Gabe Newell of Valve Software (Steam) recently spoke to 1 NEWS in New Zealand about everything that has been going on and teased a few fun details. For those who didn't know, Newell has been staying in New Zealand since early 2020 and decided to stay after a holiday when COVID-19 got much worse.
Newell continues to talk very highly of New Zealand, even somewhat jokingly mentioning that some Valve staffers appear to strongly want to move their work over there now too. Newell mentioned why there's no reason other game companies couldn't move to New Zealand, and joked how they're a producer of "not-stupidium" seemingly referring to how well New Zealand has dealt with COVID-19.
The real juicy details though come when, as expected, questions were asked about upcoming games. Newell said very clearly "We definitely have games in development that we're going to be announcing — it's fun to ship games," and that "Alyx was great — to be back doing single-player games, that created a lot of momentum inside of the company to do more of that.".
When asked about Half-Life 3 and the other usuals, joking about Valve being afraid of the number 3, Newell said directly "I've successfully not spoken about those things for a long time and I hope to continue to not talk about them until they are moot questions. Then we'll move on to a new set of questions," and that the "nice thing is, by not answering those questions, I avoid the community coming up with new, equally-difficult-to-answer questions.".
It's good to know that the game development fire has been lit under Valve once again. Nice to see they continue to keep Linux in their sights for games too with all their recent games (Artifact, Underlords and Half-Life: Alyx) all having Linux builds, although Alyx is not directly mentioned on the store page for Linux it is available.
What are you hoping their next game announcement will be?
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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I'd defintely hope they come up with more high quality VR games like Alyx. Don't care if it will be Half-Life-something or not, just something serious.
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slaapliedje Jan 20, 2021
I'd defintely hope they come up with more high quality VR games like Alyx. Don't care if it will be Half-Life-something or not, just something serious.Could be a puke machine if they released a Portal 3 in VR.
I still need to set aside the time to play Alyx!
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Hopefully some proper, non-VR games. Been a while since Valve put out anything I've been interested in buying.
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Gotta love the ole announcements for announcements.
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Comandante Ñoñardo Jan 21, 2021
Valve acquired Campo Santo and cancelled "In the Valley of Gods"
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Single player games yes please i would prefer non vr games as i think its a gimmick but as long as linux is support natively sure why not some vr games for people that into that.
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Holly molly.
Valve always came up with innovative gameplay, hl introduced story in fps and interaction mechanics, hl2 defined physics, portal was about bending space (and really neat rendering tricks), team fortress is a masterclass of creating classes in a multiplayer game, and so on and so forth.
Not to mention latest VR stuff, I spent days playing the bow experiment in The Lab and played Alyx like I was in there.
Valve, please, TAKE MY MONEY.
Valve always came up with innovative gameplay, hl introduced story in fps and interaction mechanics, hl2 defined physics, portal was about bending space (and really neat rendering tricks), team fortress is a masterclass of creating classes in a multiplayer game, and so on and so forth.
Not to mention latest VR stuff, I spent days playing the bow experiment in The Lab and played Alyx like I was in there.
Valve, please, TAKE MY MONEY.
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gradyvuckovic Jan 21, 2021
Valve always came up with innovative gameplay, hl introduced story in fps and interaction mechanics, hl2 defined physics, portal was about bending space (and really neat rendering tricks)Since someone has to be the pedant, they were not the first to introduce any of those things. They popularized them, sure, and could even be said to have pushed the envelope with regards to what could be done with them. But Valve has a nasty habit of getting exclusive credit for things that others were experimenting with at the time too.
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slaapliedje Jan 21, 2021
Valve should get credit for using physics WELL within a cool story sort of way. Sure there were games that used some physics and feel of gravity, etc. But none that really utilized it in such a brilliant way. Nor in a way that actually makes us remember them.Valve always came up with innovative gameplay, hl introduced story in fps and interaction mechanics, hl2 defined physics, portal was about bending space (and really neat rendering tricks)Since someone has to be the pedant, they were not the first to introduce any of those things. They popularized them, sure, and could even be said to have pushed the envelope with regards to what could be done with them. But Valve has a nasty habit of getting exclusive credit for things that others were experimenting with at the time too.
HL2 came out in what, 2004? I still can't name a game where physics played such a large part in the gameplay outside a few puzzles here and there.
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slaapliedje Jan 21, 2021
Single player games yes please i would prefer non vr games as i think its a gimmick but as long as linux is support natively sure why not some vr games for people that into that.Not sure how you think it is a gimmick. It is truly the next step in gaming. It certainly isn't 8k resolutions. The higher frame rate and resolutions and even DLSS is all about VR. That is why VR failed in the 90s, it just wasn't 'reality' enough and it would make people sick at 60fps. 90+ is the sweet spot and higher resolutions need to be there so you don't see the pixels when they are an inch from your face. Once they get haptic feedback gloves, full body tracking and maybe eye tracking into one sweet package, gaming will go to the next level.
Granted social distancing will bwcome the new normal for sure. Ha!
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]What are you hoping their next game announcement will be?An equally-difficult-to-answer question. ;)
Last edited by KuJo on 21 January 2021 at 7:53 am UTC
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Single player games yes please i would prefer non vr games as i think its a gimmick but as long as linux is support natively sure why not some vr games for people that into that.
Amazing that there is people saying vr is a gimmick on 2021. It's been in market atleast 4 years atm and you didn't tried it yet? do a favour to yourself and buy on second hand market and play half life alyx.
And i really hope the next game from Valve will be VR, i tought i was not experience like i did when i was child with games like doom or quake never in my live, that it was part of be a kid. But Half life Alxy made me feel same feeling, wowing at any corner of the game.
