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Ok, lets face it, Valve have done nothing in mine, and others eyes for 4 years now. It seems, after a quick look around the web and reading many articles about them, that they have simply lost all direction, completely and utterly. They've been riding the HL/CS cash cow for a while, and it's been bringing in the pennies, all the time they have been throwing all their eggs into a rather weak basket by the name of "STEAM". This is a really silly broadband delivery service that no-one really wants nor cares about. Valve it seems care about NOTHING but this system, its all they talk about, and its all they care about. Now does anyone else think this is worrying? HL/CS can only last so long, then what they gonna do? do they honestly expect developers to licence the STEAM system for hundreds of thousands? of course not, its the last item on the list, if on the list at all.
It's a shame really, because Valve are/were wicked designers of games, HL was utter brilliance, yet instead of following in this sure winnner trend they ditch it all for some lame broadband delivery service that no one cares two hoots about! Now I think we all know that TF2 is all but gone, HL2 looks like it's nowhere to be seen, and what else is there? The 3 year out of date Condition Zero and that's pretty much it, and even that's not being designed by them. It gives me a bad taste in my mouth when I think back and see such brilliant talent thrown away for no good reason. It says on Valve's main site they consider themselves the foremost leader in the industry, I think they should check again.
So what they still have is some breathing room, time to prepare, which other software companies are in this position? It's becuase of the continuing success of HL/CS/DoD that they have the time to spend on other ventures, more power to eRm, I'm in no hurry to spend more money, not when so much is on offer from the current HL. Everything they've done game wise so far has being riding off the back of Half-Life's success. Until I see some concrete evidence of something new (even if it is Half-Life 2) I still won't be impressed with Valves current efforts. There are few software companies which haven't ridden off the back of one success, my point is that IMO theres no hurry, when you are still top of the charts, with 10 times as many people playing your game or mods of it, the huge community HL has, and are still able to attract new/younger players who could be spending thier time playing other more recent titles either off or online, why would anyone in their position be in any hurry to replace it? If valve are using this time to try new things, whether they succeed or fail in them I think its the right time to do it.
Valve have been sitting back. It's undeniable. For all we know, they may have been working on something ever since Half-life, but they're certainly being slow about it if so. Look at Monolith: In about 3-4 years they have produced these quality titles:
Shogo: MAD
NOLF
AvP2
NOLF2
And also the Blood titles, though I don't know how good they are. But anyway, that's 4 years and 4 great games. Time is ticking, and Valve are letting it tick by. The longer you take, the better the game, but also the more dated your title is likely to seem: a la Daikatana. Valve have probably been designing HL2 for a while now, keeping it shsush, and just waiting for a great engine to run it on (UT2, D3?) If they're gonna make HL, I'm sure you'd all want it on something better than the Q3 engine. Valve are constantly doing a good job for their community, releasing patches to keep their game up to date, and generally being a great developer. You just wait, they're working on something, and HL2, or whatever they're working on will just pop out of no where, without any 1 year hype, without any beta releases, and everybody will be very happy. All the talk, beta releases, screenshots etc just soften the blow of a game when it finally comes out. And here's some stats to prove just HOW popular this game is.
RANK GAME PLAYERS
1 Half Life - 72,282
2 Medal Of Honor - 4,299
3 Quake III Arena - 3,547
4 Unreal Tournament - 3,095
5 Unreal Tournament 2003 - 3,086
6 Return to Castle Wolfenstein - 2,304
7 Soldier Of Fortune II - 1,609
8 America's Army - 1,495
9 Jedi Knight II - 820
10 Tribes 2 - 656
I hope valve give all their money for a new Metallica album. I like Metallica.
It's a shame really, because Valve are/were wicked designers of games, HL was utter brilliance, yet instead of following in this sure winnner trend they ditch it all for some lame broadband delivery service that no one cares two hoots about! Now I think we all know that TF2 is all but gone, HL2 looks like it's nowhere to be seen, and what else is there? The 3 year out of date Condition Zero and that's pretty much it, and even that's not being designed by them. It gives me a bad taste in my mouth when I think back and see such brilliant talent thrown away for no good reason. It says on Valve's main site they consider themselves the foremost leader in the industry, I think they should check again.
