Valve Releases Nvidia-Exclusive Portal Demo

Valve has joined with Nvidia to create a new Portal demo available exclusively to PC users who own GeForce display adapters.

Called Portal: First Slice, the demo is freely available to all owners of Nvidia hardware via Steam, which will autodetect the presence of GeForce video cards and make the demo immediately available. A link to the Steam offer will also be included with all Nvidia driver releases.

Doug Lombardi of Valve said, "More Steam gamers, including myself, play on Nvidia hardware than any other GPU. That's a testament to the company's long history of innovation and quality. By working together with Nvidia to expand our development, distribution and marketing efforts, we're increasing our ability to serve the millions of Nvidia customers logging onto Steam and help us prepare for our next generation of content."

"Valve's endorsement of our technology and tools is yet another example of how the world's leading gaming companies are working with Nvidia," added Nvidia Vice President of Content Relations Roy Taylor. "Portal is the hottest new, award-winning title from Valve, and we're delighted that Valve will offer First Slice exclusively to GeForce customers."

The two companies say they will continue working together throughout the coming year, both in support of competitive Counter-Strike and Team Fortress 2 events as well as to "define and support the breakthrough features of tomorrow's games and graphics hardware." More information about the Portal: First Slice offer is available at www.steamgames.com/nvidia1.

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I'm out of the PC gaming world now mostly, but this is slightly disconcerting. A demo isn't a big deal, but take this a step further and you suddenly have to worry about which graphics card works with which game.

I would note the superiority of consoles, but since I'm in the process of sending my Xbox 360 back, I won't.

Odd as Valve has usually supported ATI in the past.

I recall hearing a few times that ATI is planning to drop out of competition with nVidea soon and focus exclusively on onboard graphics and consoles, etc. Which means I'll finally have to "go green" *tear* I hope this is just baseless rumors...

ditchell:
I'm out of the PC gaming world now mostly, but this is slightly disconcerting. A demo isn't a big deal, but take this a step further and you suddenly have to worry about which graphics card works with which game.

I would note the superiority of consoles, but since I'm in the process of sending my Xbox 360 back, I won't.

If you go to the AMD gaming website, you'll hear countless complaints about problems with games being supported. Many, many games are made with Nvida video cards in mind, and it seems like there are countless problems with ATI video cards rendering these games.

It's easy for me not to care about what kind of video card to have for this. My current card is an Nvidia. The top-of-the-line is currently Nvidia. Nvidia is the most popular right now.

ditchell:
I'm out of the PC gaming world now mostly, but this is slightly disconcerting. A demo isn't a big deal, but take this a step further and you suddenly have to worry about which graphics card works with which game.

I would note the superiority of consoles, but since I'm in the process of sending my Xbox 360 back, I won't.

Valve has done this many times in the past, only with ATI cards. Not too long ago they gave out HL2 Deathmatch and Lost Coast to ATI users. Also, if you look at the video options in TF2 it even has a big ATI Radeon "recommended" logo on it. The Source engine was always optimized for ATI, while the UT and Quake engines for nVidia. Looks like a big loss for ATI.

Satertek:
Valve has done this many times in the past, only with ATI cards. Not too long ago they gave out HL2 Deathmatch and Lost Coast to ATI users. Also, if you look at the video options in TF2 it even has a big ATI Radeon "recommended" logo on it. The Source engine was always optimized for ATI, while the UT and Quake engines for nVidia. Looks like a big loss for ATI.

They had some recent contract issues where HL2:EP2 was using ATI special effects, when it was built for Nvidia. This may be Valve's retaliation.

Ironically, there's a little ATI logo at the bottom right of the portal homepage.

http://orange.half-life2.com/portal.html

THE GEFORCE IS A LIE!

I didn't know how far ATI had fallen. I always liked them better than nvidia- one of my early cards was an All-In-Wonder which I thought was the coolest thing ever.

Regardless of which card manufacturer has better cards, I hope ATI are going to make a serious comeback, as we need competition in this field. See Intel vs. AMD for reference.

I also seem to recall that when HL2 came out, it had some sort of bundle with Radeon cards.

th15:
Ironically, there's a little ATI logo at the bottom right of the portal homepage.

http://orange.half-life2.com/portal.html

THE GEFORCE IS A LIE!

It's real, I downloaded it last night. Won't run however, have to get it working.

th15:
Ironically, there's a little ATI logo at the bottom right of the portal homepage.

http://orange.half-life2.com/portal.html

THE GEFORCE IS A LIE!

+1 lol

Despite their violent behaviour , the only thing they've managed to break so far are hearts of people who stick with ATI :)