spectrum48k

Valve Software's chief Gabe Newell has unleashed a stinging attack on PS3, saying Sony should cancel the console and start all over again.

"The PS3 is a total disaster on so many levels, I think It's really clear that Sony lost track of what customers and what developers wanted," Newell reportedly said in an interview with Game Informer.

He continued: "I'd say, even at this late date, they should just cancel it and do a do over. Just say, 'This was a horrible disaster and we're sorry and we're going to stop selling this and stop trying to convince people to develop for it'."

It's a different story with Nintendo, however, Newell revealing he really likes "everything that Nintendo is doing."

"The happy story is the Wii," he said. "I'm betting that by Christmas of next year, the Wii has a larger installed base than the 360. Other people think I'm crazy."

KiwiGTI

Must admit the Wii has the best software lineup for this year - it's also had my entire family playing it non-stop since Xmas from a 2yo year up to an 85yo. Including people who would normally hate games.

Iain Young

Depends on the sort of games you like I suppose. I had a play on one and didn't think much of the current crop of games (which is why I haven't got one yet).

I think Newells comments about Sony dropping the PS3 are a little silly...

PaulC72

I think Newells has plenty of Nintendo shares

cong

haha valve and steam are total idiots they are always doing upgrades which mostly bugger up CSS, they are a complete disaster themselves

Hanslow

My Wii arrived at work this morning Think the next purchase will be the v2 360 as I've finally conceded to you MS fanboys as the PS3 information coming out isn't exactly inspiring. That's not to say I won't pick one up later in the production run when more info and unbiased opinions are available

At least there'll be a Final Fantasy game on the Wii

Edcase

Hahaha, mate, you have no idea.

I know the guys there very, very well, including Gabe, and they are probably the smartest developers in the world today, and few other in the industry, be it publishers or developers or indeed the platform owners would argue.

cottonfoo

Indeed, although their Linux port of the server isn't as polished as the Win32 version, Valve are pretty good, and I've never had any problems with their software.

Edcase

Although obviously we have some in the office, I have steadfastly avoided buying one as I was holding off until getting a 1080p LCD. However over Christmas I buckled and bought a 42in 1080i LCD and a 360, and it really is fantastic.

I'm very lucky that I get all my games free, but the problem with that is that I just don't know what to play next. The other problem is I don't get a lot of free time so there have been a lot of very late nights, including last night til 2.30am playing TDU. Over xmas I completed GoW, R6 Vegas, Moto GP, Fight Night and I'm halfway through several other like Hitman, Table Tennis, Viva Pinata etc. but I don't know even when I'll get to start the bigger games like Prey, Far Cry, Elder Scrolls etc.

And don't get me started on Pro Evo on Xbox Live. I had some of the most amazing games I have ever had over the weekend, truly amazing, but I'm yet to win a SINGLE game! And I class myself as a pretty good gamer. But some of the people out there are just so good at that game you can go 2-0 up and still lose 4-2.

In short, get one. PS3 is looking like August/September UK launch now anyway, so you still have time to save for one of those as well (assuming there is enough stock in the lead up to xmas! )

stevem2k

Oh god, my missus and I lost whole days with FF on the PS1


She's loving the golf , so Tiger Woods will be a definate purchase. My 3yo scored 164 on bowling yesterday ( better than me )


Need to knock up a wireless sensor bar soon....


Steve

KiwiGTI

FF7 on PS1 took over my life for a few weeks. Nothing else did that until World of Warcraft came along.

cong

your having a laugh best do a search on the net mate you make like them but half the gaming population dont like them yes they make really good games....except that they suck in understanding customer feedback, just start playing css and you realise they have fooked up that game by introducing dynamic weapon pricing, they have fooked up the Rcon, commands, and need i mention about steam and valve having bloody weather problems and the entire world of steam went down and nobody could play any games? for 2-4 days, what a mess they couldnt be *** to get back up servers......

Edcase

If you understood the CS audience you would understand that if they pandered to every whim the players wanted the game would be ruined. If people really didn't like it they wouldn't play, yet the numbers keep growing and their user retention is second to none.

The original CS is still the most played online game in the world yet its coming on for 10 years old! How many other games can you think of that have sold approx 10m units?

As for Steam, digital distribution is the future, and Valve has stolen a leap on everyone, even the game publishers, in fact THEY are actually distributing games for some of the top publishers in the world including EA and Activision.

ScoobyDriverWannabe

If you know them that well tell them to get their finger out and sort vac out

Amounto of cheaters these days is beyond a joke.

wish some one would incorporate a way of using punkbuster on CS

cong

people buy the game, but they are not happy customers, heres some feedback, i could find lots more

Amazon.com: Reviews for Half-Life 2: Game of the Year Edition: Computer & Video Games: Windows 98

Invision Power Services > Steam - Do you like it?

