Valve Interview (con'd)

FiringSquad: Now that Valve is moving into episodic game development for single player, is it easier or harder to make games in smaller segments verus working several years on one game?

Doug Lombardi: Focusing on a four to six hour stand-alone experience is, almost by definition, a more manageable project than a 15 to 20 hour project. And, as such, it will be a more detailed experience. In the end, making strong gameplay isn't easy. But we're seeing stronger results from an equal amount of effort.

FiringSquad: Will there be a Half-Life 3 at some point from Valve or will it now concentrate solely on episodic gaming?

Doug Lombardi: What is Half-Life 3?

FiringSquad: What sort of graphical improvements, if any, will Episode 1 have over the original Half-Life 2?

Doug Lombardi: Episode One will include support for HDR and the Commentary system introduced in Lost Coast. With each new episode, we
intend to carry forward and leverage the latest Source engine enhancements available.

FiringSquad: Even though Valve uses Steam it is still selling boxed versions of its games in retail stores. Can you reveal how many copies of Half-Life
2 have been sold via Steam versus retail store sales and do you anticipate a time when Valve may do away with retail games entirely and focus on online sales?

Doug Lombardi: We're open to selling our products in as many viable channels as possible. If someday people stop going to stores, we'll stop making boxes. Until then...

FiringSquad: Valve has primarily been a PC game publisher but it has released two games for the original Xbox. Looking ahead to the next generation
console systems, is Valve planning on releasing any games for the PS3, Xbox 360 and Revolution and which console will Valve concentrate its efforts on?

Doug Lombardi: We're very interested in the next generation systems and we'll be announcing Source support for one of those systems very soon. We are, however, still very committed to the PC.