Gearbox’s Randy Pitchford has a Problem Shutting his Mouth, it Seems

Randy Pitchford has brought up some arguments recently about Valve owning Steam being a bad idea, especially for small indie developers, not once, but twice. And Pitchford has also said that Gabe Newells’s refusal to develop on the PS3 is foolish.

Not to mention, earlier on in the year, he called out both Infinity Ward and Bungie, and told them to do something different, instead of Call of Duty and Halo, respectively, all the time.

All could be considered valid arguments, although I personally think that sticking up for the PC like Gabe does is admirable, but I still think to myself, damn, talk about biting the hand that feeds. Gearbox only got into the game industry, and is only where it is, because of Valve and Half-Life. If it hadn’t been for Opposing Force, and all the subsequent expansions it was involved in because Valve threw them a bone, Borderlands might not have even been released the other day.

I mean, I think that this is nothing new. Randy has had a big mouth, and an inflated ego since day one. Proof of this? In Opposing Force at the end of the game, when you fight that ugly beast, there’s a message played backwards, which says: “To win the game, you must kill me, Randy Pitchford”. Of course, this line was taken from Doom II, copying another attention seeker looking for the limelight, John Romero.

Speaking of Borderlands , I should go and get it sometime soon, to see if it's worth all of Randy's cockiness lately. It looks good, and I hear it plays well too. It definitely draws some inspiration f-Life. You can tell by the red damage indicators when the player is shot. I've seen that in trailers.

And by the way, Aliens: Colonial Marines had better be good.

And Duke Begins?...

Gearbox’s Randy Pitchford has a Problem Shutting his Mouth, it Seems

Did you Know that November is Valve/Half-Life Month?

Yes. It looks that way. It's just something I've noticed over time. If you look at the dates like this, you'll see what I mean:

• November 1, 1999: Half-Life: Opposing Force
• November 1, 2000: Richochet
  
• November 3, 1962: Gabe Newell
• November 8, 2000: Counter-Strike (Retail)
• November 14, 2001: Half-Life (PS2 release)
• November 14, 2001: Half-Life Decay (PS2)
• November 15, 2005: Half-Life 2 (Xbox)
  
• November 16, 2004: Half-Life 2
• November 17, 2009: Left 4 Dead 2 (TBR)
  
• November 18, 2008: Left 4 Dead
  
• November 19, 1998: Half-Life
• November 20, 2000: Gunman Chronicles
• November 22, 2007: Half-Life 2 Episode 2 (PS3)
• November 22, 2007: Team Fortress 2 (PS3)
  

So, it looks like a number of major titles, including both Half-Life and Half-Life 2, among other titles were released in this month in years past. Recently I posted about the tenth anniversary of Half-Life: Opposing Force, and also Gabe Newell's birthday. I guess the next one I'll post about is the upcoming 5th anniversary of Half-Life 2, and perhaps the 11th anniversary of Half-Life. I can't believe how many years have gone by.

You could argue that they are all bunched together because it's right there near Christmas, or perhaps it's because Gabe's birthday is in the month, or there could be some other conspiracy theory as to why this is, but still. Interesting...

Did you Know that November is Valve/Half-Life Month?

It’s Your Birthday: Gabe Newell

Gabe Logan Newell was born today, the 3rd of November, in 1962. He turns 47 today.

Gabe Newell is the co-founder, along with Mike Harrington, and managing director of Valve Corporation (founded in 1996), the company responsible for many great game series, like Half-Life.

Interesting facts about Gabe:

• He dropped out of Harvard University.
• He worked for Microsoft for thirteen years.
• Gabe and Mike funded the development of Half-Life out of their own pockets with money they earned at Microsoft.
• He is married to Lisa Newell and has two sons.
• Gabe hates the PS3.
• Gabe likes the PC.
• Gabe’s Wikipedia article is semi-protected because of vandalism.
• There is a video game character with the same name as his: Gabriel "Gabe" Logan from Syphon Filter.
• Gabe describes himself as the producer on the first three releases of Microsoft Windows.
• People often make fun of his weight.
• Gabe can't fold his arms.
• Gabe was briefly in second place in a Victoria’s Secret competition this year, before his entry was disqualified.
• There’s a fake Gabe on Twitter posing as Gabe Newell. The real Gabe doesn’t have a Twitter account, yet. Kotaku fell for this hoax.
• Valve and Gabe Newell came under fire after announcing that Left 4 Dead 2 was under development at would be released this year. Even a boycott group was started, which has since been “disbanded” by the founders, who were flown to Valve HQ to see the game in action.
• Recently, Gabe and Erik Johnson flew to Australia to see someone’s Left 4 Dead campaign, after the guy raised $ 3000 for his flight, although Gabe actually paid the amount himself, in the end.
• Gabe said he might consider a Half-Life movie if there is ever a script worth directing. Quentin Tarantino was once rumoured to be interested in making a Half-Life movie after claiming that even though he disliked video games as a whole, he liked Half-Life 2.
• Gabe wouldn’t ever consider Uwe Boll to direct a Half-Life movie (thank Christ).
• Gabe plays PC games two hours a day.
• Gabe owns a BMW 745i.
• Gabe’s current PC: Unspecified Core i7 (overclocked), ATI Radeon HD 4800, 42" Panasonic Elite 1080p monitor, Razer mouse, MS ergonomic keyboard.
• Gabe has very eclectic tastes when it comes to music.
• Gabe collects knives as a hobby. I assume he means like combat knives and such, and not those little plastic knives you get at some take-away restaurants.
• Gabe has expressed interest in having fans fund video game development.
• Gabe is no stranger to hiring people who work on mods, especially for Valve games. He claims that half of Valve is made up of (former) mod-makers.

