Valve Stuns Gamers - EA Conference

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...Gabe Newell stands gallantly upon the stage at the EA Press Conference holding his chin up high, for he has some bombshells to drop on the gaming world. Announced today is Valve's lineup of future game titles; what platforms they will be on and what game bundles they will be included in. Some more details have emerged for Episode Two as well as a bit of new footage. Also re-announced was the much anticipated Team Fortress 2 (Yes, it lives)! A new puzzle-based game is also in the works called "Portal" - Title pending.
Newell's gone on to discuss the episodic-gaming business model. Short version: Valve likes it. It will even let them explore new types of gameplay in a new upcoming game called Portal (which seems to be a working title). It looks like they took the portal concept from Prey and slapped it on a gun--you can shoot them into walls and floors to solve all kinds of crazy puzzles, teleporting objects around and stuff. Looks like a total mindbender…[br]...TEAM FORTRESS 2. WHERE DID THIS COME FROM? Hey, they're still making it! It's got a totally exaggerated, crazy art style now. Looks a little like Spy vs. Spy or No One Lives Forever, kind of a '60s spy feel. It's going to be the included multiplayer mode in Episode 2! Class-based, etc. You know the drill. Great news for shooter fans. We all thought this game was dead years ago.
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Team Fortress 2 will be shipping with every copy of Episode Two! Episode Two will also be released simultaneously on most of the next-generation platforms: PC, PS3 and X360. More detailed information on everything above can be found at Gamespot.com (This is the link you want to read).[br]Thanks to Gamespot for their conference coverage.[br]Update: Some conflicting reports from various reputable game news sites, such as Shacknews, have claimed that Team Fortress 2 nor "Portal" will ship with the console versions of Episode Two. I've managed to confirm with Gabe Newel (Valve's Co-founder) and Doug Lombardi (Valve's PR manager) that both titles will come with the Episode Two console releases.[br]GabeN:
TF2 and Portal will be included with the console releases.
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DougL:
Episode Two for the PC, includes EpTwo, Portal and TF2.[br] On PS3, 360 and most likely for the PC, there will be another pack (title is TBD) that includes the above plus HL2 and Episode One.
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I want all Half-life 2 content for my 360. The fact that I get this at Christmas is amazing.
 
Woohoo...never played TF so TF2 should be a good experience...and truly looking forward to Portal...w/e the crap that is!
 
More info from Gamespot:

The video shows a diagram and explains that as an employee of this company, you may have to find the emergency exit to a certain room. However, there are often obstacles in your way, like a gaping chasm. No problem, because all you need to use is your Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device to create dimensional doorways that let you mess with reality. For example, if there’s gaping chasm between you and your objective, just shoot a portal on the far side of the room, then shoot a portal open on your side, then enter the portal. You’ll instantly transport from one side of the room to the next by walking through the portal (you’ll even see yourself going through the portal).

That’s the simplest example of how to use the portal gun. In other situations, you may be under fire by a gun droid. So all you need to do is shoot a portal open over the gun, then shoot a portal open beneath a crate, then watch the crate fall through the hole and crush the gun. It gets even crazier, and the diagrams shown in the trailer showed some incredibly crazy things that you can attempt, like creating a series of portals so that you’re constantly chasing yourself. Some of the puzzles sound like they’ll be “impossible,” so the challenge will be to figure out how to use the portal gun.

This promises to be an incredibly puzzle-style first-person experience, which Newell says is part of the goal. “We wanted to take physics out of this domain as a tool that lets you bounce grenades around to how can we really change the game experience for our customers,” he said.

Team Fortress 2 is back and will be included with Episode Two, and it looks like nothing else on the market. Newell explained that Valve wanted to make this action game distinct, so the graphics (which use the Source engine) look like a Pixar animated movie. To reinforce this, the carious character classes in the game look like cartoon caricatures. These include the Medic with the huge needle or the Demoman with the sticks of explosives. Other classes include the Heavy, the Spy, the Scout, the Engineer, the Sniper, the Soldier, and the Pyro. Newell says that the goal with Team Fortress 2 is to create “the best looking and best-playing class-based multiplayer game.” Team Fortress 2 is certainly unique in appearance, so we’ll see how it plays.
 
I don't know whether I will be buying Ep2 for TF2, or TF2 for Ep2 :D:D Win-Win either way!!
 
