X-Nico

3 unusual facts about Valve Corporation


Yanis Varoufakis

Beginning in March 2012, Varoufakis became Economist-in-Residence at Valve Corporation, a major video game company, where he researched the digital economies that spontaneously take shape within the borderless communities of video game players.

He is an active participant in the current debates on the global and European crisis, the author of The Global Minotaur, a Professor of Economic Theory at the University of Athens and a private consultant for Valve Corporation.

Zero-point energy

In the critically acclaimed game series from Valve Corporation, Half-Life, a "zero-point energy field manipulator" (popularly known as 'gravity gun'), meant to handle sensitive, anomalous and hazardous materials, is used as both a weapon to throw objects at enemies in high speeds, as a primary attack, and a tool to solve physics puzzles consisting in moving objects of considerable weight.


Digital distribution in video games

In 2004 the Valve Corporation released the Steam platform for Windows computers (later expanded to Mac OS and Linux) as a means to distribute Valve-developed video games.

Kaci Aitchison

In August 2013, Kaci served as back-stage host for The International, an annual Dota 2 tournament hosted by Valve Corporation, providing fan and player interaction outside of the main event without prior knowledge of the game.

Multiplayer online battle arena

In October 2009, IceFrog, who continued to develop DotA: Allstars, was hired by Valve Corporation, in order to design a sequel to the original map.

Paul Marino

Using Valve Corporation's first-person shooter Half-Life 2, he created I'm Still Seeing Breen, a 2005 music video set to Breaking Benjamin's song "So Cold".

Quantum Conundrum

Kim Swift was one of the developers of Valve Corporation's 2007 Portal video game, an extension of her student team project Narbacular Drop from the DigiPen Institute of Technology.

Taylor Knox

In addition to surfing, Knox was also involved with the video game Left 4 Dead released by Valve Corporation in 2008.


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