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Valve's Newell Honored With 2010 Game Developers Choice Pioneer Award

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- The 2010 Game Developers Choice Awards, the highest honors in video game development, is beginning the announcement of its Special Awards for the tenth annual ceremony, taking place at GDC 2010 this March, and has named Valve co-founder Gabe Newell as the winner of this year's Pioneer Award.

The Pioneer Award -- originated by the Game Developers Choice Awards organizers at the 2008 Awards, and the first award to honor breakthrough figures in the game industry -- celebrates those individuals responsible for developing a vital technology or game design at a crucial juncture in video game history, paving the way for the many who followed them.

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More at PR Newswire
 
Good choice. Half Life redefined the FPS genre. The story driven from the first person perspective was revolutionary, and the AI was unbelievable for the time. The Marines set the standard for AI. They reacted to grenades in reasonable ways, were aware of the players strategy to a degree, and worked better in a team than any AI to that date.
 
gregor7777 said:
Good choice. Half Life redefined the FPS genre. The story driven from the first person perspective was revolutionary, and the AI was unbelievable for the time. The Marines set the standard for AI. They reacted to grenades in reasonable ways, were aware of the players strategy to a degree, and worked better in a team than any AI to that date.
Not to mention, Valve then went on to set the agenda for digital distribution (Steam), post-release content (TF2) and co-op gaming (L4D).

I can think of few people in the industry more deserving of such an award.
 
gregor7777 said:
Good choice. Half Life redefined the FPS genre. The story driven from the first person perspective was revolutionary, and the AI was unbelievable for the time. The Marines set the standard for AI. They reacted to grenades in reasonable ways, were aware of the players strategy to a degree, and worked better in a team than any AI to that date.

While the first part is true, I always thought the UT bots were much better.
 
and worked better in a team than any AI to that date.
I think this has more to do with them having more, regenerative health than Gordon than it does the AI alone.

I also thought the AI in HL1 for the military squad was much better in terms of fighting the player (they found ways to attack from behind cover, and often moved to new spots, while Combine mostly stayed where they were unless a grenade was thrown.)

Gabe still deserves the award, for Steam and the wonderful job done on all Valve games.
 
One of the smartest studio out there, on both a business and production level.
 
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I would definitely agree that Steam is a critical piece of technology that is paving the way for the industry to follow.

Congratulations Gabe/Valve
 
Half Life, Steam, Source...my experiences as a gamer would be RADICALLY different, and likely worse, if these things didn't come to be.

Good on Gabe.
 
It's not only for HL2, he's done other stuff. From the article:

He is being awarded for his work in co-creating the PC key digital download service Steam, and helping to make possible some of the most important video games of the past two decades -- from the Half-Life series through Portal to Team Fortress and beyond.
 
Valve should also be the textbook "How to run a successful studio" example. With all these closings I would think more people would take a look at what Valve does differently. Not saying everyone has Valve money or Steam revenue to fall back on, but there are lessons to be learned from Valve.
 
Ceebs said:
Valve should also be the textbook "How to run a successful studio" example. With all these closings I would think more people would take a look at what Valve does differently. Not saying everyone has Valve money or Steam revenue to fall back on, but there are lessons to be learned from Valve.

I agree. Companies can learn a lot from Valve, especially in terms of supporting the community.
 
I, for one, welcome our new PC Gaming overlords.

KittenMaster said:
I think this has more to do with them having more, regenerative health than Gordon than it does the AI alone.

I also thought the AI in HL1 for the military squad was much better in terms of fighting the player (they found ways to attack from behind cover, and often moved to new spots, while Combine mostly stayed where they were unless a grenade was thrown.)

Gabe still deserves the award, for Steam and the wonderful job done on all Valve games.
I played HL2 before I played HL1, and I definitely do not agree with those who say that 1's AI is smarter than 2's. The marines were tough, that's for sure, but more because they have high health, do a lot of damage, travel in large groups, and throw an indecent amount of grenades. The "flank him!" lines and such aren't actually linked with any behaviour, it's just an audio design touch.

Combine could have definitely been more aggressive, but it isn't all that big of a deal (there's a lot of other relentless NPCs that fill that need).
 
gregor7777 said:
Good choice. Half Life redefined the FPS genre. The story driven from the first person perspective was revolutionary, and the AI was unbelievable for the time. The Marines set the standard for AI. They reacted to grenades in reasonable ways, were aware of the players strategy to a degree, and worked better in a team than any AI to that date.

Hey, System Shock called. It says it wants the whole revolutionary fp story telling thing back. In 94.
 
HK-47 said:
Hey, System Shock called. It says it wants the whole revolutionary fp story telling thing back. In 94.

Heh, yeah, I suppose you're right.

It's funny, SS always seemed so dissimilar to FPS games at the time I never really thought of it in that context.
 
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