Valve, arguably one of the best developers of games with dirty, great big guns, has a keen interest in making a game for kids.
"There's a lot of people at Valve who are parents and would love to make a game for kids," Valve's Doug Lombardi told us recently.
"We all play the Wii a lot and we think that the proper way for Valve to approach the Wii would be to make something cool designed specifically for it." he added, when quizzed on the possibility of Valve venturing away from its usual FPS scene.
"I mean, I'm not making any announcements", he continued, "but there's a lot of desire internally to do something for kids, do something on the Wii."
Valve has also taken a shine to the MMO scene: "Gabe (Valve co-founder, Gabe Newell) is a huge fan of MMO RPGs and he's always wanted to make one," Lombardi said.
"But that's a big risk to venture out on," he points out, so we wouldn't hold our breath on that one.
"I think at some point you'll see us move a little further out of our comfort zone than Portal was, but it's not going to be this year or next." Surprised? Nah, Valve's got enough to be getting on with.
Lombardi discusses Valve's ambitions for Portal 2, how Left 4 Dead aims to evolve the online multiplayer scene, and why it always takes so long to release a game starring Gordon Freeman in the full interview to be published soon.
Kids already have an absolute assload of games to choose from for the Wii. They have a nearly unlimited supply. Valve should be making something for people who don't want to play these things, not cashing in on the popularity and guaranteed sales that come with it.
The Wii is not exclusively for children, y'know. Young adults (hell, even the 30-50 market) are well underrepresented on the console.
Orange Box for PS3/360, Happy Elves in Super Awesomeland for Wii. F*cking fantastic.
disappointing comment. i was really hoping for a fps from valve. that's that buggered. the wii really needs some shooters and more adult orientated content,the kids have got boom blox or whatever. here's hoping that timesplitters 4 makes the journey over but after hearing stories of publishers telling developers to focus on poorly realised party games over something a little more grand i'm not holding my breath.
I think it was a jab more than anything else, sort of like indirectly saying "Haha we're not bringing orange box to the wii, even though its totally capable of handling it"
Maybe he'll get shot by some random act of violence committed by a GTA4 fan. Big jerk.
Kids already have an absolute assload of games to choose from for the Wii. They have a nearly unlimited supply. Valve should be making something for people who don't want to play these things, not cashing in on the popularity and guaranteed sales that come with it.
The Wii is not exclusively for children, y'know. Young adults (hell, even the 30-50 market) are well underrepresented on the console.
Orange Box for PS3/360, Happy Elves in Super Awesomeland for Wii. F*cking fantastic.
Remember Beyond Good and Evil was supposedly a kids game and that was fantastic...
Yes there are loads of kids games on the wii but there are very few fantastic ones. Valve producing something on those lines should be fantastic because it's out of their comfort zone. I love Valve's FPS's but I'd love to see what they could do with something else...
I think there's something like 10 FPS games on the Wii, most are last-gen ports and only 2 are worth playing.
10.
I'm currently playing through Metroid Prime and I think that's a total tragedy as the Wii is the BEST CONSOLE for FPS game by a country mile. It's control system even outshines the PC in certain instances. People may complain that there's too many FPS games, but there certainly isn't on the Wii!
So no, Valve. Making a kiddy game for the Wii just demonstrates an uncharacteristic lack of imagination from you. I say once again, poor show.
Then again, this is just Lombardi vaguely speculating. Hopefully Gabe has more sense.
disappointing comment. i was really hoping for a fps from valve. that's that buggered. the wii really needs some shooters and more adult orientated content,the kids have got boom blox or whatever. here's hoping that timesplitters 4 makes the journey over but after hearing stories of publishers telling developers to focus on poorly realised party games over something a little more grand i'm not holding my breath.
No that is what separates the Wii to the 360 No FPS! Valve could bring out an RPG Shooter though!
Good idea from a business point of view, after all you would'nt try flogging burgers to veggies would you?
Sucks for some people though.
