Valve has always had pretty popular games, and if their recent release of sales figures over the past ten years are any indication of the company’ success, well then they will have nothing to worry about for a very long time. Well, that’s barring some unforeseen gaming or spending catastrophe like a Superman 64 or a very bad heroine addiction.

Here are the numbers reported to Game Informer, then posted on Gamasutra and broken down in a pretty list by VG247:

• Half-Life - 9.3 million
• Half-Life: Opposing Force - 1.1 million
• Half-Life: Blue Shift - 800,000
• Half-Life 2 - 6.5 million
• Half-Life 2: Episode One - 1.4 million
• The Orange Box - 3 million
• Counter-Strike - 4.2 million
• Counter-Strike: Condition Zero - 2.9 million
• Counter-Strike: Source - 2.1 million
• Counter-Strike (Xbox) - 1.5 million
• Left 4 Dead (projected) - 3.6 - 3.9 million

The figures add up to a total retail amount of  32.8 million and if you include the projected Left 4 Dead numbers, it increases to 36.4 - 36.7 million. These figures also do not include digital sales of their products through Steam, which Valve is currently keeping under wraps for some reason or another. Be that as it may, the numbers speak for themselves, and whether you are a Valve fan or not, they are nothing to sneeze at by any means.

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…the level design feels distinctly last-generation, with much valve turning and switch pressing to be done.

Yes, that definitely sounds like a first person title to me. The thing is, it doesn’t sound last generation to me…it sounds like this generation. When has the FPS genre really seen any big overhauls? We can slow down time in some games, but other than that, it’s pretty much run and gun. Would it be nice to see some changes to the genre…of course. Calling out The Conduit as ‘last gen’ when ‘next-gen’ platforms feature FPS titles that do the same clearly smacks of a bit of console preference.

I don’t know, maybe I’m the one in the wrong here. For thsoe of you that are multiplatform owners, do you know of any other FPS titles that really break free from the confines of the genre to do something new? I thought they were pretty much all run, gun, push box, press button. I am not saying it’s a bad thing…I love the genre, but I’m just not sure many games have broken free of those shackles, be they next or last gen.

Article here

Expect to see things like the above image plastered all over PlayStation Home, as well as an increasing number of your favorite videogames in the near future.

At an upfront by Microsoft-owned ad firm Massive held in New York City on Wednesday, Activision Blizzard revealed numerous upcoming sequels to established franchises (including Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, one of the more uninspired videogame sequel titles in recent memory, and what’s being called Guitar Hero 5 for now).

A devious and sickening example of in-game advertising came in a sample screenshot from GH 5. Of course, the Guitar Hero franchise is already infamous for its blatant and brazen advertising, like the Axe-branded guitar and the Pontiac Garage venue in Guitar Hero III. Apparently, a screenshot of GH 5 was shown; it featured a Burger King logo next to the note highway. Excuse me while I go vomit into a wastebasket.

I suppose this shouldn’t surprise anyone, since Activision recently signed a multi-year ad deal with IGA Worldwide. Still, this kind of crap disgusts me, and it should disgust you, too.

Anyway, recap! A Canadian actor who lent his voice to some Ubisoft games told the world how he escaped last week’s Mumbai terror attacks; Activision announced Eagles, Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, and reggae songs for Guitar Hero World Tour; Hamza continued his prolific run of previews; and plenty more happened on 12/03/08.

Wednesday Regulars:
Scraps: 'You're heavier than you look' (12/03/2008)

Originals:
F.E.A.R. 2's viral marketing is clever, mildly creepy

Reviews:
Castlevania Judgment

Previews:
The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena
Ghostbusters (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)
Ghostbusters (Wii)
Ghostbusters (DS)

Contests:
Contest: Get beta access to Freaky Creatures with clever Photoshop skills
Contest results: Why you haven't bought a gaming notebook yet
Sacred 2 contest winners announced!

News:
Microsoft confirms internal memory in new Xbox 360 Arcades
Prince of Persia voice actor recounts survival of Mumbai attacks
Eagles, Nirvana, Pumpkins, and free reggae pack coming to Guitar Hero this month
Blitz working on 'true 3D games.' Yes, just like Freddy's Dead!
Red Bull first to exploit Home's advertising potential
Captain Obvious: Atari will continue selling games to retail
KOTOR MMO has 'potential' to fleece you of all your cash
Atari: Used games are 'extremely painful'
LBP moderation is 'evolving,' will eventually display the reason for deletion
Activision hearts sequels, announces Guitar Hero 5, Modern Warfare 2, and more
DC Universe could be on your doorstep by next Christmas
Tetsuya Mizuguchi's new Wii music game named QJ
Pata-pata-patapon plushies are the perfect decor for your rearview mirror
Gardening Mama bends over in America Spring 2009
MS starts racial profiling, claims Hispanics like home entertainment best
190 million households to have consoles in 2012
Delay on Ghostbusters was to max out the creepy factor
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days confirmed for US release
Prepare to be jealous: Ben Heck shows off his new portable Xbox 360
Study: First-person shooter cutscenes aren't engaging enough
Hefty Fable II patch nearing completion, no word on a launch date
Disney entering the MMO market: Mickey Mouse roleplay sex in 5, 4, 3, 2 ...
Come be amazed by Valve's lifetime retail sales figures

