Gabe Newell has done me a personal favor. Valve is amazing.

My wife is due with our first child in March. We don't know the sex of the kid, we really want it to be a surprise. One of the things I've been really looking forward to, is finding out what the baby is, so I could buy a one of the TF2 baby onesies on the Valve store; one with a Heavy for a boy, and one with a Pyro for a girl.

My wife went to the Valve store a couple of weeks ago, and noticed the onesies were gone. Sure enough, they'd been discontinued.

So, I did what any sane person would do. I emailed Gabe Newell:

My Email Sent directly to Gabe Newell
*********************************************
Good afternoon Mr. Newell,

My name is ^^^^^^^^^^. My wife and I are due to have our first child in March. For the last 8 months I have been eagerly awaiting the opportunity to buy my child a TF2 onesie that, until recently, was available on the Valve store. There were two available; a boy's, featuring the Heavy, and (presumably) a girl's, featuring the Pyro.

The problem is, my wife and I decided not to find out the sex of our baby, so I didn't know which one to buy. Last week, my wife went to the store to buy them both, but found out they were no longer available. Needless to say, I was very disappointed.

So, if it's not too much trouble, I was wondering if you could help me out by possibly putting me in contact with someone who could answer one or more of the following questions:

  1. I would love to be able to purchase one or both of the aforementioned onesies. Is that in any way possible?
  2. If it isn't possible, could I get an copy of the images used to make them? I know that this is probably not possible for many, many reasons, and I'm almost embarrassed to ask, but it would mean a lot.
  3. If neither of those are possible, I would like to request that those items be put back on the store.

On a separate note, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you, and Valve Software for all that you do. First and foremost, I love the games. They are consistently the best I play. I also want to thank you for your vision and persistence in establishing STEAM. I truly believe that digital distribution is the future of video games, and I'm so glad that Valve is able to provide such an amazing example of success to the rest of the industry.

More specifically, I want to thank you for all that STEAM has done for PC Gaming. The PC is my platform of choice, and I really dread to think about where PC Gaming would be with out STEAM. Finally, congratulations on receiving the Game Developers Conference Pioneer Award. It is well-deserved. Please extend my thanks and congratulations to everyone at Valve Software.

Sincerely,

^^^^^^^^^^
**********************************************
End Email

Today I received a support ticket notice telling me my request had been logged. Then I got a follow-up from a support rep saying they had a few of the onesies left in the warehouse, and they would send me one complimentarily.

Just amazing.

That's awesome! At least he didn't boycott your child's birth.

IMAGE(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/___1FrkCwxA0/RxP5_ml3GnI/AAAAAAAAAKc/sUUaPop5UbQ/s400/respekKnuckles.jpg)

Minarchist wrote:

That's awesome! At least he didn't boycott your child's birth. :D

Win.

Plant.

That is wonderful. I wish they had some cool TF2 onesies when my son was in them 4 years ago.

That's awesome. *double thumbs up*

[quote=Heavy Weapons Guy]ENTIRE TEAM IS BABIES!

It's amazing what a well written letter can get you. I think a lot of people forget what a kind word and just asking nicely will get a lot of stuff done.

Congrats!

Now .. what the hell is a TF2 onesie?

Cool stuff. I've gotta take the opportunity to point out my favorite onesie that I only wish had been available when my kids were born.

You have some kind of crazy self restraint in deciding to let the baby's sex be a surprise. My wife and I were pestering them to tell us both of ours as soon as they could.

That's pretty friggin' cool.

Please tell me the onesie says "Cry little baby! Cry some more!" on it.

The heavy one was this print: http://store.valvesoftware.com/tf2/t...

I can't find the pyro one.

Onesies are the outfits babies wear that look like a t-shirt with snaps at the bottom/crotch. The cool ones say things like I <3 Boobies and I Still Live With My Parents.
TF2 ones just have pictures relating to TF2 on them.

It's also a huge pain in the butt to try to keep it secret now-a-days. You see so many nurses/doctors/techs that sooner or later someone slips.

