GT.TV promoted its 30-minute episode with Valve promising to announce something non-gaming. Turns out, all they talked about was Source Filmmaker which transforms gamers and non-gamers alike in to movie directors using Valve's own Source-based tool. Thus, the only real interesting part about the segment was bossman Gabe Newell dodging Half-Life 3 questions with jokes about getting eaten by sharks on his upcoming vacation, and his need to slam Windows 8 again.
"I would really like it if Windows 8 was a blowout success, because we're going to make a lot more money -- there will be lots of happy customers," he said. "But I don't think that's going to be what happens. I think that Windows 8 will end up being really poorly received by customers. I think it will raise support calls. I think it will reduce hardware manufacturer margins. I think we'll actually sell fewer copies of our games on machines running Windows 8."
After that, Newell and GT.TV host Geoff Keighley moved on to briefly talk about Steam Box which supposedly doesn't exist. Keighley asked if Valve's strategy is leaning towards having Steam Big Picture in living rooms first, and then have someone build a device that can hook up to a TV that can run Steam.
"Yeah absolutely," he said. "That's what we hope. So we show hardware guys and say, 'look, if this is a useful tool for you to deliver your hardware to the living rooms, that's great. And if you want to run it on top of Windows, that's fine. If you want to run it on top of Linux, that's fine."
When asked when he thought such a box would arrive, he said everyone will be able to tell a lot more [soon]. "We should have both Linux and 10-foot (Big Picture) betas out there fairly quickly and I think customers will say, 'this is really great,' or they'll say '[it's] another interesting, but not valuable contribution' fairly quickly."
As for the Big Picture mode, Greg Coomer stepped in later in the clip and said it will arrive in early September, offering a better presentation when Steam is displayed on large HDTVs. Big Picture will support game controllers and the typical mouse/keyboard setup we've come to love over the years.
"There are some games that are better made for a controller input than others so those will be the best experiences," Coomer said. "But everything will be there. You don't have to give up all your favorite stuff once you walk from the den to your living room."
Towards the end of the 30-minute Valve extravaganza, Valve's Erik Johnson said that the studio is currently working on a documentary based on pro DOTA 2 players during last year's international tournament. He also shows an impressive trailer for the upcoming film, revealing that the documentary takes a dramatic, cinematic approach into the lives of numerous DOTA 2 players and how they juggle pro gameplay with family, friends, school and the desire to win one million dollars. One player was kicked out of his home, while another heard a threat from his parents, telling him "gaming will be the death of you."
"We went into last year's international and just kinda on a fire thought we should bring along some cameras of our own and get a bunch of footage," Johnson explained. "Who knows what will come of it. And what ended up happening is we started to learn about these players, that we're following their story and kinda their background, and it was incredibly compelling."
The stories were so compelling that the two people working on DOTA 2 at the time are now working full time on the documentary. "They personally are so interested in telling these players' stories," he added. "We think it's going to be super exciting and we're hoping to get it out by the end of the year."
To see the full 30-minute episode of GT.TV invading Valve's Seattle headquarters, head here.
