A rant to valve.

[TilMorrow]

Take into account they actually have to make the game first before they release it and make sure it is well done and playable. Maybe thats why they haven't released anything new yet. I mean they have Portal 2 they have to make sure is done well, as well as their DOTA style game they are currently making, also HL3/2 EP3. Plus I'm sure they have some secret projects in concept at the moment. And you said you like TF2 and it gets free updates. So why are you complaining? Side note: They also make money off the Mann-store.

Also referring to your point about being able to still play Halo 2. It has been said that Bungie may be re-releasing Halo:CE so I assume they will re-release Halo 2.

 

[Pointer]

I think the whole "Valve" dying part is kind of moot. Have you ever heard of a little product called Steam? Well, to tell you the truth Steam is a humongous money maker. And honestly Valve is Valve is Valve. They do whatever the hell they want and sell millions of games doing it.

 

[HandsomeZer0]

Well, most of the companies in the gaming industry are set to a way better standpoint than valve. Valve made a cult, and relies on set cult.

I cant call valve a cult, thats like saying EA relies on morons. Innovation comes slowly, however at least they have tried a few new things. I think square enix and nintendo can safely say they have built a minecraft style kingdom in their comfort zones.

 

[Dogstile]

Really I'm thinking this is more of a rant on the whole gaming industry. Name a title from a major developer which came out recently and doesn't have a number on the end.

Mindjack.

Sorry, just wanted to throw that in your face, i'm feeling mean tonight >

Oh, you got me there but...wait a minute... you left of the rest of my quote. Nice. like the rest of it says, "now name one with an original concept." 3rd person shooter based around the taking of cover is hardly anything new or different in any way. (the whole mindjacking business is just their particular gimick so that the game has at least something slightly original. but not really.)

want that in your face, i'm a night >

amazing what misquoting can do.

The rest of your post didn't matter. It is an original concept on the 3rd person shooter. What, does it not count because 3rd person shooting is in the game? Do you want this original game to also not be played on controllers because thats been done before?

 

[Vibhor]

Okay, I decided to tackle your post in parts because I am in a bad(good?) mood.

Lets look at what they did to make themselves disliked currently in my eyes.

Okay lets look.

Alright, so to start this, we have to look back back. Back to the realease of Counterstike and Team Fortress. Both games helped valve carve their name into the gaming market.

Wrong, Counterstrike and Team fortress were not even made by valve. Both were goldsrc mods that powered the Half life 1. Infact the game that made Valve floating in money was Half life 1 not Counterstrike and Team fortress. Both of them were just mods which later became supported by valve.

Fast forward to now. How did valve make all of it's money? Feeding off of the same games for years now. Counter Strike Source is still the #1 game played on steam (An extreamly sad fact).

Nope, actually quite a large number of people still play CS 1.6 and also CS:Source is played till today because it is an FPS that takes skill and doesn't have space marines and regenerating health making the game shit. Plus CS:S requires no monthly fee so they possibly cannot be making money on it anymore. Rather they might be losing it on maintaining of the servers.

But I can understand this, and I forgive them for this, because if it is not broken, don't fix it. But are steam players seriously so closed minded that this is the main game they play? Why don't they go explore new titles? If you ask me, It is pointless to have all of these other games on steam if your market is based around a crap old game.

Okay, so because you play a game you like, you become close minded. Counter Strike requires skill. It has players who are so skilled that they even hackers cannot win against them. And millions of people still play different games on steam. Saying that large number of people play CS and not other games is like saying 100 millions of people play farmville on PC but no other game. And maybe they have explored new titles but they were just not happy with the piss poor ports PC has been getting? Mouse acceleration can make all the difference.

So goes to the 2nd reason I dislike valve.
Team Fortress 2
How can I hate such a great game? I don't. It's the market based around the game. What happens whenever most steam games come out? I get an update where if I prebuy a game, I get a hat in TF2. Valve's entire market is based around it. And valve has grown calm to this idea, keep the game, people like it, we still make money, we get rich. This is a cheap, heartless way to kick a gamer in the balls. Valve,

You do know hats can be gained WITHOUT buying them by doing just a little more work and also updates are free?

Your money can't come souly from hats! For chrissakes come up with new ideas! I don't need a virtual hat for forking out 60 bucks on a new game! I NEED THE GAME! I admit, I play Team fortress 2 a lot. I play counterstrike a lot. But come the realease of Crysis 2, I wont. I'll have a game to play. And I'm not buying it on steam. Hell, I'm probably buying it on Xbox.

