Valve Hoping For 360/PC Play, Scared of PS3 Online 105
Valve's movement to the console space has been slow, but this year will see the release of Half-Life 2 on both the 360 and PS3. They seem to be having mixed reactions to that move. On the one hand (according to CVG), they're very much hoping that 360/PC crossplay will be possible for their upcoming Team Fortress 2. On the other hand (according to Game Informer and 1up), their reaction to the PS3's online component is one of fear. Valve's Marketing representative Doug Lombardi: "PS3 is brand new and PS3's online is kind of scary so we're hoping that EA is going to be a strong partner for us. (laughs) It's always the scariest thing when it's not all yours. With the PC it's all ours, Steam is all ours, code's ours, game's ours. On 360 we're making it, we've made it before, we know what the Live thing is, although it's Microsoft's so we kind of know it. PS3 we're not building it, we haven't made a PS3 title before, and we don't really know what PS3 online really is. It's always the devil you don't know that you're the most scared of."
Re:The devil you do know (Score:5, Insightful)
So what you're saying is that it's doubly reasonable for them to be terrified of Sony? It's both the devil they know AND the devil they don't.
Wii? (Score:3, Insightful)
So you end up playing FPS games on more powerful systems with crappy controllers.
And before you tell me that I only need to practice, I've got plenty of experience. About 15 years with a keyboard and mouse. The Wii remote and nunchuck take about 30 seconds to get used to. The analog sticks and dozen buttons on the Xbox 360 and PS3 gamepads? I gave up after 2 hours.
And no, I don't own a Windows PC either.
Re:The devil you do know (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Keyboard/Mouse vs. Controller (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:xbox vs. PC (Score:3, Insightful)
Let me be the first to say that's not even a game I'd want to play on the PC.
I mean I agree that the playing field *should* be level but frankly I'd rather just not have xbox360 players connected to my PC game than put up with that kind of crap!
Re:Contractual obligations? (Score:3, Insightful)
What was a real kick in the ass was them completely dumping OGL from their now current-generation games making them unable to play on anything non-Microsoft.
Now that they are in the UniPlaf world of windows, the incentive to support -any- other platform is probably a heavy one. I can't speak about their architecture in particular, but unless a system is written from the ground up as modular, its difficult to shove it in later without showing some serious scars.
Re:xbox vs. PC (Score:5, Insightful)
Keyboard customization is another huge problem. The fact is, people guess at what is the best possible setup for their individual needs, but in actuality, unless you have an advanced degree in psychology and have done intensive research into tactile and spacial perception, they're not going to be the most knowledgable person about interface design. This is why I despise the idea of keyboard and gamepad reconfiguration. I find that a lot more thought goes into default gamepad interface configuration than default keyboard interface configuration, because PC game developers realize that gamers are just gonna fuck with it anyway.
That's why I think, eventually, when developers get their head out of their asses (and abandon the bounding box technique used today) the Wiimote will eventually be the best device for FPSs, because it has almost the precision of a mouse, but does away with the clunkiness of a keyboard.
Re:Keyboard/Mouse vs. Controller (Score:1, Insightful)