Gameguru Mania

[ggrobot]

Valve has just released five new screenshots for Portal 2 from the showcase they had at GamesCom 2010 this past week. It will be released on February 9, 2011 on the PC, PS3, Xbox 360 and Mac.

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Source: GGMania headlines
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[Koogle]

tl;dr: Have to give Valve credit for stringing a Source engine that is so badly in need of actual development. its really no fucking wonder Episode 3, or a Half Life 3 doesn't exist and probably won't show any signs for another 2years imo.

the Source engine is terribly outdated in comparison to modern PC game engines these days, L4D2/Portal2 both use the same engine, clever repeating level design and a focus on other areas of gameplay, seem to get them gamers who would otherwise notice the lazyness in re-used textures/models assets, just look at portal2 a fucking lot of reused assets and trickery of high detailed models/good lighting surrounding by lots of same old same old ... compare their games to the effort that goes into other games like GTAIV, Valve really do fucking get away with selling easily created stuff, good thing they've got the Steam client crap monopoly going.

The Source engine was good 5+years ago, not anymore. I don't see myself buying Portal2, only bought the first one because of the orange box bundle seemed to offer value for money, but seeing as TF2 created shitty weapon/item grind I lost interest in that. I never bought L4D, but it managed to con a lot of gamers into buying L4D2, the maps/campaigns are short, again they seem to get away with not doing very much. To point it out for 'cars' used for map props and zombie alarms in L4D2 consist of less than 3 actual low poly car models, its only the paint job FX color that changes.

And compared to most other engines the process of importing textures/models into the Source SDK is mind nubling fucking stupid, its no wonder no mods really exist anymore, the process of making changes and tweaks to things is just stupid.. on top of that Source hammer still requires people compile their maps..the feature/bugfix requests for Hammer its map app is long.. that is seriously outdated. If that is what employees at Valve use the same crap Valve put out for modders/mappers its really no fucking wonder Episode 3, or a Half Life 3 doesn't exist and probably still won't show any signs for another 2years imo.

Notice how Valve don't license their engine out, only to failed projects.

Their Source SDK and its mapping tools in comparison with other SDK like Unreal-ED and Cryengine etc is a fucking joke.

[odysseuscm]

@Koogle: And yet I still find myself playing HL2, Ep1, Ep2 and Portal; because the fun is not in the gfx engine; HL2 is still the most creative, varied shooter out there with superb story telling and fantastic level design. And I'm a gfx whore just like the next guy. So maybe the people at Valve don't spend 3 years on the engine but on writing, designing and fine tuning. And if I'm in an really engaging game, I don't care (or notice) if there's a repeating texture somewhere.
I really can't wait for Portal 2 and I'm absolutely sure it's gonna be awesome because it will be different.

[Koogle]

Well don't get me wrong I do agree with what you've saying, and I actually was thinking of replaying Hl2,ep1,ep2 recently myself, but as of TF2/Portal/L4D2, its starting to show its age in comparison to other games, the dev tools really are its weak point, so it was more about the source engine, I just wish it were frigging better. I bet they get a L4D3 out before any sign of ep3/hl3 which I'd definitely expect engine/sdk improvements on.

[Tom]

@odysseuscm

That's probably because:

you have a shit pc or you are a n00b gamer or you suck at everything else so you continue to play the only things you stand a chance in.

I haven't touched HL2 or any of that shit in a long time. At the least I play TF2. Good for you you keep playing old shit! Source is old and most of what Koogle says is true. And I have used the SDK and put out quite a few maps for HL2 DM and various mods. The SDK and Source suck and are old as shit compared to other stuff.

Portal 2, whoppe fucking ding dong. I'll probably finish that in a weekend like the first one.

@Koogle, HL3 from what I have heard will not be heard about until MAYBE 2012... I got that from a reliable source.

Seriously, I don't find the gfx all that fantastic anyhow, lasers look major fake, the vent on the wall looks major fake/2D and a lot of the textures are from HL2...I'll buy this game when it's $9.99.

[odysseuscm]