Steam to have every PC game ever, including LucasArts classics

Posted at: 11:22am 23rd November 2007 by Ben Hardwidge

Gabe Newell reveals that he wants Steam to offer a complete gaming timeline

Retro gaming is proving to be a lucrative business at the moment, with Nintendo plugging life support systems into old NES dinosaurs on the Wii Virtual Console, while Steam is similarly offering up old relics such as Hexen and Doom for PC gamers. Apparently, this is only the beginning, though, as Valve's founder, Gabe Newell, has revealed that he wants Steam to offer an entire archive of PC gaming.

In an interview with Rock, Paper, Shotgun, Newell said that ‘I expect we’ll go back in time and eventually pretty much every game that’s ever been available will be on there 24/7.’ Not only that, but Newell also said that the list could include old LucasArts classics, such as Day of the Tentacle and The Secret of Monkey Island. ‘Sure, those are some great games,’ said Newell when asked about them.

Newell also agreed with the interviewer that showing the popularity of LucasArts adventures could shift the developer’s focus away from ‘Star Wars’ cash-ins. ‘Any chance we have go back and be reminded what was good is important to a game developer,’ said Newell, ‘I mean we go to E3 each year and see the flavour of the month right now, and see it repeated four hundred times, so it’s refreshing to be able to look back and play the games that got us all into the games industry in the first place.’

Newell’s top titles that he wants Steam to offer are Ultima Underworld, as well as an obscure old PC title from the 486 days, called Shadowcaster. Newell described the game as ‘really sophisticated,’ so we’re assuming he’s forgotten all about the game’s awkward movement system, as well as its tendency to lock up. Nevertheless, it would be great to be able to play some of those old games again with the convenience of Steam.

The main problem that Newell sees for his plans for an archive of PC gaming history is that in some cases ‘the waters are muddied and companies have gone out of business.’ Newell says that makes things ‘difficult.’

Would you be interested in playing some old PC classics again, and seeing what’s been improved over the years, as well as what’s possibly been lost? Do you have a soft spot for retro gaming, or do you feel queasy at the sight of over-sized pixels and beepy music? Let us know your thoughts.

Via Kotaku