PS3 'a waste of time' – Newell

Valve's Gabe Newell remains unimpressed by PlayStation 3.

Newell is not exactly well-known for his love of PlayStation 3 and once again he has criticised Sony's console.

"I think [PS3 is] a waste of everybody’s time," he told Edge Magazine. "Investing in the Cell, investing in the SPE gives you no long-term benefits. There’s nothing there that you’re going to apply to anything else. You’re not going to gain anything except a hatred of the architecture they’ve created. I don’t think they’re going to make money off their box. I don’t think it’s a good solution."

However he does have some good cheer for PlayStation 3 owners looking to buy The Orange Box for that console.

"I think the people who have The Orange Box on the PS3 are going to be happy with their game experience," he added. "We’ve done the PC and 360 versions here and EA has a team doing the PS3 version – and they’ll make the PS3 version a good product; EA got the job done in putting a lot of people with PS3 experience on the project. But I think it’s harder to get it to the same standard as the 360 and PC versions."

That is good news, sort of, isn't it?

References to other articles

Google to buy Valve?
Gordon Freeman to go to work for the new evil empire?

Valve announces Steam Cloud
The Half-Life 2 creator has announced plans to extend the Steam service - with a unique and exciting concept.

In UK stores today
Anything worth picking up on your way home?

Related downloads

Half-Life 2: Episode 2 downloads

Half-Life 2: Episode 2 Gameplay demo #3
New particle system and soft shadowing effects? Yes sir!

Half-Life 2: Episode 2 trailer
The first glimpse of Episode 2.

Comments

#1 - 11/10-2007 @ 17:32 : timjayko

I don't get this guy.. in a pretty recent interview by Gameinformer Mag Newell basically said Windows Vista is a load of crap.. now he say's sony's ps3 hardweare is too hard to program for? Is it supposed to be easy? You guys get paid mongo bucks.. it should not be easy.. you get paid lots for hard long work right? I just think Newell represents a typical american.. a fat ass, lazy man who does not want any challenge.. I do not hear any other companies currently developing for PS3 whining their asses off besides EA and Valve.. and I think its more favoritism than anything. EA is headed by Peter Moore for crying out loud.. Ninja Theory has put out a game in HS that for sure did not sell the PS3 hardware like people wanted.. but it has shown the early potential for the PS3 graphic wise... this is just the beginning of figuring out the architecture.... for crying out loud.. I Just got Folklore.. a game that is not being boasted about for its graphics.. and I am blown away by the details.. you can literally see the hairs on one of the main characters soul patch beard.. one by one... very realistic... give it a year Newell.. the PS3 will be figured out with easier processes.. and the graphics will blow away microsofts 360 which you seem to sleep by every night.. why don't you get up off your ass.. leave your 100 thousand dollar sports car in your mansion 's garage and take a fucking walk.. get some oxygen running inside that thick head of yours. maybe you will realize microsoft is a fucking joke of a company.. they do not practice sincere business.. whenever a competitor threatens some of their market share the first thing they try is to buy out the guys... just write offs... thats cowardly.. and though you might now enjoy windows vista's architecture for programming just think about.. maybe it should not be soo easy.. thats why its hacked and virus's and spyware run rampant all over windows boxes around the world..

#2 - 11/10-2007 @ 18:55 : Zappaman

Well said timjayko, despite my love of Valve's stuff, you pretty much see things the same way as I do. I'm sure i recall, many moons ago when the PS2 came out several big industry types saying how difficult the architecture was for the PS2 etc etc etc and that they weren't doing stuff for it, - they weren't right then in their prophecies and I'd bet money on the PS3 ending up, once people are familiar with it, as successful and big as the PS2 Programming moves on and so do computer architectures, you either adapt or (eventually) fade! It wasn't Gabe Newell that time, but the whinging was just as bad. To my mind new and challenging formats sorts the men out from the boys - look at the outfit who've done Killzone 2, I've not heard them say the PS3 is a waste of time and going into a big sulk.

#3 - 11/10-2007 @ 18:59 : GuiltyDragon

Wow, that was a pretty ignorant post there Tim. Let me break it down for you.

1) The guy who developed Half-Life 2 and Steam is not a lazy fat ass. What he IS is a seasoned developer, therefore he knows what he's talking about when it comes to hardware archetecture. The original half life was released on PS2 aswell, if you remember, so it's not as if his company has always shunned Sony.

2) Plenty of development houses have critisized the PlayStation's development kit. Admittedly they are mostly western. I know Bethesda, Neversoft and Rockstar have reported trouble with PS3 dev. It's been so bad in some cases that features present in the 360 version of some games had to be dropped in the PS3 version because they simply wouldn't work.

3) Peter Moore works for EA Sports. They don't do FPSes. Get your facts straight.

4) Indent, plzkthx

5) Graphics do not a good game make. HL2 has actually pretty average graphics by today's standards, and I bet they will look better on the virus ridden Windows PCs you mentioned than on any console. HL2 suceeded because it was a very well developed game (see point 1)

6) Indent, for the love of GOD indent.

Jack Matthewson
Boomtown Writer

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