Did Valve Help Make PS3’s Orange Box Suck?

by Dan Landis on July 20, 2008 at 4:49 am

In a recent interview at E3, Valve Software’s Erik Johnson stated that the PS3 port of The Orange Box was done “mostly” by EA. So if it was only “mostly” done by EA, does that mean that Valve actually had a hand in making a game they consistently denied being a part of? Why does that even matter?

The only reason this could be a big deal is because Gabe Newell has always been down on the PS3, even going so far as to call it “a waste of everyone’s time.” Valve has always denied having a hand in the PS3 port, placing all of the blame for The Orange Box’s issues squarely on EA’s shoulders. If Valve did, in fact, help make the Orange Box suck-fest, it would certainly make them look like a bunch of dicks.

There is a very vocal member of the GameTrailers forums, shhhoff, that has gone to great lengths to compile a list of “evidence” to support the claim that Valve worked on this game. The thing is Valve did work on the game — they fucking developed it! They did not, however, work on the port of the game to the PS3, or so they’ve said for the past 10 months.

Now Valve’s Erik Johnson says, “Well, EA handled most of the PS3, so I don’t have a lot of insight into that — they did most of the work”. The use of the word “most” is supposedly an indicator that not all of the work was done by EA. The conspiracy theorists out there fail to realize that EA has a history of farming out it’s work, and have taken that to mean that at least some of it must have been done by Valve.

So shhhoff would like you to believe. The reason I don’t buy it is because I’m a logical person. Shhhoff’s blog is called “Gabe Newell - the fat princess” and is filled with animated gifs making fun of the Valve co-founder. He even has a petition for a “real” patch to fix the game, which he is apparently very upset with. His efforts reek of fanboyism, even if the PS3’s Orange Box does, in fact, still need some attention.

Of course, it’s easy to take that comment to mean whatever you want. It’s easy to assume that since Erik Johnson said “most” that he inadvertently spilled the beans on Valve’s involvement. I, personally, don’t think he said anything incriminating, but I’m interested to see how everyone else decides to spin his words.

Thanks to Mike for the tip.

Share This:

Tags: EA, Gabe Newell, orange-box, patch, petition, suck-fest, Valve

Related Posts:

Comments »

NarooN
on July 20, 2008 10:17 am

Meh, I believe obviously that Valve did work on it in the beginning, but obviously gave up. I mean, why else do you think Gabe was so open about his hatred for the Ps3’s architecture (which devs are finally understanding now, and it’s showing) if he never touched it? Obviously this is the first and only game has tried on the PS3, so yeah.

Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out.
gogoro
on July 20, 2008 10:29 am

Why they don’t want to make PS3 games? because they suck as programmers and suck as devs, they are doing PC games and they are to incompetent and lazy to learn to use a different architecture from a conventional PC.

They are a waste of time and money, and their games are going in decline since Episode 2, their games are simple, lacks on something original and their efforts are just focus on Half life, since the beginning they were afraid of make something new, that’s why they don’t want to touch the PS3 and show that they fail were others had a great success (Uncharted)
Sentry
on July 20, 2008 10:34 am

Dude, who gives a shit? Your bashing some guys blog about wanting a good port, how low, stick to real news.

Not only that, but it doesn’t even matter to begin with, the port sucked, but only in terms of TF2, the rest was OK.

The game is old now, lets just move on and forget it, Gabe has already been proven wrong about the PS3 and will continue to be proven wrong; his ignorance comes directly from him and his team not wanting to change the way they make games. They are used to PC coding, 360 is similar to it. They dont want to do the work with the PS3; lazy.
Patrick Steen
on July 20, 2008 10:51 am

Does the PS3 version of Orange Box suck? I just thought it had a slightly worse framerate.
Sentry
on July 20, 2008 10:55 am

@ Patrick; Portal was exactly the same IMO, HL series was perfect, I only had TWO frame rate dips in the whole game (HL, HL ep1, HL ep2), and they lasted only several seconds, nothing non playable… As for TF2, I can’t exactly say but from what i did play it was fine, just excluding some features I guess from what I heard.

