X

Half-Life creator wins BAFTA Fellowship, says thanks to UK

Valve's CEO Gabe Newell will be honoured at the ceremony on 5 March, joining gaming greats Peter Molyneux and Shigeru Miyamoto.

Joe Svetlik Reporter
Joe has been writing about consumer tech for nearly seven years now, but his liking for all things shiny goes back to the Gameboy he received aged eight (and that he still plays on at family gatherings, much to the annoyance of his parents). His pride and joy is an Infocus projector, whose 80-inch picture elevates movie nights to a whole new level.
See full bio
Joe Svetlik
2 min read

Valve's CEO Gabe Newell -- the man behind legendary gaming series Half-Life, Left 4 Dead, and Portal -- will be awarded an Academy Fellowship at this year's British Academy Games Awards (the gaming BAFTAs). And to show how grateful he is, he's said thanks to us Brits.

"It is an honour for myself and everyone at Valve to be presented such an award by one of the world's most respected and recognised organisations," he said in a statement.

"Valve owes a tremendous thanks to many in the UK -- to those who have played our games, to the great support of the UK press, and to UK-based creative contributors such as Garry Newman [who made Garry's Mod, a toolset for tweaking games on online service Steam].

"I look forward to accepting this prestigious honour on behalf of everyone in our community."

The Fellowship is the highest accolade BAFTA has, so it doesn't just dole it out to anyone. Previous Fellows include gaming luminaries Peter Molyneux, Shigeru Miyamoto and Will Wright.

Harvey Elliot, chair of BAFTA's games committee, praised Newell's contribution to the industry as "unique", saying he's "very different" to many others that BAFTA could recognise.

"As well as enjoying great critical and commercial success with phenomenally popular franchises such as Portal and Half-Life, his work in giving back to the games industry through developing and showcasing other games makers has been outstanding," Elliot said. "He is an inspirational developer and truly deserving of our Fellow recognition."

The ceremony will take place on 5 March as the London Hilton, Park Lane.

Valve has previously won BAFTAs for Left 4 Dead, Left 4 Dead 2, and Portal. The company is working on its own gaming PC -- known as the Steam Box -- that'll be pretty enough to sit in your lounge, unlike most tower PCs. And with its Steam platform already the biggest games service available, with more than 50 million subscribers, it could well blow the PS4 and Xbox 720 out of the water.

Are you excited about the Steam Box? With it and the threat from throwaway games on mobiles and tablets, can consoles still compete? Let me know in the comments, or on our Facebook page.