Love this series, can't wait for the Osaka/Kyoto one.
It really offers an unique insight, and even Valve's very controlled environnement can't slip through without BSing (the latter part) :p
Also, stop shaking Shaun! xD
Lost Between Levels Special Edition: Valve
Show Episodes
- March 6, 2013
- Valve Special
- Mar 6, 2013
Shaun visits the house that Half-Life built to meet some of its talented employees and to learn more about the company culture that inspires them.
269 comments
I wish they would just allow me to live there! I love VALVe and all their games. I seriously wish that they would release HL3 or HL2 Ep 3 just like everyone else the anticipation of knowing more about Freeman and Alex's story is killing me! Especially after how Ep 2 ended, i mean come on we have been stuck wondering for far too long!
the reason HL3 (or HL2 EP3) has not come out is most likely due to valve completely rebuilding the steam engine to compete with the new generation of games coming out this year and next. They (valve press and Gabe himself) have mentioned that it has been a huge project for the company and its time consuming. I cannot imagine them not making HL3 once the new steam engine has been finished.
Stop being lazy ******* Valve and make a game instead of tooting your own horn, you made some great games in the past but you haven't done a damn thing since 2011, CS:GO is a bad joke, the game removed more then it added.
1 Like Go back to playing yearly-release franchises. Valve games obviously aren't for you.
Thank you Gamespot, please more content like this and less articles about Cliff Bleszinski
The house that half life built, should be the house that is building half life. HURRY UP VALVE!
I'm thinking they were waiting for the next gen systems to come out before working on HL3. I don't think they thought it would take 8-9 years for that to happen. Hopefully we'll see it within a year or so.......hopefully.
=)
this company is just living off HL legacy i dont view u guys as anything special srry its the truth
1 Like Shaun visits the house that Half-Life built, and then abandoned, and then decided to release a shitty gaming system for $1,000... I hope they go under... nothing but disappointment after disappointment after HL2... Where's HL Ep3??!?!?!?!
1 Like @pgrammus probably cancelled. People view them as a quality developer that really put a lot of effort in their games and it shows, until they release a real dud then people, like the ones who praised the Diablo series and say I waited 6-10 f**king years for this turd!? tick tock, tick tock, Valve!
@petez34 @pgrammus lol no wonder half life hasn't been release in years. Bloody hippies don't like to work for very long.
Great video, always wanted to know more about valve, now i do =]. This lost between levels is by far one of the best shows you guys have done. Thanks so much for these!
It was really quite depressing when he recognized the "freemium" importance, and how the sales department must design the game together with the design department. They're facing reality, I guess.
Valve is absolutely unique. The only company that actually seems to care about the gaming community.
1 Like Very interesting! My first thought was that Shaun was going to have to take a cable train car that goes down into some large mountain to get to the Valve entrance where he would be met by a security guard wearing a blue uniform named Barney. My guess is that that particular entrance is for people who have a high security clearance of HL3. Valve made sure Shaun was restricted to certain locations as to not reveal any work-in progress of HL3. You could just feel that as Shaun was listening to the feedback from the Valve employee's he wanted to just scream out "please for the love of budda, give me any scoop on HL3. Just nod your head up and down would be a wonderful sign of acknowledgement"!
Loved what Valve has done in the past, present, and look forward to what's next in the future. Especially an HL3 future! =)
2 Like Valve is the best . That's all I can say . I have nothing but Respect for Gabe Newell , all I can do is to support their awesome products forever and praise steam . Thanks Gabe .
1 Like I did not see in the interview an explanation for why they have rolled their desks away from their signature half-life series for so long. Even if the team is thoroughly jaded on half-life, the fans have been clamoring for more for too long. A top-down corporation would have been on half-life 9 by now, granted, but having none since hl2 episode 2 is too extreme in the other direction.
1 Like Hard to explain valve's success? How hard is it to understand that by listening and understanding your customers, they're more likely to purchase your goods and services?
2 Like That is interesting how they manage to keep grabbing self-directed people. I wish I could be like that, but I'm a slow starter. I don't start working well until I start defining the project well and see ideas coming together, but once I get an idea of the final product, I can really start to take off. The uncertainty of being unmanaged and starting up a project on my own are enough to stop me from even being able to start without help. I am trying to expand my capabilities but the highly systematic confines of mild autism are difficult to overcome.
Woah. I'd always thought Valve was a special company, but now I've got a new appreciation of just how special. Such a business model shouldn't work, but they've got it to. Bravo!
1 Like these guys have a great business model... they just do games because they like doing games and they're not rushed by a publisher to finish a game - they only release when they're satisfied with what they created. great article
Wow this is an awesome work model for a company, no managers, no titles, no definitive roles as employees, just get to work on what your best at, if you fail pick yourself up and prove your worth it, awesome... it also explains (unfortunately) why HL3 isnt done yet.
Give me a break man, HL3 isn't delayed because of a lack of focus. Valve has been EXTREMELY busy expanding every aspect of it's business (Steam Community/Workshop, "Steam Box," etc). But it's not delayed because of a lack of time/manpower either. Gabe Newell, and Valve in general, are very particular about timing. Half-Life sets the bar with each new installment, that's a historical fact. The only way to ensure they can raise the bar again is by aiming for next generation. What's so hard to understand about that? Yes 6-7 years is a long time to wait, but at least it's not 12! (Think Starcraft/Diablo)
3 Like @demstarfish diverse also means what they did previously, and a couple were from different countries(did you not notice the accents?) Diversity doesn't just apply to race and gender.
2 Like Really excellent report. So many interesting points raised. Thinking about the music and sound in Portal 2 - what a definitive part of the game they were. I really liked the focus of questions on practical aspects of the company structure and was pleased to see that Valve were giving such frank answers; where other companies would have gone for much cheesier self-promotion, I thought these interviews were quite candid.
Conversation powered by Livefyre
