If Valve are on their last limb, other developers are already dead in the ground.

In terms of being a developer they are. Steam is generating money without a doubt, but why aren't they using said money to better their development studios? Why aren't they working on an engine that can compete with today's engines for most AAA titles?

Source engine scales well for older hardware e(i.e. consoles) and they can use spare money on indecent women and large amounts of expensive alcohol.

That's true about the consoles, but at the same time we have constantly more powerful video cards for PC's and a system like the PS3 which can easily handle anything the PC can. The problem is, if you look at the engine Infinity Ward is using on Modern Warfare 2 and compare it to Left 4 Dead 2 or any of the Half Life games, Valve loses. They cannot compete with the top graphics engines being used today. They spent years working on Source and when they released Half Life 2 back in 2004 it was a damn visual masterpiece. Now, since they keep re-releasing Half Life 2 in various ways (consoles, special packages on Steam) it's most definitely showing its age.

They're constantly change and update the Source engine ever since HL2 came out, because Steam gives them the means to do so in smaller periodic updates. The games might not be as visually appealing, but there is a lot of stuff going on, it's more processor intensive than graphics intensive. Also if we're going to talk about how different developers treat their PC audience, Valve are amongst the best in giving back to their community, whereas Infinity Ward have been feeding their PC audience shit with MW2 with the lack of dedicated server support, and reduced player counts. MW2 has the potential to flop so hard on PC it's unbelievable, IW just don't want to develop for PC anymore.

Look at a Source engine game like Zeno Clash and tell me Crysis looks better:

Are you asking in terms of originality or total realism of graphics? Because in terms of realism Crysis still wins.

IW knows they have a fan base much larger (aka more money) on consoles, so they dont feel the need to tailor their games to PC any more. Consoles are easier to get into, cheaper, require less up keep (read: upgrading parts every 6 months) and have very easy to connect to online services.

It's been said many times before, and as much as I dont even want to accept it; PC gaming is dying. PC's themselves are dying out because of lap tops as well. I hate it because I love having a nice PC that I can play just about any game on and record music on.

I understand you're a staunch PC gamer and I know many others who are. I dont want to start massive arguments here because I hate arguing over something I and many others enjoy playing in our free time.

Ah! YOu've reminded what to buy now I have money. Thank you.

I'm just debating, don't mean to seem hostile if I'm arguing against you. PC vs Console debate is also a topic I don't want to get into, but I will bum Valve all day long.

Bought famous TES IV: Oblivion (in one of these ultra-cheap "classic game" editions). And it kinda sucks. World's large but empty, there's fuck all happening, it's not that pretty - there's lot of bare terrain and cookie cutter samey looking ruins. And all that cheesy fantasy stuff in style of "find the Sacred Scrolls of R'ekthum through talking with large amount of pompous wooden twunts in shiny helmets" (yeah, why does everything look like a disneyland or something). If you have to make sword & sorcery game make it at least a bit postmodern ffs.

I must be terribly not getting something, this game has enthusiastic reviews everywhere. I'll try to play it for couple of hours longer but I'm afraid it will join the Far Cry 2 and Call of Cthulhu in "can't be bothered" category.

And yes, Zeno Clash is beautiful and delightfully insane - they should make full on RPG in this universe.

[EphelDuath666]

Bought famous TES IV: Oblivion (in one of these ultra-cheap "classic game" editions). And it kinda sucks. World's large but empty, there's fuck all happening, it's not that pretty - there's lot of bare terrain and cookie cutter samey looking ruins. And all that cheesy fantasy stuff in style of "find the Sacred Scrolls of R'ekthum through talking with large amount of pompous wooden twunts in shiny helmets" (yeah, why does everything look like a disneyland or something). If you have to make sword & sorcery game make it at least a bit postmodern ffs.

I must be terribly not getting something, this game has enthusiastic reviews everywhere. I'll try to play it for couple of hours longer but I'm afraid it will join the Far Cry 2 and Call of Cthulhu in "can't be bothered" category.

I remember playing Oblivion. I get a mission from some dude, go to some cave, help out some guys and accidently hit one of them because the combat is a bit 'special'. So then he follows me for 5 minutes and wants to kill me and at some point I think "oh well, screw it" and so I kill him. I go back to the dude that gave me that mission and he is all pissed off and tells me to go away and all that. So I was pissed off too........never played the game ever since

Oblivion hasn't entertained me yet either, but it took me a long time to get into Fallout 3.

