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Industry News | Gabe Newell: "The PS3 is a Total Disaster"

15.01.2007

Speaking recently to Game Informer, development studio Valve's, co-founder Gabe Newell discussed the next generation efforts from Sony and Nintendo. However, one machine came out with a large dent on its reputation.

The PS3 is a total disaster on so many levels, I think It's really clear that Sony lost track of what customers and what developers wanted. I'd say, even at this late date, they should just cancel it and do a "do over". Just say, "This was a horrible disaster and we're sorry and we're going to stop selling this and stop trying to convince people to develop for it".

The happy story is the Wii. I'm betting that by Christmas of next year, Nintendo Wii has a larger installed base than the 360. Other people think I'm crazy. I really like everything that Nintendo is doing.

Certainly some very direct opinions from Newell on the current next-generation systems - what do you think? Have your say in the comments section below.

Be sure to stick around for more industry goss'.

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Maquis 16.01.2007#26

well duh, Gabe. what next, gravity is heavy? water teh wettest? micro$haft never had gamers wants or needs at heart? (( 360 will be dropped too, in a heartbeat... you wait! ))

patjuan32 16.01.2007#27

I think it is too early to count the PS3 out. However Sony has lost a lot of their exclusives to Microsoft and at the moment the PS3 is not selling well in the U.S. or Japan, I'm not sure about Europe. The sales of the PS3 could change when Final Fantasy XIII comes out. Sony is already advertising this game in Japan and it's not available until 2008. This may keep Final Fantasy fans from purchasing other consoles.

I would rather see this game on the Wii but that's just me. Hopefully Square-Enix has a Final Fantasy XIII spin-off game for the Wii like Final Fantasy XII for the DS.

dojo 16.01.2007#28

Baz da boss said:
ps3 is noisy, massive, copycat and boring

The PS3 is almost as quiet as the Wii. At least get it right if you are going to have a stab.

RudyC3 16.01.2007#29

I would'nt be so sure about whether the Wii shall be a complete success or not. It attracts non-players the most. many people are interested in trying it once in a while, but most of them are not ready to buy it right away. It's still lacking great games, and even lacking great announces of games coming soon. Non Nintendo-fans gamers don't expect much of anything from the Wii, and it's time for Nintendo to do it the micro$oft way... paying developpers huge amounts of $$$$$ to develop great games for the Wii, gamer's games. Otherwise it could do a flop eventually.

( Edited on 16.01.2007 10:45 by Kafei2006 )

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Cheesing It Up 16.01.2007#30

Darkflame said:
Either way its obviously way too late to simply start againNot exactly.A PS3 for much cheaper, without bluray, would HUGELY help sales, imo.

I agree. However, the whole of the PS3 is basically based around Blu Ray (it's one of its key selling points). Even worse then that, the success of the PS3 is vital for Sony's plans of the eventual success of Blu Ray over HD DVD. There is no way that Sony would ever remove Blu Ray from the PS3. Even if it's clear in say, 2 years time, that Blu Ray won't succeed, by then they'll be perhaps hundreds of games made on Blu Ray discs. A PS3 with only DVD functionality won't be able to play those games.

Satoshi 16.01.2007#31

dojo99 said:
Baz da boss said:ps3 is noisy, massive, copycat and boring
The PS3 is almost as quiet as the Wii. At least get it right if you are going to have a stab.

And the Wii sends lasers to the sensor bar and the sensor bar calculates the Wiimote's angle while the PS3 has built in motion sensors Smilie

Smilie

Avoid Games Like the Plague, productivity++

paul_sant2003 16.01.2007#32

I think it's to early to right off the PS3, the wii may be winning at the moment but it needs to keep up the momentum. Most noticeably it is lacking strong third party offerings (not just shoddy ports with wii functions tacked on) something that the Playstation and XBox has been historically good at.

If Valve thinks so much of the wii then let's hope we see some good titles from them in the future.