There money is not even coming solely from hats. Hats are just buy-able for the people who do not want to work for them. That 60 bucks get hat idea is actually good. Think, would you rather take a virtual hat than nothing when you sheepishly spend 60dolla' on a game without even waiting for steam sale. (PC games come 50 dolla' what are you even talking about?)
Plus crysis 2 is a completely different game made by completely different developer so I don't even know why you talked about it.
Also Xbox cannot even run Crysis 2/smartass

This is my point, COME OUT WITH NEW IDEAS. Sure, portal 2 will probably be a good game, but not great. A few new things, but nothing outstanding. Valve, eventually people will move one from these games, what happens when your current generation grows up? Doing the same things over and over again will not attract new people, you're stuck with what you have, and fanbois are like Oil, they don't last forever. Valve, come up with new Ideas. A new game series, But make it more innovative and open to other gamers! Don't restrict yourself to the same damn thing, open up!

Anybody that hates Valve seriously never truly liked them. Valve are the best damn developers on the PC market(soon to be PS3). Its a plan of Valve to make sequels of the game they make. Their sequels are not money making shit piece but often polish the raw gameplay of the predecessor by adding new content or sometimes are just to release new stuff with the game. Portal 2 is releasing PS3 steamworks, Half life 2 release steam etc.

So valve, if you want to be arround for a long time, and inscribe your name in greatness, Think outside of the box. You can do it. You've done it before. I'd absolutly hate for you to be remembered as a way to pass time.

They have already been around for a long time. They could even stop making games and still survive considering steam in mind. They are doing great and if you don't like their games(which are all sequels) then just don't play them and go play games made by epic or treyarch

I know that steam was made mainly for valve games, but look at all of it's potential. They made one of the most powerful gaming tools in the universe, and they let gamers sink into their valve based comfort zone.

Who got this into your mind?
Steam was not for Valve games but was a (first?) digital distributing platform which allowed games to be bought and downloaded online without any cost of the disk. And I don't even know what can you do for improving steam anymore. Steam sales, indie support and whatnot.

Okay, yes valve has created some cool ideas in the past, but none of them have reached the mainstream sucess of other titles. To this point, Valve has a sliver of the online game market, While other companies have a booming percent. It is like valve is becoming an exclusive cult, and their market is dying out because of this. You may think the games are popular, but look at the numbers, and compair those to other games. (Not the steam versions)

Its because Valve is a pc developer and tend to give more support to the general public instead of say, making a new game. The other companies go with flow, make sequels as money making things and generally have things which are interchangeable. And they do not shell sequels like its nobody's business but instead tend to make goo games with new ideas as opposed to make the same thing in HD.

Now that people are begining to bring age into the topic, Let's concider something.
If halo 2 were still active, it would probably have 50,000 players. I sure as hell know I would play it. And bungi was able to make 2 more mainstream success games, barley breaking a sweat. Valve has a lot of compitition, and it is taking over the market. I just want them to stay arround, y'know? I like TF2, but I get bored of it. I love half life, but Playing the same campaign over and over gets boring.

So you mean you would rather play an xbox rather than a pc game with good support and community.I will pass you as an Xbox fanboy nothing more.
Bungie doesn't makes games for people, its for the sake of profit. How many of bungie's game got support even after release?
See this is what I am talking about, companies shell out sequels like taking a dump whereas valve tend to make games more polished and complete rather than generic and shit.

 

[Stevepinto3]

I'd say that if Counterstrike and Team Fortress are still so dang popular it's got more to do with the players keeping them alive than anything Valve does. I don't play TF2 for the hats. Adding little extra hats to be downloaded here and there probably isn't Valve's whole marketing strategy. Although with their release schedule I'll forgive anyone that has that suspicion. I'd more likely attribute it to a small dev team or perhaps just a desire to troll gamers.

 

[Freshman]

Really I'm thinking this is more of a rant on the whole gaming industry. Name a title from a major developer which came out recently and doesn't have a number on the end.

Mindjack.

Sorry, just wanted to throw that in your face, i'm feeling mean tonight >

Oh, you got me there but...wait a minute... you left of the rest of my quote. Nice. like the rest of it says, "now name one with an original concept." 3rd person shooter based around the taking of cover is hardly anything new or different in any way. (the whole mindjacking business is just their particular gimick so that the game has at least something slightly original. but not really.)

want that in your face, i'm a night >

amazing what misquoting can do.

What, does it not count because 3rd person shooting is in the game? Do you want this original game to also not be played on controllers because thats been done before?