Galleries:
Street Fighter movie: Chun-Li? More like Chun-Lie
Shiny skin time: new Tekken 6 PS3/Xbox 360 screens

Videos:
Prince of Persia: The Fallen King makes us want to pinch little cheeks
DJMAX Technika now testing in Los Angeles
DSi clenches, eventually yields, to some hot homebrew lovin'
Have you heard of Black Sigil: Blade of the Exiled?
New Riddick trailer shows darkness, also gameplay
F.E.A.R. 2 videos terrify with the power of the S.I.L.L.Y. A.C.R.O.N.Y.M.

Expect to see things like the above image plastered all over PlayStation Home, as well as an increasing number of your favorite videogames in the near future.

At an upfront by Microsoft-owned ad firm Massive held in New York City on Wednesday, Activision Blizzard revealed numerous upcoming sequels to established franchises (including Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, one of the more uninspired videogame sequel titles in recent memory, and what’s being called Guitar Hero 5 for now).

A devious and sickening example of in-game advertising came in a sample screenshot from GH 5. Of course, the Guitar Hero franchise is already infamous for its blatant and brazen advertising, like the Axe-branded guitar and the Pontiac Garage venue in Guitar Hero III. Apparently, a screenshot of GH 5 was shown; it featured a Burger King logo next to the note highway. Excuse me while I go vomit into a wastebasket.

I suppose this shouldn’t surprise anyone, since Activision recently signed a multi-year ad deal with IGA Worldwide. Still, this kind of crap disgusts me, and it should disgust you, too.

Anyway, recap! A Canadian actor who lent his voice to some Ubisoft games told the world how he escaped last week’s Mumbai terror attacks; Activision announced Eagles, Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, and reggae songs for Guitar Hero World Tour; Hamza continued his prolific run of previews; and plenty more happened on 12/03/08.

Wednesday Regulars:
Scraps: 'You're heavier than you look' (12/03/2008)

Originals:
F.E.A.R. 2's viral marketing is clever, mildly creepy

Reviews:
Castlevania Judgment

Previews:
The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena
Ghostbusters (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)
Ghostbusters (Wii)
Ghostbusters (DS)

Contests:
Contest: Get beta access to Freaky Creatures with clever Photoshop skills
Contest results: Why you haven't bought a gaming notebook yet
Sacred 2 contest winners announced!

News:
Microsoft confirms internal memory in new Xbox 360 Arcades
Prince of Persia voice actor recounts survival of Mumbai attacks
Eagles, Nirvana, Pumpkins, and free reggae pack coming to Guitar Hero this month
Blitz working on 'true 3D games.' Yes, just like Freddy's Dead!
Red Bull first to exploit Home's advertising potential
Captain Obvious: Atari will continue selling games to retail
KOTOR MMO has 'potential' to fleece you of all your cash
Atari: Used games are 'extremely painful'
LBP moderation is 'evolving,' will eventually display the reason for deletion
Activision hearts sequels, announces Guitar Hero 5, Modern Warfare 2, and more
DC Universe could be on your doorstep by next Christmas
Tetsuya Mizuguchi's new Wii music game named QJ
Pata-pata-patapon plushies are the perfect decor for your rearview mirror
Gardening Mama bends over in America Spring 2009
MS starts racial profiling, claims Hispanics like home entertainment best
190 million households to have consoles in 2012
Delay on Ghostbusters was to max out the creepy factor
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days confirmed for US release
Prepare to be jealous: Ben Heck shows off his new portable Xbox 360
Study: First-person shooter cutscenes aren't engaging enough
Hefty Fable II patch nearing completion, no word on a launch date
Disney entering the MMO market: Mickey Mouse roleplay sex in 5, 4, 3, 2 ...
Come be amazed by Valve's lifetime retail sales figures

Galleries:
Street Fighter movie: Chun-Li? More like Chun-Lie
Shiny skin time: new Tekken 6 PS3/Xbox 360 screens

Videos:
Prince of Persia: The Fallen King makes us want to pinch little cheeks
DJMAX Technika now testing in Los Angeles
DSi clenches, eventually yields, to some hot homebrew lovin'
Have you heard of Black Sigil: Blade of the Exiled?
New Riddick trailer shows darkness, also gameplay
F.E.A.R. 2 videos terrify with the power of the S.I.L.L.Y. A.C.R.O.N.Y.M.

So the long overdue Games for Windows Live standalone client is now available for download. It has an amazing array of hot features no one can pass up! Allow me to list them for you in the utmost and greatest detail. Feature number 1: the ability to purchase, download and manage games from the Games for Windows Live Marketplace. Feature number 2: oh wait, hold on I must have misplaced the rest of this list. Oh, hmm. Yea that’s it, nothing to see here, it’s over folks. No friends list, no message center and no achievement browsing? Huh?

