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Report: Valve eyeing Wii development

  • By Staff, GameSpot
  • Posted Aug 29, 2007 9:54 am PT

Gabe Newell praises Nintendo console, says overlooking it was "an obvious hole in our strategy"; Orange Box on track for PS3, 360, and PC release in October.

Worldwide, Nintendo has been on a roll with the Wii. Envious of the piles of cash the "new-gen" console has generated, third-party publishers initially skeptical of the system's appeal are now ramping up development for it. One such gamemaker is Electronic Arts, which indicated remorse for not focusing more on Nintendo's console from the get-go in its most recent financial reporting.

This week came word that an independent developer famous for its high-graphics PC shooters is also redirecting resources to the Wii. Speaking with Game Informer, Valve Software cofounder and managing director Gabe Newell said that his company's internal console development priority will be the Wii...eventually.

Newell's comments came in response to a question about outsourcing console projects like the PlayStation 3 port of Half-Life 2: The Orange Box, currently being done by EA. "I think we'll bring [console projects] in house more for licensees issues than our own," he said. "Just for our own priorities, that puts the Wii at a much higher priority. ... I think the Wii represents more of a challenge because of its input. ... You can't think of it as graphics, CPU, texture bandwidth scaling, you have to think of it as more fundamentally, and I think it's more valuable. I think it's more interesting than just graphics chip-CPU combination. It's the machine I have at home."

However, in the same breath, Newell dashed hopes that Half-Life 2 or Team Fortress 2 might appear on the Wii anytime soon. "The fact that we don't have anything in development on it even though it represents big opportunities as a whole, is an obvious hole in our strategy," he admitted.

Newell also mentioned that the oft-delayed Half-Life 2: Orange Box is in its final phase of testing, and will meet its projected October 9 ship date in North America and October 12 in Europe. To help ensure the game is completed on time, Newell has gone so far as to temporarily forbid any of his employees to play one of the best-reviewed games of the year. "We had to ban BioShock from our offices," he told UK-based gaming site Computer & Video Games. "Nobody gets to play it until Orange Box is done--that's our reward to ourselves as a company; everyone gets a copy of BioShock [when it's done]."

161 Comments

  • LegatoSkyheart

    Posted Dec 1, 2009 11:39 pm GMT

    2007, Where's the Wii Games of Half Live, Left 4 Dead, and all the other games you make Valve?

  • jettpack

    Posted Jun 17, 2009 8:01 pm GMT

    they got the hl2 to run on the original Xbox mostly intact. So im confident that they can get it to run on the wii with some graphics downgrades. maybe even just minor ones with really good programming. i am a PC man, but i like all of the consoles, and am very interested to see more hardcore games on the Wii. HL2 is an excellent piece of code, and the wii would be lucky to have it in its library. or a HL1 total remake.

  • gordanfreeman53

    Posted Dec 2, 2007 8:13 pm GMT

    Half life 2 on the Wii? I don't no what to say.

  • noahcycle12

    Posted Oct 14, 2007 8:23 pm GMT

    Gabe Newell bashed the PS3 hardcore, saying it was "a waste of everyones time" and "Sony should scrap it and do a "do over." Screw him! The PS3 and the 360 are both great consoles. Now hes making Monster Hunter 3 a Wii exclusive. Yes the Wii is fun but it wont hold out with the big boys IMO. This guys an idiot and needs to think before he speaks. If he wasnt a co-founder he would have already been fired for his comments.

  • usaokay

    Posted Sep 14, 2007 4:36 pm GMT

    A Half life 1 remake on the Wii.

  • jonwilles

    Posted Sep 12, 2007 12:46 pm GMT

    Of all the games i've played in the past 6 years HL2 with out question is the most scalable game i've ever played. I played through it with a GeForce MX 440 and half a gig of RAM with a computer that is six years old with the detailed maxed and the ret of the settings modest, so i would expect the new rendering engine to be completely accessory, other developers would do well to make their games similarly scalable

  • GIJames248

    Posted Sep 11, 2007 2:05 pm GMT

    Considering the xbox could run Half-life 2, Valve could quite possibly port HL 2 and most source games to the Wii. Whether they will remains to be seen.