Don't be putting your shit in my mouth. I didn't saying no damn thing about not using controllers. Thats all you going off on some shit ass logic. Now, I am saying that Mindjack is not original. Saying that game is original is like saying COD black ops is original because now you can dive forward! Or saying that BFBC 2 is original because the terrain is destructible. Crysis 2, COD with super powers! Most modern shooting based games are just a developer taking an established formula (3PS, Cod, BF, halo) and adding there own little thing to make it slightly different. The core game play is always the same and sometimes you barely notice the little addition they make.

 

[Snotnarok]

You do realize the new hats and guns are made by someone else, a chunk of them anyway from what I gather.

And whatever your argument against the hats and such they make money off it because people like it, and if that's how it is, that's kinda how it goes.

 

[RelexCryo]

There are numerous bugs with the steam achievement system in Dawn of War 2: Retribution. There are also numerous bugs with steam in general, as launching almost any game with steam will, most of the time, result in numerous glitches with my monitor, either preventing me from seeing anything, or causing me to see everything in wierd, constantly shifting colors. Old Games I downloaded from disc don't have this problem, nor do games from Good Old Games or D2D. Steam just seems to hate my particular graphics card/monitor/video setup. This is a problem with the vast majority of games I try to plan on steam, including Sam & Max Season 3, The aforementioned DOW 2 Retribition, Poker Night at the Inventory, and Total War: Shogun 2.

 

[Sonic Doctor]

They are NOT popular.

Let's see, Valve won the March Mayhem last year. March Mayhem is a popularity contest.

Valve is again coasting through the MM competition again this year. If it wasn't popular it wouldn't win.

Your bracket shows me how out of touch you are with what is popular in the gaming industry. Crytek, beating Valve, and going to win the competition??? All Crytek has backing it is graphics, in an industry where graphics are the icing on the cake and not the main course of the meal and people prefer the meal over dessert in the games industry. On top of that, Bungie in the finals? I like Bungie, but it is suicidal to think that they can beat BioWare in a popularity contest. BioWare will mop the floor Bungie. It can beat Bungie with its eyes closed and its hands tied behind its back. BioWare will also easily beat Bethesda. Blizzard will be tough for BioWare, but they beat Blizzard last year in the final four. Valve will beat Mojang, and it will be a rematch of Valve and BioWare, the real test will be to see if BioWare can break Valve's popularity this time.

Just because you don't see Valve as popular, doesn't mean it isn't popular.

I haven't seen anything that gives what you are saying any weight. Oh no, Valve offers incentives for buying their products. Guess what, they are a business, all businesses do this, because it works, and it will always work. BioWare did it with the Dragon Age 2 Signiture Edition, and it worked, I and all my friends pre-ordered before the deadline and we love the game to death and love that we got the Signature Edition.

If Valve didn't do the things it does, then it would make less money, less money means fewer games or no games at all if they can't meet the budget for at least one game.

On the Counter Strike on Steam thing, maybe they aren't closed minded, maybe they haven't seen anything else that interests them, or maybe they don't have the money to get new games, or maybe since it is an old game, they don't have the computer capability to run new games and don't have the money to buy a new gaming rig.

So what if Valve wants to keep making money on the same games, because they are still making money. It is their business decision and it seems like a smart one to me, they aren't loosing money and they produce games at their own pace, which allows them to bring the best quality and not a rushed out product.

Valve is popular and it is easy to see, especially since I haven't seen many people that are agreeing with you and this thread is already 4 pages.

 

[Goldeneye1989]

.

And when did I say that? OH WAIT, NEVER.

They are just too concintrated on the dying community that decided to stay with their quality games. (And they are dying because some are moving on)[/quote]

Woah woah woah.
So Lets see im going to do this in real time, im going to go around the Major Valve Sites and see what they are working on.
Ok Tf2 - Community map pack, and then the three Way shogun update. Both entirely made my the community. Valve made the stats for 3 Melee items, 2 secondary. Before that The Promo items for Homefront (A hat for one class that based of the Main advertisement photo), and the two rift items.k

L4d/2
Constant blog posting, polls community content
Working on a community driven update, with the community

Now to the new stuff
Portal 2 - Polishing up one of the most anticipated games of the year, making in house advertising campaigns ect.

Dota2 - Working on the gameplay, graphics, concept art

As always there is Dealing with the Steam site and program in general

Working on Half life 2 ep 3

They have also employed the guy who made thief for a project that they are not talking about yet i assume

 

[D YellowMadness]

The problem with Valve is that they don't pay attention to all of their games well enough & they don't care about people who don't have great PCs to play their games on. L4D2 keeps getting more glitches & problems (at least on 360) because they won't fix it. They released it only a year after L4D1 even though L4D1's better than L4D2 in almost every way & almost everything about L4D2 has been terrible since the beginning because they've started hating their customers. Does anyone honestly believe that Hard 8, Head Shot, Taaaaaaaanks, Room For One, Survival, rolling creshendos & L4D2 in general are supposed to be fair or well-made? They keep adding terrible modes & glitches to L4D2 & meanwhile, a lot of L4D1's achievements still don't work.

