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Gameslice with Geoff Keighley Podcast featuring Gabe Newell and Erik Johnson

Read the overview on a gaming site and it sounds to me like any work that might have been put into HL3's been tossed out and they'd have to start from scratch :/ Given the time it takes to put a modern game together, if they started tomorrow that would mean... 2019? Oh man...
 

jediyoshi

Member
Disappointing that HL3 is canned - or at least unloved - at Valve. I'd love an end to the story.

Its made me hate Valve, just a little, because its one of my favorite game series ever.

You're reading it backwards. There's a difference between actively unloving something and finding other things more appealing.

Am I the only one that finds Gabe incredibly boring?

In the spectrum of game industry figureheads, I'm not sure of much on the list above Newell that isn't purely for controversy's sake.
 

HariKari

Member
Ah well.

He's one of the few people who is allowed to be banal I guess.

Not sure how you got that out of this interview. At one point he said they're skipping mobile altogether because smartphones will eventually be folded into what they consider to be the broader VR umbrella. That's a pretty bold statement, but it makes sense when you think about it.
 

Vagabundo

Member
You're reading it backwards. There's a difference between actively unloving something and finding other things more appealing.
.

Either way the results are the same: no HL3. I haven't been interested in much from Valve since Portal 2.

I guess I'm just not with the times.
 

Tobor

Member
Gameslice? Corny name, Geoff! Did you spin a verb wheel and pick whatever it landed on? ;)

Anyhoo, I subscribed on my iPhone of course. Can't wait to listen. Congrats on the new venture!
 
D

Deleted member 102362

Unconfirmed Member
We don't even know what type of game it was supposed to be. What if it's a 4X or Homeworld type game? :p

I like the idea of standing on the bridge of a spaceship in VR - don't take that from me. :(
 

pje122

Member
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repeater

Member
I thought this was a great listen and very interesting. The format with an in-depth interview where the interview subjects are allowed to go on for a bit was a nice change from my usual videogame podcast rotation where there's a lot of pretty quick back-and-forth and not always a lot of time to develop a single point at length.

So: good job Geoff (as always), I'd love to hear more of this kind of stuff!
 

HariKari

Member
This, along with "The Last Hours of Half Life 2", are probably the best looks behind the curtain at Valve and what makes them tick. I like that Gabe and co. seem to be talking more. The Birdwell interview with Tested was fantastic, as Geoff pointed out. I know they'd prefer to work, and to show, not tell. But it's always nice to hear these guys just shoot the shit about Valve/gaming/the future.
 
This, along with "The Last Hours of Half Life 2", are probably the best looks behind the curtain at Valve and what makes them tick. I like that Gabe and co. seem to be talking more. The Birdwell interview with Tested was fantastic, as Geoff pointed out. I know they'd prefer to work, and to show, not tell. But it's always nice to hear these guys just shoot the shit about Valve/gaming/the future.

The "Final Hours of Portal 2" is also great.
 

border

Member
I finally got around to listening to this today, and I thought it was actually pretty dull. I think it doesn't help that Geoff is generally kinda dry, stuffy, and formal and Gabe is also kinda dry, stuffy, and formal. People have built such a cult of personality around Gabe Newell that I let myself forget that he's actually not this charismatic character, but just a thoughtful and plainspoken everyday nerd.

I thought that the Tone Control podcast was a better example of longform developer chats, though the production values on it were pretty low. I hope Keighley continues though, and can get some more lively chatters involved.

Gabe talked about how they don't want to waste their time on a technology like mobile/tablet/phone and how the always evaluate how long a platform/technology might be useful or relevant before they make a heavy commitment to it. Which is bizarre to me because at the end of the day the Steam box seems to me like a pretty massive waste of time, based around a rather paranoid assumption that Microsoft was going to lock them out of the Windows platform. I don't think Keighley should have really called him out on it, but I would like to have heard him justify why they should ignore mobile and maybe better explain why he thinks Steam Box is a platform with 10-20 years of viability.
 
I finally got around to listening to this today, and I thought it was actually pretty dull. I think it doesn't help that Geoff is generally kinda dry, stuffy, and formal and Gabe is also kinda dry, stuffy, and formal. People have built such a cult of personality around Gabe Newell that I let myself forget that he's actually not this charismatic character, but just a thoughtful and plainspoken everyday nerd.

