The lights are on
Last month, Gabe Newell, the boss-man over at Valve, was quoted as saying, "if we have to sell hardware we will." That sentiment may be closer to fruition than we all realized.
TheVerge.com has uncovered a number of difficult to verify, but believable rumors that all point to Valve entering the hardware race very soon. Apparently, Valve is working on spec hardware and software that other manufacturers would be able to license that will play PC games and support the Steam distribution system. Valve would be designing the hardware and software, but other companies would be producing it, sort of along the lines of DVD player technology. This would make Valve's hardware an open system much like what Google has been doing with Android phones. There are rumors that Alienware has already begun designing early prototypes.
The system will be open to many assorted controller inputs, but Valve filed a patent last year for a customizable controller with swappable control sticks, so it's likely that something like that would be the controller that would be included with the system.
The system is also rumored to incorporate biometric scanning at feedback, meaning Valve's system could be monitoring things like where the player is looking and what their pulse rate is, and incorporate that data into game design.
If this is all to be believed, which seems like an exciting prospect to me, we could hear something more concrete as early as next week at GDC, or a little bit later at E3.
None of these details have been confirmed by Valve, so file all of this under rumor, but it certainly makes sense. A fourth player in the console war, especially from a company like Valve who likes to open things up as much as possible to any and all interested applicants, could be a great thing. It also makes makes me wonder about Half-Life 3. When Half-Life 2 released, part of the deal of getting to play it was that you had to download Steam. Valve used Half-Life 2 as a way to get people to start using Steam. You know what a great way to get me to invest in a new home console would be? Putting Half-Life 3 on it.
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This is a great idea but I'm more for Valve pushing more of their cross platform games into the market. I love being able to play portal 2 on my ps3 with my friend who has it on an xbox. Get the next generation consoles to include a steam engine and we'll all win the Xbox and Ps3 will still have there exclusives but cross platform on more games would be insane and loved by all gamers. I know its just a dream and will probably never happen but dreams are how things get started.
Very, very interesting.
This just doesnt sound like VALVE.. VALVE is known for its amazing games like Team Fortress 1 and 2, Left 4 Dead 1 and 2, Half Life 1 and 2, Portal 1 and 2, etc.. So if there really trying to make a go at this console idea, I think its just going to flop.. There is to big of names out there to get into this industry especially when company is really only known for games not consoles.
The more rumors I heard about this so-called Valve home console, the more I feel my hopes for Half life 3 are plain vain.
You know what I see when I see this headline? "Rumor: Valve May Still Not Be Working On Half-Life 3."
hl3 is the console 0.o
Kyle... dude.. wtf. Thought you were on our side... Why would you give them incentive for a game that is so long overdue to now make it impossible to get for your standard game price...
valve will not be releasing Half-life 3 until the next round of consoles (which would include their own console if the above rumor turns out true). which is fine and dandy i want half-life3 to be the best game valve can possibly make it. plus with the list of games still to release this year ill have more than enough crap to keep me entertained until Half-life reemerges.
This definitely sounds interesting. I would like to see what Valve would come up with if they made a console. On a random note, what would happen if that guy in the screenshot above turned the valve that is in his eye?
He filed for a patent for a controller that's identical to the MLG controller?
Valve always have smart ideas
Steam's pretty awesome. I was skeptical for a long time but there's something cool about having all your games in one place. When you're a publisher the size of EA, though, there's no excuse.
If you really think about it, all Valve would be doing is becoming an indirect PC maker; nothing too special. In order to support Steam's catalogue, it would need to run Windows, and the hardware would have to be at the level of a gaming PC. If this is to be an "open platform" a la Android and they wouldn't actually be manufacturing the hardware themselves, then really they're just coming up with "approved" PC hardware configurations. The only major difference between this and the way the gaming/enthusiast PC market currently is is the theme of the marketing: the PCs have always been marketed at the angle of specs or price/performance ratio (why wouldn't they?), whereas the marketing for this would probably be a lot more centered around gaming itself.
I don't believe it. Valve is doing great with their Steam service, why would they take such a huge risk of developing a home console especially when competition is as tight as it is between Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo.
Very interesting. I have never been a big pc gamer, partially because I use my computer for work and try to avoid playing games on it. If a company were to put out a "console" that would let me play pc games without having to know anything about pc's then I would be sold.
This sounds amazing. All of the modding capability of a computer, and all of the simplicity of a console.
Only time will tell if this is a good idea or a failure. Either way, I must admit that I am excited to see what Valve can do.