I think its just being blown out of proportions though. But either way Gabe still sucks IMO.
Dan Landis
on July 20, 2008 10:57 am

I’ve never played it, but it’s apparently bad enough that there’s a petition to fix it.

Also:

“it’s apparent that the Half-Life games in this version suffer from a number of technical flaws, which at best merely hinder gameplay and at worst make the experience downright unplayable.”

-1up.com
Patrick Steen
on July 20, 2008 11:05 am

Yes I’m aware of 1up’s preview. I’ve played through, I don’t find it unplayable, and it’s only a problem in Episode 2. The problems shouldn’t exist of course, but I don’t think the game sucks.
Bruce Almighty
on July 20, 2008 11:20 am

i think ripten should make stickers that say now with more suck and give them away
Big_Grizzly_D
on July 20, 2008 11:40 am

there is so much stuff wrong with team fortress 2 people skywalking, in the walls, and under the ground. not to mention that the servers have been down for at least 1 day the past month or so
Sentry
on July 20, 2008 12:04 pm

1UP over exaggerated a lot, which many other sites said shortly after.

Its a great game, worth every penny wither way.
NarooN
on July 20, 2008 1:00 pm

“I’ve never played it, but it’s apparently bad enough that there’s a petition to fix it.”

Wow, and you base this off of 1up’s preview? First off, all the people who reviewed it, played the game on review copies i.e., copies before the game goes gold. HL2, and EP1, EP2, as well as Portal have no problems. I’ve only had two framerate drops since and I’ve beaten all four games. The only problem is sometimes the load times are ridiculous, but graphically, technically, and essentially, all games are the same on all versions EXCEPT TF2.

The problem with TF2 is the glitches, which have yet to be fixed, and some people still have problems connecting to the servers. EA is pissed at Valve, and thus, the PS3 verison isn’t getting any patches or updates at all.

Unplayable? Not at ALL. What did they do, throw their PS3’s in the river and then try to play it? Wow. And yes, Valve is just too lazy to learn how to code for PS3. They were proven wrong countless times since Gabe said that. No, I’m not some Sony fanboy, but at least I know what I;m talking about.
Dan Landis
on July 20, 2008 1:28 pm

There IS a petition to fix it, and you admitted yourself that TF2 STILL has problems even though the game came out way back in December. The general consensus is that the PS3 version is inferior to the 360 and PC versions, so it sucks in comparison. How’s that?

I’m sorry if my one line title was not long and descriptive enough to fully describe the situation without having to simply say “it sucked”. I didn’t base this on 1up’s preview — I wasn’t aware that I needed to list every site that affected my opinion of the game. 1up (the actual review), IGN, GameDaily, GameSpy, even TheSixthAxis, all gave the game a merely okay score and said the PS3 version was decidedly flawed, and so scored it lower. A lot of sites even recommended you NOT get the PS3 version if you have the option of getting it for PC or 360.

I don’t see how any of this indicates that I “don’t know what I’m talking about”. Maybe you should reconsider your statement that you are not a Sony fanboy, or simply drop the attitude.
The Joker
on July 20, 2008 1:33 pm

Fuk this Gabe guy and fuk Valve….They are just lazy
Steph
on July 20, 2008 1:46 pm

THose talking about the Orange Box petition, go to this website: http://orangeboxpetition.com/
androctonvs
on July 20, 2008 3:22 pm

why would anyway think they can say what should and shouldn’t be posted, anyway?

Don’t like it? Skip it, buddy.
Graw
on July 20, 2008 3:37 pm

No one seems to mention that shhhoff is purposely trying to get attention with that. Otherwise, no one would pay him any mind.

I, for one, think the shhhoff callout was unneeded and rather low of a reputable source like Ripten.
Graw
on July 20, 2008 3:44 pm

Besides, if you can’t realize that Gabe himself is a fanboy, you’re freaking blind.

