainly help gamers make the most of their hardware, but many aren’t all that keen to ditch Windows or don’t have an inkling to dual boot. Steam Machines are nice, and would go great next to a TV (which is their point, really) but will they really compete with dedicated consoles for the living room? Then there’s that controller, which some hail as genius, and others think is hideous. Gearbox’s Randy Pitchford doesn’t care much Valve’s current direction. Mostly, he just wants them to focus on games.
He’s not enamoured with Steam Machines right now
“There has been some understanding for some time that Valve was looking at some angles in this direction,” he told GI.Biz, “so I imagine there was some curiosity and, with just a few folks, perhaps some concern about what they might show up with. I imagine that if I was in a key seat at one of the first parties, after hearing this news, I would probably exhale a bit and imagine that I don’t really have anything I have to worry myself about too much coming from this direction for a while.
“If I had a seat at either Sony or Microsoft, depending on which seat I was sitting in, of course, I would probably also be feeling a tiny bit better about my own decisions when I think about how I’m feeling about what I perceive Valve’s reasons and decisions to be here.”
He is, however, a little curious about the company’s haptic controller.
“I want to fiddle around with their controller. I’m curious what spectrum of propositions will be made with the specific machine offerings, but am sceptical that something will appear that leads me to think it’s a good decision to replace my PC.
“Maybe that’s not their aim – we’ll all learn more soon. But the burden to add an additional thing beyond the PC I am likely to keep is pretty high, so we’ll see if any of their machines can get me there if their intent is that these are dedicated Steam OS machines.”
Like most of you, he was hoping to see Valve finally announce Half-Life 3, which as you know, completely failed to happen.
“I want to see Half-Life 3 or other exciting and big and original offerings from these guys who are amongst the best in the world at crafting interactive entertainment and are resourced better than anyone. As long as Steam and Valve are one entity, I am always going to feel uneasy that attention and resources towards the platform is distracting attention and resources away from the entertainment they could (should?) be creating.
“I guess I am just a greedy gamer who wants to be blown away playing more of the best, new video games in the world, so I selfishly want to know that the incredible talent at Valve is spending 100 percent of their mindshare building new video games!”
I’ve got to say, I’m a little ambivalent about it all. while many new games will work fine, too many games would have to be rewritten for Steam OS for them to work properly, without using some sort of DirectX emulation or compatibility layer. It’ll also end up extending development time, making it so developers have to throw in even more of their already valuable man-hours to get games up and running on Steam OS; and if Valve mandates it, with their near monopoly on the AAA Pc games digital distribution market, they could hold developers to ransom. No Steam OS support? No Steam release!
I understand Valve really wants to push PC gaming forward, but like Pitchford, Id been hoping they’d do that by actually making games.
Last Updated: October 1, 2013
|
|
|
|---|---|
| was reviewed on PC | |
Umar Jaeger
October 1, 2013 at 12:12
t’s happening next gen, the sign is in the numbers
ElimiNathan
October 1, 2013 at 12:44
http://www.maxheckel.me/hl3/
Lara's John
October 1, 2013 at 12:45
Coolest
Thing
Ever
Umar Jaeger
October 1, 2013 at 12:46
HOLY CRAP!!!LOL so funny thanx!
Seraphim
October 1, 2013 at 12:57
The logic can be a bit thin sometimes but it’s still pretty amazing, although being able to confirm HL3 using multiple methods with the same number is very interesting.
ElimiNathan
October 1, 2013 at 12:59
😀
Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew
October 1, 2013 at 13:02
Oh no 🙁
That Happy Twit
October 1, 2013 at 13:25
Here you go.
Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew
October 1, 2013 at 13:34
Half Life3 is a lie!
Unavengedavo (aka. Frik)
October 1, 2013 at 14:51
The answer to Life, the universe, and everything has confirmed it! SO IT MUST BE TRUE!!!
Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew
October 1, 2013 at 14:55
Woooooooah
Alien Emperor Trevor
October 1, 2013 at 12:44
4 & 1 = 5. This is why consoles aren’t the Master Race :/
Umar Jaeger
October 1, 2013 at 12:46
4 and 1 = 5…half life 2 episode 2 was the last HL released
5-2 = 3
HL 3 confirmed!
