Gabe Newell
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Valve ARG puzzle looks like a diving bell
Last night, we received a curious image emailed from Valve boss Gabe Newell: a tiny puzzle piece with some kind of code inscribed on it. Other sites received the same image or a different one, forming a set of nine square tiles (though one is still missing) that when fit together and inverted (of course) form the image above. The collective sleuths of the Valve ARG Wiki are certain enough to declare: "It is a bathysphere." When inverted, the numbers form ASCII code, which has been translated (as best as possible) on the wiki into a rambling message that doesn't yet explain the image. Also of note, all of the puzzle pieces' filenames (e..g, "berets or scoop," "bee torso crops," "sorbet coopers" and "sort eco probes") are anagrams of each other. One particularly intriguing combination that's not been used -- "reboot process" -- could be the missing piece, as well as a reference to GLaDOS, which in turn could neatly tie this apparent ARG to marketing for this month's Portal 2. (This puzzle is just one part of an extensive game orchestrated by Valve that began on April Fools' Day -- catch up here.) Of course, if the image is of a bathysphere (or diving bell), the next logical step leads us to the Borealis, an Aperture Science sea vessel first mentioned in Half-Life 2: Episode Two and speculated to be the subject of a Portal 2 Achievement. Now, if you really want to get your hopes up, you'll recall that the Borealis was also the apparent subject of early Half-Life 2: Episode Three concept art. Deep breath! Okay, now relax.
What are Gabe Newell's three favorite games?
"Bubsy in: Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind, Bubsy in: Fractured Furry Tales and Bubsy 3D: Furbitten Planet." Sure, we assumed that'd be the answer too. But as CVG discovered, the Valve chief's real favorites (Super Mario 64, Doom and a punch card game called Trek) are far more mundane. Boy ... you think you know somebody.
Steam Guard gets the ultimate test: Gabe Newell makes his password public
How secure is Steam Guard? Valve's Gabe Newell must think it's pretty darn airtight, because he posted his Steam account email and password for the world to see during GDC.
Retrospective follows the 2003 theft of Half-Life 2's code
Half-Life 2 was never destined to release on time. It is a Valve project, after all. However, Gabe Newell and company couldn't have predicted that -- months before its expected release -- the game's source code would be stolen and distributed on the internet. "Is this going to destroy the company?," a designer supposedly asked Newell when it happened in 2003. Eurogamer interviewed Axel Gembe, the young man responsible for breaching Valve's security and stealing the code. Gembe describes himself as a devoted fan of Valve, admitting that the original Half-Life was his favorite game. After his computer became infected with malware, he became inspired: instead of trying to remove the program, he reverse-engineered it to understand how it worked, and then began working on his own code. Hungry for details on the long-delayed Half-Life 2, Gembe knocked on Valve's virtual doors and found it "easy" to get access. After the breach, Valve struggled in finding leads on how the source code got stolen. But on February 14, 2004, Newell received a rather odd e-mail. Gembe was confessing to the crime, noting that he was "sorry for what happened." Naively, he asked Newell for a job at Valve, thinking it would be best for both parties involved. "I hoped for the best," although Valve was already coordinating with the FBI for his arrest. "I was not the brightest kid back then." After serving a two-year probation, Gembe eventually found work in the security sector, wisened from his experience. "I was naïve and did things that I should never have done," he told Eurogamer. "There were so many better uses of my time. I regret having caused Valve Software trouble and financial loss."
Gabe Newell speaks to a high school marketing class
Valve co-founder Gabe Newell recently discovered another thing he could do instead of releasing Half-Life 2: Episode 3 -- speaking to a high school class about the business of interactive entertainment. Check out a lengthy video of the teleconference below -- you might just learn a little something.
Valve's Gabe Newell discusses company profitability, and getting new eyes
You probably don't need company head Gabe Newell to tell you -- as he did Forbes in a recent profile -- that Valve is "tremendously profitable." But did you know that it's "more profitable than Google or Apple" (per employee)? And did you know that Newell has crazy robot eyes? Okay, okay, he actually got cornea implants instead of "robot eyes," per se -- just as interesting, however, is Newell's post-surgery statement. "Not only could I see again, but I could see better than I ever had before." As Newell suffers from Fuchs Dystrophy, his corneas were slowly degrading before correction. "I felt like I was in a fantasy story. It reminded me of how fast the future is coming at us and from what unexpected directions." Keeping his eyes on the money, Newell declined to offer any hard numbers as to his company's financial success, though he admitted that "per employee, Valve is more profitable than Google and Apple." To put some context on that, Valve's 250-person company has an estimated value of $2 billion to $4 billion (approximately $8 million to $16 million profit earned per employee), while Apple's 49,400 employees pull in roughly $6.68 million each, and Google's 24,400 earn the company around $8.19 million apiece. [Note: statistics based on current market valuations of Apple and Google, combined with company-provided employee numbers, here and here].