  • Beaglesniffer

    Posted Sep 8, 2007 11:25 am GMT

    @cheeba im not bashing the wii i couldnt give a toss but highest detail on a 4 year old comp, if i did that on mine which is 1 year old and is gd my framerates would be fairly poor so i doubt i 4 year old pc can cope with full graphics lol

    lol its hilarious watching fan boys mock each other they just sounds like little kids mine is better than yours wawawa!!!!!!

    how old r u ppl

  • Cheeba_puff

    Posted Sep 8, 2007 9:43 am GMT

    assdude, you're a moron from hell. the source engine is so scalable that a person can play half-life 2 episode one in full detail on a 4 year old computer with minimal framerate sags. and i do. so the next time you want to call a console crap, know what the hell you're talking about.

  • assdude6989

    Posted Sep 7, 2007 3:55 pm GMT

    Wii sucks, dont forget that now. What Im saying is dat for a game like half-life, u need a powerful consel like the ps3 or da xbox

  • darkxinos

    Posted Sep 6, 2007 5:52 am GMT

    I think Portal would be nice on the Wii

  • ryustruck

    Posted Sep 4, 2007 3:29 pm GMT

    Lawl. This is So old.

  • InnerHeaven_X

    Posted Sep 4, 2007 3:18 pm GMT

    You know what, I think the Wii is a good counsole. Yes it brought us a new way to play games. I don't know about you though but I know about me. It needs more that a controler that sences my actions and playing like that. What it needs is good QUALITY games and possibly HD (preferably) but without the games the Wii's craze will die down. So maybe Valve will bring more to Wii with good games but who knows?

  • Noname4me25

    Posted Sep 4, 2007 2:48 pm GMT

    Hmmm some good news for Wii FPS fans. Finally a third party company with skill in fps's and a name to uphold.

  • OsLHimura

    Posted Sep 4, 2007 1:36 pm GMT

    OMG what its this freaking crap that i am reading???? "The only people buying games for the Wii are Nintendophile"? WTF? okok... calm down. sigh. Ok, listen, that is the most stupid, retarded, abnormal phrase i have ever heard. WTF? okok im sorry. whooo. Listen and listen well, people buy the games THEY LIKE, bieng a nintendowhatchmacallit got absolutely NOTHING to do with it so pretty please with sugar on top... stop being ridicule.

  • Sandro909

    Posted Sep 4, 2007 12:31 pm GMT

    PC games are what Valve does amazingly. I hope they don't go too far into the Wii stuff. Don't forget us PC gamers Valve!

  • bfoy

    Posted Sep 4, 2007 12:09 pm GMT

    There are alot of Wiis out there, but as usual it's only Nintendo who makes the money. Non-Gamers and Nintendo diehards combine to form a large userbase who buy very few games. The Wii is primarily a Nintendo/party system, a far cry from what the NES and SNES used to be.

  • soldjango

    Posted Sep 4, 2007 11:16 am GMT

    How can you take Bioshock from the employees? That's just...cruel!

  • StarDust666

    Posted Sep 4, 2007 4:44 am GMT

    Even if Half Life 2 runs at 10pfs on Wii... and 10 copies got sold, thats more than all the ps3 owner put together! lets see PS3 = 2GigaHZ, Wii = 400MegaHZ.... who's number one....??

  • StarDust666

    Posted Sep 4, 2007 4:38 am GMT

    Nintendophiles rules. there are MORE of us than you's... when you are on level with the best, then you can talk... looks who number one now? it cost next to nothing making game on Wii... whats to lose? Wii don't need hardcores...

