Getting the Valve on your Wii?
Over on CVG, Valve Software’s Doug Lombardi gave a rather interesting interview expressing Valve’s potential interest in breaking out of their FPS mold, and trying something new… on the Wii. Cue that fancy block quote;
“We all play the Wii a lot and we think that the proper way for Valve to approach the Wii would be to make something cool designed specifically for it.”
Uh, wha? No kidding. Although, you’ve got to wonder what Valve truly considers “venturing away”, as they consider Portal to be a bit of a departure from their rather limited range of games. I’m totally down with the idea of a developer of Valve’s stature taking an interest in creating some hawtness on the Wii, however, add in this next bit of quote and you realize that they probably won’t take it too seriously;
“There’s a lot of people at Valve who are parents and would love to make a game for kids…”
Dammit Doug, why’d you have to go and say something like that?
So basically, Valve’s interest in the Wii is that they consider it a kid system. Good gravy, is Nintendo ever going to be able to rid themselves of that stereotype? I mean, nobody considered the SNES to be the “kid system” and last time I checked, there’s been more than a few M-rated titles available on their various consoles. It’s kind of a rotten deal for the big N, as they have done more to bring gaming to the mainstream than anybody. How many people out there had their first real gaming experience on the NES? Yeah, that’s what I thought. Nintendo created this market, and now they get hammered for it. I dunno, I guess I just feel they deserve a bit more respect than they currently receive…
Anyway, hit the link to check out the brief preview of the upcoming interview. CVG promises to publish the full thing “soon”, and he also mentions that good ‘ol Gabe Newell has always wanted to develop an MMO. I should also add that this is by no means an official announcement of Valve developing for the Wii and Doug Lombardi even goes so far as to point that out in the article.
Source (not the engine) CVG
via Evil Avatar
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Commander Tim I’ve never agreed with the concept of games like Zelda and Mario as “kids games”. A kids game to me is Barbie Horse Adventure or any of the other titles with ridiculously simple gameplay and controls that are specifically designed to cater to children. To say that a Mario or Zelda game is a “kids title” because it doesn’t have blood or gore is a tad ridiculous. Is Pac-Man a kids title because of the lack of gore?
Lack of violence doesn’t make a game a kids title, simplistic ideals and gameplay does.
Its not that Zelda and Mario are kids games by definition, its that they’re kids games by comparison. Like it or not, Nintendo doesn’t exist in a vaccuum and they’re compared to their competitors. If you competitor is offering an edgier game then by comparison yours is “kiddy.” I don’t think it has anything to do with the blood and gore, but as far as gameplay mechanics… come on, by your own definition mario is a kids game.
Mario and Zelda are the easiest games to control out there and the fact that my 6 year old can play them just fine is a testament to that. Furthermore, they’ve both been saving the same damned princess for the past 20 years and Link has been using the same freak’n weapons and puzzles the whole time.
The key is that Nintendo makes kids games that don’t suck so adults won’t jump off a bridge while playing them. (What you’re calling ‘kids games’ are really just games that are so bad, only kids are dumb enough to play them)
I’m not trying to say that Nintendo doesn’t make anything that adults can enjoy, I’m just saying that their focus is often elseware. Nintendo is the Pixar of the gaming world. They pander to kids but their product is so good that adults can enjoy it too.
Commander Tim “Mario and Zelda are the easiest games to control out there and the fact that my 6 year old can play them just fine is a testament to that. Furthermore, they’ve both been saving the same damned princess for the past 20 years and Link has been using the same freak’n weapons and puzzles the whole time.”
So chess isn’t a quality game? I mean, the way you play it and the goal of the game hasn’t changed too much since it’s inception, but it’s still fun every time I play. 
Mario and Zelda are quality, just not original or deep and are very “simplistic.” I like nintendo I just don’t understand why people get worked up about them being called a “kiddy developer” when that’s clearly what they are. (with very rare exception)
Oh, and Chess is still great in the same way that Super Mario Bros. is still great. Just don’t give the bishop a top hat and change the board to green and blue checkers and call it “Chess 4.”
Commander Tim “Just don’t give the bishop a top hat and change the board to green and blue checkers and call it “Chess 4.”
LOL
Well played sir. 
The problem with your point about Nintendo is simple. The NES was the system that introduced me to gaming… when I was 7. Nintendo to many people is associated with kids and frankly its their own fault. A system is defined by the first party titles on it, (with the exception of GTA 3 and the PS2) and the predominance of Nintendo produced games are very childish. Even The Ocarina of Time, which I think is the best game they’ve ever made, is very childish compared to say… FFVII. And now… they just do it to themselves. I know, RE 4 was on the Gamecube and it was rated M. But it wasn’t a Nintendo game and that’s what people buy a Nintendo for.
/rant