I thought that the Tone Control podcast was a better example of longform developer chats, though the production values on it were pretty low. I hope Keighley continues though, and can get some more lively chatters involved.

Gabe talked about how they don't want to waste their time on a technology like mobile/tablet/phone and how the always evaluate how long a platform/technology might be useful or relevant before they make a heavy commitment to it. Which is bizarre to me because at the end of the day the Steam box seems to me like a pretty massive waste of time, based around a rather paranoid assumption that Microsoft was going to lock them out of the Windows platform. I don't think Keighley should have really called him out on it, but I would like to have heard him justify why they should ignore mobile and maybe better explain why he thinks Steam Box is a platform with 10-20 years of viability.

I enjoyed the podcast and hope Geoff continues to do them. And of course, I love me some Gabe!

I agree, nobody needed a call out but I think the whole Windows discussion was a little soft. Gabe only addressed the Windows version that he built the Steam Box as a response to, not the upcoming Windows 10. Even Geoff mentioned that MS was showing off Steam on 10 and Gabe could only speak to the issues he had with the prior iteration. To his credit, Gabe made it very clear that his opinion on 10 is not informed but there is no point revisiting "old" issues that will apparently be addressed with 10. Steam Box already has a challenging path but 10 could really undercut the "need" for the Linux machine. Having said that, I am still interested in the Steam Box.
 

Northeastmonk

Gold Member
I like having the legit interviews from the figureheads inside the industry. I use to watch the show "Icons" on G4 a lot. I have bought a large amount of books and 1 or 2 documentaries. I hope Geoff Keighley keeps this up.

The Final Hours of Half-Life 2 is also a great read. I own his other "Final Hours" as well on Kindle and on Steam.

Mass Effect 3
Portal 2
TitanFall
Tomb Raider
 
Gameslice? Corny name, Geoff! Did you spin a verb wheel and pick whatever it landed on? ;)

Anyhoo, I subscribed on my iPhone of course. Can't wait to listen. Congrats on the new venture!
Not sure how many people used to go to the Gameslice site back in the late 90s. Geoff used to review print game ads.
 
Which is bizarre to me because at the end of the day the Steam box seems to me like a pretty massive waste of time, based around a rather paranoid assumption that Microsoft was going to lock them out of the Windows platform.

How exactly does that not sound like long-term thinking?
 

border

Member
How exactly does that not sound like long-term thinking?

It's paranoid long-term thinking that wasn't based in any kind of sensible expectation of what Microsoft might do. If Microsoft wanted to eat Steam for lunch they would not lock down their operating system in a way that absolutely cripples their position in the OS market.

Ignoring that though......what is more likely to be around in 10 years -- tablets or desktop PCs running Linux (aka SteamBoxes)? He acts like they give all this consideration to a platform's long term viability, even as he launches a platform that will probably be stillborn.
 
It's paranoid long-term thinking that wasn't based in any kind of sensible expectation of what Microsoft might do. If Microsoft wanted to eat Steam for lunch they would not lock down their operating system in a way that absolutely cripples their position in the OS market.

Idk, sounds sensible to me. Microsoft wants more control over how people use their OS. You call that paranoia? Microsoft having a console to begin with makes that seem like a pretty reasonable prediction.

Ignoring that though......what is more likely to be around in 10 years -- tablets or desktop PCs running Linux (aka SteamBoxes)? He acts like they give all this consideration to a platform's long term viability, even as he launches a platform that will probably be stillborn.

The decline in PC sales has pretty much slowed to a crawl. Meanwhile, tablet sales have been decreasing for months. Probably not the best question to ask.
Plus Linux has already been supported heavily by devs, even before the Steam Machines have actually launched.
 

border

Member
Idk, sounds sensible to me. Microsoft wants more control over how people use their OS. You call that paranoia? Microsoft having a console to begin with makes that seem like a pretty reasonable prediction.

Microsoft is to this day on the watchlist of the US Department of Justice AND European Union. Monopoly tactics like locking down the OS would earn them potentially billions in fines. Even if you believe that Microsoft is the moustache-twirling villain so many people think that they are, they wouldn't be so stupid as to bring down the wrath of two of the world's biggest governments.

Desktop PC sales are not good. People are buying laptops and tablet hybrids while Valve pushes tech that requires wires, cables, and pretty massive computing power.

VR has so many massive engineering and consumer adoption problems, it seems really weird for them to be evangelizing it while intentionally ignoring the mobile revolution.
 
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