Gabe Newell is on Reddit today and he’s got pictures to prove it.
Hours after speaking at the company’s Steam Dev Day, the Valve CEO hopped on his computer and posted on Reddit.
But he didn’t want to talk about video games. Newell, under the moniker “GabeNewellBellevue,” is spreading awareness about a Porsche 911 GT America he’s backing in the United SportsCar Championship.
Newell has partnered with the Seattle-based Heart of Racing team, which helps raise funds for the pediatric cardiology unit at Children’s Hospital through race competitions. The group has raised $5 million for pediatric cardiac care since 1997.
The funny part is that Newell actually tried to post in the r/gaming subReddit, but didn’t see much response — people probably didn’t think it the real Valve CEO — so Newell tried r/motorsports page and found more luck there.
One Redditor wanted Newell to prove that it was actually him behind the keyboard, so the Valve boss posted this photo.
He’s currently answering several questions and this is one of my favorite posts from Newell, in which he’s referring to the demands from Valve fans for Half Life 3 announcements:
When they asked me what number I wanted for the car I asked for “3” and they said “nope.” Irony.
One person asked if he gets annoyed with all the Half-Life 3 jokes:
Each 3 joke is one fewer fat joke, so bonus.
Another Redditor asked Newell about the best and worst parts of his job:
Best – the people I work with. Worst – Las Vegas.
Someone asked him to elaborate on Vegas, and Newell said: “I’ve been going to trade shows in Las Vegas since the early 80s, and I have post traumatic trade show disorder. I’m sure its a nice place to live.”
Also, someone asked about Newell’s first car:
1967 Ford Fairlane, two doors, baby blue.
And his current car:
My daily driver is a big of an odd car. It’s a 2014 Porsche Cayman with a 911s engine in it. It has the X51 powerkit, and some other mods, so it gets ~420 bhp at the wheels according to the dyno. It’s a fun track car while still being well behaved in stop-and-go I90 traffice.
On how long he’s been interested in racing:
Since I was a kid. Growing up in the Sacramento Valley in the 70s, we were all pretty big into cars. Of course I had to nerd out and be a fan of Bob Tullius’ Group 44 Jaguars instead of Corvettes/Camaros.
Finally, what drew him to this particular competition and the Heart of Racing team:
A bunch of people at Valve started racing at Pacific Raceway down in Kent. We got to know Don and Donna Kitch at the race school, and things snowballed from there. My son ended up at Children’s Hospital several times in his first year of life, so I was already a fan of their work.
Check out the thread here.
Hat tip to Kotaku
