Half-Life movie would have to be made by Valve, not off the table

A film adaptation of Half-Life could happen, according to Gabe Newell

Words: on August 28, 2010

Gabe Newell, CEO and co-founder of Valve, has told PC Gamer that if a Half-Life movie were made, it would have to be made by Valve itself. Oh, and Valve has considered it. Really! Here's Gabe on Valve's previous attempts at creating a Half-Life film adaptation:

“Where we got into this direction was after Half-Life 1 had shipped. There was a whole bunch of meetings with people from Hollywood. Directors down there wanted to make a Half-Life movie and stuff, so they’d bring in a writer or some talent agency would bring in writers, and they would pitch us on their story. And their stories were just so bad. I mean, brutally, the worst. Not understanding what made the game a good game, or what made the property an interesting thing for people to be a fan of."

That sounds about right. We'd start listing game movie scripts that are also "brutally, the worst," but that'd take too long. So what's the solution? Why, make it yourself, of course:

“That’s when we started saying ‘Wow, the best thing we could ever do is to just not do this as a movie, or we’d have to make it ourselves.’ And I was like, ‘Make it ourselves? Well that’s impossible.’ But the Team Fortress 2 thing, the Meet The Team shorts, is us trying to explore that.”

Keep exploring! Look, Valve, either announce Half-Life 3, or Episode 3, or something, or announce this movie. Those are your choices. We await your response.

PC Gamer's 'Valve' issue should be on US shelves soon, and will be available in their online shop on September 1st. Pick it up for tons more inside information on the legendary company and its beloved games.

Aug 27, 2010

Related

Games:


Half-Life 2 (Xbox 360)

View Videos Hide Videos

Latest Videos


Half-Life 2 (PC)

View Videos Hide Videos

Latest Videos


Half-Life 2 (PS3)

View Videos Hide Videos

Latest Videos

Platforms:

Xbox 360, PS3, PC

26 Comments
Order Comments: Newest First | Oldest First
  • gilgamesh310

    gilgamesh310  - 1 year, 5 months ago  - Report

    @santaclouse37 You make some valid points and I do understand that different people do different reviews but if gamesradar is to have any integrity as a whole they should confer when giving the final review score. Have you ever read the magazine 'edge'. They are ruthlessly hard on the marking of games and a bit overopinionated but when they give 10's it's nearly always justified. They don't even list the name of the reviewer at the end of each review they give which is to show that the magazine exists as one unbiased unit full of integrity and devoid of contradictions and hypocrisy which is too oftern seen in gamesradar. They gave limbo a 10/10 which is a game as brilliant as it was can be completed in about 45 minutes and has some pacing issues that taint the overall quality. A 9 would have been so much more fitting in that regard. They also gave FF13 a 10/10 which because of the fact that it was more movie than game contradicts an earlier excellent article on 'why games fail at storytelling' which was written by David Houghton as well as being ridiculously overrated in it's own right.
  • santaclouse37

    santaclouse37  - 1 year, 5 months ago  - Report

    @gilgamesh310
    That review is from a couple years ago, I'm pretty sure back before it was even called Gamesradar. The site was still getting its legs, and the format for reviews hadn't really become as developed and structured as they are now. If you actually read the review, it's clear that there wasn't as much effort or analysis put into it as there are on most of the sites reviews made today. The point is, you shouldn't take the score too heavily as it was from a time where it wasn't given as much weight as it has today. Additionally, reviews are subjective and scores are as well, and different people will view and grade a game differently, so it's unfair to compare any one game review to any other unless they're both by the same person, which shouldn't be the case here since I'm fairly sure John Brandon either doesn't work at GR anymore or was a freelancer.

    Sorry, just my two cents. As far as the article, very interesting stuff, thanks for writing it Tyler.
  • PappaDeon

    PappaDeon  - 1 year, 5 months ago  - Report

    Let Valve make a Gordon that talks, then we can know what the hell he is thinking... It was the same with Dead Space, the guy couldn't talk, but in Dead Space 2 he can.
  • Jacko415

    Jacko415  - 1 year, 5 months ago  - Report

    Serioosly. The Purchase Brothers gave a great experience that felt like Half Life w/o Gordon Freeman.
  • lionarthegreat

    lionarthegreat  - 1 year, 5 months ago  - Report

    this would have to be an incredible movie to even compare to the games
  • gilgamesh310

    gilgamesh310  - 1 year, 5 months ago  - Report

    @ Blindmarksman Gamesradar are a complete joke when it comes to rating games. They throw out tens wildly to most games that don't deserve them at all and then when a game comes along that does deserve it they give it an inferior score.
  • Memph

    Memph  - 1 year, 5 months ago  - Report

    L4D1 would make an awsome movie. still one of my all-time fave intro vids ever.
  • sofaku

    sofaku  - 1 year, 5 months ago  - Report

    hear me out have gordan freeman played by morgan freeman
  • zer0hvk

    zer0hvk  - 1 year, 5 months ago  - Report

    I don't know how the movie would work, with Gordon being a silent scientist, and the game going through his eyes.
    Although Valve has a tendency of being freaking genius, if anyone could pull it off, it would be Valve.
  • xerroz

    xerroz  - 1 year, 5 months ago  - Report

    i dont see a half life movie working (itd be a big flip like every other game based movie)
  • mattrickhoffman

    mattrickhoffman  - 1 year, 5 months ago  - Report

    @RebornKusabi

    Actually, I can think of several movies that would have been improved if the protagonist couldn't talk...
  • BlindMarksman

    BlindMarksman  - 1 year, 5 months ago  - Report

    Hey GamesRadar!
    I think your page is broken!
    This page talks about Half-Life 2, But weirdly, the rating is 9 instead of the logical 10. (Shame on you...)
    I hope you realize this is a BIG mistake and that you fix it soon!
    Thanks!
  • RebornKusabi

    RebornKusabi  - 1 year, 5 months ago  - Report

    Yeah, because you know what translates really well in a video game to motion picture adaptation? A silent, non-speaking protagonist...
  • Silvermech

    Silvermech  - 1 year, 5 months ago  - Report

    I think even Valve, or anybbody who made a certain videogame(nintendo), would have some trouble making up a script. Which is why they should post rough drafts on the net for respectable gaming sights like gamesradar, so that actual gamers can help shape the movies.
  • 8bitBaby

    8bitBaby  - 1 year, 5 months ago  - Report

    hrm...
    *rubs chin dubiously.
  • HaitianSensation

    HaitianSensation  - 1 year, 5 months ago  - Report

    I don't think a Gordon Freeman/Half Life movie would work because he has no voice (don't give him one!), he is basically by himself the entire game and he's just running around. The only way it would work is if it was set in that HL universe and not necessarily starring Gordon Freeman.
  • ThatGuyFromTV

    ThatGuyFromTV  - 1 year, 5 months ago  - Report

    If a Half-Life movie was to happen without breaking the feeling of the games, I don't think it could have Gordon Freeman in it. The games did such a good job of making it feel like you were Freeman... seeing him in a movie would kind of wreck the whole thing.
  • batmanboy11

    batmanboy11  - 1 year, 5 months ago  - Report

    I doubt this'll happen any time soon.
  • ColonelKc

    ColonelKc  - 1 year, 5 months ago  - Report

    @Spartanoffaith LOL that just made my day.
  • Fiirestorm21

    Fiirestorm21  - 1 year, 5 months ago  - Report

    Well, not definitively closing off the option of someone else doing it, more like, "Well, at this point..." Not much difference, but still felt it worth pointing out.

    And a "Valve" issue from PC Gamer? This I'm very interested in seeing.
Most Commented
Connect with GamesRadar