ValveE3 2010 interview; Newell, the PS3, and episodic games.

http://www.develop-online.net/features/1184/The-Valve-manifesto

Godammit.
Then again, they only ever made one truly episodic game.
Double godammit.

EDIT: The message I got when I actually read it wasn't exactly that they were moving away from episodic games, so much as updating games in smaller easier to make blurbs. Which is what they've been doing pretty much constantly between releases...

edited 9th May '11 11:43:28 AM by Zeromaeus

Hmm, I find the article interesting o.o And I don't honestly find this bad, the constantly updating thing is pretty nice xD

It's just funny how they bring up episodic gaming, mention moving to the TF 2 model, and completely avoid discussing you-know-what. Not even to just acknowledge the possibility of you-know-what ever getting another game ever.

^If you are talking about Half-Life, well... "So what question stopped Newell in his tracks? During his first half hour with Develop he made astute arguments whilst joking about recurrent game delays, and everyone dying in the middle of our interview, and the lack of reason to believe a new Half-Life project even exists."

BTW, whats with "elephant in the room" in the tittle? o.o

edited 9th May '11 12:02:27 PM by SpookyMask

I'm pretty certain they've said the next Half Life game will be #3, rather than episode 3. Unofficially, though

I suppose it is. If this gets enough discussion a mod should rename it.

And I missed that quote. Heh. I think that's the first they even acknowledged the possible existence of a future entity in the Half-Life series.

"Elephant in the room" means a topic people are avoiding discussing.

I'd assume that was the case, but I hadn't heard them say that.

edited 9th May '11 12:05:27 PM by occono

It would be bad form, all things considered, to not call it Episode 3. Specifically because the story of Half Life 2 has yet to be completed. It really doesn't matter either way, but I would respect the decision to call it Half Life 2: Episode 3 way more than I would the decision to just call it Half Life 3.

They're on record as having said that the decision to call the episodes 'Half Life 2' was a mistake

I do agree on that point. They did, however, call it Half Life 2, so it would be a bit odd for the last chapter of Hlaf Life 2 to not be called Half Life 2.
I really shouldn't have bought The Orange Box.

.....I don't think the name matters that much. Any new game will probably be built differently from the ground up, there's no reason to call it episode 3 just because it continues from 2.....There is no way on Earth they'll call it Ep. 3.

...I actually did think that there was a chain of command at Valve (just one that works differently than what you'd normally envision), but the whole "Steam on PS 3" thing was the idea of four engineers and they did it anyways? Wow.

edited 5th Aug '11 12:16:19 PM by Enzeru

Whoever wrote that things seems to take game development waaay too seriously.

Companies make games, gamers enjoy them, companies make money and sometimes enjoy doing so. It's that simple.

^Yeah, but the point was that Valve's corporate structure doesn't work like the average game company's does.

edited 14th May '11 4:20:48 PM by RocketDude

Valve is cool and all, but they work on Valve Time. This is why they're number three in my top 5.

In my opinion, devs like Splash Damage and High Moon can make games just as good and they don't take forever to make it.

Ok I am not sure about the thread itself, but I HATE the "elephant in the room" in the title. Someone please edit it. Its starting to get ANNOYING.

Opinion noted, but I think it's applicable.

Episode 3, Half-Life 3, I don't care; just as long as we get some more half-life action.

Ditto. Don't care what it's called, just care that it continues the game.

Thread name changed — Better?

Yes, thanks for changing the title because of the one person who likes to make posts in topics just because of the title and doesn't actually talk about the topic at hand. (Not that I don't agree that the title needed to be changed. Also not that I'm yelling at Maddy which I would never do because I like Maddy and I enjoy having my organs not being banned. Just saying, seriously, NNG. This is like the fourth time.)

On Topic: Basically, at this point, Valve should drop the "Episode" part of the title because at this rate, it should really be Half-Life 2: Season 3. Episodic gaming does not mean release a game every few years. Episodes should rarely ever go past 1 year between them.

edited 15th May '11 4:58:20 PM by ColorPrinter

Thread name changed — Better?

Yes, thanks!

Also, I wonder what their plans for DOTA 2 are...