toblix

Portal 2

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The gameplay looks pretty insane with all the new mechanics and more aggressive environment. I really like the visuals as well now that there is something organic in the mix. Can't wait to play this!:tup:

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Valve has said in the past they were hiring PS3 developers, because if they were going to develop for that environment, they weren't likely to let a 3rd party port it again. However, around the time that Steam for Mac was launched, Gabe was on a podcast called The Conversation and PS3 came up. He seemed fairly dismissive, and not in the cagey way that many developers do, or in the Jaffe out-right-lie kind of way. It sounded like they hadn't ruled out PS3, but it wasn't their priority and it sort of sounded like they were waiting for Sony to pick up the ball.

To me, this boils down to "SURPRISE! PS3 has delayed the release of Portal 2". And that's just sad.

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Did they say anything about future games or possibility of non-valve titles getting Steamworks on PS3 as well? If so... that's huge. I can't imagine why Sony would allow steamworks to usurp PSN other than maybe Valve threatened to not release anything for PS3.

But whatever. I'm hoping there are more surprise announcements coming from Valve.

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Did they say anything about future games or possibility of non-valve titles getting Steamworks on PS3 as well? If so... that's huge. I can't imagine why Sony would allow steamworks to usurp PSN other than maybe Valve threatened to not release anything for PS3.
Don't confuse Steam with Steamworks. The Steam marketplace is not going to be on PS3, just features of the Steamworks API and possibly crossplatform chat.

Wolpaw was asked, but since he said to ask Doug Lombardi. Considering Doug is the business guy at Valve, it's an indication that the feature set is largely going to be determined by business rather than technological constraints. He did say that it was mostly to do with patching, and brought up TF2's lifecycle as a reference for what they would be able to do on the PS3. XBOX certification can be a mess.

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Don't confuse Steam with Steamworks. The Steam marketplace is not going to be on PS3, just features of the Steamworks API and possibly crossplatform chat.

But what about other steamworks features like server browsers, friendlists, matchmaking services, and achievements? (all of which, as far as I know, are offered in PSN as well)

btw whatever prompted you to think that I was confusing steam with steamworks?

Edited by Jayel

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'cause PSN doesn't really provide the features you listed. Friends do exist, but their implementation is so unbelievably sloppy, it's almost not worth mentioning. I'll concede achievements though, trophies do exist.

A lot of people seem to think that the Steam marketplace will be on PS3.

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Really dude? You're going to sit there and say the friends features are THAT bad? Sure you can't initiate a voice chat across a game, but you can send a text message, you can initiate video AND voice chats outside of a game, you can see what game your friends are playing, almost every game has a way to follow, join, or invite friends to a game. You don't need to be some PC elitist about it just because it isn't QUITE as good.

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Really dude? You're going to sit there and say the friends features are THAT bad? Sure you can't initiate a voice chat across a game, but you can send a text message, you can initiate video AND voice chats outside of a game, you can see what game your friends are playing, almost every game has a way to follow, join, or invite friends to a game. You don't need to be some PC elitist about it just because it isn't QUITE as good.
It's a nightmare from a user experience point of view. I've actually successfully coordinated more games using Wii friend codes than I have using PSN invitations. Which is not a lot, either way, and is really just my experience. The problem is that developers are left doing the majority of the work to get those follow/join/invite systems working on PS3, and many do it half-assed requiring players already in game to leave just to receive an invitation to join a friend.

It's not about elitism. If you're going to compare Steam's features directly to PSN's it's a clear disparity.

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Now you're comparing the PSN to Wii? Saying players have to actually leave a game just to join a friend? I don't even think you have an agenda here, you're just plain ignorant. You haven't even used PSN at all in the last 2 years it sounds like. I just got done playing a game of SSF4 on PSN where I invited a friend in the game, and he went through the PS XMB to join the game.

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/\/\/\

I have a keyboard hooked up to my PS3, which makes messaging a lot easier. :yep:

I do think joining a friend in a match is more difficult than it should be. As soon as I get the invite, I would just like to press a button and join, instead of having to go to the friends list, opening the message and joining the game. At least, that's how it worked last time.