SFLUFAN said:
More info from Gamespot:

The video shows a diagram and explains that as an employee of this company, you may have to find the emergency exit to a certain room. However, there are often obstacles in your way, like a gaping chasm. No problem, because all you need to use is your Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device to create dimensional doorways that let you mess with reality. For example, if there’s gaping chasm between you and your objective, just shoot a portal on the far side of the room, then shoot a portal open on your side, then enter the portal. You’ll instantly transport from one side of the room to the next by walking through the portal (you’ll even see yourself going through the portal).

That’s the simplest example of how to use the portal gun. In other situations, you may be under fire by a gun droid. So all you need to do is shoot a portal open over the gun, then shoot a portal open beneath a crate, then watch the crate fall through the hole and crush the gun. It gets even crazier, and the diagrams shown in the trailer showed some incredibly crazy things that you can attempt, like creating a series of portals so that you’re constantly chasing yourself. Some of the puzzles sound like they’ll be “impossible,” so the challenge will be to figure out how to use the portal gun.

This promises to be an incredibly puzzle-style first-person experience, which Newell says is part of the goal. “We wanted to take physics out of this domain as a tool that lets you bounce grenades around to how can we really change the game experience for our customers,” he said.

Team Fortress 2 is back and will be included with Episode Two, and it looks like nothing else on the market. Newell explained that Valve wanted to make this action game distinct, so the graphics (which use the Source engine) look like a Pixar animated movie. To reinforce this, the carious character classes in the game look like cartoon caricatures. These include the Medic with the huge needle or the Demoman with the sticks of explosives. Other classes include the Heavy, the Spy, the Scout, the Engineer, the Sniper, the Soldier, and the Pyro. Newell says that the goal with Team Fortress 2 is to create “the best looking and best-playing class-based multiplayer game.” Team Fortress 2 is certainly unique in appearance, so we’ll see how it plays.
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This sounds almost EXACTLY like Narbacular Drop, a free game made by some digipen students. I would definitely recommend checking it out. http://www.nuclearmonkeysoftware.com/narbaculardrop.html

If Portal is like it except with improved graphics and even more complicated puzzles then it should be an aweosme game.
 
Yeah, all that info is in my second link - I know, I kinda hid it in there.
 
TF2 ?!?!!?!?!?!? :O :O :O :O
I had lost all hope that this even existed anymore. Holy crap on a crap cracker!
 
Episode Two is going to be released on 360 and PS3... whaat?

So presumably, Half-Life 2 and HL2 Episode One will also see a release on PS3, at some point before EP2's release? :O Confused!

Edit: just read the article - it seems console owners will be getting HL2 and both Episodes in a single package! How nice! :D


Great news about Team Fortress also :D
 
Fantastic update from Valve, Episode Two definately has huge firepower with it now, i'm expecting many people to be getting their claws into it now. We are near the point of saturation with the amount of source multiplayer games from Valve, aren't we lucky things.
 
Still here Apos, just lurking? Why are you hiding :(
 
my god, i'm a bit dissapointed...

TF2 was suppose to be distinct apart from other multiplayer games by being totally teamplay oriented and stuff...
and all those special classes we heard about....

they turned it into a source team fortress? same nine classes? distinc only by visuals?

I really hope they prove me wrong...

(mails gabe and robin....)
 
WOOT! I was buying episode 2 and now I get tf2 with it!! yes there is a god!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
OMGOMGOMOGMOG

I have goosebumps, no joke this is amazing news.
 
MoD said:
my god, i'm a bit dissapointed...

TF2 was suppose to be distinct apart from other multiplayer games by being totally teamplay oriented and stuff...
and all those special classes we heard about....

they turned it into a source team fortress? same nine classes? distinc only by visuals?

I really hope they prove me wrong...

(mails gabe and robin....)
Click to expand...

how about waiting for more than the scrap of info we have now before biatching? :upstare:
 
The "old" TF2 got canned because it was too complex.

This "new" TF2 is a source version of TFC. Expect to see the same old maps, touched up to look more like realistic environments with all the source bells and whistles.
 
a lot of the stuff described in the old previews of TF2 has since been covered by battlefield and its ilk, and I can only hope they HAVE gone in a different direction
also, the old art design with those chuck jones soldiers and stuff was kind of depressing compared to the saturday morning cartoon aspect the original tf (for quakeworld) had, and I'm glad they're swinging back to 'goofy'
 
nvrmor said:
thats exactly what it is. valve signed them up last year.
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Are you serious?!?!

