Developer of Half-Life Video Game Calls PlayStation 3 a “Total Disaster”

by Anton Shilov
01/16/2007 | 03:42 PM

Gabe Newell, the chief of Valve Software – the company that developed such popular game series as Counter Strike and Half-Life, has called the PlayStation 3 game console a “disaster” in an interview and called Sony to remake it. Mr. Newell believes that Nintendo Wii will win the battle of new-gen consoles, though, it is unclear whether games for Wii will ever emerge from Valve.

“The PS3 is a total disaster on so many levels, I think. It’s really clear that Sony lost track of what customers and what developers wanted. I’d say, even at this late date, they should just cancel it and do a ‘do over’. Just say, ‘This was a horrible disaster and we’re sorry and we’re going to stop selling this and stop trying to convince people to develop for it’,” Mr. Newell is reported to have said in an interview with Game Informer Magazine.

The comment is just another piece of heave critics from a major game developer concerning difficulties with game development for the PS3, something, which may eventually lower attractiveness of the console for gamers, if developers abandon certain titles for the console, or make it less exciting and appealing than a version for the Xbox 360.

Back in 2006 Valve Corp. confirmed that it would deliver titles for both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, though, no actual timeframes of availability have been released so far. Valve also has never revealed plans to develop for Nintendo Wii, though, public acclaims of Nintendo’s new generation game consoles, which some consider as underpowered, may be an indicator that the developer of one of the most popular PC game titles is looking in the direction of Wii as well.

“The happy story is the Wii. I’m betting that by Christmas of next year, the Wii has a larger installed base than the 360. Other people think I’m crazy. I really like everything that Nintendo is doing,” Mr. Newell said.

When asked about opinion about Microsoft Xbox 360 game console, Mr. Newell said that it would be better if Microsoft would concentrate more on the Windows Vista operating system.

“Microsoft has so many problems with Vista; I wish they were focusing more on the thing that runs on hundreds of millions of PCs rather than six million proprietary clients. Vista really shows a lack of focus on making a better consumer platform. I came out of the Windows group, and right now, I’d go with a Macintosh as being a better solution for most consumers than a Vista-based PC,” he is reported to have said.