Video Game News and Miscellany

If SWTOR gets another expansion, I'm going to be a bit disappointed - that kind of goes without saying - but specifically, I will be disappointed that there won't be a major NPC voiced by H. Jon Benjamin.
 
As of the stream's end I'm interested in a decent amount of the titles. Zelda, FE Warriors, Mario, Splatoon 2, Xenoblade 2 and even Bomberman. I can't imagine I'll buy the system right away, but it's at least on my radar now as opposed to not caring much before.
 
Also they finally added toddlers to Sims 4 yesterday, if that's a thing anyone cares about.
Because when I use video games to escspe from real life, I want to make the games more like...my real life.
I think it was better when Mr. Z was drowning me in the pool.
 
Gabe Newell to host a Reddit AMA tomorrow.

Personally, I wish Newell would at least address the Half-Life 3 (or HL2: Episode 2) situation. As RMJ said below, they at least owe it to the fans to say, "Sorry, but we're not making it anymore." Because there have been too many coy, unclear statements over the years and personally, I'd like a firm answer either way. Are they making it or not? If they are, great. Tell us SOMETHING about it. Anything. Not even a release date, just something about it. If they're not making it anymore because they've moved on as a company? Fine. Say that. I'll hate hearing it, but I'll accept it.

I'm a huge fan of the Half-Life series. It's probably my favourite FPS series. They're well-crafted games, with a lot of thought and play-testing behind them before release. They do a lot of "show, don't tell" narrative with the environment and details informing their world rather than long expositions. Have there been better FPS games since then? Sure. But they were the benchmark of gaming at the time. Many of today's developers still take inspiration from the Half-Life series.

Episode 2's cliffhanger ending was an emotional gut punch. I really want closure on the series that I grew up on. I want to have that final fight with the Combine and especially the Advisors. As I said, I'd like to hear one firm answer on the game or franchise rather than Newell or Valve dancing around the subject.
X
 
Gabe Newell to host a Reddit AMA tomorrow.

Personally, I wish Newell would at least address the Half-Life 3 (or HL2: Episode 2) situation. As RMJ said below, they at least owe it to the fans to say, "Sorry, but we're not making it anymore." Because there have been too many coy, unclear statements over the years and personally, I'd like a firm answer either way. Are they making it or not? If they are, great. Tell us SOMETHING about it. Anything. Not even a release date, just something about it. If they're not making it anymore because they've moved on as a company? Fine. Say that. I'll hate hearing it, but I'll accept it.

I'm a huge fan of the Half-Life series. It's probably my favourite FPS series. They're well-crafted games, with a lot of thought and play-testing behind them before release. They do a lot of "show, don't tell" narrative with the environment and details informing their world rather than long expositions. Have there been better FPS games since then? Sure. But they were the benchmark of gaming at the time. Many of today's developers still take inspiration from the Half-Life series.

Episode 2's cliffhanger ending was an emotional gut punch. I really want closure on the series that I grew up on. I want to have that final fight with the Combine and especially the Advisors. As I said, I'd like to hear one firm answer on the game or franchise rather than Newell or Valve dancing around the subject.
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On the one hand, I agree with you, but I could easily see both a "yes" and a "no" answer causing a shitstorm. Either they say "no, we're not making HL3" and cause all the fanboys to riot out of disappointment, or they say "yes we're making HL3" and cause the fanboys to bombard them with demands for more information from now unto eternity. Therefore, their current policy of deliberate ambiguity seems like the best way to keep fanboy discontentment at its lowest point. People who want to believe Valve are making HL3 can still believe it, while people who have decided Valve have abandoned the series can feel free to believe that too.

So, basically, I wouldn't be surprised if every other question in the AMA is about HL3, nor would I be surprised if all of them are left unanswered.

EDIT: And I would personally consider myself a HL fanboy, so I'd probably be one of the ones doing the rioting and/or demanding.
 
On the one hand, I agree with you, but I could easily see both a "yes" and a "no" answer causing a shitstorm. Either they say "no, we're not making HL3" and cause all the fanboys to riot out of disappointment, or they say "yes we're making HL3" and cause the fanboys to bombard them with demands for more information from now unto eternity. Therefore, their current policy of deliberate ambiguity seems like the best way to keep fanboy discontentment at its lowest point. People who want to believe Valve are making HL3 can still believe it, while people who have decided Valve have abandoned the series can feel free to believe that too.