Playing Borderlands a lot this weekend, got a lvl 27 Siren.

[EphelDuath666]

Playing Borderlands a lot this weekend, got a lvl 27 Siren.

really, really good game...I'm at level 47 now and I'm afraid it will still take quite a while untill I reach level 50! But it's fun and pretty addicting. I didn't expect it to entertain me that well! The weapons just get better and better.

Playing Borderlands a lot this weekend, got a lvl 27 Siren.

really, really good game...I'm at level 47 now and I'm afraid it will still take quite a while untill I reach level 50! But it's fun and pretty addicting. I didn't expect it to entertain me that well! The weapons just get better and better.

I've come to a point at level 50 where the weapons are only really better if you just reload New Haven over and over just opening the chests. Either that or loot raiding with 3 other level 50's (sounds like MMO speak...) in different areas with a lot of chests.

My best weapon is still my 797 damage Volcano sniper

[EphelDuath666]

My best weapon is still my 797 damage Volcano sniper

not bad, not bad! I got one with 650 damage, so I'm getting there! My favorite is (and I don't know the exact name right now) a revolver that I use a lot now with only about 200 damage but lots of additional fire damage.

My best weapon is still my 797 damage Volcano sniper

not bad, not bad! I got one with 650 damage, so I'm getting there! My favorite is (and I don't know the exact name right now) a revolver that I use a lot now with only about 200 damage but lots of additional fire damage.

I've got one revolver that does around 712 damage an has a 6 round mag and a blade on it, still havent found one that's actually better!

Let me know when you hit 50, could probably hook you up with a few weapons that are damn good! At least you're close to 48, that's when you start finding the better weapons.

[EphelDuath666]

Let me know when you hit 50, could probably hook you up with a few weapons that are damn good! At least you're close to 48, that's when you start finding the better weapons.

will do...and cool, can't wait to find even better weapons. I'd like to have a revolver with such damage plus additional fire damage. That would be sweetness! I'm sure one can use better weapons when all enemies are at level 50 or 51!

I must admit though that the amount of Skaggs and Spiderants has gotten a bit annoying in the second playthrough. You kill them all, then 10 more show up. It's just annoying. But aside from that, my second run has been fun so far.

Me and 2 friends got caught at one point where we were in an almost unending battle with a horde of Spiderants. Once it was finally over, I had never seen so much loot on the ground at one time.

The second play through is definitely not very easy by yourself. Also, once you max your money counter out, dying is not fun anymore...(not that it ever was!)

Personally I don't think there's anything wrong with the Source engine. The graphics might not be the best of this generation, but they compare favourably with other games of this generation, and the engine scales well on less powerful hardware. The Source Engine being used today is not the same Source Engine that was released at the time of Half-Life 2.

Throwing the Source engine away altogether would be immensely stupid. They've invested a lot in their own technology, which is perfectly adequate, and I've not seen anything to suggest that they can't upgrade their engine as technology progresses, like everyone else has. Throwing away the Source engine would be like demolishing your house and rebuilding it from scratch because you wanted to add an extension on it. I don't think they're really trying to compete on graphics anyway, they're more gameplay focused.

I think Valve are onto a pretty good thing, with Steam they're not trapped in the traditional developer-publisher relationship like most developers. (For traditional developer-publisher relationship, see also: traditional musician-record company relationship, anal rape) It also allows them to develop smaller games, release more often, and see more of a return on their investment for smaller risk.

It's also a bit unfair to compare Half Life: Episode 3 and Duke Nukem Forever. It's not particularly unusual for a game project to go that length of time without showing anything to the public, and it's not even close to the length of time between the release of Half-Life, and the first screens/videos of Half-Life 2. At the end of the day, Valve know how to put a project out of the door, 3D Realms quite clearly didn't

It is most definitely comparable to Duke Nukem Forever. They are using an engine that they should know all too well by now. Yet they cant even crank out a single screen shot.

Please do not get me wrong, I love Valve's work. The Half Life games have been some of my all time favorites, but between Gabe Newell's out right PS3 hate and the fact that they are more focused on Left 4 Dead than Half Life makes me a little concerned.

Valve has time and time again, with the Half Life series, produced top notch games that have a compelling settings, characters, and a pretty decent story. I just kind of hate that they end Episode 2 with a cliff hanger ending and now, well over a year after it's release have not given us a single shred of anything.