Welcome to Thunderdome

Posted: **Mon Jan 22, 2007 1:43 pm**

Gabe is the man behind Valve. He also worked on Windows OSs for years before some guy named john Carmack talked him into leaving and getting into gaming.

Anyway, these quotes are from the latest Game Informer:

On HL3 -
"I don't know what Hlaf-Life 3 would be. We're going to finish the these first three episodes and then figure out what we're going to do next."

Personally, I think he's lying a bit on HL3. I think they probably know where the Half-Life story is going, I mean, they'd have to, but I understand him not wanting to say anything. It's probably more a matter of seeing if people wants more episodes or a formal sequel.

On the PS3 -
"The PS3 is a total disaster on so many levels. I think it's really clear that Sony lost track of what customers wanted and what developers wanted. I'd say, evan 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."

Ouch.

On Vista -
"I can't point to a single feature that solves problems for us. At all."
"Well, I installed Vista in my personal machine and it didn't support SLI and it didn't support the 8800 [graphics card] and it was less stable then Windows XP. So, I'm pretty lukewarm on Vista."
"Microsoft has so many problems with Vista, I wish they were focusing more on the thing that runs on hundreds of millions of PCs rather than six million proprietary clients. Vista really shows a lack of focus on making a better consumer platform. I came out of the Windows group, and right now, I'd go with a Macintosh as being a better solution for most consumers than a Vista-based PC. It's shocking to me. If you're an XP user, you're going to be more comfortable upgrading to an Apple than Vista. Vista is going to drive you crazy in terms of some of their user interface decisions. Other than gaming, which is Apple's Achilles heel, almost everything else works better on a Mac. As somebody who used to live and die to make Windows successful, that's super sad to me."

Wow. I cannot wait to get my hands on Vista.

Posted: **Mon Jan 22, 2007 2:02 pm**

Even early benchmarks show XP outperforming Vista.

Microsoft is trying to sell us less fuctionality for more money, and the only hook they have is that they'll force PC manufacturers to put the OS on 10,000 PC's a day. Then they'll purposely obsolete XP, which they are already starting with DirectX 10.

I SO wish games would be compiled for Linux.

Posted: **Mon Jan 22, 2007 2:18 pm**

MS should do what Gabe suggests Sony do with the PS3.

Just pull it now before it hits stores full force. They might lose some short term dollars, but they'll gain long term dollars by not pissing off so many people.

Of course, a complete failure might be good for the public. MS might get the hint that not everything they do turns to gold, so maybe next time they'll try harder.

Posted: **Mon Jan 22, 2007 2:37 pm**

I've always been pretty strongly anti-Mac. But these days when someone asks my advice about what computer to get, in most cases (since I'm usually asked by "non-computer-users") these days I suggest a Mac. For most regular civilians, it's the best choice. Especially with what I'm hearing about Vista.

So sad.

Posted: **Mon Jan 22, 2007 2:55 pm**

I still don't recommend a Mac.

Unless you're an artist or work in a poor public school district, then why get a Mac? Use what you're likely to face in a business environment.

Of course, I'm in IT, and I'd rather have users who have actually seen a MS OS before rather than someone whose never seen one before and then asks me daily why we don't use Macs.

Edited By Leisher on 1169565235

Posted: **Mon Jan 22, 2007 4:51 pm**

The only thing I like from Vista is virtual folders. That would be useful to me.

Posted: **Mon Jan 22, 2007 7:12 pm**

I don't recommend Macs because their core user base is filled with self righteous pricks that should just shut up and die already.

Posted: **Mon Jan 22, 2007 8:58 pm**

I'm surrounded by Mac peeps at work.

I make at least one "Of course Macs don't crash, all 5 available pieces of software come pre-installed" comment a day.

Posted: **Mon Jan 22, 2007 9:41 pm**

The whole "overcharge for bloat" thing isn't working for Sony's PS3, and is threatening to kick Sony off the top of the heap.

Microsoft's huge advantage is that, like I said, in the near future they will force hundreds of thousands of people onto the piece of shit OS.

I'm looking forward to needing DRM enabled hardware.

Posted: **Mon Jan 22, 2007 11:38 pm**

Word on the street is that DRM is on its way out. More and more indie groups are bypassing the big guys and working deals where their music gets downloaded as straight MP3's. Bands and promoters figure it helps them in the long run. If they get 10x the exposure due to pirated music and just 1/4 of them actually buy an album then they're better off than they were to begin with.

Also read an article today saying Sony's blowing it again with their Blue Ray format. Sony's the company that brought us Beta max. The biggest thing to kill Beta was the fact that Sony refused to allow Adult entertainment to stamp their films on Beta.

Yes, the porn industry killed Beta. And it's poised to do it again with Blue Ray. Porn industry says it's cheaper and faster to go w/ HD DVD.

Didn't realize this, but porn makes twice as much money as traditional movie companies on DVD's, cable feeds and on-demand stuff every year.

Posted: **Tue Jan 23, 2007 10:15 am**

Didn't realize this, but porn makes twice as much money as traditional movie companies on DVD's, cable feeds and on-demand stuff every year.

Porn is free on the web.

Thank you Al Gore!!

Posted: **Tue Jan 23, 2007 7:16 pm**

Free on the web, yet it still beats (ahem) out Hollywood in sales.

Posted: **Sat Feb 17, 2007 4:12 pm**

One of my buddies stuck Vista on his PC at home. When he said, "Yeah, Microsoft rewrote the TCP/IP stack," I just stopped listening & gave up any hope for it.

Welcome to Thunderdome

Gabe Newell on Vista, PS3, and HL3.