Valve teases forthcoming announcement

By Tom Bramwell Published 3 March, 2010

Left 4 Dead image with fruity flavour.

Valve has sent Eurogamer a teaser image for something to do with Left 4 Dead.

Check it out below. It was accompanied by a note that said: "In anticipation of an upcoming announcement from Valve."

The Apple-esque stamp in the top right, complete with "I hate different" tagline, suggests we may be seeing something Mac or iPhone-related.

The dots along the bottom are also reminiscent of the iPhone's menu screen navigation markers.

Or perhaps it's confirmation of Steam for Mac.

Or perhaps it's Half-Life 2: Episode III and they're just being extremely cryptic. We still believe!

The next Left 4 Dead-related release on Valve's confirmed schedule is The Passing, a downloadable add-on for Left 4 Dead 2, which is due out sometime this month.

'Valve teases forthcoming announcement' Screenshot 1
Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (34) 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Crazyreyn #1 2 years ago

    Steam for Mac, I think.
    Edited by 2 at 03/03/10 @ 20:22

  • cozeny #2 2 years ago

    Hardly cryptic.

  • the_dudefather #3 2 years ago

    MGS4 on 360

    it's got a 4, like MGS4, and it's in black and white, the colours that the 360 comes in

  • mintycabbage #4 2 years ago

    Hopefully, this is some sort of cryptic clue for half life episode 3.

  • DanForinton #5 2 years ago

    My guess? Half Life Ep 3, featuring special guest stars Chell, GlaDOS and the surviving survivors from Left 4 Dead.
    Or not. :)

  • Crazyreyn #6 2 years ago

    http://ww w.shacknews.com/laryn.x?story=6...

  • hiddenranbir #7 2 years ago

    Top right? Looks top left...

  • Gebadire #8 2 years ago

    Would that be the rop right on the left?...

    [EDIT: Darn! Beaten to it!]
    Edited by 1 at 03/03/10 @ 20:44

  • mintycabbage #9 2 years ago

    So Valve will go to Macs before it go to PS3s

    /EDIT typo
    Edited by 1 at 03/03/10 @ 20:54

  • MikkyX #10 2 years ago

    Steam for Mac, or L4D for iPhone. Or both :D

  • Rowlsten #11 2 years ago

    Wow this is giant news really..... such a great way to announce it :D

    Valve do everything so right!

  • cairbre1977 #12 2 years ago

    I hope it's steam for mac I can then have it on my mbp. I really like the new steam beta too

  • Wolverfrog #13 2 years ago

    More Left 4 Dead? For Heaven's sake, when the hell is Episode 3 coming out? Half Life is arguably Valve's best series.
    Edited by 1 at 03/03/10 @ 21:22

  • makeamazing #14 2 years ago

    L4D and Steam for Mac i suppose.... but i agree with the previous poster, where is HL3

  • OrgasmicMutton #15 2 years ago

    There's images on 6 sites.

    This has link to 'em all
    Edited by 1 at 03/03/10 @ 22:05

  • MikkyX #16 2 years ago

    All here:
    [link url=http://www.macrumors.com/201 0/03/03/valve-teases-upcoming-half-life-release-for-mac/ #
    ]http://ww w.macrumors.com/2010/03/03/valv...[/link]

    So is it Steam, or Valve's back catalogue? Hope it's Steam - hope games available for both can be downloaded FoC if you have the PC version. I might never need Windows again if this happens.

    EDIT: Actually, I'm an idiot. One of the images even SAYS "Introducing Steam" and has the logo on the old Mac OS window :D
    Edited by 1 at 03/03/10 @ 22:22

  • Ryboy #17 2 years ago

    What a great way to advertise indeed, I agree with Rowlsten, when Valve do something they do it right. These images look fantastic, and it's great news for the Mac users.

    I don't care how long they take with EpIII, like it's been said above, Valve do things the right way, and wont release something until it's good enough to release. And it's a serious wake up call to these so called AAA devs releasing massive piles of wank.

    EpIII & Portal 2 are going to be off the muh' fuckin' radar!

  • FooAtari #18 2 years ago

    List of Steam games with native support, and some that would be easy to get running

    Aliens versus Predator (original)
    Altitude
    And Yet It Moves
    Ankh: Battle of the Gods
    Ankh: Heart of Osiris
    Aquaria
    BioShock
    Braid
    Brainpipe
    Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars
    Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror
    Call of Duty
    Call of Duty: United Offensive
    Call of Duty 2
    Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
    Championship Manager 2007
    Championship Manager 2008
    Championship Manager 2010
    Civilization IV
    Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword
    Civilization IV: Colonization
    Civilization IV: Warlords
    Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3
    Darwinia
    DEFCON
    Delta Force: Black Hawk Down
    Deus Ex
    Doom
    Doom 3
    Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil
    Doom II: Hell on Earth
    Elven Legacy
    Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
    Eschalon: Book I
    Europa Universalis III
    Europa Universalis: Rome
    FlatOut 2
    Final Doom
    Football Manager 2009
    Football Manager 2010
    Football Manager Live
    Freedom Force
    Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
    Harvest: Massive Encounter
    Hearts of Iron II
    Hearts of Iron III
    Heretic
    Heroes of Might and Magic V
    Hexen
    Hexen II
    Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
    Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
    Jade Empire
    LEGO Batman: The Videogame
    LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures
    LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues
    LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga
    Loom
    Luxor
    Luxor 2
    Luxor 3
    Machinarium
    Multiwinia
    Osmos
    Peggle
    Peggle Nights
    Penguins Arena
    Penumbra: Black Plague
    Penumbra: Overture
    Penumbra: Requiem
    Plants vs. Zombies
    Prey
    Prince of Persia (2008)
    Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords
    Quake
    Quake II
    Quake III Arena
    Return to Castle Wolfenstein
    Rome: Total War
    Samorost 2
    Shaun White Snowboarding
    SiN
    Spore
    Star Wars: Force Unleashed
    Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast
    Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
    Star Wars: Dark Forces
    Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
    Tales of Monkey Island
    The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena
    The Dig
    The Graveyard
    The Path
    TOCA Race Driver 3
    Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield
    Tomb Raider: Anniversary
    Torchlight
    Unreal
    Unreal Tournament
    Unreal Tournament 2004
    Uplink
    Virtual Families
    Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning
    World of Goo
    X²: The Threat
    X³: Reunion
    X³: Terran Conflict