Poor business decision in my mind as there are a ton of gamers that have a wii and want good FPS games, especially as the wii has the best control scheme for an fps.
I think there's something like 10 FPS games on the Wii, most are last-gen ports and only 2 are worth playing.
10.
I'm currently playing through Metroid Prime and I think that's a total tragedy as the Wii is the BEST CONSOLE for FPS game by a country mile. It's control system even outshines the PC in certain instances. People may complain that there's too many FPS games, but there certainly isn't on the Wii!
So no, Valve. Making a kiddy game for the Wii just demonstrates an uncharacteristic lack of imagination from you. I say once again, poor show.
Then again, this is just Lombardi vaguely speculating. Hopefully Gabe has more sense.
After the rather lacklustre control method of Red Steel, Metroid Prime 3 showed us how to get fps control system bang on. It plays beautifully. I wanna see more fps on the Wii
especially as the wii has the best control scheme for an fps.
Pfft. This is nothing but an oft touted myth imho. Mouse and Keyboard still reigns supreme, the mouse being a billion times more accurate than the sluggish Wii pointer.
Also, once you get used to them twin sticks are every bit as good as the wiimote and then some.
Good idea from a business point of view, after all you would'nt try flogging burgers to veggies would you?
Sucks for some people though.
Poor business decision in my mind as there are a ton of gamers that have a wii and want good FPS games, especially as the wii has the best control scheme for an fps.
Portal would be great on the Wii!!
I know what you're saying but the Wii is predominantly purchased by familys/children.
I've got 2 wiis, i'm certainly no child and fall into the fps camp when it comes to games, but you only have to stand in line at game/gamestation to see who's buying all the stock.
Mind you, they known that if they create a child-orientated game, but manage to make it at least slightly appealing to adults, then they will sell absolute bottomloads.
Good idea from a business point of view, after all you would'nt try flogging burgers to veggies would you?
Sucks for some people though.
Poor business decision in my mind as there are a ton of gamers that have a wii and want good FPS games, especially as the wii has the best control scheme for an fps.
Portal would be great on the Wii!!
I know what you're saying but the Wii is predominantly purchased by familys/children.
I've got 2 wiis, i'm certainly no child and fall into the fps camp when it comes to games, but you only have to stand in line at game/gamestation to see who's buying all the stock.
I agree, but a minority percent of such a large userbase is still millions of people that would like more fps games.
There's no announcement made as yet. Hopefully they'll create something fun that everyone can ejoy. If not an FPS with decent online and offline modes would be superb.
Pfft. This is nothing but an oft touted myth imho. Mouse and Keyboard still reigns supreme, the mouse being a billion times more accurate than the sluggish Wii pointer.
Also, once you get used to them twin sticks are every bit as good as the wiimote and then some.
I'm sorry, but that will not stand. The Wiimote & nunchuck are LIGHTYEARS beyond s**tty twin sticks, which are simply abysmal for FPS. The Wii's controls are not quite as good as PC for normal looking around, pointing etc, but they have the motion control potential that PCs do not. Metroid Prime is the prime example of the potential of FPS on Wii & it only scratches the surface of what's possible imo.
But seriously, corner of shame for lauding the twin analog controller. Corner of f**king shame.
But seriously, corner of shame for lauding the twin analog controller. Corner of f**king shame.
As a control system it's certainly a million miles away from ideal, but once you get used to it it works surprisingly well, and I personally find it far less fiddly than the wii pointer.
especially as the wii has the best control scheme for an fps.
Pfft. This is nothing but an oft touted myth imho. Mouse and Keyboard still reigns supreme, the mouse being a billion times more accurate than the sluggish Wii pointer.
Also, once you get used to them twin sticks are every bit as good as the wiimote and then some.