So, basically, I wouldn't be surprised if every other question in the AMA is about HL3, nor would I be surprised if all of them are left unanswered.

EDIT: And I would personally consider myself a HL fanboy, so I'd probably be one of the ones doing the rioting and/or demanding.
According to the Reddit mod, they're filtering any questions with the number 3 and making a specific sticky thread just for a Half-Life 3 question.
 
According to the Reddit mod, they're filtering any questions with the number 3 and making a specific sticky thread just for a Half-Life 3 question.
Huh, well, that's one way to do it I guess.

Honestly, I'm not holding out much hope for a HL3 any time in the near future. I've hoped for too long, my hope circuits have burned out.
 
Huh, well, that's one way to do it I guess.

Honestly, I'm not holding out much hope for a HL3 any time in the near future. I've hoped for too long, my hope circuits have burned out.
I guess it's just bothers me that they've been (supposedly, according to them) working on it for TEN YEARS with nothing to show or any clear mention on its development. The Last Guardian took 10 years to release and it had something to show. Duke Nukem came and went (for better or worse) in that time. If Valve have been supposedly working on this for ten years, what the hell have they been doing with all that time?

EDIT: I'm saying all this BECAUSE I'm a huge fan. Even if it's the last one in the series, I want to see a conclusion to one of my favourite franchises.
 
I guess it's just bothers me that they've been (supposedly, according to them) working on it for TEN YEARS with nothing to show or any clear mention on its development. The Last Guardian took 10 years to release and it had something to show. Duke Nukem came and went (for better or worse) in that time. If Valve have been supposedly working on this for ten years, what the hell have they been doing with all that time?

EDIT: I'm saying all this BECAUSE I'm a huge fan. Even if it's the last one in the series, I want to see a conclusion to one of my favourite franchises.
Could be worse, could be GNU/HURD.

Extra geek points if you don't have to look that one up.[DOUBLEPOST=1484585763,1484585421][/DOUBLEPOST]For those that need help: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=GNU/HURD
 
It's been said they're working on it, but it's like ... 12 people, and barely working on it. At this point they consider to be too dangerous to even make, because the hype is too high.
 
It's Duke Nukem Forever all over again. Nothing can live up to the anticipation and hype.
It's like when you meet someone, and forget their name, but now it's been way too long to ask. You've gone too lunches together, you've met their siblings, you're in their will. You are now stuck forever trying to avoid situations where you would have to address them by name.

My main point here is that half life 3 can never come out, and I don't know my neighbor's first name.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
On the other hand, DNF was just a shitty game, hype or no hype.
it was a mediocre game, but it had its moments and I have played far worse. But its biggest sin was being a follow-up to one of the greatest games of the 90s. well, that and the two weapon limit.
 
it was a mediocre game, but it had its moments and I have played far worse. But its biggest sin was being a follow-up to one of the greatest games of the 90s. well, that and the two weapon limit.
Yahtzee put it perfectly. To paraphrase, it's the kind of game that any competent studio could've farted out in a year, not spend ten years in development.
 
it was a mediocre game, but it had its moments and I have played far worse. But its biggest sin was being a follow-up to one of the greatest games of the 90s. well, that and the two weapon limit.
I dunno about mediocre. It was a pretty bad shooter. Most of it's mechanics felt pretty bad.
 
Following up on the Gabe AMA, which you can read here if you're interested. As expected, he didn't confirm anything about Half Life 3, but there was still some interesting information.

First off, he confirmed that there were a couple of movies set in the HL/Portal universe still in the works between Valve and JJ Abrams. Apparently, this isn't really news, as Abrams has talked about it in the past, but I either didn't know about it or had forgotten.

He also seemed to indicate that they're working on a new IP in the HL/Portal universe. I say seems because the question was "Any chance of a new IP that takes place in the half-life/portal universe?" and he simply said "Yep", so take that as you will. On a more concrete front, he did say they were still working on full fledged, single player games. He also said that they're designing their own VR games and that the Source 2 engine is something they'd like they'd like everyone working on games at valve using and is the foundation of some as yet unannounced projects. Also, that personally he is looking at brain-computer interfacing research.

There are a bunch of other answered questions about things like steam in general, personal stuff like his favorite valve/non-valve games, ect. But that's some of the stuff that jumped out at me.

EDIT: Oh yeah, I almost forgot the most important answer. He said he likes his steak medium-rare.
 
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