Gabe in his younger years.

[FoB_Ed]

Pimp it Gabe!

LOL! hilarious

 

[evil^milk]

Nope, he's a really nice guy For me he had only words of encouragement and advice. He's got a great sense of humor as well.

That's cool, I kind of imagined him like that.

When did you visit Valve?

 

[qckbeam]

That's cool, I kind of imagined him like that.

When did you visit Valve?

I visited them on July 9th (of this year). It was a great trip

 

[manny_c44]

Gabe can't be in Half-Life 2, they've already stated that fluid dynamics aren't in the game.

 

[evil^milk]

I visited them on July 9th (of this year). It was a great trip

cool :E

what type of stuff did you see? did they let you play a game?

 

[Redrum123]

OMfg ban that guy hahahah ^

 

[Seppo]

This is a very funny thread

 

[qckbeam]

cool :E

what type of stuff did you see? did they let you play a game?

Well, a saw a lot of interesting things and met a lot of interesting people Rick Ellis gave me the grand tour, and introduced me to some folks I've been dying to meet for years. He also explained to me the pre-sale process and how that's all going to work. We could see HL2 available for pre-sale on steam very soon, since the plan was to begin streaming the release candidate content to the computers of those who pre-order. That way a large bulk of those who purchase over Steam won't all be trying to download the entire game at once upon release. Any changes to the release candidate will be given to users before the release date via small patches. He also answered quite a few of my own technical questions (Let me just add, the pre-release plans may be changed, or have been changed already). I plan to purchase via Steam myself. The ability to play at precisely 12:01A.M. on the day of release (since my area normally gets games two days late), along with the fact that for every copy sold via steam Valve makes three times the amount of money they would make selling a boxed version (publisher fees), are enough to push me into the Steam camp.

I did play the game for about 30 minutes. To talk about it in detail would be wrong, as I'd spoil quite a few very nice moments. I can however tell you that what I played was sweet from the first sip to the last drop. I was in awe at the level of quality the opening sequences provide (it's really amazing work, I just can't stress this enough). The control was spot on, the facial animations and lip-syncing have to be seen in-game to be believed (the impact it has is downright stunning), the physics are indeed everything they were cracked up to be. I could just go on gushing about my 30 minutes for hours, but then I'd spoil some really prime stuff . It all just felt so...right. You guys are going to love it.

I can also confirm that the game has been done for some time now, and the final bits of polish are being applied (I do mean final). They won't release it until it's tuned to perfection, and from what Rick told me, and I myself noticed (some whiteboard material, among other things I don't think I should talk about), they are honestly close to the finish line.

 

[sHm0zY]

You're meeting him? That's great. Are you paying a visit to Valve?

yes sir on Tuesday, August 17 @ 1:30pm w00 w00

 

[Seppo]

I did play the game for about 30 minutes. To talk about it in detail would be wrong, as I'd spoil quite a few very nice moments. I can however tell you that what I played was sweet from the first sip to the last drop. I was in awe at the level of quality the opening sequences provide (it's really amazing work, I just can't stress this enough). The control was spot on, the facial animations and lip-syncing have to be seen in-game to be believed (the impact it has is downright stunning), the physics are indeed everything they were cracked up to be. I could just go on gushing about my 30 minutes for hours, but then I'd spoil some really prime stuff . It all just felt so...right. You guys are going to love it.

That's a relief, sort of. And reading it made me smile

 

[KagePrototype]

/me watches the topic de-rail violently to focus on qckbeam's visit

 

[Iced_Eagle]

Nice qckbeam good read

Gabe is teh coolest owner of a company 'round.. he owns bill gates (FIST FIGHT!)

 

[Chadda]

OMG qckbeam...reading your post just made the butterflies in my tummy multiply by about 1 million.....ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...can't wait.....