If so that is freaking awesome. I loved the game and knowing that the idea wasn't just stolen and that it can only be better is great news.
 
I fear that TF2 has turned into nothing more then a sourcified TFC. Its no longer stand alone and the description of the art style is exactly like it was described by someone that claimed they saw the game about a year ago in which they said the game looked to be more like TFC on source then the old TF2 concept.

This is nice and all, except we have modders working on old TF gameplay mods already and Valve has worked on this one for more than 6 years now. 6 years to come up with a port of TFC with a new art style would be more than a little dissapointing. I want something fresh using the class based system that TF was famous for.

Yea we got Battlefield and other noname games using similar features but on the whole their execution has been rather clunky and I want to see what a TF type game can truly be like with an epic feel and the polish Valve is known for.
 
dys-Fuzzy said:
The "old" TF2 got canned because it was too complex.

This "new" TF2 is a source version of TFC. Expect to see the same old maps, touched up to look more like realistic environments with all the source bells and whistles.
Click to expand...
And it only took seven years, all for nothing "revolutionary."

By now basically everything that was promoted about TF2 has been done in other games. I think I might still have a 1999 PC Gamer preview of TF2 with its crazy promises. :D
 
-smash- said:
We love you, Gabe!
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Damn right, I was wondering what unannounced multiplayer would come with ep2 but TF2!!! I mean it was wishful thinking at best but wow, that's awesome new's
 
Hey waitaminute. If the console folks get HL2, Ep1, Ep2, TF2, and Portal all in one package, how is Valve going to release Ep3 to them without them feeling like they're not getting as good a deal as they did with the first package?
 
Where can i see the Video of TF2 and Portals because they sound awesome?
Valve always manage to release shocking news when you least expect it.
 
Wow. Just spotted this on the Valve Wiki but as usual Smash with his almighty smashness was 5 light years ahead of me.

If TF2's a port what does that mean for Fortress Forever? You would have thought that Valve would have been kind enough to forewarn the FF team about it before they got knee-deep in development. Oh well, if they do both come out at the same time and they're both similarly comparable, Valve could have a hard time shifting copies to clued up HL2 owners.

Kudos to NuclearMonkey Software for getting picked up by Valve. Some of us had our suspicions when we saw this: http://www.nuclearmonkeysoftware.com/theteam.html (click on Dave Kircher's link).
 
Qhartb said:
Hey waitaminute. If the console folks get HL2, Ep1, Ep2, TF2, and Portal all in one package, how is Valve going to release Ep3 to them without them feeling like they're not getting as good a deal as they did with the first package?
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They'll probably have more up their sleeves by then. :p COUNTER-STRIKE 2 MAYHAPS?! :LOL:


No shots or videos of anything yet. I don't think they were permitted at all at the conference. I'm sure this Friday's Steam News will have some for us?
 
Yeah they love episodic content to death because it's the only way they rape you of your money whoops I mean profit more without having to put effort into a new engine, much less updating their engine a bit.

It's basically $80 for a full game, which happens to be the same thing as the last game only with different maps and "content".

However they justify it by including TF2 with episode two so it's not that bad, but that depends on what the end product of TF2 and EP2 are though.
 
Xenon, thanks for telling us because we never knew that, but really...if you think that don't buy anything, don't make a steam account. Don't even check Valve news. Understand we see it differently and the advantages mean more to us. Episode 2 with a game as eagerly anticipated as this, i'll tell you so many people are overjoyed right now.
 
Now that you mention it... Didn't they announce several years ago that the original CS guy had already started work on CS2 alongside CSS? What happened with that?
 
-smash- said:
Who said it was $80?
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I would glady pay $80 although it wont be that high, you get Episode 2, TF2, and Portals. But its not going to be 19.95 anyway. I was wondering how they were going to work in selling episodes on 360 and ps3. Now they can sell for $50/60 easy.
 
Episode 2 will sell like hotcakes with TF2 included. I wonder if the 360 version of HL2 will sell better than the Xbox version, even with a lower userbase.
 
Of course I'm still around! Just not as active. I drop into politics every one and awhile.
 
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