[ad_1]
Valve, as always in PC gaming, continues to forge its own path through the industry. As well as running the actual PC distribution platform Steam, it appears to have finally broken the hardware barrier with the Steam Deck, and continues to support some of the world’s most popular games while steadfastly refusing to use the number ‘3’. Tell you what though: it’s not as fun as it used to be.
It’s fun in the context of games, and then it’s just fun period. Valve is in the latter camp and, for me, hit its richest vein of form around the Orange Box era. Portal was hilarious, everything about Team Fortress 2 raised a smile, and then Portal 2 arrived shortly after and to this day remains the funnest single player and co-op experience I’ve ever had. Maybe it was upset for those days that made me watch Valve’s new video for Cave Johnson’s announcer pack, and realize that the studio still has it.
Okay, it’s six minutes. But what sights: a behind-the-scenes look at Gabe Newell’s motivational process for voice actors. Employees waste on dog food. Student kidnappings! And then the coup de grace of Gaben on a yacht, in a gorgeous pink shirt, playing Steam Deck with a cocktail and making her man foolishly fetch the potato phone.
This is full of Portal 2 in-jokes, as you might expect, with a particularly nice touch being Gabe licking the potato phone before use. Despite its length, the video doesn’t show much of Cave Johnson’s extraordinary presence, but it’s pretty clear that JK Simmons is back and not too soon.
The only bad news, of course, is that you have to be one of them Dota 2 players out there to have Cave Johnson barking in the background. At least the rest of us can watch Gaben in all his glory.
[ad_2]
Source link