Gabe Newell says Valve will release its own console-like PC for the living room

[Deleted]

It's a joke. Valve will not give out any serious information about the game until it's released.

I know its a joke but gabe already said the new engine is heavily in development and they are waiting on that one game to really showcase it (recent birthday interview).. he also joked about it being ricochet 2 which valve have joked / used as reference to half life.

[hellboyy]

microsoft keeps shitting on pc gaming while championing the xbox. this'll be a good thing if valve can get it to run any pc game.

[Defengar]

microsoft keeps shitting on pc gaming while championing the xbox. this'll be a good thing if valve can get it to run any pc game.

How is MS shitting on PC gaming?

[Wilian]

How is MS shitting on PC gaming?

Well, the easiest example which many people can relate to is their business deal with Bethesda, where Xbox gets their expansion/DLC releases ahead of others.

[Karnige]

Not true, as long as you dont get a graphics card that is garbage to begin with, you could play any game to come out for a long time. The CPU is semi unrelated to the gaming performance unless you are trying to max out a game. An APU or a i3 paired with a mid range card will play any game u want for a while at medium settings. I have a 9800 GTX+ from 2008 that can still play any game on it with playable FPS. The CPU in that rig is a original phenom that my brother is playing farcry 3 on as I type this probably and that game is currently one of the more demanding games out there atm.

I agree 100%. my brother has a 9800 gtx and can still play any computer game out there. yes you have to lower the graphics but hey it works and works well

[Remilia]

Well, the easiest example which many people can relate to is their business deal with Bethesda, where Xbox gets their expansion/DLC releases ahead of others.

That's not really Microsoft, that's just Bethesda.

[Wilian]

That's not really Microsoft, that's just Bethesda.

How exactly? Oblivion was one of the main titles to push Xbox 360 sales and just happened to be the game this deal was originally crafted for. Not only that, but the PC graphics of Oblivion were nerfed because of them. (Them as in, the people who would benefit from Oblivion looking as good on console as on PC, which side would that be hmmm.) When you look at images/videos of Oblivion 6-12 months before release and 3-6 months before release you'd notice sharp decline in texture quality and lack of effects that were part of the engine (Real time shadows Skyrim style)

Just look at this E3 presentation, then install Oblivion without mods and see if the max settings gives out such visual quality.



In any case, that was just one of the easiest examples to pick out. There are plenty of others in form of game companies paid to make Xbox exclusive games even though all the pre-work was made for PC.

[Remilia]

How exactly? Oblivion was one of the main titles to push Xbox 360 sales and just happened to be the game this deal was originally crafted for. In any case, that was just one of the easiest examples to pick out.

There are plenty of others in form of game companies paid to make Xbox exclusive games even though all the pre-work was made for PC.

Because Microsoft isn't the game developer?
Bethesda has no binding contract to Microsoft.

For it to be exclusive, the developer has entered a contract with whichever the console it's exclusive to. That action is still the developer's decision.

[Wilian]

Because Microsoft isn't the game developer?
Bethesda has no binding contract to Microsoft.

For it to be exclusive, the developer has entered a contract with whichever the console it's exclusive to. That action is still the developer's decision.

But they have contract, it's not a publishing contract because Bethesda is it's own publisher, it's contract of favouring a system over others. As far as I remember, this particular one for Skyrim is for 3 full fledged DLCs

[Remilia]

But they have contract, it's not a publishing contract because Bethesda is it's own publisher, it's contract of favouring a system over others. As far as I remember, this particular one for Skyrim is for 3 full fledged DLCs

That's just conspiracy theory now.

[Wilian]

That's just conspiracy theory now.

Conspiracy theory my ass

http://www.vg247.com/2011/08/26/micr...or-skyrim-dlc/

[Remilia]

Conspiracy theory my ass

http://www.vg247.com/2011/08/26/micr...or-skyrim-dlc/

Then look at Dishonored and other such.
http://store.steampowered.com/search...&term=bethesda
I personally don't care about timed differences for release, but that's just me. Knowing Bethesda's bug record.

However for it to be the case it has to go for every single one, including the new releases.

[Wilian]

Then look at Dishonored and other such.
http://store.steampowered.com/search...&term=bethesda
I personally don't care about timed differences for release, but that's just me. Knowing Bethesda's bug record.

However for it to be the case it has to go for every single one, including the new releases.

Ugh, it's a whole different studio with entirely different publishing plan. And not only that it's brand new IP, of course it's marketing deals nor exclusivities are going to work the same way. Microsoft probably does not want to shred millions of contract money for something that is not mainstream/new because those are always dice tossing. Elder Scrolls serie is a whole different beast and is known to attract million sales.

