Valve on Source 2: "We just update Source - not replace it"

For an engine that feels like it's been around for half of my life, Valve's Half-Life-2-powering Source Engine could be doing a whole hell of a lot worse.

For an engine that feels like it's been around for half of my life, Valve's Half-Life-2-powering Source Engine could be doing a whole hell of a lot worse. Even so, the likes of Portal 2 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive probably aren't pushing your PC to take up a part-time job as a very large, angular stove top.

Point being, Source is past its prime, and gamers want to see what magical crowbar-rendering tech Valve can pull out of its hat next. According to Chet Faliszek, however, Valve's in no rush to make another big leap any time soon.

"[We] just update [Source] - not just replace it," he told GamingLives. "At some point we may say there's Source 2 or whatever, but really for us there's been a pretty easy way to keep it and understanding the tools. When you replace an engine, you're replacing the tools and the way that people work, there's an expense in man hours and people learning and people getting up on it right."

Well, at least you still have a nice early 2012 CSGO release date to take the edge off, right? OK, I apologize. I just used my rhetorical questioning powers for evil. Faliszek continued:

"The beta will tell us [when it's launching]. We're seeing that now with the Cold Stream DLC from Left 4 Dead 2, people are mad it's taking so long. But when you get feedback from the community, you can't just make a change and say it's fixed. You have to change it and let people adapt to playing with that change, and then base your next work off that."

Which is, admittedly, a bummer. Honestly, though, I'll still take "Slow and steady wins the race" over "Hey, look, some wolves! Let's throw RAGE to them" any day of the week. Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but isn't "when it's done" supposed to imply that the final release is, you know, done ?