    Here are the ScummVM games, that should be a doddle to release for OSX too:
    The Dig
    Full Throttle
    Some of the King’s Quest games
    Some of the Space Quest games
    Some of the Police Quest games

    Here are some DOS games that should play nice with DOSbox on OSX:
    Wolfenstein 3D
    Commander Keen
    X-Com series

  • darth_paul #19 2 years ago

    i vote for "steam for mac". just makes sense. the mac community has been growing (bought one this year myself), and we're forced to bootcamp into win7 in order to play games (except for FM, Tales of Monkey Island and the Popcap games). It'll never bee as big as "Win Steam", but can still make sense business wise.
    Edited by 1 at 04/03/10 @ 00:49

  • chudders #20 2 years ago

    Ha. The other images are even more excellent. Especially like the turrets and OMNOMNOM. Valve are clever.
    Edited by 1 at 04/03/10 @ 07:57

  • octavedoctor #21 2 years ago

    Half Life 3

    (forget 2, ep 3 - the engine's too old now)

  • M4RV #22 2 years ago

    I hope there's a chance for us all, to play Episode 3 or something remotely similar, before we're greeted by the Grim Reaper... Almost six years since HL2 and still counting. :\
    Edited by 1 at 04/03/10 @ 08:35

  • Tongan_Dave #23 2 years ago

    I would not be surprised if it is Left 4 Dead 3. They release same game with minor change with a 2 on it one year later and people with more money than sense buy same game, so why not release same game with a 3 on and make more money. I can not afford to do such things but wish those with lots of money luck in their endeavour.

  • Hermiod #24 2 years ago

    It's almost certainly Steam for Mac OS X. They've released more than just this image, they've created several with Valve characters taking part in iconic Apple adverts.

    My favourite is Alyx Vance and Dr. Breen in a version of the famous Apple 1984 ad.

    http://ww w.joystiq.com/gallery/valve-mac...

  • stuarty_2003 #25 2 years ago

    This would negate the need for boot camp for me personally - assuming it comes with HL2 and add ons!

  • smirny #26 2 years ago

    this news is quite quite fantastic

  • StooMonster #27 2 years ago

    darth_paul: the mac community has been growing (bought one this year myself)

    Yes, latest figures from USA show Macs at nearly 11% of market share by volume, however, as revenue share they basically p0wn the premium customers. Even as long ago as last summer, Apple has 91% of market for $1000+ PC in USA. Only 9% of PCs sold in USA that cost $1000 or more are dedicated Windows PC; by far the bulk of Windows PC sales are in the cheap, low margin, end of the market (which is why Apple have $40-billion in the bank, which is more than Dell's market cap).

    These Mac owners are 'premium' customers, and probably quite likely to pay for games rather than pirate them -- is what I reckon Valve's logic is -- so it's a no brainer for Valve to port their code to OS X. Macs use the same Intel processors as Windows PCs, so a great deal of the code "just works" but it's the Source engine that will have to have been rewritten to use OpenGL rather than DirectX. Interestingly, this should help the PS3 version of Source too (PS3 uses OpenGL ES); but old Valve customers may remember than in Half-Life and that generation of games one could select 'DirectX' or 'OpenGL' rendering as an option.

    The next update to Mac OS X, which is due any day, introduces OpenGL 3.0 to the OS ... maybe the timing of the Valve announcement is related to this?

  • Ryboy #28 2 years ago

    @ octavedoctor

    I disagree about the engine being too old. The Source engine, for me, has always been one of the better looking game engines. And it's constantly being updated. The Source Engine of Half Life 2 is very different to the Source Engine of left 4 Dead 2. Don't get me wrong, other recent games look great, but they have this glossy/fake/cartoony look about them.

  • StooMonster #29 2 years ago

    RyBoy: I disagree about the engine being too old.

    Me too, not only does it still look pretty good but it always scales to a range of hardware better than any other engine. Valve's monthly Steam hardware survey gives them market intelligence about which systems their games need to work on; and there's a lot more older PC hardware out there than many developers who require cutting edge hardware account for.

  • Ryboy #30 2 years ago

    @ StooMonster

    Got it one mate.

    Microsoft should hand GFWL over to Valve, let the boys tinker with it, and then give it back to Microsoft.

    "Hi Bill? Yeah it's Gabe. Here you go, this is how it should fucking work!"
    Edited by 1 at 04/03/10 @ 11:11

  • CARL05 #31 2 years ago

    I like this advertising campaign, it's clever! <a href="http://images.macrumors.com/article/2010/03 /03/150310-valvemac-lg.jpg">

  • DaveTHX #32 2 years ago

    L4D for iPad?

  • Moribundman #33 2 years ago

    I can't believe there are still people posting crap about it being this or that when the links above make it abundently clear exactly what it is. Come on EG, keep up. Update this story with the other images like everyone else!

  • dickothe1st #34 2 years ago

    Well thats Gordan Freeman....idiots