Many of his previous comments have been outright proven WRONG. Yet no reputable sites point that out.. it’s rather sad, really.
Katherine Alicienette
on July 20, 2008 3:58 pm

As a poster on GameTrailers myself, even some of the 360 fans make fun of Gabey.

Ripten, you disappoint me with that one.

But to get back on-topic.. this seems.. rather low of Valve if true.
Unroto
on July 20, 2008 4:12 pm

PS3 owners should get the same patches and upgrades as Xbox and PC. I love TF2 and I paid $60 for the game when it came out. The servers are always down and/or lagging and there’s the constant problem of bad players exploiting glitches. It is playable, but lacks the same gameplay as Xbox and PC.
Whosawhatsit?
on July 21, 2008 12:57 am

wow I realized that there was a problem, but i didnt know it was this bad…..well how about I just never buy any of your products until they work the way they should….
Dan Landis
on July 21, 2008 1:23 am

“…even some of the 360 fans make fun of Gabey”

You’re right, but I didn’t think the fact that immature kids poke fun at a fat guy was relevant to this article.

The shhhoff “callout” was essentially the source of this article. I was using it as an example of how someone would take the statement made in the Erik Johnson interview and turn it into the supposed “confirmation” that Valve worked on this game, which is the story that was tipped to us and many other gaming sites. I didn’t agree with the interpretation of the “facts”, and so I wrote what I wrote assuming most other sites (if they reported it) would just go with the initial story and not dive into it like I did.

It perhaps wasn’t necessary to drop shhhoff’s name and link to the site, but it would be somewhat irresponsible to report on it and talk about it without letting the readers see what I’m referring to.
Reason
on July 21, 2008 2:28 am

‘ Fuk this Gabe guy and fuk Valve….They are just lazy ‘

No, you’re wrong… the ps3 is a real turd to code for. It’s a FACT… when are you sonyfanboys going to finally realise this?

I know two dev teams, damn fine programmers, that have flat refused to work on the ps3. Reason sited are poor tools and support, and the fact you have to spend a lot more time programming for the ps3 to get the same result as the 360… it’s not lazy… it’s cost effect and more practical to ditch development for the ps3… that’s just how it is… development is far easier and more cost effective on the 360..

Just get over it sonyfanboys… it’s a FACT
needtocontrol
on July 21, 2008 4:46 am

I signed that petition a while back, mainly for the TF2 issues. I’d heard of the Ep2 stuff but never made it that far, too busy playing TF2, or trying to.

The main issue is that the PS3 version doesn’t get any updates/fixes. The 360 is apparently getting some of the character updates at some point while the PS3 struggles to get even bug fixes. There are loads of problems with the servers (disconns etc), although they’re intermittant, otherwise I’d have given up long ago. There have been problems with EU (and US_EC) servers being down and hideous lag found in all games. This seems to be a weekly problem for some reason.

Most PS3 players have accepted that we’re never getting the characters updates/achievements/maps etc but maybe just a small fix or 2? Not much to ask.

So I dunno, if shhhoff’s a fanboy, he’s a TF2 one, not Sony.

Also, Hi to Big_Grizzly_D!
Steph
on July 21, 2008 5:11 am

Exactly what needtocontrol has stated. Shhhoff is certainly not a sony fanboy, but a TF2 one.
Mykul
on July 21, 2008 5:32 am

Exactly what Steph stated about n2controls comment.

I know shhhoff and the problems he’s having with TF2 on PS3, turns out he can only play one map(cp_well) the rest will not load for some strange reason. I also signed his petition a while ago. Keep up the good work shhhoff.

I quit trying to play TF2 on PS3 cos it sucks so much and got a nice new big shiny PC to play it on now… WOOOOOT!!