IGN Boards - Why do People Tolerate Steam?!!

i have a 32 man CSS server and using mani admin plugin, here are some problems from people after a steam update

Mani's Admin Plugin

here are a list of problems on the actual steam forums

General Steam Discussion - Steam Users Forums

im not just commenting without experiance....yes i do like the games but what im saying is that the customers are giving them feedback about games but they are not listening and are causing more problems, also how can a company let there main headquarters go down which left everysingle customer on the planet unable to play there games.........i mean millions of dollers and they couldnt have a back up server some where else on the planet.....LMAO

Edcase

I'm sure you know I can't possibly answer for them. My point is that these are some of if not the smartest guys in the world. They want you to play their game, they don't live to p1ss you off. Why would they do that? It's their business and livelihood.

CS users are notoriously demanding, Valve are a relatively small independent developer, they are not EA or Microsoft (note the platform comparison there) and yet they are building systems, technology and IP worthy of both of the above. It's impossible to get that kind of thing right overnight, but equally it's impossible to please every CS user. As a long-term player of the game I know that it's impossible to get them all to agree on something amongst themselves!

cottonfoo

It's hardly Valve's fault if a third party plugin breaks after an update is it? Although they should have a DR scenario in place I agree.

cong

yes it is, its there responsiblity to insure that the third party also does a good job, its like putting a new engine in and then the mechanic giving the car to an idiot who cant remap it and then giving it to the customer only for it to go bang again! both parties are to blame!

Iain Young

A manufacturer can not be held responsible for what other people do with a product. If they were, then nobody would ever release any software updates.

At best, they should let all 3rd parties know what the changes are, (so the 3rd parties can make updates), but they are under no obligation to do so...

cottonfoo

No, it is not. If someone writes a plugin for someone else's software, it is the author of the plugin's responsibility to make sure it works with later versions, NOT Valves responsibility to ensure 100% backward compatibility.

Chris L

You're not involved in software design then? Try telling that to Microsoft that they are responsible for every 3rd party app that is developed! It's an impossible task. They can issue guidelines, but whether the 3rd party developer is a) bothered or b)capable of following them is another matter and has bugger all to do with MS!

As Edcase says - whilst no one is perfect (although I've always found Valve to be very good), they are the future of gaming distribution.

cong

sorry as you lot have misunderstood what i mean, i dont mean plugins what i mean is valve has made steam and half life 2.....while the game is fine steam isnt....both are 1 and the same company

STi wanna Subaru

iTrader: (1)

Any chance this can get back on track? This statement if true is pretty damming of the PS3. Why have nobody else come out with such statements?

EddScott

I read somewhere that developers were horrified over how hard it was to code for the PS2. Look where that got.

Seems its easy to take a shot at Sony and the PS3. Only time will tell what actually does happen.

For me I only really play RTS, FPS and racing games. All of which I can play on PC and I really REALLY hate playing FPS games on consoles - just can't do it!

spectrum48k

informative interview with John Carmack (creator of Doom, Quake, etc)
CES 2007: John Carmack And Todd Hollenshead Speak

He's an independant voice (eg. no ties to MS or Sony) on record as strongly criticising the PS3 from both an engineering and game developer perspective.

Again, I don't own either PS3 or Xbox360.

spectrum48k

That might have been the situation back in 2000 when the PS2 was released, but there wasn't an equally powerful, cheaper alternative with better dev tools, back then.

Stakes are a lot higher, with game development costs sky rocketing. A console that can offer reduced development time and better tools makes economic sense to a developer / publisher these days.

This time around, MS will run Sony a LOT closer.

DJ Dunk

iTrader: (5)

When you see MS asking the right questions, like this from Andre Vrignaud (Microsoft's Director of Technical Strategy for Xbox Live):
Ozymandias : Your Thoughts on the Future of Live?

It makes me wonder how Sony are ever going to keep up. This isn't a fanboy rant, but what have Sony done to ask what the people really want ? Genuine question.

Their reliance on their existing fanbase is a joke.

cottonfoo

Dwindling fanbase more like.

Edcase

Yeah, 110m and counting!

Xbox 360 hasn't even sold 10m yet and its been on sale for 2 christmas holidays already.

The first 5m users are 'hardcore', 5-15m are 'early adopters', then it becomes gradually more mainstream. Those are the valuable people. And they don't even know what an Xbox is, they don't read forums or game magazines, they won't know the difference in 1080p or i, they won't care that PS3 doesn't have a hardware scaler and so on and so on.

Playstation mass consumers were recently announced as the single most brand loyal people in the world, and I don't see Xbox 360 doing anything to attract this audience anytime soon.

Where is the singstar, the buzz, the eye toy? What about the generations of marketing they've done to push PlayStation to the masses, from lifestyle to soccer to mainstream media? Ever heard of the PlayStation generation??

I'm no fanboy. I wan't them all to succeed. It's my business, and my livelihood.

But don't, for one second, underestimate PlayStation 3.