PS3 News: Can Gabe Newell Take The Credit For Valve's PS3 Work? - PS3 News

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Can Gabe Newell Take The Credit For Valve's PS3 Work?

Remember when Valve boss Gabe Newell came on stage during Sony's E3 2010 press conference, and announced the PlayStation 3 would receive "the best version" of Portal 2?

A great many PS3 owners, annoyed at Newell for his frequently voiced dislike of Sony's machine, forgave the big man that day. But maybe they won't be so fast to forgive and forget when they learn that in fact, it wasn't the studio head man who made such a decision. According to what Valve project manager Erik Johnson told Develop, the team just decided to work on the PS3 project:

"No one here decided to do anything about PS3 development, and the way we vote to do something about it is to simply start working on it.

That’s why we’re working on the PS3 now, because we had about four engineers — some of which have worked here for a few years — who were annoyed that we hadn’t developed for that platforms, and they were willing to cross over."

Perhaps it's unfair to say Newell took credit for four nonconformist engineers at the Sony conference last year. We seriously doubt Valve would do anything if the boss really didn't want it to happen. However, we're not even remotely surprised that only four guys were "annoyed" that they hadn't bothered with the PS3 platform...no, that doesn't surprise us at all.

Tags: valve, portal 2, ps3, playstation 3

5/10/2011 8:53:40 PM Ben Dutka

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Comments (29 posts)

Highlander
Tuesday, May 10, 2011 @ 9:56:30 PM
Reply

Actually, I think Gabe can take some of the credit because he very publicly did a complete 180 on the subject of the PS3. Even acknowledging his own incorrect attitude in the past, and apologizing. When a team of his own people decided they wanted to do a PS3 game, that wasn't a popular opinion inside Valve, or so it would have seemed at the time. So Gabe didn't cancel the project and instead threw his weight (no pun intended) behind the project. In that sense, yeah, I think he can take some of the credit.
Last edited by Highlander on 5/10/2011 9:57:22 PM

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Shams
Tuesday, May 10, 2011 @ 11:22:17 PM

Agreed, as the big cheese/head honcho, he could've thrown his weight around even against the alleged popular vote. And let's not forget that Valve did want to bring Steam to Live, and got turned away, and found Sony with open arms, so at the least, Newel must've had something to do with the initiative in that regard.

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Shams
Tuesday, May 10, 2011 @ 11:24:03 PM

Holy shoot: you took my "weight throwing (no pun attended)" comment word for word, except I dropped the "no pun" disclaimer.

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Shams
Tuesday, May 10, 2011 @ 11:26:27 PM

And for the record, I only read as far as "180" until I replied. Only after I read the rest. Great minds think a like? Mines not so great, but I try.

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Highlander
Tuesday, May 10, 2011 @ 11:41:03 PM

Great minds think alike, but fools seldom differ. I prefer being a fool, it makes the world easier to deal with...

;)

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WorldEndsWithMe
Wednesday, May 11, 2011 @ 12:05:01 AM

Shhhh Highlander, the tea party can hear you.

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Qubex
Wednesday, May 11, 2011 @ 12:39:21 AM

I want to be invited to tea, but not the party!

Q!

"play.experience.enjoy"

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Clamedeus
Wednesday, May 11, 2011 @ 10:15:00 AM

I like tea. :)

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kraygen
Tuesday, May 10, 2011 @ 11:10:05 PM
Reply

Gotta agree with Highlander, if he hadn't finally seen it's potential and hopped on board it's likely they wouldn't have actually gotten as far as Gabe on stage at E3.

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OxyFenix
Tuesday, May 10, 2011 @ 11:21:23 PM
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I'll forgive Gabe. I bought Portal 2 last weekend and I love it. I played and beat co-op with my friend over. I just wish I could find a cheap copy of The orange box (that's not from eBay). It's like $55 on Amazon but $20 for the 360.

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WorldEndsWithMe
Tuesday, May 10, 2011 @ 11:41:53 PM

360 games are always cheaper because they make sure to press more copies than necessary so that they can report those "units shipped" as units sold.

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Beamboom
Wednesday, May 11, 2011 @ 1:16:27 AM

The Orange Box is cheap at both amazon.co.uk and play.com now. Including delivery.

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WorldEndsWithMe
Tuesday, May 10, 2011 @ 11:43:25 PM
Reply

For some reason I'm not buying this. Just like I didn't buy Kojima's appearance at E3 for MS as completely voluntary.

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Sancho
Wednesday, May 11, 2011 @ 5:27:04 AM

Sometimes being the leader you have to take a seat to the majority so they won't leave or revolt. It was probably easier for him swallowing his pride like a greasy chicken leg than to fight with his workers.

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Underdog15
Wednesday, May 11, 2011 @ 8:42:50 AM

Being a part of a team means buy-in, even if you don't agree with the majority decision. It's ok to disagree and dialogue your concerns, but once a decision is made, a healthy team always works towards the agreed upon goal together.