MMO Roundup: RIFT, lawsuits, Gabe Newell, and more
Sometimes you'd like to know that there are other MMOs out there, right? It's not all WoW, all the time! Our sister site Massively can provide you with everything you need to know about all of the other MMOs around -- past, present and future. Them's fightin' words: RIFT commercial takes on WoW "We're not in Azeroth anymore," Trion Worlds' new TV commercial proclaims before a rift gobbles up the words. This 30-second spot for RIFT features a hero opening a rift with a jewel, a dragon roaring, an ogre on the warpath, and adventurers gearing up for the fight. Want to see it? Head over to Massively. Blizzard, Zynga sued over gaming patent What's an upstart company to do in a world dominated by deep-pocketed publishers and corporate titans? Sue them, of course! Walker Digital, the brainchild of Priceline.com founder Jay Walker, made headlines by suing Facebook late last year and has now completed a legal double play by filing a patent infringement suit against Zynga and Activision-Blizzard. RIFT beta events: Impressions from the Massively staff Trion Worlds' RIFT has become the talk of the town in MMO-land lately. Since the NDA dropped a few weeks ago, every MMO blogger, journalist, and fan is spewing his impressions of the game. Head over to Massively to find out what the staff really thinks about the game.
Valve's Gabe Newell recognizes the innovation of MMOs
Think the PC is losing its grip as the dominant platform when it comes to gaming innovation? Not so fast, says Valve's Gabe Newell. In fact, he even cites MMOs as a leading cause of the PC platform's continued innovation. And when Newell speaks, gamers and game makers listen, as his company is an industry heavyweight responsible for the likes of Half-Life, Left 4 Dead, and Counterstrike (not to mention the Steam digital distribution platform). Yesterday, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Newell sung the praises of Intel's new GPU/CPU and also offered a counterpoint to those who feel that consoles like the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3 have overtaken the PC as industry catalysts. "We see [the PC] as the center of innovation of everything that's going on, whether it's microtransactions, MMOs, free-to-play, or something like CityVille which -- after its first month -- has 84 million people playing," Newell said. "To us, this is just an indication of why open platforms are where innovations are going to occur."
Valve apologizes for banning over 12,000 legit Modern Warfare 2 players
The anti-cheating software embedded in Valve's Steamworks platform recently took on a mind of its own, banning over 12,000 non-cheating Modern Warfare 2 players over the past two weeks. The cause for its insatiable ban lust? Valve president Gabe Newell explained in an email to those affected, "the problem was that Steam would fail a signature check between the disk version of a DLL and a latent memory version." See, we were just thinking that that had something to do with it. Newell begged pardon for the erroneous bans, adding "this was our mistake, and I apologize for any frustration or angst it may have caused you." An apology and a swift reversal of the ban aren't all that these users will receive -- Newell promised a giftable copy of Left 4 Dead 2 to all those affected, as well as one copy for themselves, provided they don't already have it. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
Newell intent on 'scaring' players with next Half-Life
In a recent interview with CVG, Valve head honcho Gabe Newell responded to questions about the mood of future Half-Life installments with a decidedly spooky answer. "I feel like we've gotten away from genuinely scaring the player more than I'd like, and it's something we need to think about, in addition to broadening the emotional palette we can draw on," Newell explained. While he's probably referring to intense encounters like the the zombified village of Ravenholm from Half-Life 2, we personally can't think of a scarier development for the franchise than a loose 2015 release window for the franchise's next entry.
