Valve on what comes next
High-end single-player levels, episodic content, Half-Life 2 on Xbox and even Team Fortress 2 get a mention as Valve shifts its sights.
With Half-Life 2 finally in gamers' hands, and likely soon to become one of the most popular PC games of all time, Valve Software is starting to shift its attentions in new directions, some of which were outlined this week as part of GameSpot's The Final Hours of Half-Life 2 feature, which follows the game's overlong final stretch of development.
According to Valve head honcho Gabe Newell, the developer wants to work on "smaller and shorter projects" to begin with "to avoid burnout", and is already entertaining a few possibilities. One set of developers is already working on "the ATI levels" - single-player levels that push high-end graphics cards farther than ever, which may be released via Steam later this year - while another "tentative" plan focuses on episodic content and the possibility of telling the story of Gordon's newfound sidekick Alyx Vance. "I'd love to play a game that tells the story of Alyx and Doc, her pet Robot," Newell said.
Just as interesting though is the possibility of more Half-Life mods like Counter-Strike being reworked, and an Xbox - not Xbox 2 - version of Half-Life 2, while Newell even reveals that Team Fortress 2 - which many thought had been long since abandoned - is still far from dead. "I'm sure we will screw that up again," he joked when asked for a release date. "I can connect the dots and look at history at this point."
Whatever Valve does next, we'll be sure to let you know. You can read The Final Hours of Half-Life 2 here.