Valve: Portal 2 is Our Best Game Ever

[Therumancer]

If I can say this...screw Portal right now. God damn it, it's nice, but I want some more Half-Life action.

Totally unrelated to my above rant, I will say that it's possible that they wanted to do Portal 2 first so they could tie the developments heavily into the finale of the Half Life series (which I believe this would be). One of the things that made portal popular was how it tied into the Half Life canon so well.

I'll also be honest in saying (fully related to part of my rant) that Half-Life is pretty violent, albeit not as graphic as "Left 4 Dead". Given the way Valve did an immediate about face when opposed in Australia I can see where they might want to develop a title that is short on gunplay and actual violence. Consider that it's not just Australia right but but also nations like Germany, France (to an extent), and China... Australia is simply one of the nations taking point, and a specific "hot spot" because as one of the more free countries on earth if they pass laws of this sort, less free regimes can use it to defend themselves when questioned down the road by nations like the US. Given our relationship with Austrlia if we (the US) were to critique China after this they could point a finger at the Aussies and give us a bigger headache than usual.

In the end though Valve seems to pretty much be into the whole "path of least resistance" thing. So they refuse to put in the extra time to program versions of games for the PS-3 software, and despite their fame and deep pockets they are willing to turn their back on tons of fans in nations with goverment censors as the Left 4 Dead 2 thing showed, because it's easier to trade on the terms of the censors, than to try and create the terms they would want to trade on.

 

[Cowabungaa]

My question stands: In what way?

I beg to differ that it wasn't influential. You know the CoD series right? Or the MoH series? Heck, most singleplayer shooters of this day. They're always said to be played like action movies; big, scripted events, 'on rails', explosive, action-packed, you know the deal. That's Half Life's influence right there, that's what they started, they introduced and more so popularised cinematic design. And that's a preeeeetty big thing, as you see it pretty much everywhere.

Irregardless of Pedigree every game a developer produces is heralded as their "best work" and so on. Really I think people (and by people, I mean primarily the game media) should stop reporting this kind of hype and focus strictly on hard information. I also think that with the price of video games and other factors gaming journalists should give less print/air time to hype and only give real facts in order to prevent game companies from keeping everything close to their chest until the release date, at which point people find out "OMG this is a giant turd" or doesn't do half of what was implied earlier.

You have some fair points, but it's not all cold, hard logic. It's one reason why I like this industry so much; the passion surrounding it. So many people are passionate about these games, even though every so often we get disappointed, we still love the videogame medium and we still love getting pleasant surprises. And that's, I think, why we have this kind of reporting; people get excited about it, want to share their excitement and love for it, their hope for a pleasant surprise. It all feels so good, so uplifting, so joyful. And I like that.

Ugh... Don't tell me this is PC exclusive? My PC just decided it doesn't play any games/

I want this now...

The Orange Box was on the 360 as well, even on the PS3 even though that was a clearly inferior version. So it's fair to say that we'll see Portal 2 on those platforms as well, at least on the 360. Heck, they're even making it for the Mac!

 

[grimdeath999]

ZOMG i cant wait first one was epic

 

[BloodyThoughts]

Must...not...get...hyped...
GAH! I THOUGHT I WAS IMMUNE TO GETTING HYPED!

MUST GET MONEY!

 

[Jared]

All developers though will say that. I will believe it when I see it.

Although. if its portal I dont see much reason why it wont be...it is awesome after all

 

[theultimateend]

"We got the signals that we wanted -- this is what people liked; this is what people didn't like. And to us, it was like, 'OK now we know how to take this big,' so that's what we're going to do with Portal 2."

They listened to what the fans liked?

It's going to be full of Weighted Companion Cubes and cake jokes. Calling it now.

Well I liked everything about the first game.

But maybe I am not a true fan.

 

[Axolotl]

My question stands: In what way? I do not doubt they created excellent pieces of software. I see both Half-Life games as the best single-player FPS ever created.
The statement I'm questioning is "Valve changed FPS". Changing a genre requires other people to actually adopting things from your work - and I don't see many shooters out there doing a lot things the way Half-Life does.

That's because they did everything Half-Life did. Pre Half-Life FPSs were very fast pased and esentially story free, the big ones being Doom, Quake, Duke Nukem 3d and Unreal. Half-Life not only raised the bar in terms of narritive and level design but also in terms of pacing, storytelling, atmosphere and general game structure. By far its biggest contributions (setpieces, storytelling and general combat mechanics) were so tightly integrated into how games play it's easy to forget that they were ever not part of what an FPS is. Half-Life simply changed the way almost every game since has worked on a fundemental level.

And if you're really picky and won't accept what they did for single player FPSs then Team Fortress and Counter-Strike.

 

[Sparrow]

Man. I wish I enjoyed the first.

I'd be able to join in on the hype you're all enjoying. Sad face.

 

[Skops]

I wonder if they'll switch away from an extremely dated source engine yet.

 

[FightThePower]

Oh wow...that's quite a statement.

Even more psyched for this now; I have my co-op partner set up already

 

[A Weary Exile]

...

This better come out for the PS3 God damn it. I just bought the Orange Box (Yes for PS3, I don't care if you feel that it's inferior) and I am loving every bit of it, especially Portal.

Don't make me sad Valve.

 

[Pimppeter2]

Ideally, should every one of their New games try to be their best game ever?

 

[Rainboq]

Hey, their allowed too work on whatever they want!

Screw that, this is episodic content. That means releasing things in a timely manner. THREE YEARS! Episode 1 released 2006, Episode 2 released 2007, now it's 2010 and no episode 3. Meanwhile they've done all manner of other crap. Who cares about Left 4 Dead 2 and portal. I'm never buying either one of those.

This is an unfinished game. Finish your damn game Valve.

.... *Twitch*...... ok, I'm calm now, but if they decide too put of EP 3 for a while, let them

 

[Motiv_]

they've delivered nothing but wonderful quality games. With the exception of Steam requiring you to be connected to the internet, they've also been very lenient when it comes to DRM.

Actually, it doesn't, steam needs you to be online when downloading the games and playing online, but the offline games like portal can be played in offline mode, so you can play even if your internet connection is down.

Well, my steam is the way you say, but I've heard complaints that you have to be connected to the internet not only to install it in the first place, but also whenever you want to change to offline mode as well. These complaints might be utter bullshit, but I'm not enough of a fan to turn a blind eye to a potential flaw, even if it doesn't effect me.

 

[MurderousToaster]

Their best game? My lord.

This shall be awesome on an unprecedented, unbelievable scale.

 

[Stabby Joe]

The best game VALVE has ever done? That's some pretty major hype right there... which means a lot of potentially disappointed fans.

We shall see.

 

[Da_Schwartz]

Ummmm best game they ever did. I will believe it when i see it. And not base may opinion on "because i said so."

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

Fucking Valve, we love and hate you simultaneously.