Companies owned by ZeniMax are known to have quite a bit of independency, else ones like iD software would've never joined up.

[namelessone]

But they have contract, it's not a publishing contract because Bethesda is it's own publisher, it's contract of favouring a system over others. As far as I remember, this particular one for Skyrim is for 3 full fledged DLCs

Point is Bethesda can choose not to publish on XBOX if they don't like microsoft terms, they can go PS3 exclusive, like many other games.

[Wilian]

Point is Bethesda can choose not to publish on XBOX if they don't like microsoft terms, they can go PS3 exclusive, like many other games.

Which is not relevant to the discussion at all I was having.

[PBitt]

What I am curious about is the manner they release games for it.

Do they use the same library as on actual PC? If so, how powerful the "console" is? In what manner the changing system requirements of the games are being dealt with and how much graphical tweaking would playing on the system require?

Do they release "console" specific game list for it and if they do will those games get the amount of optimization your usual console system would get?

Yeah I'm curious about this as well. Obviously they are a successful business for the PC and they are trying to expand that success into the console market, but I am curious about what this has to offer. The vast majority of the hardcore console players probably aren't going to look too deeply unless they have something really unique to offer as people are pretty devoted to Sony/Microsoft who both make pretty good consoles and both with at least a few good franchises people are devoted to following. Perhaps Steam is going to focus on not half-assed ports of many well-known PC games and franchises to open them up to the console players who aren't into the whole gaming PC thing...in other words well-respected titles like Counter Strike and Half Life making a full-fledged debut to the console, possibly with cross-platform play to PC owners. To not tie it directly to the PC side of things just doesn't seem likely to me, nor does making exclusive games for both PC and this console thing.

[Remilia]

Which is not relevant to the discussion at all I was having.

Yes it is. The decision is always the developer's.

Ugh, it's a whole different studio with entirely different publishing plan. And not only that it's brand new IP, of course it's marketing deals nor exclusivities are going to work the same way. Microsoft probably does not want to shred millions of contract money for something that is not mainstream/new because those are always dice tossing. Elder Scrolls serie is a whole different beast and is known to attract million sales.

Companies owned by ZeniMax are known to have quite a bit of independency, else ones like iD software would've never joined up.

What does this have to do with favoring Microsoft?
In order for it to be a favor, all of it must be in favor to it. Cherry picking one situation does not make it reality. If all the new releases are to Microsoft, you'd have a case, otherwise no.

[Wilian]

Yes it is. The decision is always the developer's.What does this have to do with favoring Microsoft?

This is just silly. Of course the "decision" is always on the developer but the whole point is that Microsoft makes such offer there's no real decision involved from business-point of view. "Do I turn down offer that has no long term effect to me but I gain gazillions of money through it, or not."

Besides, it has still has no relevance in discussion surrounding "how Microsoft is hindering PC gaming market" which admittably has now turned into a downspiralling circle when you try to bring up new excuses to make Microsoft look like they somehow are not trying to do it

In order for it to be a favor, all of it must be in favor to it. Cherry picking one situation does not make it reality. If all the new releases are to Microsoft, you'd have a case, otherwise no.

I don't even see what your point is with this, it's like the concept of "case by case" (In this case, studio by studio) contract avoids you entirely. Microsoft makes the offers, not Bethesda and Microsoft isn't offering anything for Dishonored exclusivity for fairly obvious reasons. Simple as that.

[Remilia]

This is just silly. Of course the "decision" is always on the developer but the whole point is that Microsoft makes such offer there's no real decision involved from business-point of view. "Do I turn down offer that has no long term effect to me but I gain gazillions of money through it, or not."

I don't even see what your point is with this, it's like the concept of "case by case" contract avoids you entirely. Microsoft makes the offers, not Bethesda and Microsoft isn't offering anything for Dishonored exclusivity. Simple as that.

You could. It depends on the company...

http://www.informationisbeautiful.ne...cal-fallacies/
Aside from the very off topic already.


If you want to fault an entire company to be biased, you have to fault the entire company, not just pick one example and say that's what causes the entire company to be bias.

[Wilian]

You could. It depends on the company...

http://www.informationisbeautiful.ne...cal-fallacies/
Aside from the very off topic already.


If you want to fault an entire company to be biased, you have to fault the entire company, not just pick one example and say that's what causes the entire company to be bias.

What contradicting evidence?

What is the hard thing here? Microsoft offers money to Bethesda for exclusive Elder Scrolls DLC for a limited time for the sake of publicity, which undermines the competition at the same time since if they want it early, they have to roll with Xbox

Then Microsoft doesn't offer money for Bethesda for Arkane Studio's Dishonored because it's new IP and unsure investment.

I really don't see what's the huge thing here