Picnic 16.01.2007#33

According to Wikipedia, 'Newell, a "Microsoft millionaire" after working 13 years for the company, founded Valve in 1996 with Mike Harrington, another former Microsoft employee'

His comments seem uncharacteristically blunt for a public statement from a third party software devloper about a major console hardware company.

It looks like further installaments in the Half Life story are more likely on the Xbox360 than the PS3 to say the least.

Other than that, it's another case of somebody who is/was involved with Microsoft praising the Wii.

( Edited on 16.01.2007 18:35 by Picnic )

Satoshi 16.01.2007#34

GR781 said:
The PS3 is much quieter than the 360, but I wouldnt say theres no point in watching dvds on the 360. It isnt noticeable during a game unless the game is nearly silent, which most arent- I do have surround sound but I think it would be similar with just the tv speakers. Either way, when they switch to the 60nm thingybobs it should be quieter. Or you can get that cooling thingy for it.

65nm Smilie

Avoid Games Like the Plague, productivity++

xXxTin Can ManxXx 16.01.2007#35

The 360 is like a PC. (hear me out here)

You don't hear the noise until one day you notice this slight whirring at the edge of your hearing. Then you can't not notice it. Smilie

1"We're mentalist psychic Scots , which means we can read your mind. If you're lying, your head explodes and we laugh."

Slydevil 16.01.2007#36

Tin Can Man said:
The 360 is like a PC. (hear me out here) You dont hear the noise until one day you notice this slight whirring at the edge of your hearing. Then you cant not notice it.

My computer stopped doing that after being hit a couple thousand times..

IANC said:
Dude yuor totally awesome. And i won't be killing you anytime soon.

Megadanxzero 16.01.2007#37

Slydevil said:
My friend ACTUALLY (Like factually) said: "But because it's more expensive that means it's better."

Ooooh man... He must have this mental disease called 'Retardation'... It's pretty serious... You should tell him to see someone

Still a proud member of the 'omfg amazing water in games' society

HUYI 16.01.2007#38

Baz da boss said:
wii is silent,small, innovative and fun.ps3 is noisy, massive, copycat and boring.Face the facts, Sony, this generation you will turn out worst.The only thing holding back Nintendo from topping the charts is supply. Come Summer and Ninty gonna be top of the charts in all catogaries.In your face, SonyPS: Blu-ray is rubbish and so is HD-DVD. this generation people are gonna use broadband to download hd films to their media centre pc with 300gb of space and get photo viewing, music playing, timeshifting and in film messaging for the same price as a blue ray drive or hd-dvd drive.

best post ever! :cooldude:

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patjuan32 17.01.2007#39

@ ZeroSimon

The Wii controllers have built in gyro-accelerometer that calculates the controller's angles. The Sensor bar allows the Wii remote to become a pointing device. It does not calculate the angles of the controller.

Sony should have talked Square-Enix into holding back Final Fantasy XII for the PS2 and develop it for the PS3 as a launch title, like Nintendo did Zelda. Right now the PS3 lacks software.

Martin_ 17.01.2007#40

crazylurch said:
PS3 will have games ever so slightly more shiny that Xbox 360 games. WOW!!! That is worth the

Dr_R 17.01.2007#41

This console war is turning out to be a monster. I predict a pretty even spread worldwide, with some regional variations: 360 will come third by quite a bit in Japan, as will Nintendo in Europe and Sony in the US; Nintendo will have a slight edge in Japan, Microsoft will Rule the US and split the victory with Sony in Europe; Nintendo will still be the only company to post a profit.

"This man has advanced communist views ... He dresses in a bohemian fashion both at his office and in his leisure hours."

MattEvansC3 17.01.2007#42

Oni, PS3 games are shinier, Xbox360 games look better.

