By Jim Rossignol on April 13th, 2012 at 10:00 am.
The unblinking internet eye of Engadget has spotted a new job placement ad at Valve, appealing for an electronics engineer. It reads: “For years, Valve has been all about writing software that provides great gameplay experiences. Now we’re developing hardware to enhance those experiences, and you can be a key part of making that happen. Join our highly motivated team that’s doing hardware design, prototyping, testing, and production across a wide range of platforms. We’re not talking about me-too mice and gamepads here – help us invent whole new gaming experiences.” Valve previously denied a “Steam Box” gaming platform, and the wording of this new ad suggests this might be something else entirely. But what? To the Speculatotron! See below for some video-clues.
Valve R&D lab?
13/04/2012 at 10:09 jellydonut says:
Oh my.
Well, idk. ARM/x86? Clearly they’re making *some* sort of box.
If this is a handheld device I will murder myself.
13/04/2012 at 12:09 MrTambourineMan says:
Don’t forget to call me as well, we’ll put some serious Heaven’s gate shit together!
13/04/2012 at 12:35 vodka and cookies says:
At worst this could be just an extension of steam certified PC’s, remember Windows 8 will be running on Arm chipsets which you will only be able to buy pre-built no DIY systems.
At best they are planning some form of set top box that can tie into Steam library, have the PC do the heavy lifting and the STB display the output on your TV.
An actual game console would be a huge risk for Valve.
13/04/2012 at 13:48 MordeaniisChaos says:
What? How does that mean it’s some kind of box? The thing clearly mentions input devices, so it’s pretty clear what it’ll be. Hardware has to be made to work with software, and if you want that software to be on everything, then you have to include those things. Boxes don’t “enhance” the gaming experience.
13/04/2012 at 14:37 Zephro says:
Controllers also have ARM chips in them and X86 for the device drivers. Pretty simple.
14/04/2012 at 02:49 nzxnbv11 says:
Lenovo LePhone S760 Android 2.3 OS MSM7227T! The latest smart phones!New listing! Concession sales. $ 264.87! http://linkee.com/4fPvix
13/04/2012 at 10:10 Llewyn says:
Valve have already said many times that they’re working on things like biometric interfaces. I don’t see much need for the Speculatotron here.
13/04/2012 at 10:15 zeekthegeek says:
This. They’re experimenting with stuff but it’s ludicrous to speculate on anything beyond that.
13/04/2012 at 10:26 Shivoa says:
Yep, in the PAR interview from a month or two back they straight up confirmed their experimentation with novel input and output devices and Gabe’s love of all that stuff and playing with the new toys (and if no one else is bringing to market something they think would be cool then Valve might have to give it a go if they want to make games based on a new input or output device).
“You know, where some of the things we’re looking at longer term are just spending a lot of time thinking about input devices. We’re also looking at some of the emerging output technologies that are coming along and trying to figure out how much of an impact that they’re gonna have on our designs. So we mock stuff up in our hardware labs and try and figure out different, sort of game fragments and see how those things work.”
from Gabe via http://penny-arcade.com/report/editorial-article/valves-gabe-newell-talks-wearable-computers-rewarding-players-and-whether-w
13/04/2012 at 10:30 Simon Hawthorne says:
They clearly have a few Google Project Glass specs are are experimenting with mods http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-news-blog/2012/apr/05/google – seeing how to create a gaming interface. /rampantspeculation
13/04/2012 at 10:57 Zephro says:
This. The eurogamer one is full of inane speculation. But ARM chips are generally put inside controller devices etc, and knowing X86 is handy for doing device drivers. So unlikely to be anything other than control interfaces.
13/04/2012 at 10:25 hellwalker says:
well something like Onlive seems an obvious choice,
Steam could own it with cloud platform.
13/04/2012 at 10:44 klo3 says:
I’m not sure why you’d need a cloud based service. Why not just offer a subscription model to Steam, maybe a couple of tiers for example 10h, 25h and unlimited gaming a month? No need to invest in expensive tech and server farms. The games would be downloaded normally but somehow encrypted to work only the time limit you payed for. Of course you could still buy games normally if you wanted to… This could probably also be combined to a hardware platform.
I’m sure there’s many (researched) reasons why this wouldn’t work but there’s have to be many reasons why it would…
13/04/2012 at 11:15 RaveTurned says:
“I’m not sure why you’d need a cloud based service.”
Mobile devices. OnLive’s cloud-based framework means you can play triple-A games on your iTabletDevice or RobotPhone. All you need is support for something like a Bluetooth game-pad (if there isn’t one already?) and you’re set.
Steam’s mobile support amounts to chatting and buying games, but you can’t actually play them. Yet.
13/04/2012 at 18:18 SexualHarassmentPanda says:
You would first need a control device. I don’t care what you say, touch interfaces are not suitable for anything but simple arcade games.