  • YukoAsho

    Posted Sep 3, 2007 6:09 pm GMT

    Welcome to the huge crowd of 3rd parties putting out Wii games that aren't going to sell because the only people actually buying games for the system are the Nintendophiles.

  • madterps

    Posted Sep 3, 2007 5:21 pm GMT

    New IPs or old ones like Half Life? I can't imagine the Wii trying to run Half Life 2: The Lost Coast. Can you say 10FPS?

  • jaredcrazy3232

    Posted Sep 3, 2007 10:53 am GMT

    but i would rather a long awaited good amazing game than a rushed ok game...>>>> insert most wii ubi-soft games here

  • Agermemnon

    Posted Sep 3, 2007 2:16 am GMT

    Dont forget people VALVE and moving quickly don't mix ohhhh no , you could be waiting a few years here lol will be interesting to see if valve can get a fps playing well with the wii style controls though

  • jaredcrazy3232

    Posted Sep 3, 2007 12:16 am GMT

    Glordit you make a good point, but people often forget, the wii supposedly has the graphical hardware to get 50% better graphics then the original xbox, and HL2 has already come out on the xbox... so all im saying is given that food for thought you make your own conclusions.

  • jaredcrazy3232

    Posted Sep 3, 2007 12:10 am GMT

    sounds promising... most of valve is made up of previous modding teams that where bought out by valve in order to make the what once was a mod a valve product, and because of this 3 and maybe even 4 games stand out as benchmark games and only one wasn't originally a mod. i think people can agree that the HL series is a FPS benchmark for many reasons, counter-strike is a benchmark in online fps play, team fortress is a benchmark for pretty much inventing the way a class based shooter should play, and now portal with a new an unheard of way of playing in a first person view. all i can say is if they decide to make something for th wii you can bet it will be top notch.

  • Darkshotgunner

    Posted Sep 2, 2007 7:26 pm GMT

    No BioShock? Harsh.

  • deepuism

    Posted Sep 2, 2007 12:59 pm GMT

    i cant wait to see what innovative ideas they bring to the wii
    lets hope they push the boundries as far as nintendo does.

  • KagimusMaximus

    Posted Sep 2, 2007 8:55 am GMT

    I'm still faithful that Wii can pump out some great graphics anyway. I don't agree with all of these people that think graphics make a game (see Lair review fanboys), but if RE4 looked as great as it does on my Gamecube and Wii is 2x more powerful than that, Wii can pump out some great graphics too. Just look at Prime 3 and Smash Bros. Brawl

  • mrchiledonut

    Posted Sep 2, 2007 4:12 am GMT

    That's funny. No BioShock until Half Lifes finished. Ohhh, great companys love each others products. How nice.

  • azone12

    Posted Sep 1, 2007 3:42 pm GMT

    gta for wii that would be nice

  • StarDust666

    Posted Sep 1, 2007 4:26 am GMT

    another developer has just woken up.... But its a bonus if Valve ever grace the Nintendo platform. Valve needs Nintendo. its a shame that the PS3 can pump out a billion polygons... if one tenth of Wii owner bought a Valve made game = more than ps3 onwers thats for sure. so use logic... at the end of the day, everyone out there's trying to make money. the important thing is; how much money can you make. i think Valve understand that...

  • SonicUSMC

    Posted Aug 31, 2007 3:07 pm GMT

    Counter-Strick...?

  • metaldeath87

    Posted Aug 31, 2007 2:58 pm GMT

    That's cool. I'd love to see what the Valve boys could do with the Wii.

  • Megawizard1

    Posted Aug 31, 2007 1:34 pm GMT

    EA would be doing the Wii a favor if they stayed the hell away from it.

  • marijuana_man2

    Posted Aug 31, 2007 4:53 am GMT

    No Bioshock? That's brutal...

  • MetalZombieII

    Posted Aug 31, 2007 2:38 am GMT

    ctg867, what!?!?