So, awesome news if this turns out to be a reality. Cross co-op play between PC and PS3. Portal 2 would be perfect for it too, because it's not a competitive game like Shadowrun was.

Edited by PiratePooAndHisBattleship

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Now you're comparing the PSN to Wii? Saying players have to actually leave a game just to join a friend? I don't even think you have an agenda here, you're just plain ignorant. You haven't even used PSN at all in the last 2 years it sounds like. I just got done playing a game of SSF4 on PSN where I invited a friend in the game, and he went through the PS XMB to join the game.
I'm not trying to start a flamewar, just stating my experience with it. I haven't tried to matchmake on PSN since GTA IV. I'm sure there are individual games that have done it better, but from what I've seen in the patch notes there doesn't seem to be anything on the network that's updated to enhance the usability on the network level.

We're not even sure that Steam friends will be ported over to PS3, but if it is that'd be great news.

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Erik Wolpaw told me this week the team is shooting for each separate campaign, single-player and co-op, to last about 6-7 hours.

And I don't have a link handy, but I also asked him about his approach to Portal jokes and references, which you can read about on Gamasutra today.

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Could you ask someone from Valve sometime how much did the decision to include Portal in HL universe change the original story they had planed for Half life universe. Thanks

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Erik Wolpaw told me this week the team is shooting for each separate campaign, single-player and co-op, to last about 6-7 hours.

And I don't have a link handy, but I also asked him about his approach to Portal jokes and references, which you can read about on Gamasutra today.

Thanks for the info.

Curious about your thoughts on the length since I remember reading on your blog(and agreed) about the idea of the "short game" being similiar to the short novel. Portals length was perfect, a larger game, in theory, should be awesome, but I also wonder about that.

Also just on a larger topic of why it even needed to be a larger game.

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Thanks for the info.

Curious about your thoughts on the length since I remember reading on your blog(and agreed) about the idea of the "short game" being similiar to the short novel. Portals length was perfect, a larger game, in theory, should be awesome, but I also wonder about that.

Also just on a larger topic of why it even needed to be a larger game.

A six- to seven-hour campaign doesn't really sound much longer to me. I don't remember how long Portal was with great specificity, but I seem to generally recall it was in the four- to six-hour mark or so. You aren't going to playing through the single-player and co-op campaigns as one combined length, so in effect they're each separate, fairly short, games with shared mechanics.

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A six- to seven-hour campaign doesn't really sound much longer to me. I don't remember how long Portal was with great specificity, but I seem to generally recall it was in the four- to six-hour mark or so. You aren't going to playing through the single-player and co-op campaigns as one combined length, so in effect they're each separate, fairly short, games with shared mechanics.

Portal was 3-4 hours, 2 and a half for me. It wasn't as long as either Halo 3 or CoD 4, which were both in the 6-7 hour area.

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Oh weird I have such a poor memory as I recall starting and beating portal during lunch; then again it may have been a two and half hour lunch... lol

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The interview with Eric Wolpaw was very good to assuage my fears of them retreading old, tired memes. I am also very pleased with the 7-hour singleplayer. The first Portal ran about 3-4 hours if memory serves.

Curious how Deathmatch Portal would play.

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6-7 hours sounds just right considering all the new mechanics they have added: the funnels, the bouncers, the paints and so on. Not sure if I could handle a 20 hour puzzle game. I'm really pleased that there is a separate co-op campaign as well.

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Then of course, there was the two player-made expansions that were very good. Doubled the length of it for me.

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I'm considering just going on a media blackout for this game so all the surprises aren't ruined. It's going to be tough to resist the temptation though.

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I'm considering just going on a media blackout for this game so all the surprises aren't ruined. It's going to be tough to resist the temptation though.
Yeah, I just had exactly the same thought.

I might still keep up to date on articles, but just avoid any more footage of gameplay.

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