Also another, BIG hi to Big_Grizzly_D! Hows it going mate?
Ubiquitous
on July 21, 2008 1:03 pm

First of all, you really should play the game before you post on it. I play the game and I cant begin to tell you the amount of problems players are having. …but Im gonna try :)

First of all, the only “patch” we got way back in the way was to fix the “friends list bug” where people you were playing with didnt show up on your recently played with friends, and if you had more than 30 people in your PSN friends list, the game would freeze on you if you searched for any in game. Great, good patch, except no, it didnt fix anything, the up’d the amount of friends from 30 to somewhere around 45, its different for most players. However, IN GAME, you can still only see up to 5 friends that are playing at a time, and if you try to refresh, the game freezes.
Another problem is the servers, people disconnect, its hard to find a server without lag, and they constantly are going down.
Clan support. You would think a online first person shooter called TEAM fortress would have some time of team/clan support. No, none at all, you cant even password servers. Some of us have tried to start clans, but I can not tell you how frustrating it is to try to have a match with a bunch of random people joining and not leaving because of the “Mic Glitch” Yes, the mics dont work 100% of the time, or even 50% of the time. You can be talking to a guy one min, and the next nothing. Im not a sonyfanboy here, but I am definatly a TF2 fanboy. I still play the game because the players left are a good bunch and we have formed a strong community. However, with all that, Ill keep playing this game and just deal with the players setting up sentry guns under maps, or teleporting to the top of the map and shooting you, or shooting through floors, jumping through walls, and the lack of any new maps or character development. I just wish someone would own up to it.

By the way, I have had a good long conversation with the guys at EA tech support, and one of them basically just told me, “listen man, this game is flawed, I know, I play it too, but you are not going to get any help from us.” They then redirected me to the Valve forums to ask for help… fantastic.
Mgsdude
on July 21, 2008 2:12 pm

The thing is its not that hard to engineer patches… it wont even be that sodding hard just to fix the skybox ! EA and valve need to get there act together and one of then should stand up and take ownership of the game cuz its so frustrating wen you are trying to play and you get disconnected for no reason! the patch EA brough out fixed some bug while creating more
Mgsdude
on July 21, 2008 2:14 pm

@ reason listen the ps3 is not hard to code for and sonys support team or next to none! things have changed these past few months and sony have wised up to what develpors want! thats why they updated the dev box to include more options! THINK before you type please and know what you are talking about
Frito
on July 21, 2008 2:21 pm

yeah so this is just flat-out dumb. i find that having two companies not take responsibility funny. lets be honest to be a good developer you make solid games, to be great you support those solid games and make everyone happy. but EA doesn’t do either one. Valve is great but they are horrible at supporting the consoles. until valve and EA come to consensus, and finally decides to take responsibility we wont be seeing a patch anytime soon, nor in my lifetime for that matter. this is the greatest example of companies grabbing money and running away with it.
aat08
on July 21, 2008 3:23 pm

hey all, aat08 here.
i’ll start by greeting my friends Big_Grizzly_D, Mykul, Ubiquitous, mgsdude and frito ;)

You guys said pretty much everything. I’ll just add one thing here. So now, ripten and all others claiming the Orange Box PS3 is crystal, asking for a fix to a broken product that was sold full price makes us fanboys? Now that’s funny. Get real already, enough with childish comments. We will fight until we get what we want.

greeting to all TF2F and GFTF2 members.
Dan Landis
on July 21, 2008 5:44 pm

There seems to be some confusing things going on here. At first people were busting my balls for saying the PS3 port sucked, and now all these people are accusing me of claiming there is no problem with the PS3 port and the people complaining are just fanboys. Huh?

I said shhhoff’s blog and post about the “confirmation” of Valve’s involvement reeked of fanboyism because it seems he is mad at Gabe Newell (and Valve) for dissing the PS3. If his problem was with the PS3 port itself, busting on Gabe is unjustified since he and Valve were supposedly not involved in making the shitty port to begin with. Do you see the thought process here? I never said that his complaints about the game were unwarranted (I said the port sucked, remember?), nor did I label all the people wanting a proper fix as fanboys. I think the game needs fixed and shhhoff is justified in taking a stance, but his blog would lead people to take his “evidence” with a bit more skepticism, which is what happened with me.
aat08
on July 22, 2008 12:51 am

I am shhhoff. aat08 is shhhoff. I am the one handling the Orange Box petition. Hey Dan, don’t misunderstand me: I respect your opinion, just like i respect anybody else’s. But i certainly believe judging someone by a blog is wrong.

