Gabe Newell speaks of collaboration with JJ Abrams on either a game or film project

The subject of the keynote was the different strengths and weaknesses of storytelling between games and film. Newell argued that while Abrams could create compelling stories with film his viewers had no agency. Abrams countered by pointing to moments in Half Life where the player was free to move around a room but was essentially listening to two other characters speaking exposition.

While the tone of The Verge's live blog was light, there was a sense of the frustration of both medium's limitations. It may be that this is the root of the closing remarks from both men, that they wish to work on a collaborative project. Abrams told Newell that "There's an idea for a game that we'd really like to work with Valve on" and Newell responded, saying "We're super excited about that and we also want to talk about making movies, either a Portal movie or a Half-Life movie." He also said that the conversation that had formed their keynote was a recapitulation of previous conversations. This suggests that the projects they both have in mind may be beyond the early planning stages.

Expect to hear more soon.