Valve's viral plot thickens with Portal blue screen of death
Even though Portal 2 has been officially announced, it seems the clever Alternate Reality Game which gave it impetus hasn't yet come to a complete stop. Shortly after accepting a Pioneer Award at the Game Developers Choice Awards in San Francisco on Thursday evening, Valve boss Gabe Newell launched into a slideshow detailing the company's expectations of future trends, only to have it "crash" to a blue error screen. The final slide was meant to answer several infamous Valve mysteries -- Who is the G-Man? Why doesn't Valve support the PlayStation 3? -- and perhaps it did in some obfuscated way. According to seasoned ARG sleuths (posting on the Penny Arcade forums), the error code above can be read as: "S U S : P E N D ... U N T ( I ) L ... E E E." Suspend until E3? It wouldn't be surprising to see Portal 2 at this year's E3 expo, which will run in Los Angeles from June 15 to 17, but if the above decryption is accurate Valve may have additional plans to unfurl (possibly including the long-awaited Half-Life 2: Episode 3). [Thanks, Wince]
Epic giving Unreal Engine 3 devs free Steam SDK update
Carrying on in the longstanding Epic Games tradition of offering up free upgrades to existing products, the developer, publisher and game engine creator announced this morning that it will be adding Steamworks support to Unreal Engine 3. "With Valve offering these services free of charge, the idea of providing the Steamworks SDK [software development kit] to all Unreal Engine licensees was a no-brainer," Epic VP Mark Rein notes in the announcement. As it turns out, Valve offered up the development tools to UE3 developers (via Epic) without charging a single penny. That said, this isn't just a philanthropic gesture on Epic's part, but rather a strategy aimed at targeting the large stable of games powered by Unreal Engine. "Epic's technology is one of the most widely used engines in the industry and has powered many of the best games created in the past 10 years, on multiple platforms," Valve prez Gabe Newell proclaims. That's really the crux of it -- bring in the Unreal Engine 3 users and they might stick around to purchase some other games on Steam. It's a bit of a sneaky trap (and a smart business move to boot), but it's one we wouldn't exactly be upset about falling for.
Newell pays way to Australia, donations go to Child's Play
Despite the internet's best efforts to pay Valve prez Gabe Newell's way to Australia, the man simply won't take it. Posting on Fly Gabe Newell, the now infamous Australian Left 4 Dead modder "Joe W-A" says that not only are Newell and Valve project manager Erik Johnson heading down under next week, but they've paid their own way. "All the money accumulated will be going to the Child's Play charity," which Joe W-A tells Joystiq totals $3,099.54 from 233 donations. Said Valve's Newell in an official statement, "The power of the gaming community and their ability to rally around a cause -- be it serious or fun in nature -- is amazing." And Newell's no stranger to both sides of it, having recently invited the creators of a Left 4 Dead 2 boycott to visit Valve's studios, sparking the joke email thread between Newell and Joe W-A that eventually resulted in the trip to Australia.We'll have more on the visit next week; hopefully including a promised video from the Australian modder hosting Newell.
Dude actually collects $3,000 to fly Gabe Newell to Australia
OK, internet, we officially don't get it. You piss and moan about being nickel-and-dimed to death on every piece of downloadable unicorn armor, but then you'll rally around a dude in Australia and raise 3,000 bucks for him to fly Valve's Gabe Newell and Erik Johnson out to see his Left 4 Dead campaign that they jokingly claimed to be boycotting. All in the span of three days? Seriously? We're starting to think the industry should be milking you for as much of your money as it can simply because you cannot, apparently, be trusted with it.
More Left 4 Dead DLC after 'Crash Course,' says boycotter
When Left 4 Dead 2 boycott co-leader Walking_Target visited Wonka's chocolate factory Valve Software recently, he saw the most fantastical things. Though he can't go into too much detail per a verbal agreement with Valve, the lucky gent drew upon his inner Keighley to deliver a few scant details about "more DLC for Left 4 Dead coming after Crash Course" on his blog.According to Walking_Target, the upcoming content could be "a new special infected, a new campaign, or new weapon(s)." Considering the fact that the Crash Course DLC lands this month, and Left 4 Dead 2 shambles into stores on November 17, that leaves one empty month in between for this mystery content -- that is, unless Valve plans on releasing it after L4D2. This would of course put us in a compromising position: Buy Left 4 Dead 2 and potentially miss out on the original game's DLC, or download the first game's DLC and maybe permanently delay a purchase of the sequel? We've contacted Valve for more details to help us (and you!) solve this particularly problematic predicament.%Gallery-22771%[Via Shacknews]
Tired of boycotts? Donate money and fly Gabe Newell to Australia! [update]
