My ONE problem with Valve...

Sheepo

Sheepo

The Freeman
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Firstly, I don't know if this is the right place to put this thread but it seems the best option.

Now, the one problem I have with Valve is, even though their games are great and they get such good reviews, they continue be so unknown. I found out about HL2 a year after it came out just because it I saw it in a game store, although that was before I was into videogames, you must admit that's a while for some one who really loved the first Half-Life. To this day I know no one else (outside of my family/ in person) that knows about any Valve game, counting counterstrike. Call it advertising, call it whatever but people worship games Halo and it seems to me Half-Life's are always hidden under dozens of inferior games. Maybe multiconsole releases will strenghten their reputation but it seems to me one way or another Valve never gets the attention it deserves.

Please comment.
 
I'd love to see a TV commercial for Episode Two. The screen could fizz and the G-Man could appear, say something cryptic, disappear (kind of like Outer Limits intro meets the Psyche demonstration).

Their advertising could definitely be more noticeable.
 
I agree. I only learned about HL2 in 2004 after a brief mention of it on a British gaming TV show. I know a total of one other person in real life who owns HL2. Valve can sell loads simply because it's Half-Life, but if they actually did some advertising on TV they'd probably sell a lot more copies. Especially for the consoles.
 
I only remember weird advert posters (alternate reality game, maybe) in London before the release of PS2 remake of Half-Life.
 
I know a few people who have the game, but I do agree that Valve should be getting more attention. Did HL2 get all those awards for nothing?
 
Maybe Valve should put up Combine propaganda posters in all major cities in the world. That would be good marketing for EP2.
 
It is kinda strange. Given that HL2 wound up costing Valve 40 million to produce, the resources put into advertising seem to have been relatively scant. For comparison, Sony gave the makers of Final Fantasy VII a budget of 45 million to produce the game, and then sank a further 100 million into a massive media blitz to promote it. Then again, I guess Sony's got deeper pockets than Valve.
 
I vaguely remember a sticker/flier campaign for HL in central London years ago. It was some combination of the Lambda symbol and the phrase 'Who is Gordon Freeman...?' and that was it.

I forget whether it was coinciding with the console version of HL1, or the PC HL2, or the console HL2. Whatever it was for, I'd be surprised if it netted Valve even one extra sale, since it was so obscure and didn't even mention the words 'half life'.

Valve could definitely do with a larger advertising presence. Like riom I only know 1 person irl who owns a copy of HL2.
 
Laivasse said:
I vaguely remember a sticker/flier campaign for HL in central London years ago. It was some combination of the Lambda symbol and the phrase 'Who is Gordon Freeman...?' and that was it.
Click to expand...
Had we had something like that around here, I would've taken one of those.

Now that I know of their existence, I'm going to have to find one.
 
then valve did not really port its games much for the consoles..
now that they are doing it, they should garner more attention.

and yes, valve absolutely needs to put funds into advertising..
 
Laivasse said:
I vaguely remember a sticker/flier campaign for HL in central London years ago. It was some combination of the Lambda symbol and the phrase 'Who is Gordon Freeman...?' and that was it.

I forget whether it was coinciding with the console version of HL1, or the PC HL2, or the console HL2. Whatever it was for, I'd be surprised if it netted Valve even one extra sale, since it was so obscure and didn't even mention the words 'half life'.

Valve could definitely do with a larger advertising presence. Like riom I only know 1 person irl who owns a copy of HL2.
Click to expand...
Right, I remeber one them at Leicester Square (2002), I even remeber some phone number at posters (maybe it was some kind of ARG).
 
I found out about Half Life 2 about a year ago, and it's a good thing I did, because now I can play it. But on the subject of advertising, they don't even try! I say we should all march up to Gabe's office and smack it to him that he needs to do better in the advertising area. Who's with me?
 
I actually knew plenty about it before it came out as I was getting monthly issues of PC Gamer who did many previews on it. I know a few people who own, but only one of them loves the Half-Life series. The others usually just play Counter-Strike: Source on surf maps.
 
Laivasse said:
I vaguely remember a sticker/flier campaign for HL in central London years ago. It was some combination of the Lambda symbol and the phrase 'Who is Gordon Freeman...?' and that was it.

I forget whether it was coinciding with the console version of HL1, or the PC HL2, or the console HL2. Whatever it was for, I'd be surprised if it netted Valve even one extra sale, since it was so obscure and didn't even mention the words 'half life'.

Valve could definitely do with a larger advertising presence. Like riom I only know 1 person irl who owns a copy of HL2.
Click to expand...
If someone will find one of these posters or picture of them, I will buy him a beer.
 
FS, when I made that post the other day I found an old thread somewhere else where people were talking about the very same ad campaign I was talking about. Now I can't find a trace of it anywhere on the net...

...MUST HAVE THAT BEER
 
I think they are talking about the Orange Half-Life posters.
 
No, those were the ones, stuck all over lampposts cryptically asking 'Who is Gordon Freeman?' That may be the same link I spotted the other day. I doubt you could find an image of those stickers any more though.
 
I first found HL2, my friend had it (not legal copy.. -_-) I tried it, and liked it very much. So 2 days after I marched into the first PC Games shop, and bought HL2 Collector's Edition :P I will never regret this decision. After HL2 I played HL1, and then came EP1, and I'm looking forward to purchase EP2 and Portal, TF2. (Still I'd like to see more HL advertisements.)
 
Now that I think about it, the rise of Youtube will surely help publicize new HL content. Especially with boss trailers like the second Ep. 2 one.
 
I didn't know about Half Life at all for several years after it came out. I kept seeing articles about how it won tons of awards, but the covers were so generic. A geek, a soldier, and a rent-a-cop on the cover of games with obscure names kept me away until I finally bought the package to see what the fuss was about. Now that was a pleasant surprise. After this, I was all over the sequel.
 
I didn't really know HL existed until many years after the original's release. A friend of mine lent me a copy, saying, "You will soon understand my obsession with crowbars." What can I say? I was instantly hooked.


Adabiviak said:
A geek, a soldier, and a rent-a-cop
Click to expand...

It sounds like some twisted version of the Village People. "BMRF..."
 
imo most advertisements rely on the flashiness of a game in order to promote it, like big explosions and action and things happening. Halflife to me seems more subtle in the way it occurs and relies more on your connection ot the story.
 
The EP2 trailers have been pretty flashy. They would do nicely for TV ads. Well, maybe a few more explosions.
 
Eh...I'd rather not attract more of an endless supply of n00b to the worlds best game.
 
I think I already mentioned on the forums that I saw a MSNBC special on violent video games that featured a clip from one the Episode Two preview videos.

That's advertising, in a way.
 
Well if they really want to advertise in a different way, take my idea of spraying lambdas around. Put crates under them and inside is a card for a free copy of the OB.
 
Just a TV commercial could get a lot of people.
 
I dont know.Everyone ive asked in seattle if they heard of it and said they even knew where valve was located.But thats because valve isnt that far from seattle.In fact its kinda by microsoft isnt it?
 
I knew about HL2 from the first news that it was going to be released in September 2003, but that's only because I used to buy a gaming magazine regularly.
 
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