You clearly have not played Metroid prime then. I have never liked the Mouse and Keyboard for fps games as although the mouse is the best pointing device the keyboard is just lame. Walking diagonally requires you to press 'W' and 'D' at the same time for instance! I like the joypad better as the stick is far better for moving around but the stick is also nowhere near as good for aiming. The wii however offers the best of both worlds. You have a stick for moving around and the wiimote for aiming (you must have used a broken wiimote as it is not in the slightest bit sluggish). I agree that the mouse is still better for aiming but the keyboard is far weaker for movement than the wiimote is for aiming. The wiimote is suprisingly accurate as well although the PS3 and 360 fanboys would want you to believe otherwise.
Until the Wii came out, I hadn't played an FPS on a console for years.
The reason being that the control schemes for console FPS totally suck in my opinion. There is no accuracy with a regular game pad, and it is far to fiddly.
As with the mouse, you simply point and click with the wii remote.
Obviously that isn't at all more accurate than fiddling around with two sticks...
Au contraire. Admittedly not for hours on end but I'm more than familiar with its controls. They are certainly well concieved, but no match for mouse and keyboard. Also, I had a much more enjoyable time playing CoD4 on the 360 than I did playing MP3. Twin sticks just take getting used to.
(you must have used a broken wiimote as it is not in the slightest bit sluggish).
No, it's sluggish. Not game-breakingly slow by any means but it's certainly not as snappy as I would prefer. And it's exactly the same on my two wiimotes as it is on every other wiimote I've used on other people's Wiis.
Maybe your tolerances are different to mine :S
I agree with you that the stick is far better than the keyboard for movement but it's hardly a problem. You adjust.
The wiimote is suprisingly accurate as well although the PS3 and 360 fanboys would want you to believe otherwise.
It does a good job considering how many assumptions it makes (about tv size, etc). But it's not brilliantly accurate and it is ever so slightly sluggish.
I'm not a fanboy either, as you seem to be implying. I buy hardware to enjoy games on, not to marvel at their boot-up logos.
especially as the wii has the best control scheme for an fps.
Pfft. This is nothing but an oft touted myth imho. Mouse and Keyboard still reigns supreme, the mouse being a billion times more accurate than the sluggish Wii pointer.
Also, once you get used to them twin sticks are every bit as good as the wiimote and then some.
Someone who had played Metroid Prime 3: Corruption adequately to form judgement wouldn't say that.
Au contraire. Admittedly not for hours on end but I'm more than familiar with its controls. They are certainly well concieved, but no match for mouse and keyboard. Also, I had a much more enjoyable time playing CoD4 on the 360 than I did playing MP3. Twin sticks just take getting used to.
(you must have used a broken wiimote as it is not in the slightest bit sluggish).
No, it's sluggish. Not game-breakingly slow by any means but it's certainly not as snappy as I would prefer. And it's exactly the same on my two wiimotes as it is on every other wiimote I've used on other people's Wiis.
Maybe your tolerances are different to mine :S
I agree with you that the stick is far better than the keyboard for movement but it's hardly a problem. You adjust.
The wiimote is suprisingly accurate as well although the PS3 and 360 fanboys would want you to believe otherwise.
It does a good job considering how many assumptions it makes (about tv size, etc). But it's not brilliantly accurate and it is ever so slightly sluggish.
I'm not a fanboy either, as you seem to be implying. I buy hardware to enjoy games on, not to marvel at their boot-up logos.
I am more than used to twin sticks as I have been using them since the Playstation days (and the similar method used for goldeneye on the n64). I like this method better than mouse and keyboard (and also love COD4 on the 360) but after 27 years of gaming I think the wiimote is the best option as it is more accurate than the twin sticks approach and more intuitive than using a keyboard.
I also did not call you (or imply that you are) a fanboy, I said that fanboys would have you believe that the wiimote is far from accurate (which clearly is not true).
Don't do this Valve! Make a game for the "fans" not the bloody "kids". The only reason to make a kids game, is that you assume it will sell better than an adult one but it won't.
Copyright 2006 - 2009 Future Publishing Limited, Beauford Court, 30 Monmouth Street, Bath, UK BA1 2BW England and Wales company registration number 2008885
