Valve's Gabe Newell has been pretty open about his displeasure with the PS3 in the past, and it's clear from a recent interview that time has not softened him, calling the system "a waste of everyone's time" in Edge magazine last week. Newell continued, saying, "Investing in the Cell, investing in the SPE gives you no long-term benefits. There's nothing there that you're going to apply to anything else. You're not going to gain anything except a hatred of the architecture they've created. I don't think they're going to make money off their box. I don't think it's a good solution."

Though Newell is one of the few developers in a position to speak out on the system (we would too if our game was rocking a 98 on Metacritic), a slew of PS3 game delays have us wondering: Is he speaking the minds of more than we know?

[Via CVG]

The proficient program plumbers at Valve have issued a press release announcing the imminent arrival of RoboBlitz on their digital distribution network, Steam. Developed by Naked Sky Entertainment and powered by Unreal Engine 3, the action game is largely comprised of physics, explosions, robots and maladjusted space pirates (it says here). Tian Mu, CEO of Naked Sky, explains that after realizing how hot Steam was, he simply needed to have his game all over it.

"Steam is an attractive platform for the release of RoboBlitz. We're looking forward to being able to release to Steam's huge PC audience. Additionally, we have long-term plans to expand RoboBlitz with new content. Through Steam, we have a great avenue for delivering the game and updates directly to over 10 million gamers' PCs."

RoboBlitz will see release in the "coming weeks," most likely alongside the previously announced Xbox Live Arcade version. The game is priced at $14.99 on Steam -- that roughly translates to 1200 MS Points on the Xbox 360, should the price remain the same on both platforms. Check out the (fairly old) trailer after the break.

Valve Software has been one of the main proponents in the push for episodic gaming, a fact which quickly comes to mind in light of Half-Life 2: Episode Two getting its own push into the future. Releasing Half-Life 2 expansion episodes in lieu of Half-Life 3 was supposed to curb development time, something which Valve is always struggling to keep on a leash before it wrecks the office and eats all the calendars. Alas, it has run amok once again, causing Episode Two to slip to February 2007.

In other words, the release gap between the first and second "episodes" has now grown to 8 months. Valve's Doug Lombardi tells Eurogamer that the delay is simply "classic Valve being overly aggressive on our dates" and that the title will likely end up being a "little longer" than the first title. A further point of consideration is that Episode Two is being developed in conjunction with several other included games (Portal, Team Fortress 2) and console versions.

Lombardi also states that the extra games will result in a slightly higher price than that of the single Episode One release ($19.99), with the all-inclusive console releases expected to retail at full price. With any luck, this will be the last delay in store for Valve's upcoming release -- otherwise, we'll have to start questioning just how far the word "episodic" can stretch.

One of the announced games to be featured alongside the upcoming PC and console versions of Half-Life 2: Episode Two is one that promises to obliterate your concepts of traditional level design and generally assault your brain with a large rolling pin. It's called Portal and, should the name not be explanatory enough, it deals primarily with gaping holes in time and space which magically transport you to different locations. Where Human Head's Prey took you for a wacky ride through these portals, Valve's title equips you with a sterile looking gun and urges you to make your own entry and exit points with wild abandon.

The trailer (embedded in the second part of the post) aptly demonstrates the powers of the portal gun, the dangers of getting caught in an infinite loop and, of course, how using rampant teleportation can enable you to solve puzzles involving crates of some kind. As they say, hilarity ensues.

[Thanks Easy_G!]

Speaking at EA's annual summer press event, Valve's Gabe Newell revealed that Half-Life 2 would be headed to the Xbox 360 and PS3, bolstered with extra content and presumably, plenty of opportunities to kill people with high velocity toilets. The full console package will be comprised of Half-Life 2, Episode One, Episode Two, Team Fortress 2 (it still exists!) and an entirely new title, Portal.

According to Gamespot, Team Fortress 2 now sports a cartoonish art style and a 60's spy feel akin to that of Monolith's No One Lives Forever -- certainly a description you'd never expect to be about a game from Valve. The developer is also trying new things with Portal, which incorporates a rather imaginative gun and encourages you to blast Prey-like portals into floors and walls for all manner of object shifting, puzzle solving hijinx.

The console versions of Half-Life 2 (along with all the extra goodies) are expected to launch alongside the PC game's second episodic expansion. Barring unforeseen code thefts and other delays, that means they'll be out by the end of the year.

[Thanks Easy_G and icemorebutts!]

Previously:

• Internet survey lists Half-Life 2 for Xbox 360