Last edited by bubexel on 21 January 2021 at 8:13 am UTC
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orochi_kyo Jan 21, 2021
Single player games yes please i would prefer non vr games as i think its a gimmick but as long as linux is support natively sure why not some vr games for people that into that.Not sure how you think it is a gimmick. It is truly the next step in gaming. It certainly isn't 8k resolutions. The higher frame rate and resolutions and even DLSS is all about VR. That is why VR failed in the 90s, it just wasn't 'reality' enough and it would make people sick at 60fps. 90+ is the sweet spot and higher resolutions need to be there so you don't see the pixels when they are an inch from your face. Once they get haptic feedback gloves, full body tracking and maybe eye tracking into one sweet package, gaming will go to the next level.
Granted social distancing will bwcome the new normal for sure. Ha!
Imagine the next step in gaming is having a device attached to your head all the time...
VR failed then and it is failing now, Oculus and other VR devices have been here since 4-5 years ago and not even people with enough money to buy it are not interested.
Not even mentioning the ridiculous idea that gloves and body tracking is what everyone wants. Just imagine someone who wants to play Mario, Sonic, or a simple platform/adventure game and he/she has to put that damn thing right in your eyes instead of playing while resting on the couch, or a counter strike player and he has to move so the game detect he is walking, running, crouching...
If you were right every single game out there would be an FPS, and still 2D and 3rd person view games dominate the market. Consoles are still selling very well despite the support for VR is relegated to some titles that are not popular among console gamers.
In some years when VR is still something just for a few Portability will be dominating the gaming market as it is doing today, the present and the future of gaming is smartphones with high capacity to run games in high resolutions as AAA games are doing right now in PC.
And I hope Valve stops this nonsense of throwing away money in VR, this money should go to single-player games development made for everyone, not for just a bunch of people with some extra money for 500+ peripherals as it happens on Alyx. They failed with steam machines, steam link, steam control, and now this dumb VR thing, while others make billions doing Multiplayer games for every single platform out there.
If you think VR has a chance, you are not paying attention, Alyx is no near to be as famous as HL2 was and still is, and Valve is not bringing any figure sales for Index, no AAA support after 4 years of Oculus Rift. Nintendo Switch has much less time and I think it has sold much more than all VR devices together.
Portability is the present and future, not that uncomfortable and expensive VR thing...
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I'd really hope for more VR-games the quality of Alyx :D
But i'd be equally happy for new singleplayer pancake games from valve to be honest ^^
But i'd be equally happy for new singleplayer pancake games from valve to be honest ^^
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orochi_kyo Jan 21, 2021
Single player games yes please i would prefer non vr games as i think its a gimmick but as long as linux is support natively sure why not some vr games for people that into that.
Amazing that there is people saying vr is a gimmick on 2021. It's been in market atleast 4 years atm and you didn't tried it yet? do a favour to yourself and buy on second hand market and play half life alyx.
And i really hope the next game from Valve will be VR, i tought i was not experience like i did when i was child with games like doom or quake never in my live, that it was part of be a kid. But Half life Alxy made me feel same feeling, wowing at any corner of the game.
Every single VR user in this forum is the same thing, we don't like VR and you think we haven't tried. Second-hand VR are scarce and according to some VR users they don't approach that 90 FPS to enjoy VR "properly".
Expecting the next valve game to be VR is so selfish but I expect that after seeing comments coming from VR owners on Alyx forums.
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Philadelphus Jan 21, 2021
I wouldn't call VR a gimmick, exactly, but I don't own a headset and have no plans to, and yes, I've tried it on two different occasions. 
It was a neat experience for 15 minutes to be sure, and I enjoyed it, but I have zero desire to play games in it based on my gaming preferences. Motion controls for VR are great at handling gross motor functions, but absolutely terrible at handling fine motor functions, because you can't rest your arm on something like when you're using a mouse. I don't mind VR games existing—I think they open up a world of gross motor control to games that is more difficult to replicate with mouse-and-keyboard or controllers, and I'm happy for games existing that other people enjoy even if I don't—I'm just not interested in VR myself, because the vast majority of games I play are ones that require fine motor control. Yes, the immersion is neat, but I don't really need it—my imagination's powerful enough to immerse me as much as I want in a game, without the hassle of not being able to instantly see my surroundings if I have to. 
(Plus I have a hard enough time with some of the horror segments in HL2+Episodes already just on a monitor, I don't want to be more immersed than that! 
)
Uh, back on topic, I'd probably like to see Valve come out with something else in the Portal vein, either Portal 3 or else some new wacky off-the-wall game like it.
It was a neat experience for 15 minutes to be sure, and I enjoyed it, but I have zero desire to play games in it based on my gaming preferences. Motion controls for VR are great at handling gross motor functions, but absolutely terrible at handling fine motor functions, because you can't rest your arm on something like when you're using a mouse. I don't mind VR games existing—I think they open up a world of gross motor control to games that is more difficult to replicate with mouse-and-keyboard or controllers, and I'm happy for games existing that other people enjoy even if I don't—I'm just not interested in VR myself, because the vast majority of games I play are ones that require fine motor control. Yes, the immersion is neat, but I don't really need it—my imagination's powerful enough to immerse me as much as I want in a game, without the hassle of not being able to instantly see my surroundings if I have to. (Plus I have a hard enough time with some of the horror segments in HL2+Episodes already just on a monitor, I don't want to be more immersed than that! )Uh, back on topic, I'd probably like to see Valve come out with something else in the Portal vein, either Portal 3 or else some new wacky off-the-wall game like it.
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