Friday, May 14th 2021

Valve's Gabe Newell Hints at Possible Plan for Consoles

Valve's head, Gabe Newell, has on Monday talked to the students at Auckland, New Zealand's Sancta Maria College. While Mr. Newell spoke to students, one of them has asked Mr. Newell about the company's plans for consoles and has recorded the response. The student then proceeded to upload the recording to Reddit, but, it was later deleted. However, we are in luck as Ars Technica reported on this and we have managed to get a bit of new information about what's coming from Valve and what we can expect. During the talk, a student asked Mr. Newell: "Will Steam be porting any games on consoles, or will it just stay on PC?"

To that, Mr. Newell responded by saying: "You will get a better idea of that by the end of this year... and it won't be the answer you expect. You'll say, 'Ah-ha! Now I get what he was talking about.'" This is a rather vague answer to a question and it doesn't give us much information, other than the fact that we can expect something towards the end of 2021. This could mean anything, so we are not sure yet. However, we will keep an eye on it and make sure to report every new information as it appears.
Sources: Ars Technica, via Tom's Hardware
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46 Comments on Valve's Gabe Newell Hints at Possible Plan for Consoles

#26
xorbe
VR is a non-starter for the general public, and I don't see gamers clamoring for cloud gaming, and I sincerely doubt it's a dedicated console, so I don't know what else it could be except some type of Steam Machine, but that didn't pan out very well so far either. I'm stumped. Maybe some kind of deal with an existing console manuf (would have to be xbox?) to legit be on the platform.
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#27
Mindweaver
Moderato®™
qubitI'd ike to, but it's got that VR requirement though, so I'd have to spend a lot on the headset. Did you play it with that unofficial keyboard and mouse mod, perhaps?


I sure hope they do this. It's so way overdue it's unreal.
Man do not play it on kb&m.. lol You can pick up an Oculus Quest 2 for $299 and play it with Air-Link. You'll love it on your 2080. This is what really excites me is someone experiencing HLA for the first time! I'm not trying to over hype it but if and when you do play it... You'll regret not getting it soon from right now to when you do play it. It's crazy at the ammount of great mods it already has like Bioshock. Someone has remade or well is remaking Bioshock and its great.
awesomesaucegaben all about VR nowaday so maybe HL alyx coming on console? heard new PS5 VR is OTW..
The new PSVR2 sounds great. I feel certain that HLA is coming to PSVR 2.
xorbeVR is a non-starter for the general public, and I don't see gamers clamoring for cloud gaming, and I sincerely doubt it's a dedicated console, so I don't know what else it could be except some type of Steam Machine, but that didn't pan out very well so far either. I'm stumped. Maybe some kind of deal with an existing console manuf (would have to be xbox?) to legit be on the platform.
Have you heard of the Oculus Quest 2? I'm seeing people I know buying it every week and with no VR experience and they are doing just fine.
Vayra86Gabe, get the god damn memo already, Valve is and was always good for one thing: Half Life. It even carried Steam to dominance. Count your blessings and start making that fucking sequel already. Everything else - nobody cares! Steam Machine spoke volumes...



Maybe this needs to become a universal oneliner. "I dont feel well" "Irrelevant - Gabe just needs to release HL3."
I thought you bought a VR HMD to play HLA? Dude buy a Quest 2 and use Air-Link. You'll be set for one of the best VR HMD's for 299 and they just released Wireless PCVR with Air-Link and 120hz mode. Hurry up! I want to hear what you think about HLA.
OctaveanMaybe from scalpers,....

A PS5 at MSRP costs about ~$499. You'll be lucky to get a decent video card for ~$500 these days. If your total budget is around ~$500 and you're starting with nothing, what kind of gaming PC can you buy,....?

It's just a cheaper option and if you're into VR the PS4 and PS5 have the PSVR as an option,....
I thought you bought one as well.. We really need to add VR HMD to our system specs. (@W1zzard do you think you can add it? Thanks!)
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#28
Octavean
toilet pepperBy back then I mean early 2021 before all this scalping happened. I got my 2070S March 2021 and the price was decent. You can get a decent PC back then for a price of a high end phone. The main difference is you cant flex it in public. So much for that now.
LOL,....fair enough,....

Although, I can't tell the difference between someone using a ~$1,000+ USD Smart Phone and cheap ~$40 USD TracFone purchased at CVS. Not at a distance anyway.