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Satoshi 17.01.2007#43

patjuan32 said:
@ ZeroSimonThe Wii controllers have built in gyro-accelerometer that calculates the controller's angles. The Sensor bar allows the Wii remote to become a pointing device. It does not calculate the angles of the controller.Sony should have talked Square-Enix into holding back Final Fantasy XII for the PS2 and develop it for the PS3 as a launch title, like Nintendo did Zelda. Right now the PS3 lacks software.

yeah hence the sarcastic sign at the end of my post...damn i didn't put on in...well i have a laughing and surprised face which should do

Avoid Games Like the Plague, productivity++

Crazylurch 17.01.2007#44

Matthew Gastrian Evans said:
Oni, PS3 games are shinier, Xbox360 games look better.

Well Xbox 360 has been around a while now. Programmers are used to it and making decent games now. PS3 will probably need a year for some decent stuff to come out.

Woooooooo!!!

Takeo 17.01.2007#45

I read somewhere that PS3 software sales wiped the floor in Japan last week. Maybe everyone is wrong about the PS3?

In my opinion EVERYONE is wrong about the PS3. People are saying its gona be either the BEST EVER! or the WORST EVER! Both wrong. The PS3 is gona bring a few new things to the table, like Blu-Ray, but its not gona revolutionise the gaming industry like Sony are making out.

i think we're just gona have to wait until March and see how it turns out. As being one of the only C3 members (that im aware of) buying a PS3 on launch id be happy to do some sort of review.

Hell maybe we'll have to wait until after March, until many more post launch titles have been released and when all the developers have gotten into full swing and practise with the hardware the PS3 offers.

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Laurelin 17.01.2007#46

You can easily prove, that Wiimote has no gyro-accelerometers by playing Red Steel: When holding Wiimote sideways the gun is held sideways. Gyros are calculating velocity. It's not that easy. They have far advanced sensors then expected. Let it be. Sixaxxis and Wiimote are not the same and fuck, let them use it. Lair uses them pretty well but it's nothing special. It may feel like holding the pad out of a habit a bit queer and accidentally your dragon turns sideways, dragon rider gives away his breaktfast and poor foe down there whinks you are riding an acid-dragon... yesyes. wonderful game, this...

And I can not bear hearing X360 even with only dashboard showing. It's too loud, too shrieky and too noisy. That's more when watching DVD, even with surround. But maybe I play games too quiet. Good when it's not affecting you, but it does affect me (elven ears, you know?). But playing Zelda on Wii is pretty loud itself becaus the disk is spinning on and on mostly. But that's more quiet.
It's my opinion, I heard x360 and Wii, Gamecube and PS2 (which is noisy too). But not PS3.

We all try to pick bad things out of the sweet green, sweet white or sweet black cake from our most behated console (for me it's X360, for you it's PS3). But let's face it: only time shows which console can keep up (I won't say 'wins', because even Gamecube hasn't lost. I like my dear Cube and own some awesome GC-games!).
But it can't hurt to pick pro- and con-sayers for every console. We all want to see some Valve-games for Wii, taht's the point here!
So go give us some, Gabe!

I find your lack of faith disturbing!

Frazzle.d 17.01.2007#47

Maquis said:
well duh, Gabe. what next, gravity is heavy? water teh wettest? micro$haft never had gamers wants or needs at heart? (( 360 will be dropped too, in a heartbeat... you wait! ))

Gravity is a constant force (on Earth). It can't be heavy.

Bugger about the PS3, I had 50 Blu-Ray DVDs on pre order from Amazon Smilie

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Laurelin 17.01.2007#48

Bugger about the PS3, I had 50 Blu-Ray DVDs on pre order from Amazon

Man, you are rich...

I find your lack of faith disturbing!

dojo 18.01.2007#49

patjuan32 said:
@ ZeroSimonThe Wii controllers have built in gyro-accelerometer that calculates the controller's angles. The Sensor bar allows the Wii remote to become a pointing device. It does not calculate the angles of the controller.

I think he was just joshing Smilie