Update: A Valve representative got in touch with us and confirmed both the legitimacy of Newell's conversation with "Joe W-A" and that he would fly to Australia should the money be raised. Looks like this thing just got really real!Valve's Gabe Newell has been getting all kissy-face with the Left 4 Dead 2 boycott leaders recently, and one man is (jokingly) mad as hell about it. Enter Brisbane, Australia resident "Joe W-A," entrepreneurial Left 4 Dead campaign modder and buddy of Gabe Newell, who recently started a (presumably) tongue-in-cheek blog to collect donations based on an email exchange with the Valve Software head. "Joe W-A": Why the hell haven't I been flown to Valve? I mean, you guys need to preview my campaign."Newell: We are boycotting your campaign."Joe W-A": Does that mean I have to fly you here?Newell: Me and Erik [Johnson, Valve project manager].And just like that, donations started piling in. Though we've contacted "Joe W-A" for more accurate numbers, our calculations put the dollar amount just over $700 as of this morning. He assures readers that if Newell and Johnson do in fact back out from visiting, he'll refund as much as possible and donate anything left to Penny Arcade's Child's Play charity. We know it's selfish, but the YouTube video that "Joe -W-A" promises to create of the visit has us hoping that Newell and Johnson will go through with it. We've asked Gabe Newell for comment and will update this post when we hear back.[Via Rock, Paper, Shotgun]
Left 4 Dead 2 boycotters flown to Valve; boycotters boycot original boycotters
The two Steam users (Walking_Target and Agent of Chaos) who kick-started a Left 4 Dead 2 boycott, soon after the game was announced at E3 2009, were recently invited to Valve's offices to play the game and interview members of its development team. While both users (pictured above invading Valve boss Gabe Newell's personal space) vow to continue boycotting the upcoming title, they reported Left 4 Dead 2 "seemed balanced and 'tight' and did not feel like a rushed job." Ironically, since visiting Valve's office the two boycott leaders have been forced to defend themselves against accusations of "corruption," a position not too removed from the one Valve now occupies in relation to the boycott. Some Steam users have asked the pair to relinquish admin duties of the boycott group, but the Valve visitors maintain the effort has progressed "well beyond what most people thought we'd get done." The Left 4 Dead 2 Boycott group on Steam currently has over 40,000 members and requests (demands?) that Valve offer the sequel as either a free update or as a discounted expansion pack to owners of the original Left 4 Dead. [Via Shacknews. Image credit: L4D2 Boycott Group]
Gabe Newell booted from Victoria's Secret contest
If you were to browse the entrants of Victoria's Secret "Body by Victoria" contest yesterday, you would have seen some surprising entries at the top of the popular vote. Specifically, Valve founder Gabe Newell was in second place (his vote count stands at 32,222 as of this writing). The inspirational entry reads, "I love my body. I don't let anyone get me down about it. If someone says a harmful comment, I just push it back." While it's somewhat heartwarming to imagine that Gabe Newell decided to defy the odds and enter the contest, it looks far more likely that his entry was placed by nefarious forces, possibly members of 4chan. According to Kotaku, 4chan's founder, moot, had actually risen to first place yesterday (sounds familiar). Alas, both nerd luminaries have been removed from the contest. Honestly, it's probably best that Newell didn't win the trip to New York. We've been waiting for Half-Life 2: Episode 3 long enough as it is. [Via The Escapist]
What's in a Name: Gearbox Software [update]
If you looked at the Joystiq calendar, you would have seen a bright red circle drawn around today with something like 17 little smiley faces around it. Sure, that was in part because it's taco salad day in the cafeteria, but also because we couldn't wait to share this new What's in a Name with you. So, straight from boss Randy Pitchford, check out the totally epic story of how [Randy says] Gearbox Software got its name.Update: Valve has informed us that Randy and Gabe didn't meet until after Valve had shipped Half-Life, making Randy's story seem ... well, unlikely. We're trying to find out what happened right now.Update 2: Well, we just heard from PR and they confirmed that the story is a fabrication. Pitchford is apparently going to get in contact to explain what happened. We can't wait to find out his excuse for taking advantage of our Pollyanna-esque faith in the inherent goodness of people, and, by extension, telling tall tales to you, the people who are buying his games. "This is interesting because I've never been asked about how we got the name 'Gearbox' before, but there is a bit of a story to it. Given everything that's happened over the past 10 years or so, the story seems a little hard to believe now that I'm telling it!
Valve researching sign language for use in Half-Life 2: Episode 3
Valve's Gabe Newell appears to have recently conducted a focus group with deaf individuals in order to learn more about sign language and how it can be applied to games, notably the upcoming Half-Life 2: Episode 3. Why? To help develop Alyx's character, and further the animation technology implemented in the Half-Life games. Newell explains: "[Alyx] had a crush on someone who was hearing impaired, so she taught Dog how to sign so she could practice. Something happened, maybe, the person is off fighting the Combine someplace else, but that's why she and Dog would start signing with each other when they wanted to communicate without making noise, or communicate without other people knowing ... It gave us the excuse to build the technology for signing." The focus group responds by noting the importance of facial expression whilst signing. While the Half-Life franchise has been known for its believable facial animation, it might take even more to fully realize the nuances necessary for authentic signing. It'll be interesting to see if Valve is up to the challenge.