Even still, regardless of cost, a Smart phone is a weird Flex,......a very weird Flex indeed,...... :)

Everybody's got one, and no one really cares anymore,.....or at least I don't :)
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#29
qubit
Overclocked quantum bit
MindweaverMan do not play it on kb&m.. lol You can pick up an Oculus Quest 2 for $299 and play it with Air-Link. You'll love it on your 2080. This is what really excites me is someone experiencing HLA for the first time! I'm not trying to over hype it but if and when you do play it... You'll regret not getting it soon from right now to when you do play it. It's crazy at the ammount of great mods it already has like Bioshock. Someone has remade or well is remaking Bioshock and its great.
Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. :)
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#30
toilet pepper
qubitThanks, I'll keep that in mind. :)
Cool. First things first, you let grammy in Ritchies plank experiment in front of a thousand dollar TV below and a glass table.

I spent hours in HLA just looking around and grabbing stuff and placing them on top of my head. Then there's the occasional headcrab out of nowhere.

Once you get to Jeff... that's where I was really immersed. Just a little spoiler... you cant talk or breath in real life... unless you do something.
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#31
Condelio
I'd love to see a revival of the steam box in console form factor, but this time with fixed hardware designed by them, that maybe could repurpose ps5/xsx apu, runs steam os, uses the steam store interface (even though i like big picture sometimes i want to see more information on the screen), plays with kb+m or alternatively steam controller v2, includes conectivity for VR obviously and all the PC peripherals that steam supports nowadays

One can only dream :)

Or we could receive a steam app in consoles to play all the steam games we already own.

One can only dream part 2
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#32
mechtech
If they do make a console and if they do name it a GabeN..................SOLD ;)
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#33
Caring1
mechtechIf they do make a console and if they do name it a GabeN..................SOLD ;)
Or call it Gabbo so the Simpsons can claim forecasting one more thing.
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#34
simlife
64KI hope he doesn't make Half Life 2 Ep 3 or Half Life 3 only on whatever console he may be hinting at. I'm not going to buy a console just for that game.
huh what? are are really dense or slow x 100000000.... obv a company what was pc heavy for many years wont abandon pcs.... (guess what steam from other devs selling on the playfrom has made them billions... yes with a s.... for games they didnt make....this article is a 120% joke they brought half life 2 to the 2001 x box this is nothing new
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#35
Final_Fighter
Well they better get on with hl3 before they loose the folks interested in it. hell, most of us who played the series are now in our mid 30's to 40's. how much longer can they make us wait?
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#36
Vayra86
MindweaverMan do not play it on kb&m.. lol You can pick up an Oculus Quest 2 for $299 and play it with Air-Link. You'll love it on your 2080. This is what really excites me is someone experiencing HLA for the first time! I'm not trying to over hype it but if and when you do play it... You'll regret not getting it soon from right now to when you do play it. It's crazy at the ammount of great mods it already has like Bioshock. Someone has remade or well is remaking Bioshock and its great.


The new PSVR2 sounds great. I feel certain that HLA is coming to PSVR 2.


Have you heard of the Oculus Quest 2? I'm seeing people I know buying it every week and with no VR experience and they are doing just fine.


I thought you bought a VR HMD to play HLA? Dude buy a Quest 2 and use Air-Link. You'll be set for one of the best VR HMD's for 299 and they just released Wireless PCVR with Air-Link and 120hz mode. Hurry up! I want to hear what you think about HLA.

I thought you bought one as well.. We really need to add VR HMD to our system specs. (@W1zzard do you think you can add it? Thanks!)
Was on the fence and then FB wanted logins. That device shall not be touched. A few steps too far into dystopia for me, that.

Still might jump on it but with a diff HMD.
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#37
sepheronx
Vayra86Was on the fence and then FB wanted logins. That device shall not be touched. A few steps too far into dystopia for me, that.

Still might jump on it but with a diff HMD.
some people are fine giving away all their information freely on things like facebook. And the fact you have to connect it to a facebook id and if that id is banned, then what? From my understanding, so is your device.

I will wait till I can pick up a HP G2 or something else.
Posted on Reply
#38
human_error
MindweaverYou need to play Half-Life: Alyx! It's by far the best game I've ever played. It's like being in an epic movie. There is word that the next HL game will be HL:X. I bet the X stands for Xen.. lol I can't wait. Pick up a Quest 2 or which ever (I don't want to debate the FB login) and you won't regret it.
I did play it on release (have had VR since the Rift DK2 and got it free since I had Knuckles) and it was pretty good. They have Left 4 Dead and Portal that could really use some new releases in my mind, though I know they tried Portal in VR and it didn't work well there. I wonder if they're thinking of releasing Alyx for PS5's upcoming VR kit - it would help sell VR on consoles some more and hopefully drive more VR adoption across the board.
Posted on Reply
#40
Mindweaver
Moderato®™
Vayra86Was on the fence and then FB wanted logins. That device shall not be touched. A few steps too far into dystopia for me, that.

