Valve Hoping For 360/PC Play, Scared of PS3 Online

Valve's movement to the console space has been slow, but this year will see the release of Half-Life 2 on both the 360 and PS3. They seem to be having mixed reactions to that move. On the one hand (according to CVG), they're very much hoping that 360/PC crossplay will be possible for their upcoming Team Fortress 2. On the other hand (according to Game Informer and 1up), their reaction to the PS3's online component is one of fear. Valve's Marketing representative Doug Lombardi: "PS3 is brand new and PS3's online is kind of scary so we're hoping that EA is going to be a strong partner for us. (laughs) It's always the scariest thing when it's not all yours. With the PC it's all ours, Steam is all ours, code's ours, game's ours. On 360 we're making it, we've made it before, we know what the Live thing is, although it's Microsoft's so we kind of know it. PS3 we're not building it, we haven't made a PS3 title before, and we don't really know what PS3 online really is. It's always the devil you don't know that you're the most scared of."

Comments

Re:The devil you do know

[drinkypoo]

I have to say, that when I don't know someone/something, I am typically very open minded and positive. Whereas, approaching an entity I know I can't trust (like MS) I am always very nervous.

So what you're saying is that it's doubly reasonable for them to be terrified of Sony? It's both the devil they know AND the devil they don't.

Re:xbox vs. PC

[7Prime]

While I'd agree with the mouse being a great aiming system, the keyboard is a bit of a detriment. Keyboards were never built to be used for gaming, they're not ergonomically set up for how they're being used, and the keys have no physical relationship to eachother to allow for the best possible access. Gamepads, on the other hand, are created with gaming specifically in mind. They've never been designed for pin-point accuracy like a mouse was (A-Pads are designed for moving a character in one direction or the other at a precise speed, but they're no good at hitting a target quickly), but the button layouts are a lot better. There are less buttons, and their positioning has been researched to maximize memory recall of different functions (especially on things like the GameCube controller, where each button gives a different tactile reference point for the brain to interpret).

Keyboard customization is another huge problem. The fact is, people guess at what is the best possible setup for their individual needs, but in actuality, unless you have an advanced degree in psychology and have done intensive research into tactile and spacial perception, they're not going to be the most knowledgable person about interface design. This is why I despise the idea of keyboard and gamepad reconfiguration. I find that a lot more thought goes into default gamepad interface configuration than default keyboard interface configuration, because PC game developers realize that gamers are just gonna fuck with it anyway.

That's why I think, eventually, when developers get their head out of their asses (and abandon the bounding box technique used today) the Wiimote will eventually be the best device for FPSs, because it has almost the precision of a mouse, but does away with the clunkiness of a keyboard.