You wanna know a dark secret? When sleeping, I dream about HL2. Alot. FFS

 

[evil^milk]

Well, a saw a lot of interesting things and met a lot of interesting people Rick Ellis gave me the grand tour, and introduced me to some folks I've been dying to meet for years. He also explained to me the pre-sale process and how that's all going to work. We could see HL2 available for pre-sale on steam very soon, since the plan was to begin streaming the release candidate content to the computers of those who pre-order. That way a large bulk of those who purchase over Steam won't all be trying to download the entire game at once upon release. Any changes to the release candidate will be given to users before the release date via small patches. He also answered quite a few of my own technical questions (Let me just add, the pre-release plans may be changed, or have been changed already). I plan to purchase via Steam myself. The ability to play at precisely 12:01A.M. on the day of release (since my area normally gets games two days late), along with the fact that for every copy sold via steam Valve makes three times the amount of money they would make selling a boxed version (publisher fees), are enough to push me into the Steam camp.

I did play the game for about 30 minutes. To talk about it in detail would be wrong, as I'd spoil quite a few very nice moments. I can however tell you that what I played was sweet from the first sip to the last drop. I was in awe at the level of quality the opening sequences provide (it's really amazing work, I just can't stress this enough). The control was spot on, the facial animations and lip-syncing have to be seen in-game to be believed (the impact it has is downright stunning), the physics are indeed everything they were cracked up to be. I could just go on gushing about my 30 minutes for hours, but then I'd spoil some really prime stuff . It all just felt so...right. You guys are going to love it.

I can also confirm that the game has been done for some time now, and the final bits of polish are being applied (I do mean final). They won't release it until it's tuned to perfection, and from what Rick told me, and I myself noticed (some whiteboard material, among other things I don't think I should talk about), they are honestly close to the finish line.

Thanks for writing

 

[mortiz]

Well, a saw a lot of interesting things and met a lot of interesting people Rick Ellis gave me the grand tour, and introduced me to some folks I've been dying to meet for years. He also explained to me the pre-sale process and how that's all going to work. We could see HL2 available for pre-sale on steam very soon, since the plan was to begin streaming the release candidate content to the computers of those who pre-order. That way a large bulk of those who purchase over Steam won't all be trying to download the entire game at once upon release. Any changes to the release candidate will be given to users before the release date via small patches. He also answered quite a few of my own technical questions (Let me just add, the pre-release plans may be changed, or have been changed already). I plan to purchase via Steam myself. The ability to play at precisely 12:01A.M. on the day of release (since my area normally gets games two days late), along with the fact that for every copy sold via steam Valve makes three times the amount of money they would make selling a boxed version (publisher fees), are enough to push me into the Steam camp.

I did play the game for about 30 minutes. To talk about it in detail would be wrong, as I'd spoil quite a few very nice moments. I can however tell you that what I played was sweet from the first sip to the last drop. I was in awe at the level of quality the opening sequences provide (it's really amazing work, I just can't stress this enough). The control was spot on, the facial animations and lip-syncing have to be seen in-game to be believed (the impact it has is downright stunning), the physics are indeed everything they were cracked up to be. I could just go on gushing about my 30 minutes for hours, but then I'd spoil some really prime stuff . It all just felt so...right. You guys are going to love it.

I can also confirm that the game has been done for some time now, and the final bits of polish are being applied (I do mean final). They won't release it until it's tuned to perfection, and from what Rick told me, and I myself noticed (some whiteboard material, among other things I don't think I should talk about), they are honestly close to the finish line.

no pictures ?

 

[qckbeam]

no pictures ?

I have some pictures yes, but I'm sure you've seen everything I have to show anyways. The more interesting things (such as whiteboards, people working on HL2, etc.) were off limits. If you'd like to see them though, I'll put them up

 

[Z|insane]

Can you post what isnt off limits for pictures?

 

[qckbeam]

Can you post what isnt off limits for pictures?

Yeah sure, I'll post them as soon as possible in this thread

 

[evil^milk]

What do you mean by off limits?

 

[McFly]

Stuff valve wants to keep secret from the public.
Like the basement full of alien bodies and the closet holding Gabes own hazard suit....

 

[qckbeam]

What do you mean by off limits?

I wasn't allowed to take pictures of certain things (people playing HL2 on their monitors, whiteboards, some artwork, etc.). Other times I simply did not snap a shot of a particular area because I thought the flash would distract those who were working in their rooms. I have photos of the lobby area, and some interesting (nothing game related) things behind the security doors.