It’s really unfortunate how hard Microsoft fails when it comes to the borderline vaporware that Games for Windows Live has become. We were wooed with promises of a bright future with the Games for Windows Live initiative, PC’s very own version of the amazing Xbox Live system. But so far those promises have been empty. While the initiative does enforce some nice standards on developers, like requiring widescreen formats, it falls short of the already established competitor in this market, Steam. Valve has beaten Microsoft at its own game, with far less resources. It’s a shame really, considering how good Xbox Live is. Why can’t Games for Windows Live be that good? For now it seems Steam shall remain champion on the PC as the premiere platform, with its fantastic marketplace, achievement and community features. GFWL has some major catching up to do, get cracking Microsoft, we know you can do it.

So I'm going to try to layer in some more game links from time to time - Kian Bashiri's 'Metro' being the first of these wonders, but accompanied by Braid's David Hellman mentioning a Spike TV indie game special, romantic co-op games, Giant Bomb info, Troy Goodfellow on game reviews, and more.

I respectfully decline:

The Plush Apocalypse » Blog Archive » The love story(game)
LMNO's Borut Pfeifer in fine editorial form, as per normal: 'I wanted to write about the lack of a certain type of coop game - a romantic coop game.'

gameslol » Blog Archive » So I Guess GiantBomb Did Not Bomb
I've seen very little media buzz about GiantBomb, which is odd, because it's the future of game information, pretty much. And awesome.

A Game From Life: Metro Rules of Conduct | GameCyte
Kian Bashiri's latest IGF entry is spotted by the GameCyte folks, and it's awesome+: 'The goal of the game is to make it the five stops to your final destination while obeying the metro rules of conduct, which is essentially only one rule: Do not make eye contact with other travelers. In between stops, you can rack up points by moving your viewfinder over the various accoutrements of your fellow passengers — MP3 players, cell phones, ties, scarves and even brassieres.'

Boing Boing: Offworld: 'Why Left 4 Dead has the best tutorial ever... and why you never noticed it had one to begin with'
Excellent John Brownlee piece on the subtle learning in Valve's latest.

David Hellman » Blog Archive » Fueled by Dieu
The Braid artist reveals: 'Earlier this month, a Spike TV crew came to my apartment to shoot an interview which is going to run close to (or perhaps immediately before?) the awards. I’m told it will be part of a half-hour feature on indie games of 2008.' This sounds most excellent - maybe on GameTrailers TV?

NYC Game Industry - Be part of the evolution!
Good to see a local scene-specific website (of some sophistication) for the sometimes struggling (but always adorable!) New York game development scene.

Flash Of Steel: 'Reviewing, Criticizing and Games Media'
Troy Goodfellow is a smart cookie, and skipping mercilessly to the conclusion, he hits the nail on the head, for me: 'The best games writing is usually not found in the review/preview morass and it’s pointless to look for it there at the expense of all the good feature, interview and analysis work being done elsewhere.'

Brash's Wall Street MMO - The Cut Scene - Variety.com
Some good sleuthing here by Fritz - rare to see a good autopsy of a failed publisher.

Valve is one of those select few companies in the games industry that, for one reason or another, you just want to succeed. We're not talking purely about the rampant fanboyism you see for the big three, either.

Valve's become a force to be reckoned with, and there's a simple explanation for why that is: the company produces stellar games, its founders are vocal and speak out against DRM, and there's a massive amount of fan service being thrown about.

How then, does this positive attitude translate to actual sales? Valve has finally decided to release the retail sales figures for the vast majority of its games (no Steam sales included, sadly), and the results may surprise you.

Gamasutra has got all of the numbers, but here are some of the more interesting ones: Half-Life (9.3 million units), Half-Life 2 (6.5 million), Counter-Strike (4.2 million), Orange Box (3 million), and lastly Left 4 Dead, which is estimated to fall between 3.6 - 3.9 million units sold.

Remember, this data does not include digital download sales which, judging by how popular Steam has grown to be, would have a significant impact. Still, it's always neat to see companies give out the raw data like this, isn't it?

[Thanks, Jetsetlemming]

Valve is one of those select few companies in the games industry that, for one reason or another, you just want to succeed. We're not talking purely about the rampant fanboyism you see for the big three, either.

Valve's become a force to be reckoned with, and there's a simple explanation for why that is: the company produces stellar games, its founders are vocal and speak out against DRM, and there's a massive amount of fan service being thrown about.

How then, does this positive attitude translate to actual sales? Valve has finally decided to release the retail sales figures for the vast majority of its games (no Steam sales included, sadly), and the results may surprise you.

Gamasutra has got all of the numbers, but here are some of the more interesting ones: Half-Life (9.3 million units), Half-Life 2 (6.5 million), Counter-Strike (4.2 million), Orange Box (3 million), and lastly Left 4 Dead, which is estimated to fall between 3.6 - 3.9 million units sold.

Remember, this data does not include digital download sales which, judging by how popular Steam has grown to be, would have a significant impact. Still, it's always neat to see companies give out the raw data like this, isn't it?

[Thanks, Jetsetlemming]