I have had it with Valve

[siddif]

I have yet to see a Valve franchise i dont like and as im a Mac gamer a lot if this stuff is new to me thanks to Steam now being cross platform =D

I can see why some people can be annoyed at the length of time between releases but until then you can have the half assed mediocre annual releases from other developers instead of waiting for a game with a bit more time and effort put into it.

You can like or hate the games all you want but you cant say that Valve is a lazy company - personally i think Steam is the best thing to happen to PC Gaming in a long time as it provides a unified community with free updates, a back up of your game and its save file as well as adding achievements all for a pretty decent price.

I bought Arkham Asylum on Steam over christmas there for £3.50 (gone back up to £7.50 now) and that games only a year old so im pretty happy with that.

 

[KaosuHamoni]

Receiving more Portal is a lot like receiving more bacon given to you by a supermodel carrying a blank check made out to you.

Sure, it's more of the same. BUT I'M TOTALLY OKAY WITH THAT.

This really has nothing to do with the topic, but seriously WHAT THE FUCK is up with people's obsession with bacon?

I believe it derives from this. Although, i could be wrong. I mean, this is bacon we're talking about here.

 

[JemothSkarii]

Meh, I've never been too much of a PC gamer, so Valve games aren't my favorite, but I still do enjoy them. Good things take time (although with Activision pumping out CoD once a year a lot of people will disagree with me) so maybe Valve will pull a GT5 with HL3.
Just don't start pulling CoD with me, please, I have enough fanboys bragging about their modern pew-pews...

 

[Ickorus]

I like Valve. That is all.

This but no 'That is all.'.

Source engine is still good even by todays standards, to say otherwise is just silly. (Yes it is getting a bit dated now though)

In my opinion each episode in the half-life franchise has been good but they have taken far too long to get each one out considering their original promise of more games faster.

Have you even looked at the videos of Portal 2? Im not even gonna explain this one.

L4D2 was a mistake, it should have been a large DLC add-on to the first game though I would have been happy to pay and I think Valve has a free DLC forever thing going on so charging for all the new L4D2 stuff as a new game was the only viable choice. Still a mistake since it turned the first game into a ghost town though.

I think Valve are currently producing a new engine which they'll release with Ep3 because the Source engine is notoriously bad when it comes to snow and ice and it's pretty much the only explanation I can think of as to why it's taking them quiet so long to push the next Half-Life out.

 

[Vykrel]

they have been irritating lately... although i dont have a problem with them using the source engine, considering how great i think it is, i do have a problem with them keeping us in the dark about the next Half-Life installment.

a new multiplatform counterstrike would be nice, too. CS on the xbox was half-assed and glitchy as all hell, but it was still extremely fun to play, and was always in the top 5 played games up until XBL on the original xbox was shut down.

also, they really shouldnt have pumped out two zombie games in one year. thats just ridiculous, considering they are practically the same game.

i just hope they have been working on HL3 this whole time, and not just jerking around with these new IPs

 

[orangebandguy]

The TF2 updates are free. I don't complain about free stuff.

I could take a massive shit on your desk for free, and you would have every right to complain.

Honestly, you can't keep people silent if something is genuinely awful. Even if it is for free. Besides with the Mann Co store nobody gets to use the new weapons unless they pay for it.

 

[Kouen]

When was the last time Valve [http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/meanwhile.jpg] announced a completely new series? L4D...how long ago was it?

Now they just announced Portal 2...or should I say Portal: More of the Same."

I mean, at least they could have it on a new engine, but NO!

They have used the same engine for an entire decade.

WOW!

Not to mention they have completely forgotten their best franchise! Hey guys! Remember Dr. Freeman! You know, the whole of Earth and stuff!

There should have been no "episodes" in the first place for HL2, and they should have all come out in the same year considering around five minutes were put into each section.

They are the perfect example of a lazy company, stop using the nasty Source engine, and get their engineers to make something that doesn't have Gamecube graphics.

