Valve and TF2 love...

I once told Def that I would give Valve my virginity if I could. I still stand by that comment.

Here's an interview with "the Valve dudes" by Leigh Alexander. I'm not sure if I've mentioned before, I like to hit up her blog, sexyvideogameland, every now and again because, well, she puts a lot of thought into her articles. They always seem to contemplate what it means to be actively engaging in a virtual world. To add, her father was a games journalist and she's kind of carrying up the tradition. But I digress...

According to the article posted on Gamasutra and what makes me turn all rosy lipped is just how aware Valve is of what they're doing and how they're propelling the PC game industry forward. They're coming up with new business models and content distribution models. They're fully aware that some would say PC gaming is dead...but they're not backing down. I heart them.

Hey...wait a minute, didn't I just gush over NIN's involvement with propelling the music industry? And wait, Valve totally had me in HS with Half-Life...NIN had me with Downward Spiral...man, we were all just cool kids who knew who to support!

And to make this the biggest baddest Valve orgy session I must add the following (and latest as of this post) VGcats comic:

interesting game news.

I'm sure some of you will have read these, they're nothing too special but confirmation of a couple of things.

1) Bliz has confirmed they are indeed developing a "Nex-gen MMO". (Kotaku)

2) Valve has confirmed, aside from Episode 3, a completely new Half Life 3 is also in the works.

None of this is entirely new, Bliz has always mentioned they have another project in the works. But we've never had confirmation that it was indeed a next gen mmo. I'm torn here. I would love nothing more than a new Diablo, and the author of the recent books has said quite openly that he's not writing for a dead IP. But, I must admit, I would love for Bliz to create a whole new franchise.

HL3, I think everyones on board with that! Hopefully it'll be out before 2012! Now I just need to finish HL2, Ep1, and Ep2!

And for SponWhat, if you're reading, which I don't entirely expect but all I can say is I feel you're pain...

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UPDATE: Surfer Girl speaks about coming bliz mmo, says no new IP, Demons!

Why does Surfer Girl's opinion count? While quite secretive, this tipster has been on the money quite a bit regarding some of the most interesting news leaks. I think it's a pretty safe bet that soon we'll hear an announcement for a new Diablo-centric MMO. Some would say WoW has everything you'll want in a new MMO, but I would beg to differ. The diablo universe captured my imagination in a way that NO warcraft game ever did. On top of that, it was the grandaddy of wow. It's only fitting that WoW's success would funnel back into Diablo.

There's something about fighting the more Christian themed demons of Diablo as opposed to the infernals in WoW. I always like the DARK aspect of diablo, WoW seems so much lighter. I hope they don't lighten it up to appeal to the masses that have grown to love WoW's lighter nature.

Gabe Newell Interview

RPS (Rock, Paper, Shotgun) has an exclusive interview with Gabe Newell, co-founder of Valve.

The interview touches upon some of Valve's current ideology and where they're going. As I was telling Steve, Valve has become one of the bigger third party production companies and definitely seems to be playing their cards right.