this is good kinja

Dota's fun but it's kind of like getting successful off a Doom Wad (or Warcraft 3 map to be specific). And with everything on Steam basically a shitty FPS or Dota clone, it's easy to forget that Valve once made some pretty innovative games.

Also what VR games I've played seem heavily influenced by Source, since interacting with live objects is kind of still a pretty unique thing, maybe even a bit too unique in Half Life 2 for its own good, but makes perfect sense in VR. But like, everyone's already doing it better than Valve did anyway now.

Nah I meant to reply.

I don't mind. There are lots of creative, innovative companies making awesome things. Valve's later releases increasingly felt stuck in the 2000s, and I'm happy that they're focusing on facilitating other game makers with a solid digital platform (which itself is feeling increasingly clunky and old-ass).

What I don't understand is why they dont license the HL IP to a reputable studio to continue the franchise.

In all fairness, you can't blame them for continuing to follow a crazy successful business model, but it's kinda hard not to feel slightly betrayed at the lack of closure. I almost wish they just released Half Life 3 five years ago as their formal swan song as a single player developer. Now it's like the Venture Bros, refusing to die and releasing two episodes every five years.

I put wishing for a Half Life 3 in the same category as wishing for a sequel to Final Fantasy 7: both I don't get yet the huge demand is there.

HL2 felt like an 8 hour tech demo for the Source engine. While a good and historically important engine, the game was...eh? Drive a wobbly dune buggy, get out to place a board and weight on a see saw to open a door, talk to someone calling you the greatest person ever, repeat.

Even for the time I didn't get the appeal. Bloodlines blew it away for story, Painkiller blew it away for FPS action, and Max Payne 2 blew it away for both..

Final Fantasy 7 got a sort-of sequel that focused on Vincent.

Eh.. Freeman was a product of games in a time where protagonists rarely talked, especially in FPS'. It was a little bit jarring in HL2 but I didn't even think about it when I was originally playing HL. That, and Valve has had a number of charismatic protagonists, just not human.

"hat based economy"

It's not gambling if you can't win anything of value, right?

Everything has value.

Has VR actually taken off yet or is it all still pointless shovelware novelty horseshit?

pointless shovelware novelty horseshit. slightly better horseshit though

I don't think it'll catch on. The headset's unique and the whole "future is now" novelty are neat, but the general public would never accept having to wear something like that, not to mention the confined area you have to play it in; it's more isolating than gaming already is these days. Oh yeah and there's no games

It's fun for about five minutes, then you get the overwhelming urge to rip it off your head.

The way I think about it, it's like 3D movies. Each generation seems to have an excuse why it failed - the glasses, the motion sickness, the "what do I do with my actual glasses" glasses problem, the price, and probably a lot more glasses-related issues. Even aesthetically, we think of the old stock photo of a bunch of grown-ass men with goofy glasses staring blankly into.. I dunno some stupid Superhero movie probably.. you don't wanna be seen like that even though it's pitch dark, or its 80s night. But even so, autostereoscopy is totally a thing, and has totally been a thing for a while, but the 3DTV medium is as of this reply pretty much donezo. So there WAS an option to get rid of the headgear. Will a "headless" VR set be the next thing? Maybe but people still won't probably buy it.

I'm almost certain he washed his hands of PoE years ago, but now that Valve has kicked him to the curb he's probably going to come crawling back here like nothing ever happened.

I always assumed that the site was maintained by dust mites and ghost.

i picture poetv running in the corner of a leaky basement on some outdated server that seanbaby forgot was plugged in.

Chet abandoned POE Red (and POE in general) when he got tired of being cyberstalked and sued by all the aspergian fucktards who lost their shit when they found out we were talking about them. I can't remember the specific person, there was a POE Red exhibit who basically escalated things to a bullshit degree (harassment, death threats, random legal nonsense). Also, it's kinda hard prolly to maintain a professional identity when you also own a clown car like POE (no offense to anyone, this includes me).

Ben Schumin(sp) and Roberta Williams were tag teaming him for awhile. They both went after the Old Man Murray entry on Wikipedia of all things.

Ha ha! I heard about Ben going after OMM, but Roberta did too? Details!

Wish I'd taken a screenshot or... Anything as proof.

In the comments section on the Old Man Murray nomination for deletion Roberta and Ben were both gloating like the Joker and the Penguin from the old 60's Batman series. It was bizarre.

Well, I think Schumin and Williams were pretty mild examples. Even whatshisname....Oneideus Fat Hatter or whatever was just a mild annoyance, even when he unleashed THE REAVER on POE Red (which took it down for approximately 10 minutes *COCKSLAP*). There were other exhibits who attempted to sue POE and then at least a couple where things got really bad. They didn't really interact with the forums, but it was mostly a behind the scenes kind of thing. Like I said, I can't remember the specific person (weirdly), but there was someone who did doxxing and cyberstalking and all kinds of fucked up shit to several POE members. As usual, it was someone who we literally mentioned, like, once or something who then went into full retard mode.
Oh yeah, then there was that Rex....whateverhisname guy who threatened K Thor with a knife, right? Or something like that....

I always assumed he officially signed off but was quietly keeping the servers switched on. Plausible deniability and all that.

Wasn't Derek's Cosplay the original catalyst?

Damn, that drama is deep...

I remember at least three people personally threatening me on PoE.

For those who were not around to enjoy Mad Hatter, the ED write up will give you some entertainment.
https://encyclopediadramatica.rs/Onideus_Mad_Hatter

(NSFW naturally)

UGh, I think I remember getting into an argument with Hatter (or one of his alts) on PoE news. A submitted link where a disgruntled employee spiked a customer's drink with lye. Hatter made some kind of comment that the customer 'had it coming'. Jesus Christ. I thought it was somebody doing 'a thing' because I had no idea of his history on Red and in general.

How was poecon? Were there a lot of people? I think the only thing I've ever seen from it was a photo of what seemed to be some people smoking weed in a store room of some sort.

It was pretty entertaining that first time, if only because meeting people from the Internet was still strange and exotic back then. It was 17 or 18 people gettting drunk, shooting fireworks and watching shitty movies for a weekend, so basically like a less antisocial version of the Monday movie night IRC.

Chet and his wife were only there for the first afternoon as a token appearance amongst us proles.

Gun nuts are pussies who only like shooting things that can't fight back.

EvilHomer you are not. Maybe next time.

Homey would've linked at least ten DeviantArts that prove Zombies can run