I give up. I can't be pacified with TF2 updates forever. If Valve doesn't announce Episode 3, or HL3 running on a new engine soon I'm just done with them as a developer.

Actually I think they were done with Ep. 3 a long time ago, Gabe just ate it.

What do you think about the company?

I think you need to stop crying 1st of all

This thread reminds me of another about someone that's had it with Blizzard for advertising there games xD

Source engine /shrug Works fine why change it, Graphics "Outdated" Graphics are not everything maybe alot of the youth forgot the time before graphics made the game and not everything was Gun Metal Grey, Camo Green and Dirt Brown xD

Complaining about whole new games instead of sequals is silly as you may as well put Blizzard under the same thing then since they only activly work with 3 IP's Warcraft, Starcraft and DiabloCra.. I mean Diablo... or say Nintendo and the amount of Mario, Zelda, Pokemon and Metroid games.

if ya dont like it move on with your life no need to get all hot and bothered with Valve because they are still using an engine they made... If it aint broke dont fix it, hell lets face it it took ages before Bethesda Softworks moved off the Gamebryo engine and id suspect some of that is only to do with the makers of GameBryo going under.

Summing this up... if your gonna "CRY SOME MORE!" (as the heavy says) then you may also want to cry about a good few other developers too xD

 

[Recron]

If their habits mean those crazy steam sales exist, I'm happy, steam is the only thing from valve I really care about that and portal 2.

 

[Darth_Dude]

This really has nothing to do with the topic, but seriously WHAT THE FUCK is up with people's obsession with bacon?

It's nature's perfect food.

If you don't want your share, I'll take it...

You're seriously going to tell me that bacon is better than say, steak?

I've never understood this craze either, considering i've never actually eaten it..

 

[repeating integers]

IF you MUST insist, there is a leaked version of episode 3, i will post the link if you want

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ip0O54pKHrM

Proof that that's real. If so, then damn, those are pretty graphics. Quite a nice apocalyptic wasteland too.

 

[Rockchimp69]

I thought the Source engine had aged really well in Half-Life 2 when I played it, actually. And besides, they're supposed to be working on a new engine now (GoldSrc or something).

You I can say a lot of things about Valve (or more specifically, their games... well, alright, just HL2), but calling them lazy is a bit of a stretch. They've got 3.5 different IPs going at once (Portal being in the same universe as Half-Life) - and their release schedule is quite good, to be honest. Half-Life 3 (it is probably a full game, rather than an episode by now) has only taken 3 years so far. That's honestly not long at all, Duke Nukem Forever took literally 4 times that long. And in the meantime (and beforehand), they've released other games frequently, and are soon going to release another (Portal 2). Valve work hard for their fans, to me it sounds like you're just being ungrateful.

GoldSrc (Or GoldSource) is the Half Life 1 engine.

 

[spinFX]

I think they can afford to lose your business.

Fact is they make quality, polished, and fun games on their own schedule. If you have criticisms of that, good luck finding quality games elsewhere. Try:

Blizzard - oh wait they make sequels too... Not many oirignal IPs these days. Diablo 1, 2, and 3. Warcraft 1, 2, and 3. Stracraft 1 and 2. Uh oh, guess you won't want to play any Blizzard games, at least one new IP MOO is coming...

Activision - Lol. You complain about sequels, no go here.

Bethesda - Nope. Sequels galore, Elder Scrolls V on it's wait and Fallout 3 was a sequel.

Obsidian - Well besides the fact they suck, all they do is sequels. Minus Alpha Protocol, but again, suckage.

Log story short, your "sequels" complaint is useless. You'll shut yourself out of almost every developer if you do that. Most of them only have 2-3 IPs these days.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

also graphics are not and should never be important.

Personally, I couldn't disagree more with this statement here but it's not worth arguing about.

@OP
Anything I say would be reiterating what everyone else has responded with, but Valve truly is one of my favorite companies. Sure, the Source engine is showing its age but it still runs like a dream and it gets the job done. I'm hard-pressed to complain about that.

On top of that, I have never seen them release a bad or buggy game, ever. That's an astonishing achievement in its own right. They can take all the time they want.

