Thu, Oct 01, 2009 | 18:02 BST
Valve’s Gabe Newell being flown to Australia by gaming community
Valve’s Gabe Newell has decided to fly to Australia to meet local game designer Joe W-A, who raised over $3000 for Newell’s visit through the gaming community.
“The power of the gaming community and their ability to rally around a cause – be it serious or fun in nature – is amazing,” said Newell. “In 2003, the community helped the FBI and European law enforcement officials find the people who stole the Half-Life 2 source code. This year, the community is putting me on a plane to the other side of the world to meet Joe W-A and see his MOD.
“It’s going to be a fun trip.”
Newell and Joe will meet in Sydney next week, with Newell donating the three-grand Joe raised to charity instead of using it for his trip.
Press release after the jump.
October 1, 2009 – Valve, creators of best-selling game franchises (such as Half-Life and Counter-Strike) and leading technologies (such as Steam and Source), today announced its studio co-founder and president, Gabe Newell, will be visiting Australia next week to meet local game designer Joe W-A, who raised over $3000 for Newell’s visit through the gaming community.
The fundraising began after Joe heard that Newell had recently flown the leaders of a gaming community group boycotting Valve’s upcoming Left 4 Dead 2 to Valve’s Seattle, WA headquarters. Joe emailed to ask if Newell would fly him to Seattle so Joe could show him his “mod” (a PC gaming term for modifying an existing game into something new).
Newell playfully replied that he wouldn’t fly Joe to Seattle because he was “boycotting” Joe’s mod. The Australian-based game designer appealed to the game community for $3,000-the funds necessary to fly Newell halfway around the world-and raised the money in less than 48 hours.
“The power of the gaming community and their ability to rally around a cause – be it serious or fun in nature – is amazing,” said Gabe Newell, president and co-founder of Valve. “In 2003, the community helped the FBI and European law enforcement officials find the people who stole the Half-Life 2 source code. This year, the community is putting me on a plane to the other side of the world to meet Joe W-A and see his MOD. It’s going to be a fun trip.”
Newell and Joe will meet in Australia next week. Reports of the trip will be posted on L4D.com’s blog section by Valve employee Erik Johnson, who will be traveling with Newell down under.
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Posted in: Action, Australia, Hot, PC, Valve, Xbox 360
Tags: gabe newell, joe w-a, left 4 dead, Left 4 Dead 2
13 comments
#1
freedoms_stain
01/10/09, 6:05 pm
He should stop in with their Lawmakers with a copy of L4D2 and show them how badass it is.
#2
theevilaires
01/10/09, 6:09 pm
isn’t this old steph or are you getting revenge for the mw2 energy drink DLC double post thing
#3
Stephany Nunneley
01/10/09, 6:38 pm
???? mw2 energy drink double post? me confused, explain to brain not functioning and stuff
lol
Anyway, no, he decided to fly out. Last time we posted the news, he was just impressed that the $$$ was raised. The link to that is in there.
#4
Syrok
01/10/09, 6:50 pm
It’s a developing story.
#5
Yoshi
01/10/09, 6:51 pm
Its nice to see hes guna pay for the flight n everythin and give the money away
#6
No_PUDding
01/10/09, 7:25 pm
I do think that giving money to charity has become such a fashionable thing to do.
Why doesn’t he just give it back to the people who raised it? Too difficult?
I don’t know if I like that situation at all. Newell basicaly just made some guy do a backflip for him, otherwise he wasn’t prepared to see a mod.
#7
satsugai
01/10/09, 7:38 pm
Awww. Gabe’s probably gonna bring Joe a goody bag of some kind. *sulks*
#8
mortiferus
01/10/09, 8:08 pm
Did the Auzzies pay for Gabe’s required two seats or did they charter a mid-size plane for the trip? I cant believe his fat-ass would not give the money back and pay for it with corporate funds. Are his in-flight meal’s paid for as well by these poor shmucks?
#9
Psychotext
01/10/09, 10:31 pm
“Why doesn’t he just give it back to the people who raised it? Too difficult?”
Virtually impossible. Once he’d managed to track everyone down it would have cost more than he got.
#10
freedoms_stain
01/10/09, 10:49 pm
@8, read the article,
“Newell and Joe will meet in Sydney next week, with Newell donating the three-grand Joe raised to charity instead of using it for his trip.”
#11
ShiroGamer
01/10/09, 11:55 pm
this made my day
#12
Tonka
02/10/09, 11:09 am
/signs petition
#13
sennasnit
02/10/09, 12:03 pm
Fat TWAT