I'm sure Newell knows this. All good executives do.

Ever read "The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team"?

Good read. Just finished it on the weekend.

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LimitedVertigo
Wednesday, May 11, 2011 @ 4:28:10 AM
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Glad Valve finally decided to show the PS3 some love.

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NissanFlyboy
Wednesday, May 11, 2011 @ 9:24:22 AM

Same here. I think that it will only get better.

How cool would it be if all of the new valve games had cross platform multilayer / co-op? or if they all came with a free PC copy like Portal 2.

I think that Sony gives Valve a lot more freedom than MS, and I think they run with it.
Last edited by NissanFlyboy on 5/11/2011 9:25:17 AM

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tes37
Wednesday, May 11, 2011 @ 5:56:11 AM
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I'm late getting to the portal party. I should be receiving my copy in a couple of days.

Erik Johnson may be just trying to keep Gabe from hogging all the credit, like he does with the doughnuts.

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___________
Wednesday, May 11, 2011 @ 5:59:47 AM
Reply

hows he taking the credit for it?
hes the marketing face of valve, every time theres something to announce hes the one doing it!
im sure his feelings on the ps3 are exactly what they were years ago, just because you hate something does not mean you wont work with it.
as the saying goes, money talks!
i hate M$, so does that mean i wont buy any M$ product?
well i guess i better stop programming then, where else am i going to find a decent compiler?
turbo C?
HA!
dont make me laugh!

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Highlander
Wednesday, May 11, 2011 @ 9:39:19 AM

Didn't you trade your PS3 for a 360 so you could play some demos or something?

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NissanFlyboy
Wednesday, May 11, 2011 @ 9:19:30 AM
Reply

Whats with all the weight hate? I know that not everyone likes the guy but that doesn't mean you have to be an outright jerk. It isn't rare to see people acting like this on the internet, but I was surprised to see that even some of the well known commenters(the only reason I read the comments)acting the same way.

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Highlander
Wednesday, May 11, 2011 @ 9:42:29 AM

I was making no weight hate comment, simply abusing a pun, the same as I would in reference to myself. I'm not a featherweight myself - shock, horror, a geek/techie that works in IT isn't as thin as a rake...oh the horror. ;)
Last edited by Highlander on 5/11/2011 9:42:48 AM

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Sancho
Wednesday, May 11, 2011 @ 3:59:41 PM

My issue is that majority of the pictures I've seen him in he's wearing gross clothes with food stains. I have no problem when people are overweight, but when you let it get disgusting theres hygiene issues at hand. I'm a bit chubby myself but I change my shirt if I get food on it.

Its not just him but being as this article relates to him I made one little comment :P

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NissanFlyboy
Wednesday, May 11, 2011 @ 7:27:42 PM

Sorry, I didn't realize that I came across as hard as I did. I know that you guys weren't trying to be jerks. I guess I saw like four post in a row about it and was surprised. Usually I see stuff like that on Kotaku. :-/

Oh and I'll still continue to look for TheHighlander when browsing through the comments. :p


Last edited by NissanFlyboy on 5/11/2011 7:31:25 PM

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Sancho
Wednesday, May 11, 2011 @ 8:05:10 PM

Lol its all good. I know what its like reading those comments at Kotaku... sheesh. Half of those comments come from their "writers" or "journalists" whatever they're pretending to be. I figured since you were asking I'd explain myself. No harm in that.

And Highlander does have the best posts around here. No denying I skim certain articles just for his opinion.

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Excelsior1
Wednesday, May 11, 2011 @ 9:29:13 AM
Reply

i doubt his true feelings on the ps3 have changed much. this was about ms not wanting steam on live.

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Mornelithe
Wednesday, May 11, 2011 @ 12:35:23 PM
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He can try, doesn't mean I'll give him any credit for it.

He can't be pleased at having to goose-step back on all his prophecies of doom for the PS3.

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Fane1024
Wednesday, May 11, 2011 @ 7:13:42 PM
Reply

Personally, I couldn't [note the negative] care less whether Newell likes the PS3 or not, so long as Valve games (and Portal in particular) appear on PS3.

And as I said a few days ago, I give him respect for eating crow publicly. It takes a big man to do so.


Last edited by Fane1024 on 5/11/2011 7:14:39 PM

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Lairfan
Wednesday, May 11, 2011 @ 8:25:24 PM
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Even if it wasn't him that decided to finally start working on PS3, it had to take some guts to stand up in front of a crowd and chastise himself for not developing on the PS3 sooner and doing a complete 180 on his previous policy.

Personally, I have a little more respect for him ever since he said that. Of course, it may all be a sham and he doesn't actually mean it, but to say something you don't mean that demeans yourself in front of a crowd is not an easy thing to do, and IMO he would still deserve some respect if that were the case.
Last edited by Lairfan on 5/11/2011 8:28:25 PM

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