Well then really what is the point in even quoting me in the first place. I am a little peeved by this. What a completely and utterly pointless quote. Graphics should never come over gameplay or fixing bugs. I am not going to add IMO as it is obviously an opinion as I rather my games work right and play right that look nice.

 

[LazyAza]

Source was built as a modular engine from the start and the current version is vastly superior than the original. Saying its the same engine now is like saying Unreal Engine 3 only does the same things as Unreal Engine 1, which is bullshit its so untrue.

Left4Dead2 is a multiplayer game, which by their nature have to have scaled back visuals. A game with as many complexities as it requires a very efficient unique build of source to run as well as possible, it is not an accurate representation of the maximum capabilities of the engine. Play episode 2 and it is clearly more visually striking than L4D2 and easily much more impressive than HL2. That said Left4Dead2 is still a nice looking game, the zombie decals in particular are amazing.

And from what I've seen of Portal 2 source is doing even more amazing things, the shaders and lighting in particular are some of the best I have ever seen in a game and the texture res's and poly counts are definitely ramped up.

I don't know where you're pulling your 'source is outdated and looks crap' opinion from but it clearly isn't reality.

 

[DTWolfwood]

Wait they are a development studio?! I thought they're just a store for other ppl's games. :O

 

[Roofstone]

Don't fix what isn't broke I suppose.

The L4D series is very popular and very good.

Nearly everyone is excited for Portal 2.

The TF2 updates are free. I don't complain about free stuff.

EDIT: I care little for the Half Life games so HL3 doesn't bother me.

Pretty much of that. In all honesty it seems less like you dislike Valve and more or less just want HL3.

 

[Antari]

Valve is its own publishing house as well. So they don't have a larger company looming over them forcing deadlines on them. Valve has a history of distraction. They start working on something like Half-Life 3 ... and Oh .. Zombies .. this is how you got the Left 4 Dead series. Weather they return to Half-Life or not, they do good games, WHEN they get around to making them. They aren't doing much of anything different. They are just coming up with another idea most likely.

 

[FirmartheTrilby]

Am I only one getting annoyed of people who complain about HL2 EPISODE3? Seriously just... Stop geez...

 

[JeanLuc761]

Well then really what is the point in even quoting me in the first place. I am a little peeved by this. What a completely and utterly pointless quote. Graphics should never come over gameplay or fixing bugs. I am not going to add IMO as it is obviously an opinion as I rather my games work right and play right that look nice.

Actually, I was just hoping not to derail the thread. No need to blow it out of proportion.

I do happen to agree with you that graphics shouldn't come before gameplay or bug-fixing, but I COMPLETELY disagree with your earlier statement that graphics simply aren't important. Having an appealing visual style alongside impressive graphics technology can improve games immensely, especially if it's used to compliment the gameplay.

A fine example is Bioware's Mass Effect series. Now, I love the series for the story more than anything else, but I also know that the game wouldn't be nearly as good were it not for the excellent art design and occasional breathtaking visuals (more in Mass Effect 2 than 1). If Bioware had made the series just a muddled, low resolution mess it wouldn't be as appealing and I would be less interested.

Similarly, having great graphics can help with immersion and believability. Uncharted 2 has the best character animation I've ever seen (save for L.A. Noire, naturally), and the game benefits IMMENSELY from the visuals. Characters feel real, movements are natural and gameplay utilizes the visuals to create a cinematic, thrill-ride experience.

Now then, that's not to say that visuals are all-important. Spyro the Dragon (PS1) is ugly by modern standards, but I still love it because of the fantastic gameplay.

To put an endcap to this: Graphics are extremely important when utilized properly, even if the gameplay comes first. A lot of people bash Crysis for "Oh, it's just pretty," but they couldn't be more wrong. Crytek focused on the graphics and they also focused on the gameplay and what resulted was one of the most beautiful and well-designed FPS games of the last decade.

 

[Zipa]

Looks like the OP is just a whinging child that has little understanding of the larger things around him.