Steam Powered...

Be cautious PS4 and X-Box One...

I've always thought that Valve a prime example of the kind of company that the Mouse should have acquired instead of the midsize companies it pursued in a failed internet strategy.  It was a

long shot given the independant nature of the company and it's head suit, Gabe Newell.  

Now, I think the best shot at owning a proper gaming company within the Disney Interactive construct is EA.  Hopefully Bob Iger will bite the bullet here and take the initiative like he did when he paid for Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm.  In the gaming area he chose to go after mid-range companies with mediocre results.

But Steam isn't happy being on just Windows, Mac and Linux.  Valve now wants to have their own OS, and now they do.  Introducing: Steam OS.  It is a Linux variant, but it is powered by Steam for more than just games (even if over 3000+ titles will eventually be available).  The purpose is to have your media on the OS (think movies, videos and music).

The announcement today was the first of a three part plan introduced this week.  Part two will be announced on Wednesday and part three will be revealed Friday.  Will this new Steam OS have a hardware announcement?  Something other than this supposed Piston computer?  If so, what will it be called?  May I suggest the "Steam Engine"?  Kind of catchy.  But I believe in competition and the more the better.  So I wish Gabe the best of luck.

Now, if we can get Iger to buy the company he's let make games for his valued new property...

No More Propaganda...

Buy Naughty Dog, buy Naughty Dog...









One piece of the gaming puzzle that Bob Iger put together is no longer there...

Propaganda Games, the game makers of "Turok," which the Walt Disney Company bought and made part of Disney Interactive has been disbanded and will be no more. Seventy employees have been let go. Part of that synergy that the Mouse was hoping to create hasn't worked so well in the gaming world... yet.

You could see signs when they canceled "Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned" last October. Trouble was brewing as the company was restructured. They still came out with "Tron Evolution" which was kind of a weak game that had great possibilities. All other game development from the company has been shelved.

I think Disney expected this company to help create some of the content that would attract the young male demographic which has been so elusive to the brand. Unfortunately it seems that this company wasn't the correct fit. If Bob Iger wants to get that group he needs to go after a different/better company. One with a proven track record with these type of titles. May I suggest Valve, or dare I say Naughty Dog? These two companies could/would create the kind of testosterone driven action play that would send the right audience coming there way.

If they don't buy them then Lucasfilm should buy them for LucasArts. Or at least contract someone like ND to make an Indy game that is worth playing or better yet, purchasing. You move, Bob.

Game on...

Steamed...

You all know I'm a huge Apple fan, but the one thing I'll concede to the PC is it has a massive gaming universe...

One that I admit to envying as Mac gaming is a very small part of the platform. Not that I don't/can't game. I tend to play consoles mainly. My PS3 is a great device for games and Blu-Ray. But it would be nice to have more games on my Macintosh. After all, you can only play Star Craft so many times (my fav Mac game, btw). That may be about to change. I was aiming to mention this on Monday, but as usual I got busy with life and life just won't let go sometimes.

For those that haven't heard the news, Valve Software announced that they're making their Steam program, which is a social community/store, a social network that allows users to communicate with each other and most importantly, play games. Valve is making it so anyone with a Mac can use the store and play with multiple computers, PC or Mac. And you can leave work where you've secretly been playing on your PC while the boss wasn't looking and then head home and finish playing the same game on your iMac. Cool beans, don't ya think?

The cherry on top of this announcement is that Valve is porting all, that's ALL their games over as well as making sure that their SOURCE rendering engine is up to date and compatible as well. And from now on ALL games they make will be available from day one for the platform (Valve now considers it a Tier-1 platform, meaning that all their games will be on PC, Mac and X-Box 360 simultaneously). No PS3 version though, huh?

And an even greater aftershock from this is that the SOURCE Engine is licensed to other companies. Now, when they make a version of their product, it'll almost certainly have a version that ships for the Mac. Great news for Steve Jobs' Little Fruit Company (you know, when he's not attending Walt Disney Company board room meetings). Finally, we should start seeing a respectable gaming collection. I don't expect all the games you see on a Windows computer to be coming out, but the majority should, could and probably will.

And that's fine by me...