Alien Emperor Trevor
October 1, 2013 at 12:49
No it’s not, an episode is a fraction of a whole game, so you can’t subtract a whole number. At best, given there’s 2 HL2 episodes, they’re half each, so you can subtract 1. Therefore you’ve confirmed HL4, which is silly 😉
Umar Jaeger
October 1, 2013 at 12:56
So we have HL (2), ep 1 (0.5) , ep 2 (0.5) = 3
Lol HL 3 confirmed
Alien Emperor Trevor
October 1, 2013 at 13:01
But you can’t have 2 without 1, 3 + 1 = 4. I am right, everyone else is wrong. Damn it.
Umar Jaeger
October 1, 2013 at 13:02
🙂 🙂 yes are right
Admiral Chief of Rivia
October 1, 2013 at 12:14
HL3 on SteamBox with SteamOS played with SteamController
MAKE IT SO
Lara's John
October 1, 2013 at 12:22
Amen
SaintsRowNigri
October 1, 2013 at 12:22
But wouldn’t that be the same as playing Half Life 3 on console?
Lara's John
October 1, 2013 at 12:24
I’d just want it with my Keyboard and Mousey. Controllers and FPS don’t work.
James Philip Lawrence
October 1, 2013 at 12:15
if they don’t make HL3 i seriously think some company is going to get bombed – (spoiler ALERT)
If i don’t get to fly away in the chopper there are going be some serious problems.. soon
Admiral Chief of Rivia
October 1, 2013 at 12:19
GET TO THE CHOPPA
Lara's John
October 1, 2013 at 12:27
I see your “Get to the choppa” and I raise you another one
Skyblue
October 1, 2013 at 14:06
Origi-Arnie wins! That pic from Predator was legendary!
Seraphim
October 1, 2013 at 12:23
“… and others thing is hideous.”
TiMsTeR1033
October 1, 2013 at 12:27
WTF is that!
Lara's John
October 1, 2013 at 12:28
That’s what she said
Seraphim
October 1, 2013 at 12:30
Something I should have waited until after eating my lunch to post.
Skyblue
October 1, 2013 at 14:05
Watch the original The Thing (1982), one of the best sci-fi movies ever made.
Lara's John
October 1, 2013 at 12:33
Sure do love that movie
TiMsTeR1033
October 1, 2013 at 12:24
Seems it may be in the works already
Lara's John
October 1, 2013 at 12:34
I find it very curious that some modern games still can’t get characters to speak normally, with decent facial expressions even though half life 2 got it right YEARS ago.
TiMsTeR1033
October 1, 2013 at 12:36
HL2’s facial expressions were great! lip moved right and everything!
Skyblue
October 1, 2013 at 14:13
Yeah I’ve only found Crysis to really be as good at doing lip sync better than HL2 did but that was a much newer engine. Valve laid the groundwork for all that and had far more interesting characters.
Alien Emperor Trevor
October 1, 2013 at 12:36
Some people wanted DNF & A:CM to be good, guess we’re all disappointed.
OminousRain
October 1, 2013 at 13:21
I’m quite excited about Steam OS. Think it will take a few years to be out of beta.
But since Windows 8, it feels that windows wont be an option for gaming in the future.
So I am happy to see alternative options coming our way.
I actual have an old gaming rig, which I’m going to install SteamOS on, as soon as it comes out.
Rock789
October 1, 2013 at 15:08
Perhaps Valve have lost their HL3 code… Someone fell asleep at his desk, pushing the “Delete” key down with his drooling tongue and, before you know it, all code is simply… gone… And no backups (coz backups are for chumps!). 🙂
On a serious note, I really want HL3… Like REALLY want it…
TiMsTeR1033
October 1, 2013 at 15:12
That could explain the reason for no news about it..
Rock789
October 1, 2013 at 15:31
Exactly… Makes sense, right? 🙂
Either that or they’ve lost the ability to code games… **shudder** That’s a terrible thought and I never want to think it again!