Aside from L4D problems, look at TF2 for 360. The only update it ever got lets people turn off what ever classes they want & set amounts so they're entire team gets to be scouts while the other team is just engineers & the scouts can take all the territories in less than a minute. In addition to that, the extended ending to Portal is only on PC & they won't give us maps made by modders or anything like that so it's like they're too busy giving us something else. The only thing they're too busy doing is exclusively updating the PC versions of their games. They have time to make tons of hats, hundreds of Steam achievements, & some TF2 cartoons but they allegedly don't have the time to fix the Crash Course achievements or any of the 360 TF2 problems or give us things they already made like TF2 add-ons or Portal's extended ending.

 

[Zaik]

The problem with Valve is that they don't pay attention to all of their games well enough & they don't care about people who don't have great PCs to play their games on. L4D2 keeps getting more glitches & problems (at least on 360) because they won't fix it. They released it only a year after L4D1 even though L4D1's better than L4D2 in almost every way & almost everything about L4D2 has been terrible since the beginning because they've started hating their customers. Does anyone honestly believe that Hard 8, Head Shot, Taaaaaaaanks, Room For One, Survival, rolling creshendos & L4D2 in general are supposed to be fair or well-made? They keep adding terrible modes & glitches to L4D2 & meanwhile, a lot of L4D1's achievements still don't work.

Aside from L4D problems, look at TF2 for 360. The only update it ever got lets people turn off what ever classes they want & set amounts so they're entire team gets to be scouts while the other team is just engineers & the scouts can take all the territories in less than a minute. In addition to that, the extended ending to Portal is only on PC & they won't give us maps made by modders or anything like that so it's like they're too busy giving us something else. The only thing they're too busy doing is exclusively updating the PC versions of their games. They have time to make tons of hats, hundreds of Steam achievements, & some TF2 cartoons but they allegedly don't have the time to fix the Crash Course achievements or any of the 360 TF2 problems or give us things they already made like TF2 add-ons or Portal's extended ending.

Games on consoles will always be buggier than PC because Xbox Live and PSN charge fees after a certain number of patches. I don't know how the PSN does it, but M$ expects some sort of fee after two patches.

 

[banksy122]

Nearly 4 pages and no body has even mentioned Alien Swarm...Really?
Alien swarm is FREE, and by valve, and is a game heading in an entirely new direction, and is an amazing game, and did I mention it was FREE.

Also, Valve have being heavily investing their time in Steam, supporting indie developers, supporting innovative in the game development world. So please, don't try to say Valve aren't trying something new, EVERYTHING THEY DO IS NEW, everything they have ever done was new at its time and ground breaking. I am a fanboy of valve, and proud of it, they are the best game company...no, best company all round at the moment.

The thing about TF2 and hats. They are doing that because that is what the community wants, it is what they ask for. Not many companies listen so intently to their customers.

They make good games, maybe not lots and maybe they take a long time, but bloody good games.

 

[Vault101]

Im sure there are more worrthwhile companies/things to complain about

 

[Smooth Operator]

I'm sorry, did you just call Counter Strike - "a crap old game", and Portal 2 - "won't be a great game".

You may not have noticed but Valve isn't EA or Activision, who pimp out their franchizes until there are yearly releases on all platforms, pumping all cash into marketing until everything is a super hit...
And if you think those super hits define good games... boy are you wrong.

 

[Soveru]

What matters is how many copies of the game are sold, not how popular is remains a few years later. Companies make money from the former, not the latter

 

[Grabbin Keelz]

You know what? If a company like Treyarch has to make a new game every other year just to keep the consumers entertained and Valve can go without a new game for about a decade and still have plenty of players there must be something they're doing right. I am a little bit scared of the fact that Valve might think TF2 is immortal and just stop making games altogether because of it.....oh wait, Portal 2, nevermind.
Actually because of all this money Valve can now make games without restraints or small budgets. I think people can be too quick to buy into the idea that game companies are intentionally 'screwing us over'. I don't think 'screwing over' is a good term, more like 'taking advantage'. The main reason Modern Warfare 2 was made was because so many people bought the first one. Then they just kept making CoD games because people kept buying them. It's our own fault, if we don't demand something better and new, they'll just keep giving us the same stuff.

But don't think about that too hard, its like 3:30 and I'm pretty sure I'm drunk.

 

[MrGalactus]

Nice avatar, OP.