Link: https://nordic.ign.com/counter-strike/113290/counter-strike-co-creator-says-gabe-newell-got-so-obsessed-with-mongolian-throat-singing-at-valve-hq

As an update to the story, this was confirmed by Gabe himself:
https://www.dexerto.com/entertainment/gabe-newell-responds-to-fan-asking-about-bizarre-valve-throat-singing-story-3412684/

A fan then went straight to the source, emailing Newell to ask whether the story was real. In a reply shared online, sent from Newell’s Valve address, he provided more detail.

“Yeah, I had chatted with Paul Pena about it after I tried learning on my own,” he wrote. “I am entirely self taught and it shows.”

He added that he worked on the sygyt and kargyraa styles “and got to the point where I was really… annoying.”

Newell says he still hasn’t given it up entirely. “Every once in a while, I’ll pick it back up,” he wrote, adding that it takes a couple of weeks to condition his throat.

Pena was an American blues musician who taught himself Tuvan throat singing, later becoming the subject of the Oscar-nominated documentary Genghis Blues.

Remember when valve made games?

It also figures into the Feynman memoir "Tuva or Bust!".

Who has made more games in the last decade: Rockstar or Valve?

They make way more money managing a game store. Why would they ever need to make another game? /s

But in all seriousness, Steam makes them a ridiculous amount of money. If I was Gabe, I'd slow down game production as well.

Apparently the answer is Valve. Which says more about rockstar than anything about valve.

I figure they don't want to make a game and it not be at least a 7/10. So they keep one or two working on something while everyone else keeps the servers up, builds compatibility with Linux, and whatever hardware they are working on.

Well yes. The path to profit is the path of least resistance.

That is the benefit to making ridiculous money. You can really take your time and produce a quality game instead of rushing and cutting corners to meet an arbitrary deadline.

Valve have made games. It's just not the same type of games that people that love them for their most famous titles.

Also, even though they made a blockbuster, single player, half life game recently, the majority of the HL fans were not able to play it, so we are still disappointed...

Jesus fucking christ, the last game that valve made with me as the audience in mind was fucking 15 years ago (Portal 2). (Half life 1 was releaed 13 years before that. )

Everything else is multiplayer or hardware bound.

Alyx ils amazing ans the Lab ils also great i really wish they added levels to those games. Especialy the archer and thé slingshot games.

Genghis Blues was a great documentary. Cool to see Paul Pena popping up again. Didn't expect GabeN to be obsessed with throat singing.

No

I fucking bet they're amazing but I don't have a spare $1500 nor a spare room to use as a holosuite, since I need that $1500 as part of a down payment on a mortgage.

They have a flat structure so employees self-assign work. If a game idea interests them they work on it. If not, no worries there’s plenty to do on Steam.

But the speaking valve can create Mongolian throat singing

I'm not saying it's easily accessible by any means, but you can definitely get a headset for a good deal less than $1500, and many (if not most) games can be played sitting at your desk in the same position you'd be in if holding a traditional game controller.

I agree it sucks that there's no non-VR version. I just wanted to say that it isn't exclusive to the obscenely wealthy or anything, if you already have a PC capable of running it you're likely in a position to be able to swing getting the gear for it.

if you already have a PC capable of running it you’re likely in a position to be able to swing getting the gear for it.

I have an 8 year old laptop with a muxing problem that can barely handle android studio.

I'm fucking cooked.

At least it wasn't doing unspeakable things to kids.

I thought there was a mod to play Half Life Alyx without a VR headset.

Sygyt is the style that sounds nasal-y but with a high pitched overtone.

Kargyraa is the really growly sounding one.

Source: im gabe newell

Weird that it's an either-or situation.

Wait a minute though. What does it mean that I have never heard my boss throat singing?

I wouldn't be surprised is someone recreated in the Source 1/2 engine, but is there much gameplay if you remove the VR stuff?

Replaying the original Half Life 1 and 2 games, I realized there's that HL2 onward got crippled by the devs making it too much about the Gravity gun. The fan community have made much more interesting combat engagements without the Gravity gun and adding a more varied weapon set.

I'd ramp it up, but focus on quality, experimental, and artist games that don't have to make profit immediately. They were doing that with Portal, but Gabe got more interested in owning yachts.

Honestly went to a concert for "the hu" Mongolian metal band... amazing

Can you do like a 1 time grace period on family transfer please lol

And can you fix lan based voice chat where it just doesn't work and I have to use discord

Kargyraa is the tits!

Ok?

Deadlock is pretty cool

Hanggai also kicks ass, in the rarefied yet delightful niche of Mongolian metal.

Well it's a good thing PC parts are so cheap right now.

Your boss is throat slinging instead?

but is there much gameplay if you remove the VR stuff?

Good question. The gameplay blends very smoothly with the Index and doesn't feel gimmicky, it's hard to say how much would feel "missing" playing on mouse and keyboard.

To be fair a brand new desktop tower can also barely handle android studio, I've never had a good experience in it not once

Dammit, stop it with the throat singing and release half life 3

Totally a great band, I can emulate the singing if I'm drunk enough lol

Also, apparently I've been in Mongolia when I was a child.

Source: im gabe newell

Knew it

Please take me to your alternate reality. What happened to the world after Bernie Sanders' second presidency?

Shitposts aside, this laptop is only recently beginning to show its age, and because I'm demanding more and more of it. I can hardly expect it to run CUDA AI shit or not expected it to work as a fullstack server and have 2 copies of VS code and Pulsar (another Electron based editor) , play YT videos with its fucking muxing issues AND run KDE at the same time.

Guess what motherfuckers, we missed out a shitload more by watching HLA as a lets play instead of playing it as an FPS.

I saw people drawing penis in glass. I read a plot summary and wasn't impressed enough to watch a playthough. Also, I already know I'll be in the minority because I think HL2 is gimmicky gameplay because if you remove the gravity gun and chores associated with it, the combat is weaker the HL1. Try Singularity if you want to see what combat that actually integrates a Gravity Guy into the combat.

Valve: We need a way to sell our high end VR headset. Let's release it with a long time fan favorite title; we can use Half Life to get people otherwise not interested in VR games into the ecosystem, and maybe they'll get other games too!

Half Life fans: watch someone else play the game for free without buying Half Life or an Index

Valve: surprised Pikachu

Drawing a penis on the glass in the opening scene is like dropping the baby penguin off the map in Mario 64. It's a compulsion. The thought enters your head and, once it does, must be executed for the simple goal of seeing if you can.

Honestly, based.

And what about reconning the ending to episode 2? I already explained that I didn't fine the gameplay of HL2 to be very good, so if I played it through for the story, why would I be happy about that? I stopped expecting to get what I want out of a Half Life game when Marc Laidlaw explained the circumstance of why he left.

I mean...

You show me one man who doesn't wish they could. And I'll do you a liar.

Valve's morning ritual.

Nothing like it on Earth, it is such an incredible sound. It's amazing that the human body can even make it. It feels like the vocal equivalent of people doing the Wrong Warp in Mario 3. Like... how???? You can do that???

Never heard it until I watched a video just now. Sounds like a jaw harp. I can see why people trying to concentrate would be a little peeved, though if someone were paying me good money to do something cool like make games, I’d probably happily put on some headphones and ignore it.

But but but Gabe is the bestest billionaire and cannot be held accountable.

They are awesome!

Were you there when you were young?