Valve lets fan tour studio, play Portal
by Ross Miller 
{ Aug 16th 2006 at 4:55PM }
To top it off, Valve's head honcho Gabe Newell stopped by while they were playing and autographed their copy of Half-Life 2. Rybolton has posted pictures of his fanciful day as well as a short preview of Portal. Rybolton loved it, and thought the female voice was humorous. He teased it with some twist that occurs toward the end, but won't tell us.
Super kudos to Valve, for being so generous to their fan base.
[via Evil Avatar]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Scott @ Aug 16th 2006 5:02PM
"Fanjob" lol
MMurdock @ Aug 16th 2006 5:04PM
The least they coulda done was got that guy a shirt that fit, and a smaller head for that hat.
Fulnelson @ Aug 16th 2006 5:14PM
Good for him to bad the Make A Wish Foundation couldnt get him a new liver though
PayTheMan @ Aug 16th 2006 5:19PM
That's good public relations right there. A video game company that actively gives members of the gaming community personalized tours deserves kudos.
Sub @ Aug 16th 2006 5:20PM
Valve is, in my opinion, the best developer out there. They do more for there fanbase than any almost any other company out there.
Matt @ Aug 16th 2006 5:35PM
Fulnelson - I almost spit my coffee into my keyboard. Too funny.
Rian @ Aug 16th 2006 6:01PM
Meh. I've been there as well, but I don't see anyone posting news about it :p I think it was around February of last year. Screenshots and some text (in Dutch) can be found here:
http://www.fragland.be/specials.php?id=503
Blax @ Aug 16th 2006 6:30PM
I did the same thing before HL2 was released. This guy got more gifts though, and I never got a chance to play much HL2.
Still, Valve is great in the way that they treat their fanbase.
D4RKSiDE @ Aug 16th 2006 7:58PM
This is awsome and all for that guy but if he was able to finish portal in one sitting I hope it wont be to short, some multiplayer would be awsome...
Sub @ Aug 16th 2006 8:32PM
There won't be multiplayer, it's a puzzle game. I do think there will be a ton of third party maps though, so it shouldn't be too bad if the game is short.
Zodiac @ Aug 16th 2006 9:34PM
Wait, so you are telling me it's just that easy to get a tour? Exchange a few emails and off you go?
FrankTheCrank @ Aug 16th 2006 9:41PM
Valve RULES!
Max @ Aug 17th 2006 2:12AM
Heh, thats pretty sweet, I live in Vancouver, and there are a lot of good dev's around here. I should email Relic and see if they will give me a tour of their offices! :D
Rondo @ Aug 17th 2006 2:29AM
About 6 months before HL2 was released I emailed valve to see if they gave tours. Jesse Cliffe responded (one of the counterstrike creators) and a friend and I got to playtest HL2 and counterstrike source on two occasions. Afterwards Jesse and the Day of Defeat team took us out to dinner! Valve kicks ass!
Philip Kollar @ Aug 17th 2006 3:34AM
Now if only someone from Valve would agree to an interview. :) Super-cool of them though.
rybolton @ Aug 17th 2006 6:38PM
It was a great day! Can't believe its on joystiq! GOD MY LIVER HURTS!
mike @ Aug 30th 2006 9:37PM
That is such a crock. Valve sells half baked CD's of games and then expects you download several hundred megs of files in order to play the game? I understand a developers need to protect their Intellectual property but starting off with the assumption that the consumer is a thief is just wrong. Steam took a whole dept of IT guys playing CS at lunch everyday and made everyone decide that playing CS just wasn't worth the hassle. We thought about playing CS:source but no one is willing to give Steam a second chance. Valve will get my respect when they begin to sell merchandise that isn't defective right out the box. Hey Valve just stick a floppy with steam in HL2 boxes instead of a disc b/c that would be a much more accurate product description than what you currently sell.