Oath

Team Fortress 2 and Portal

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Well some other companies were involved as well when EA's Summer Showcase was presented, but I think it's safe to assume that Valve stole the show. Gamespot has the full report, with timestamps and everything! At 2:26 and 2:34 you can read the Valve stuff.

Here are the main points however:

  • Team Fortress 2 will be bundled with Episode 2. Apparently has a "'60s spy feel".
  • New game called Portal also bundled. Based off Narbacular Drop, which was coincidentally featured in the latest episode of Consolevania!
  • A guy called Gray Horsfield, from [wiki]WETA Digital[/wiki], has been helping develop new "cinematic physics". If you have watched the LOTR extended DVD's you'll know him as the guy who did the destruction of Barad-dûr pretty much by himself. Also "new particle systems, better foliage, and more".
  • HL2, with all back content, to be released for Xbox360 and PS3.

I love you Valve. :tup:

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[Valve] are still making [Team Fortress 2]! It's got a totally exaggerated, crazy art style now. Looks a little like Spy vs. Spy or No One Lives Forever, kind of a '60s spy feel.

Oh well. I'll miss the originally-penned look 'n' feel of TF2. But, what with all the Battlefield's and Ghost Recon's in this world nowadays, Valve will have to do something a bit different if they want TF2 to stand out from the crowd.

And hey, Half-Life 2: Ep 2 will ship for Xbox 360 and PS3 simultaneously with the PC. The console games will basically include all of the HL2 back content, so you'll get everything on there that you can get on the PC.

I guess that explains why it's not going to be out until near the end of 2007. The question is, though, if Half-Life 2, Episode 1 and Episode 2 are all going to be bundled into the respective console releases, where does that leave 360 and PS3 players with regards to Episode 3? Are Valve banking on Sony having implemented a similar content delivery system to Live! Marketplace to enable purchase of the final part of the Episode trilogy?

Oh, and cue 1,000,000 fanboy muppets raving about which console "IT LOOKS TEH BEST ON!!!11!". :frusty:

Not seen that before--thanks for the head's up.

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I guess that explains why it's not going to be out until near the end of 2007.

Last I heard it was still on for end of THIS year, with episode 3 being released sometime before the end of next year...

As for Narbacular drop, I will download that when I get home, sounds interesting :D cheers Oath

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Last I heard it was still on for end of THIS year, with episode 3 being released sometime before the end of next year...

He's not wrong you know... must've been getting me dates muddled again.

:getmecoat

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One thing that will be interesting to see is how Valve handles user input on the consoles. With a PC user, they have full control. They can see where people are having trouble and reduce the difficulty (which they have done) and balance the game more effectively. I doubt neither Microsoft nor Sony will let them track user data from their platforms, which kind of leaves console players a bit left out.

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One thing that will be interesting to see is how Valve handles user input on the consoles. With a PC user, they have full control. They can see where people are having trouble and reduce the difficulty (which they have done) and balance the game more effectively. I doubt neither Microsoft nor Sony will let them track user data from their platforms, which kind of leaves console players a bit left out.

OH NO! They actually have to design and playtest and balance their game on their own!!:violin:

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I doubt neither Microsoft nor Sony will let them track user data from their platforms, which kind of leaves console players a bit left out.

Interesting, agreed. But I seriously doubt that neither Microsoft nor Sony won't be collecting player metrics from (at least some) key titles; they'd be idiots not to in all honesty. Spyware be damned--it's essential to get a better idea of what people do and don't like when playing games today, especially with so many critics braying for more original/different experiences. I reckon Valve should be applauded for being proactive in finding out whether their customers are getting value for money, or not (more importantly).

Anyway: if Valve themselves are handling the HL2 conversions to 360 and PS3 personally, then I'm certain there's no way this will happen if they can't continue to grow their 'gameplay' statistics. Certainly not if they [Valve] intend to continue developing for consoles themselves from this point on.

What's more likely, however, is that Valve are simply farming out the console conversions as previously, treating them as separate entities from their own products.

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OH NO! They actually have to design and playtest and balance their game on their own!!:violin:

Dude, their games are very well tested and balanced. The sort of thing I'm talking about is stuff that's hard to catch or plan for in-studio. It's not like they rebalanced the whole game, just reduced the difficulty slightly in one minor section.

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One thing that will be interesting to see is how Valve handles user input on the consoles. With a PC user, they have full control. They can see where people are having trouble and reduce the difficulty (which they have done) and balance the game more effectively. I doubt neither Microsoft nor Sony will let them track user data from their platforms, which kind of leaves console players a bit left out.

