Valve cofounder Gabe Newell going to be a hall of famer

Valve Corporation president and cofounder Gabe Newell will be the 17th inductee into the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame and will present the keynote speech at the 2013 D.I.C.E. Summit, the AIAS today announced.

Newell is being honored for developing the Source game engine and the digital distribution platform Steam. He will also be recognized for his contributions to interactive entertainment. Valve’s portfolio of critically acclaimed games, which includes titles such as Portal, Left 4 Dead, and Counter-Strike, has sold over 70 million retail units worldwide. The company’s début title, Half-Life, which first launched in 1998, earned over 50 Game of the Year awards and was named “Best PC Game Ever” in the November 1999, October 2001, and April 2005 issues of PC Gamer.