Still might jump on it but with a diff HMD.
Hopefully you'll get play it soon. There are plenty of HMD's now. I still don't see the big deal over using it to login. You are not logging into FB but it's your decision. I can respect that. I'd keep an eye out for DecaGear.
human_errorI did play it on release (have had VR since the Rift DK2 and got it free since I had Knuckles) and it was pretty good. They have Left 4 Dead and Portal that could really use some new releases in my mind, though I know they tried Portal in VR and it didn't work well there. I wonder if they're thinking of releasing Alyx for PS5's upcoming VR kit - it would help sell VR on consoles some more and hopefully drive more VR adoption across the board.
I would love a L4D in VR. I don't know what your talking about when you said Portal didn't work well? Did you play the short portal game? It worked well I thought and I would guess it's in the works at some point. I truly think they will put HLA on PSVR 2. I also think it would take much for MS to enable HP G2 for the new xbox. I don't know if you saw the Gaben interview where he says that it's faster than PS5.
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#41
medi01
Valve is a lazy arse monopolist that barely needs to move to keep grabbing insane profits.

"Console" lol, remind me how it worked with "steam machine".
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#42
Space Lynx
Astronaut
medi01Valve is a lazy arse monopolist that barely needs to move to keep grabbing insane profits.

"Console" lol, remind me how it worked with "steam machine".
or steam link, or steam controller, or copying social media features for the steam UI that no one uses, or steam OS, or steam sales not being nearly as good or fun as they used to be 6+ years ago... I'm honestly not sure why everyone loves Steam so much, they are similar to Google and that they start loads of new ventures and they fail like 99% of the time. Valve Index is so expensive the vast vast majority of Steam users will never be able to experience, that card game they made that flopped horribly... the list goes on and on.
Posted on Reply
#43
NRANM
lynx29or steam link, or steam controller, or copying social media features for the steam UI that no one uses, or steam OS, or steam sales not being nearly as good or fun as they used to be 6+ years ago... I'm honestly not sure why everyone loves Steam so much, they are similar to Google and that they start loads of new ventures and they fail like 99% of the time. Valve Index is so expensive the vast vast majority of Steam users will never be able to experience, that card game they made that flopped horribly... the list goes on and on.
That's enough out of you, young man! This is no place for logic, facts, and rational thinking. Go to your room, and think about what you said!
Posted on Reply
#44
voltage
qubitWould be nice if he just got on with releasing HL3. Valve have done other games since, so why not this one, which everyone is gagging for? It will sell in vast numbers and people will even build gaming PCs just to play it.

In my opinion, HL2 is the best story-driven game I've ever played, even today, 17 years later and Unreal Tournament & UT2004 the best arena shooters.
I agree. spot on!
Posted on Reply
#45
human_error
MindweaverI don't know what your talking about when you said Portal didn't work well? Did you play the short portal game? It worked well I thought and I would guess it's in the works at some point.
It was Valve themselves that said they built a Portal game prototype for VR and canned it as it didn't work well (source). I also played the fan made portal VR game - note that it didn't use player created portals (it had a teleport gun and set piece teleporters).

I'm shocked there isn't a L4D VR game though - arizona sunshine and all the other zombie shooters have shown it can be done, but I guess it is a crowded market and Valve are trying to show the industry how to do VR games well (HLA being a great storytelling game with fantastic physics).
Posted on Reply
#46
Mindweaver
Moderato®™
human_errorIt was Valve themselves that said they built a Portal game prototype for VR and canned it as it didn't work well (source). I also played the fan made portal VR game - note that it didn't use player created portals (it had a teleport gun and set piece teleporters).

I'm shocked there isn't a L4D VR game though - arizona sunshine and all the other zombie shooters have shown it can be done, but I guess it is a crowded market and Valve are trying to show the industry how to do VR games well (HLA being a great storytelling game with fantastic physics).
Yeah, I saw what they put but I played it. It's called Portal Stories: VR. It worked for me and it worked for a lot of people. It has over 1200 reviews with very positive feed back. I think the project Valve said that didn't work well was with an early version, before they added full locomotion with HLA. If they are not working on one then they should be but honestly if I rated my favorite valve games in order of best to last would be Half-life, Left 4 Dead, TF, CS, then Portal.. lol

Also, Pavlov VR has a zombie mode that's a lot like Left 4 dead. They have even imported L4d Maps and they are amazing. Pavlov VR is still one of my favorite games. It has steam workshop. I can't play pancake multiplayer games anymore because of Pavlov VR. It's that good.
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