Eezy_Bordone wrote:

It's also a huge pain in the butt to try to keep it secret now-a-days. You see so many nurses/doctors/techs that sooner or later someone slips.

Elycion wrote:

You have some kind of crazy self restraint in deciding to let the baby's sex be a surprise. My wife and I were pestering them to tell us both of ours as soon as they could.

Yeah, our families kind of hate us right now for keeping it a secret, but we just kind of agreed simultaneously that we'd like it to be a surprise. I have to say, I'm really looking forward to the "It's a [gender]" moment.

That is very cool! And I don't know how you can wait that long to know the gender of the baby.

As someone who had two surprises, I find it incredible that folks can't fathom not wanting to know. (My own mother wanted the OB to put a note in an envelope and mail it to her. We vetoed.)

Cool story Lex. They pyro one should work well during the mumble phase.

I kinda want to get this one for my kid when he and or she pops out in August. Hopefully it will be available then.

Awesome story!

Much man love for the Newell

Did you follow up with an angry email wondering where HL2: Episode 3 was? that would have rounded it off quite nicely.

So that's how you get decent support out of Valve!

Parallax Abstraction wrote:

So that's how you get decent support out of Valve! :)

Hmm, good thinking. I'll give it a shot...

Good morning Mr. Newell,

My name is Gravey. For the last 27 months I have been eagerly awaiting the opportunity to buy Half-Life 2: Episode 3 that, until recently, was rumoured to be available in 2010. There have been two episodes released; one released in 2006, and the other in 2007.

The problem is, for episodic content, it is not being released in an episodic timeframe. Last week, I read in Game Informer that Episode 3 or a refashioned Half-Life 3 will not be available this year. Needless to say, I was very disappointed.

So, if it's not too much trouble, I was wondering if you could help me out by possibly putting me in contact with someone who could answer one or more of the following questions:

1. I would love to be able to purchase Episode 3 or a Half-Life 3. Is that in any way possible?
2. If it isn't possible, could you fly me to Washington to beta (or alpha) test the build? I know that this is probably not possible for many, many reasons, and I'm almost embarrassed to ask, but it would mean a lot.
3. If neither of those are possible, I would like to request that you finish the damn game soon.

Sincerely,
Gravey

Still waiting to hear back, fingers crossed!

when I have a kid, once they are cognitive enough they will either hate or love video games as I intend on dressing him/her/it in pretty much just video game branded clothing. There will be no middle ground after the exposure I am intending

Say one good thing about steam and its inevitable to have someone make an EP3 jibe..lol

Gravey wrote:

EP3 Letter

Also, threaten to have a baby if he doesn't meet your demands.

For those who still care, I got my package in the mail yesterday. They sent me two of each one. They're actually t-shirts, not onesies, but they sent a 12-18 month and 18-24 month in both the Heavy and the Pyro. Also, it says "Cry some more." on the back of the heavy shirt.

Lex Cayman wrote:

For those who still care, I got my package in the mail yesterday. They sent me two of each one. They're actually t-shirts, not onesies, but they sent a 12-18 month and 18-24 month in both the Heavy and the Pyro. Also, it says "Cry some more." on the back of the heavy shirt.

awesome, now we require pics with the kid in the outfit!

Lex Cayman wrote:

Also, it says "Cry some more."

Hilarious!

It's nice when people act like people.

Yeah, but I prefer when people act nice.

mrwynd wrote:
Lex Cayman wrote:

For those who still care, I got my package in the mail yesterday. They sent me two of each one. They're actually t-shirts, not onesies, but they sent a 12-18 month and 18-24 month in both the Heavy and the Pyro. Also, it says "Cry some more." on the back of the heavy shirt.

awesome, now we require pics with the kid in the outfit!

Yes please. I laughed out loud at the "cry some more." That's just adorable on a baby. Love it!

Heavy -> engineer: I hear someone building diaper changing station!

Totally awesome story. My baby (see sig) is still wearing onesies, but I don't think I've played enough TF2 to dress her in its gear.

Now, if only they made Dragon Age onesies..."My dad ignored me to play DA:O for 80 hours, and all I got was this stupid t-shirt."