Tag Archives: Valve

E3 2015: Microsoft kicks Xbox One into high gear with exciting games lineup and backwards compatibility

Microsoft kicked off E3 2015 with a media briefing that mostly included first-looks at anticipated game sequels and new IPs, and also a dash of exciting software and hardware announcements. It’s all for you after the break. Continue reading E3 2015: Microsoft kicks Xbox One into high gear with exciting games lineup and backwards compatibility

J.J. Abrams and Valve’s Gabe Newell strike a deal to produce movies and games based on their respective projects [Update: video]

At this year’s D.I.C.E. summit (Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain), co-founder of game developer Valve conversed with filmmaker J.J. Abrams about collaborating on future projects. Gamers and sci-fi fanatics alike, perk up. Newell and Abrams have expressed their interest in bringing some of Valve’s most popular titles–Half-Life and Portal, specifically–to the big screen. “We’re going to try and figure out if we can make a Half-Life movie or a Portal movie together,” said Newell. Additionally, Abrams said that he’d be interesting in working with Valve to create video games inspired by Bad Robot films. Apparently this partnership has been in the making for awhile. “We sort of reached the point where we decided that we needed to do more than talk,” Newell admitted. Though details beyond these are sparse, this is something to definitely be excited about and when more comes through the pipeline you’ll know.

Update: The exciting announcement laid out above came at the very end of a rich 20-minute conversation during which the Bad Robot and Valve founders discussed storytelling methods in movies and video games. At first the two make friendly jabs at each other’s work but quickly the back-and-forth evolves into a stimulating discussion about the importance of the relationship between the viewer/player and the on-screen experience. Watch the full clip courtesy of D.I.C.E. after the break.

[Via Engadget; Joystiq] Continue reading J.J. Abrams and Valve’s Gabe Newell strike a deal to produce movies and games based on their respective projects [Update: video]

Super 8 gets interactive inside Portal 2

Valve’s Portal 2 just came out this past Tuesday, and it’s already being touted as the year’s best game. In an interesting move, Paramount turned to the game’s developers to insert this interactive trailer for the upcoming sci-fi flick Super 8. Gamers can move around the universe built by J.J. Abrams by accessing “Super 8” inside Portal‘s main menu under Extras. Lazy? You can watch it unfold in the video above. It’s nothing particularly exciting, but it’s neat to see the train wreck we’ve come to know and question come alive in video game form.

[Via Deadline]

Portal 2 gets a release date

After numerous delays, Valve has decided to kick things in to high gear by announcing a firm release date for the sequel to 2007’s critically acclaimed puzzler.  Portal 2 will release on February 9, 2011 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, and Mac.  Valve has also confirmed that British writer and actor Stephen Merchant (The Office, Ricky Gervais Show) will voice the British robot Wheatley who has been featured in the game’s trailers.  “Meet Wheatley” at the Portal 2 site.

[Via GameInformer]

Steam for Mac is available for download today

Hey Mac users!  Now you can finally play a bunch of solid games on your computer!  Steam, a games distribution service that’s been widely available on Windows PCs for years, is now available for Mac OS X.  Steam is run by Valve, the company behind popular games like Half-Life, Team Fortress, and Left 4 Dead 2.  In layman’s terms, Steam is a centralized place where computer gamers can browse, preview, and download a number of titles.  It’s also got a bunch of social features like chat, and friends lists.  And get this–for a limited time (until May 24) Steam is offereing a FREE download of one of Valve’s most popular and best rated games, Portal.  It’s a highly addicting, first-person puzzle game, so get on that before it’s too late.  Besides Valve games, Steam for Mac (which looks almost identical to its Windows counterpart) already houses a bunch of third party games like Civilization IV, Bejeweled 2, World of Goo, and City of Heroes: Architect Edition.  Click here for the DMG download of Steam for Mac.

[Via Joystiq]

Valve’s bringing Steam and Source Engine to Macs (at long last)

On Monday video game developer Valve announced they are finally bringing Mac support to their Steam digital distribution platform and Source Engine that powers Valve games like Half-Life and Portal.  The popular Valve lineup of games including Left 4 Dead 2, Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike, Portal, and the Half-Life series will make its way to Mac users this April.  To add to this exciting news comes, well, even more exciting news.  Valve also announced Steam Play:  [this] allows customers who purchase the product for the Mac or Windows to play on the other platform free of charge.  For example, Steam Play, in combination with the Steam Cloud, allows a gamer playing on their work PC to go home and pick up playing the same game at the same point on their home Mac. We expect most developers and publishers to take advantage of Steam Play.”  Holy hell yes.  Oh, and Portal 2, sequel to the highly acclaimed 2007 action/puzzle game, will be the first simultaneous release on the PC and Mac.  Valve Mac teaser posters in the gallery below.

[Via Joystiq]