It’s Your Birthday: Gabe Newell

Is Bethesda Really Going to Buy Valve?

Speaking of Bethesda, there’s a rumour going around that Bethesda, or more appropriately, its parent company, ZeniMax Media, is going to buy Valve. That’s right- the developer that’s responsible for the epic Half-Life series as well as Left 4 Dead 1 and 2, among other games and acquired mods over the years, like Portal and Counter-Strike.

Earlier this year, ZeniMax Media bought the legendary id Software, and so started all the jokes involving “Bethidsda”, and “identity crisis”.

Now although this would be a major acquisition, I’m about 90 to 95 % sure that this is bogus. Why would this happen anyway? Would Gabe Newell really consider this? I think it’s untrue, but I guess we'll see soon enough.

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Rumor: Zenimax/Bethesda Looking To Buy Valve/Steam?

Is Bethesda Really Going to Buy Valve?

Valve's Gabe Newell in: Journey to Oz!

Talking about gamers getting ripped off, here's another interesting story going around lately.

If you haven't been keeping up with the situation, I'll keep it short and simple:

Valve started working on Left 4 Dead 2 less than a year after Left 4 Dead got out the door. This made the L4D community unhappy and they formed a boycott against the title. The boycott leaders were eventually flown to Valve's HQ to see the game in person, and came away pleased, and allegedly brainwashed, but said they would not drop the boycott until their respective demands were met. Some people have actually resigned from the boycott group on Steam, though- about at least 20 000 people since this happened. Result!

Jumping on the bandwagon, another guy from Australia wanted Gabe to see his modding effort for Left 4 Dead, but Gabe jokingly said to this guy, Joe W-A, that they were boycotting the project. So Bruce decided to raise the money to have his fat @$$ flown over to Oz to see it.

The guy raised about $ 3000 in less than 3 days, by getting donations from readers of his blog, "FlyGabeNewell".

So, Gabe Newell and Erik Johnson are now expected to fly over there and see his little project. In fact, a lot of people expect Gabe to pay for the trip himself, instead of stealing gamers' money. Some don't even know if he'll be able to fit through the airplane door, let alone his seat.

Didn't I say before that this guy was greedy?

Apparently Newell's words were as follows, “The English language lacks the words to express the level of excitement Erik and I feel that you and your friends have pulled this off."

I bet in reality it was something like: "Oh for f***'s sake!"

I wonder if someone had to say, "So Gabe, how much do we have to pay you to halt development on L4D2 and release it maybe a few years from now along with Half-Life 2: Episode 3," what his response would be?

"Uh, $ 2 000 000 and a box of twinkies," or something.

Anyway, it's all good fun, and I think this story is getting very twisted now. It'll likely be remembered for years to come.

Sources:

Gamers raise $3,000 to fly Gabe Newell to Australia
Gabe Newell going to Australia on fans' dime to check out L4D campaign
Left 4 Dead 2 boycotters still campaigning despite Valve visit
http://flygabenewell.blogspot.com/
http://steamcommunity.com/groups/L4D2boycott

Valve's Gabe Newell in: Journey to Oz!

Victoria's Secret Revealed: Gabe Newell

Recently I read a story about how Gabe Newell, head of Valve Software, ended up in a Victoria's Secret contest- and got second place, for a while.

It's a crazy story, and I also read that the guy who supposedly is the head of the gaming clan who put Gabe up there, got to first place.

Naturally they were both taken down.

That'll teach Gabe to make everyone wait for Half-Life 2: Episode 3 without even so much as a sneak peak at E3 this year. I guess it's also retaliation for bringing Left 4 Dead 2 too soon. Now I wonder what that L4D2 boycott group over at Steam will come up with to embarrass old Gabe?

Sources& Resources:

Gabe Newell booted from Victoria's Secret contest
http://kotaku.com/5345547/gabe-newell-was-victorias-secrets-no-2-body
http://www.bodybyvictoria.com/#/Gallery/7656
http://www.bodybyvictoria.com/
Gabe Newell Was Second Place in Victoria's Secret Contest

Victoria's Secret Revealed: Gabe Newell