So what they still have is some breathing room, time to prepare, which other software companies are in this position? It's becuase of the continuing success of HL/CS/DoD that they have the time to spend on other ventures, more power to eRm, I'm in no hurry to spend more money, not when so much is on offer from the current HL. Everything they've done game wise so far has being riding off the back of Half-Life's success. Until I see some concrete evidence of something new (even if it is Half-Life 2) I still won't be impressed with Valves current efforts. There are few software companies which haven't ridden off the back of one success, my point is that IMO theres no hurry, when you are still top of the charts, with 10 times as many people playing your game or mods of it, the huge community HL has, and are still able to attract new/younger players who could be spending thier time playing other more recent titles either off or online, why would anyone in their position be in any hurry to replace it? If valve are using this time to try new things, whether they succeed or fail in them I think its the right time to do it.
Valve have been sitting back. It's undeniable. For all we know, they may have been working on something ever since Half-life, but they're certainly being slow about it if so. Look at Monolith: In about 3-4 years they have produced these quality titles:
Shogo: MAD
NOLF
AvP2
NOLF2
And also the Blood titles, though I don't know how good they are. But anyway, that's 4 years and 4 great games. Time is ticking, and Valve are letting it tick by. The longer you take, the better the game, but also the more dated your title is likely to seem: a la Daikatana. Valve have probably been designing HL2 for a while now, keeping it shsush, and just waiting for a great engine to run it on (UT2, D3?) If they're gonna make HL, I'm sure you'd all want it on something better than the Q3 engine. Valve are constantly doing a good job for their community, releasing patches to keep their game up to date, and generally being a great developer. You just wait, they're working on something, and HL2, or whatever they're working on will just pop out of no where, without any 1 year hype, without any beta releases, and everybody will be very happy. All the talk, beta releases, screenshots etc just soften the blow of a game when it finally comes out. And here's some stats to prove just HOW popular this game is.
RANK GAME PLAYERS
1 Half Life - 72,282
2 Medal Of Honor - 4,299
3 Quake III Arena - 3,547
4 Unreal Tournament - 3,095
5 Unreal Tournament 2003 - 3,086
6 Return to Castle Wolfenstein - 2,304
7 Soldier Of Fortune II - 1,609
8 America's Army - 1,495
9 Jedi Knight II - 820
10 Tribes 2 - 656
I hope valve give all their money for a new Metallica album. I like Metallica.
Ok, lets face it, Valve have done nothing in mine, and others eyes for 4 years now. It seems, after a quick look around the web and reading many articles about them, that they have simply lost all direction, completely and utterly. They've been riding the HL/CS cash cow for a while, and it's been bringing in the pennies, all the time they have been throwing all their eggs into a rather weak basket by the name of "STEAM". This is a really silly broadband delivery service that no-one really wants nor cares about. Valve it seems care about NOTHING but this system, its all they talk about, and its all they care about. Now does anyone else think this is worrying? HL/CS can only last so long, then what they gonna do? do they honestly expect developers to licence the STEAM system for hundreds of thousands? of course not, its the last item on the list, if on the list at all.
It's a shame really, because Valve are/were wicked designers of games, HL was utter brilliance, yet instead of following in this sure winnner trend they ditch it all for some lame broadband delivery service that no one cares two hoots about! Now I think we all know that TF2 is all but gone, HL2 looks like it's nowhere to be seen, and what else is there? The 3 year out of date Condition Zero and that's pretty much it, and even that's not being designed by them. It gives me a bad taste in my mouth when I think back and see such brilliant talent thrown away for no good reason. It says on Valve's main site they consider themselves the foremost leader in the industry, I think they should check again.
So what they still have is some breathing room, time to prepare, which other software companies are in this position? It's becuase of the continuing success of HL/CS/DoD that they have the time to spend on other ventures, more power to eRm, I'm in no hurry to spend more money, not when so much is on offer from the current HL. Everything they've done game wise so far has being riding off the back of Half-Life's success. Until I see some concrete evidence of something new (even if it is Half-Life 2) I still won't be impressed with Valves current efforts. There are few software companies which haven't ridden off the back of one success, my point is that IMO theres no hurry, when you are still top of the charts, with 10 times as many people playing your game or mods of it, the huge community HL has, and are still able to attract new/younger players who could be spending thier time playing other more recent titles either off or online, why would anyone in their position be in any hurry to replace it? If valve are using this time to try new things, whether they succeed or fail in them I think its the right time to do it.
