Gaben’s Reddit AMA had quite a few intriguing answeres.
Gabe Newell has had his second Ask Me Anything session on Reddit. We’re pointing out a few of his answers.
It turns out that he thinks Portal 2 is a better game than the entire Half-Life series (!), and the most played multiplayer game of Valve on his PC is DotA 2. About Half-Life he said that he was too much involved regarding decisions, and he can only look back at these as things he regrets.
There’s a chance that there will be a new IP in the Portal and/or the Half-Life universe. Newell also admitted that Valve’s communication is way too closed. Source Engine 2 still stays as the primary development platform for Valve, who also uses it for multiple unannounced games, which could also utilize VR as well.
To Half-Life 3 (to which the asker referenced as having information from an anonymous source at Valve), Gaben reacted as such: „The number 3 must not be said. Yes. Personally I believe all unidentified anonymous sources on the internet.”
Their spartan approach should be towards game QA as well. There’s an announcement that says Art of Stealth has been removed from Steam after the realization that its developer has forged multiple fake, positive reviews. Jim Sterling from YouTube was involved (like usual with these bad games): he had a harsh opinion about the game, but the developer (called Matan Cohen) tried to DMCA takedown his video, and he also sent Sterling legal threats as well.
Things like these should not happen on Steam. Ever.