Since there are no differences in gameplay they could use the info they get from the PCusers right?

There can't be that much difference:erm:

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Since there are no differences in gameplay they could use the info they get from the PCusers right?

There can't be that much difference:erm:

The games will probably be a bit rebalanced for the consoles, perhaps slightly reducing the number of enemies and the pace. Some things are harder to do with a controller, some easier.

If they don't change anything, it could be just right or maybe it'll be way too hard. I guess we'll see, but I think it could be a definite problem.

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My only concern at this point is with regards to price. Frankly, I don't like multiplayer games unless I'm playing people I know. I've run into incredibly stupid and irritating people online far too often to be able to log onto anything confident that I'll enjoy myself. As such, I probably won't be playing TF2. The bullet point said that it would be bundled with Ep 2, which I will definitely be playing. Is this to give us extra value for our $20, or will this push the price up to god-knows? With some people already complaining that Ep 1 wasn't even fully worth the $20, I'd hate to be paying extra for something I won't be using.

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Is [bundling TF2] to give us extra value for our $20, or will this push the price up to god-knows? With some people already complaining that Ep 1 wasn't even fully worth the $20, I'd hate to be paying extra for something I won't be using.

I don't think Valve are stupid. They published the disturbingly-low completion rates for Episode 1 mere weeks after it was launched, which - for me at least - shows that Valve are aware of just how important it is to get episodic gaming right.

I'd hazard a guess that bundling TF2 in with Episode 2 is one possible way of "sweetening the pill". Meaning I don't think we'll pay for it, but, coversely, we may have more reason to pay for Episode 2--especially those who maybe didn't value the first part much.

For what it's worth, I've still not played Episode 1. But, from reading several absolutely glowing reviews, I'm finding it difficult to see what isn't to like; you appear to get a very tightly focussed, very well produced shiny new piece of gaming, for what equates to less-than-budget money...

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Right, managed to find this:

teamfortress2groupphoto1sd.th.jpg

Looks a bit like Evil Genius, doesn't it? Fantastic style anyway.

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Right, managed to find this.

Superb! Great find.

The art style does look really intriguing--can't wait to see how the weapons and levels stack up.

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Always impressed with how subtle and deliberate Valve artists' colour choice tends to be. This be quite orgasmic.

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Wow, I'm tempted to play it just based on that art. It's always nice to blow shit up in a shiny new way.

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Wow, I'm tempted to play it just based on that art. It's always nice to blow shit up in a shiny new way.

Agreed, it really looks unbelievably nice.

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now that's surpirsing... ofcourse the question how the rest of the game is still remains.

not really waiting for it (since it requires steam anyway)

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Having played Team Fortress to no end back in the old days, there is simply no question here. After seeing that art I will be playing TF2!

And looking at the background in that picture, it bodes well for the levels. Over-sized cartoony objects ahoy!

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I'm totally torn ...

:tup: That art style just screams "masses of fun".

:tdown: The classes are all the same. This leaves the worrying possibility that the gameplay is also all the same. And that would make me very sad - I wouldn't be able to play it without feeling the wasted potential.

Overall though, given the cheap-cheap-cheap cost of Steam games these days (CS:S: free, HL2DM: free, DoD:S: $10, The Ship: $15), I'm really getting into the idea of multiplayer gaming as a finger buffet instead of a 7-course meal. I don't need to play the same game 6 nights a week to feel satisfied with it, I can just fire it up a couple of times a month in between my other games.

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I think it just occured to them that BF2 is essentially what they were originally shooting for with TF2; check out the Wikipedia article which includes all the info released about TF2 over the years and you'll notice it reads like a design document for BF2 or something. Going back and focusing on the arcadey, excellent gameplay of TFC seems like a smarter option to me.

It'd be truly tragic if the tried and tested gameplay of TF died out and got twisted into some more realistic rubbish, which is what TF2 was originally going to be. Would have been cool in 1999, but not now. I'm really, really glad they're instead planning on reviving the glory of TFC. Just a shame they're not distributing it with something that more people will own. :fart:

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Overall though, given the cheap-cheap-cheap cost of Steam games these days (CS:S: free, HL2DM: free, DoD:S: $10, The Ship: $15)

Speaking of the Ship, is it any good? I've only seen the ads for it once on steam and the title seemed vaguely appealing. Is it worth the money?

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