Portal Interview: Half-Life 2 Explored

[The Continental]

IGN (http://www.ign.com/) sat down with Kim Swift (http://ps3.ign.com/articles/721/721542p1.html) of Valve Software (http://valvesoftware.com/), to talk about the upcoming Episode 2 accompaniment, Portal.

IGN: The demonstration at EA's Studio Highlight was excellent. Some things that we wanted to clear up, however, stem from Portal's separation or integration into HL2: Episode 2. Is it a standalone game or it is part of Episode 2? Also, we gather from the demo Portal is a single-player game, is this correct? If so, will Valve develop it into a multiplayer game in the future?

Kim Swift: Portal is a first-person, single-player game set in the Half Life universe. It is a stand-alone game that will provide an extra three hours of gameplay to the HL2: Episode 2 game package. The initial release is to be single-player only, but we have lots of ideas for multiplayer with Portal for future projects.
Mmmmm, multiplayer...

[Sion]

Gabe Newell = Best evr!

Edit: Wow, IGN isnt looking too good these days. It's like the friend you knew back in High School, then you saw him 3 year later after he got addicted to meth.

[Varsity]

As far as I know, Valve has no plans of purchasing EA.Damn. :( at least 10 characters

[The Continental]

I like the fact that this article is posted in the ps3.ign.com section. I guess the PS3 can use all the good press it can get.

[Zanzibar]

Great interview. I really liked this:
Kim Swift: "Along with the other members of the Portal team, we were students at DigiPen Institute of Technology located in Redmond, WA, next to the Nintendo of America campus. During our senior year, the seven of us created a game called Narbacular Drop, which was an early test of our ideas about portal-based gameplay. Every year, DigiPen puts on an expo for graduating seniors to show their game projects to prospective employers. A couple of Valve people attended, and they asked us to come to the Valve offices and show it to Gabe Newell. Gabe watched our demo and basically hired us on the spot. It was kind of shocking. We stood around in the parking lot afterwards gibbering to ourselves for about 20 minutes."
Hail to the Gabe.

[Xerxes]

Damn. :( at least 10 characters

She was doing so goood until that slip up. But I doubt Valve would sell out to EA.

[The Continental]

I don't think Valve will be selling out to EA for the forseeable future, particularly after taking in $55,000,000 in profit (http://www.forbes.com/archive/forbes/2005/1212/064.html;jsessionid=wMhek5RVJLagLF12?token=MjggSnV sIDIwMDYgMjA6MzE6NTEgKzAwMDA%3D) (yes, profit) last year alone. Not to mention that Gabe was rich off his ass before founding Valve thanks to his time at MS, so he's definitely not in this for the money.

[feeble]

IGN: From the point of view of a smart gamer, it's wild and curious that Valve is partnering with Electronic Arts, which is well known for Borg-ing development studios it buys, eventually casting out creators such as Peter Molyneux (Bullfrog), Peter Hirschmann (Dreamworks), and Richard Garriott (Origin). What is the business gameplan with EA? Are there potential plans to sell Valve to EA or to remain independent? Will you give us an idea of what's going on?

Kim Swift: As far as I know, Valve has no plans of purchasing EA.

ha ha ha. thats pretty funny

[Draft]

I don't think Valve will be selling out to EA for the forseeable future, particularly after taking in $55,000,000 in profit (http://www.forbes.com/archive/forbes/2005/1212/064.html;jsessionid=wMhek5RVJLagLF12?token=MjggSnV sIDIwMDYgMjA6MzE6NTEgKzAwMDA%3D) (yes, profit) last year alone. Not to mention that Gabe was rich off his ass before founding Valve thanks to his time at MS, so he's definitely not in this for the money.That's fucking crazy.