Quoting you:
“The reason I don’t buy it is because I’m a logical person. Shhhoff’s blog is called “Gabe Newell - the fat princess” and is filled with animated gifs making fun of the Valve co-founder.”

Let’s talk about my blog for a second. It seems you did not read what it is about, so i’ll tell you right now: I add each childish comment i randomly come across, whether on forums or news comments, that has been addressed to Gabe. But i don’t cite the source. It’s that simple. I’ve done it out of boredom. Yes i am frustrated more than anybody is regarding Orange Box PS3, but in no way does that blog “reek of fanboyism”. You said earlier maybe you shouldn’t have talked about my blog; well i am thankful you actually did.

All that saddens me here is that you were convinced by a silly blog i created, and not by all i’ve done and gone through to fight for a fix. Cheers
Reason
on July 22, 2008 4:57 am

‘ @ reason listen the ps3 is not hard to code for and sonys support team or next to none! things have changed these past few months and sony have wised up to what develpors want! thats why they updated the dev box to include more options! THINK before you type please and know what you are talking about ‘

Dear oh dear… so what you’re saying is for the last 2-3 years sony has failed to listen to developers and only in the last few months they’ve decided to listen to them and make a change… and you wonder why developers don’t want to develop for it?!

Now I’m wandering… did YOU think before typing?

Also, if you wonder why ps3 versions are inferior to the 360’s think on this before instantly jumping to the same old lame conclusion ‘its lazy coders’…

GTAIV shows, in game comparisons, that the ps3 version has slower frame rates (5-10 frames in most instances) than the 360, has lower texture resolution, a lower screen resolution and shows less power in post processing than the 360. Now, and this is from memory, didn’t sony send some of their best technicians to Rockstar to work with them over the final months to push the ps3 architecture to its limit? I assume these sony technicians wanted the ps3 version to be worse than the 360’s? I mean if you follow the ‘logic’, this is what you are sayiny… they were just being lazy right…

Again, face the REALITY please… the ps3 (really it’s only a ps2.5) is INFERIOR to the 360… sorry to burst your bubble guys…
Steph
on July 22, 2008 5:28 am

Reason, why are you replying to yourself?
Dan Landis
on July 22, 2008 6:54 am

^^^
@Steph
Ha ha ha….

aat08/shhhoff,

Please don’t misunderstand me. I agree with you and respect that you’re trying to get the game fixed (even though some people think I can’t have an opinion since I never played the game). You have to understand, however, that as an outsider looking at the big picture, there appears to be to be some fanboyism there. It all makes sense when you explain it, but you have to admit that’s not necessarily how it looks on the surface. I apologize if I misrepresented anything, but my opinion still stands that your “evidence” does not “confirm” that Valve worked on the game, and ultimately, that was my point.
aat08
on July 22, 2008 7:40 am

@ Dan

Please don’t apologize, you really don’t need to. Regarding my thread on GT, the so-called “evidence”, well that’s only how i see things. You have to understand that i am not trying to convince anybody, and never will. I am simply sharing the way i see things, from my personal experiences with EA and Valve. Whether people agree or not, i do not really care. In fact, do you think i care about those +2450 signatures in my petition? Of course i don’t. However, i do care about the +27000 people that visited my website over these past weeks. You see, what only matters to me is the number of people aware of the situation. Later
Dan Landis
on July 22, 2008 8:39 am

Hahaha, okay fine! I take back my apology!
Frito
on July 24, 2008 1:51 pm

if only at least one person from valve and ea visit the site aat. i mean it just sad that ports are downgraded because they cannot figure out a system. i dont know about gabe newell but if i was developing and oblivious about the capabilities of the PS3. i would hop on that and figure it out. gosh thats what geeks do, im assuming right now that gabe and his team just didnt want to take the challenge.
Umwzwpbh
on May 8, 2009 3:48 am

IQuKmw comment2 ,

RSS feed for comments on this post.