    Tell me how RE4 wan't as good as it was on GameCube. It has the same visuals as the cube version (which they could and should have improved) , it has all of the extra content of the PS2 version and it has a better control scheme than both. So where did it come up short?

  • jaredcrazy3232

    Posted Aug 30, 2007 10:16 pm GMT

    do i smell Ricochet for the Wii?

  • jaromzj

    Posted Aug 30, 2007 8:36 pm GMT

    what about retro, they did a damn god job on metroid 3, or is retro a part of nintendo?

    RE4 seemed just fine to me on the wii

  • ctg867

    Posted Aug 30, 2007 4:23 pm GMT

    Everybody is eyeing Wii development. But no matter who develops for the Wii, Nintendo will always be the best at making games for it, and most everybody else, aka third parties, will make crappy, mediocre, decent, or passable, or okay games. But nothing great, it just won't happen. Hasn't happened since RE4 on the GC, which wasn't as good on the Wii.

  • ragin_massaih

    Posted Aug 30, 2007 4:19 pm GMT

    um bio shock as a present? What's stoppin them walking down the shoping and paying for a copy? I've got Bioshock but i've put it aside for now as Metroid Prime Corruption is now consuming most of my time. Let's hope Valve can bring some kinda new franchise that's unique to the Wii not just sum kinda PC game...

  • brotherscampos

    Posted Aug 30, 2007 2:28 pm GMT

    that is great New I love my Wii ans that console is selling like fresh bread
    that is a inteligent -idea make games for tha console with more user.

    on others words more clients for theri games and more money for them, that is what I call use the head

  • MikeySSH

    Posted Aug 30, 2007 11:06 am GMT

    "Nobody gets to play it until Orange Box is done--that's our reward to ourselves as a company; everyone gets a copy of BioShock [when it's done]." This must be killing the employees lol

  • MSG-Deathscythe

    Posted Aug 30, 2007 10:06 am GMT

    this is really good news. newell probably played some metroid prime : corruption this past few days and had a realization similar to what many people had after playing the game ... that the wii remote is not just a gimmick like "hard core" gamers claim but that it could be the next best way to play shooters next to the keyboard/mouse combo on the pc.

  • DrMario57

    Posted Aug 30, 2007 9:13 am GMT

    I think working in the game industry, making / designing games is much more of a relaxed, and soicalable enviroment. Compaired to software creating compannies. Software creation is on a very stricked bases, and most of the time, you get told what to do, and you have to do that, and only that. In the game industry, its making the best, putting more features into a game, it becomes more of a personal thing, and i believe most programmers do the very best they can to do that. Valve i think is a companny like that, and the whole rewarding of bioshock is a great way to push employees to work better, happier.

  • bigstokes

    Posted Aug 30, 2007 9:05 am GMT

    tresdizzle, your right there is room for all but I dont think they will ever forget about the hardcore because they are the big spenders they buy the most games.

  • darkagent7

    Posted Aug 30, 2007 3:16 am GMT

    The wii joins up with ea ( which they already did) (and valve) makes one of the best revelotionary games appear on a console nerver to have it... Sounds fishy .On the good side, how good would it feel to have the gravity gun on your hands!

  • MetalZombieII

    Posted Aug 30, 2007 12:36 am GMT

    ninjasam, you have obviously never played RE4 or Metriod on the Wii it takes a little getting used to but once you have it down it's smooth accurate and fast. I think Half-Life 1 and a less graphically intense port of Half-Life 2 would be a lot of fun on the Wii. Although taking away some of the beauty of HL2 would be a shame, it's not as if it would be ugly and if they could make the game play with the Wiimote a lot of fun, that would make up for lesser graphics in my opinion.

  • Foolz3h

    Posted Aug 30, 2007 12:12 am GMT

    Great news.

  • DrCLos

    Posted Aug 29, 2007 11:47 pm GMT

    Really? Not developing anything for the current best-selling console is a bad business decision? Who would have thunk!

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