Valve have been sitting back. It's undeniable. For all we know, they may have been working on something ever since Half-life, but they're certainly being slow about it if so. Look at Monolith: In about 3-4 years they have produced these quality titles:
Shogo: MAD
NOLF
AvP2
NOLF2
And also the Blood titles, though I don't know how good they are. But anyway, that's 4 years and 4 great games. Time is ticking, and Valve are letting it tick by. The longer you take, the better the game, but also the more dated your title is likely to seem: a la Daikatana. Valve have probably been designing HL2 for a while now, keeping it shsush, and just waiting for a great engine to run it on (UT2, D3?) If they're gonna make HL, I'm sure you'd all want it on something better than the Q3 engine. Valve are constantly doing a good job for their community, releasing patches to keep their game up to date, and generally being a great developer. You just wait, they're working on something, and HL2, or whatever they're working on will just pop out of no where, without any 1 year hype, without any beta releases, and everybody will be very happy. All the talk, beta releases, screenshots etc just soften the blow of a game when it finally comes out. And here's some stats to prove just HOW popular this game is.
RANK GAME PLAYERS
1 Half Life - 72,282
2 Medal Of Honor - 4,299
3 Quake III Arena - 3,547
4 Unreal Tournament - 3,095
5 Unreal Tournament 2003 - 3,086
6 Return to Castle Wolfenstein - 2,304
7 Soldier Of Fortune II - 1,609
8 America's Army - 1,495
9 Jedi Knight II - 820
10 Tribes 2 - 656
I hope valve give all their money for a new Metallica album. I like Metallica.
It's a shame really, because Valve are/were wicked designers of games, HL was utter brilliance, yet instead of following in this sure winnner trend they ditch it all for some lame broadband delivery service that no one cares two hoots about! Now I think we all know that TF2 is all but gone, HL2 looks like it's nowhere to be seen, and what else is there? The 3 year out of date Condition Zero and that's pretty much it, and even that's not being designed by them. It gives me a bad taste in my mouth when I think back and see such brilliant talent thrown away for no good reason. It says on Valve's main site they consider themselves the foremost leader in the industry, I think they should check again.
So what they still have is some breathing room, time to prepare, which other software companies are in this position? It's becuase of the continuing success of HL/CS/DoD that they have the time to spend on other ventures, more power to eRm, I'm in no hurry to spend more money, not when so much is on offer from the current HL. Everything they've done game wise so far has being riding off the back of Half-Life's success. Until I see some concrete evidence of something new (even if it is Half-Life 2) I still won't be impressed with Valves current efforts. There are few software companies which haven't ridden off the back of one success, my point is that IMO theres no hurry, when you are still top of the charts, with 10 times as many people playing your game or mods of it, the huge community HL has, and are still able to attract new/younger players who could be spending thier time playing other more recent titles either off or online, why would anyone in their position be in any hurry to replace it? If valve are using this time to try new things, whether they succeed or fail in them I think its the right time to do it.
Valve have been sitting back. It's undeniable. For all we know, they may have been working on something ever since Half-life, but they're certainly being slow about it if so. Look at Monolith: In about 3-4 years they have produced these quality titles:
Shogo: MAD
NOLF
AvP2
NOLF2
And also the Blood titles, though I don't know how good they are. But anyway, that's 4 years and 4 great games. Time is ticking, and Valve are letting it tick by. The longer you take, the better the game, but also the more dated your title is likely to seem: a la Daikatana. Valve have probably been designing HL2 for a while now, keeping it shsush, and just waiting for a great engine to run it on (UT2, D3?) If they're gonna make HL, I'm sure you'd all want it on something better than the Q3 engine. Valve are constantly doing a good job for their community, releasing patches to keep their game up to date, and generally being a great developer. You just wait, they're working on something, and HL2, or whatever they're working on will just pop out of no where, without any 1 year hype, without any beta releases, and everybody will be very happy. All the talk, beta releases, screenshots etc just soften the blow of a game when it finally comes out. And here's some stats to prove just HOW popular this game is.
RANK GAME PLAYERS
1 Half Life - 72,282
2 Medal Of Honor - 4,299
3 Quake III Arena - 3,547
4 Unreal Tournament - 3,095
5 Unreal Tournament 2003 - 3,086
6 Return to Castle Wolfenstein - 2,304
7 Soldier Of Fortune II - 1,609
8 America's Army - 1,495
9 Jedi Knight II - 820
10 Tribes 2 - 656
I hope valve give all their money for a new Metallica album. I like Metallica.