13/04/2012 at 11:35 hellwalker says:
Manny AAA title publishers would hate that :D
Now you have to pay 59 for both games that last 6 hours and 200+ to unlimited.
definitely very few would pay 59 for 6 hour subscription to something (other than sex or Spaceship trip I guess),
cloud is interesting because End user does not have to own expensive hardware to run games.
13/04/2012 at 18:21 SexualHarassmentPanda says:
Steam already has a cloud platform. I doubt they would get into streaming lives games. It doesn’t make sense since a vast majority of their audience already own a gaming pc.
13/04/2012 at 10:36 D3xter says:
I hope they’re not really trying to do data gloves/”wearable computing” again: http://www.penny-arcade.com/report/editorial-article/valves-gabe-newell-talks-wearable-computers-rewarding-players-and-whether-w/
No, Gabe, bad Gabe, bad!
13/04/2012 at 12:11 MrTambourineMan says:
I like Gabe’s new style with grey beard and shit.
13/04/2012 at 16:58 gschmidl says:
If it’s Wearable Computing, “I’m quaking in my boots” gains a whole new meaning.
13/04/2012 at 10:37 Xzi says:
I know it’s a pipe dream, but I think Valve entering into the GPU market would be pretty awesome.
13/04/2012 at 10:45 sneetch says:
Oh, I think that sounds like a nightmare, there are enough problems with AMD, NVIDIA and Intel drivers and chipsets not playing well with each other, the last thing we need is a software company trying their hand too.
13/04/2012 at 20:51 Xzi says:
Well that’s exactly what I mean. Having a lot of software development experience themselves might help them to better support all the titles that Nvidia and AMD often fail to.
13/04/2012 at 10:41 phlebas says:
A control device that plugs directly into the back of your head. It’s wireless, with a distinctive red aerial.
13/04/2012 at 10:45 faillord_adam says:
And the Linux ad is gone…
Unless they hired someone?
13/04/2012 at 11:02 qd says:
Something that hasn’t been reported on RPS is that Valve is also pretty obviously researching the possiblity of a Linux Steam client and ports of some of their games and are hiring people: http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTA3OTY
Multiple people have emailed Gabe who confirmed it’s true, Ryan “icculus” Gordon (famous Linux games porter) turned down an interview/job offer because he didn’t want to move, and the owner of Phoronix was invited over to Valve and he’s going later this month.
13/04/2012 at 12:31 rustybroomhandle says:
Which brings up another thing to speculate about. Surely Microsoft would hate to have yet another non-pc device out there bleeding their xbox revenue. They’d likely charge Valve a hefty sum for OS licensing costs.
13/04/2012 at 11:00 sneetch says:
I’m hoping they put handles on a tablet, that’d drive the innovations through the roof!
13/04/2012 at 11:06 Staggy says:
These Valve ARGs are getting ridiculously complex.
13/04/2012 at 14:24 HothMonster says:
B.U.Y.O.L.V.A.L.T.I.N.E WTF!
13/04/2012 at 11:23 Gabe McGrath says:
I just want to mention the word ‘Gabecube’ again – not because I’m sure it’s likely,
but because I *love* the sound of it.
That’s all.
Oh, and I wish I’d thought it up, but I didn’t.
13/04/2012 at 11:29 Monkey says:
Half Life 3 Box Station
13/04/2012 at 11:54 torchedEARTH says:
Left Dead Station 4
13/04/2012 at 12:31 Lemming says:
So looking at that second video they drink Newkee Brown while working? No wonder Valve get fuck all done! ;-)
13/04/2012 at 12:39 princec says:
Fundamentally all Valve need to do is ship a cut-down console system based on a PC but bundled with controllers (hurrah!). You will have access to all your existing Steam titles. You won’t need to wank around finding drivers or getting games to work on it because Valve will QC titles for the system, and developers only have one major target to point at. Instantly a whole load of user support headaches are no longer a problem, and they can afford to sell top spec gaming hardware at a ridiculously low pricepoint because they can subsidise it with Steam. It will almost certainly run standard x86 chips in it – i5 is my bet, nothing ARM based – but the OS will be anyone’s guess. Linux would certainly be an interesting base but then it rules out 99% of the games you already own on Steam and that’s the most important value proposition Steam actually has.
So basically: you get a top spec dedicated gaming PC for Playstation money, and all your driver worries go away. I’ll be buying one.
13/04/2012 at 12:59 skinlo says:
I won’t, gamepads are awful, plus I already have a PC that I built myself that works fine.
Plus, ‘driver worries’ are over rated, they aren’t common at all, despite what some console owners like to believe.
13/04/2012 at 21:28 princec says:
Never mind what console owners think! It’s developers who have the problem, not owners.
13/04/2012 at 13:10 sneetch says:
“Instantly a whole load of user support headaches are no longer a problem, and they can afford to sell top spec gaming hardware at a ridiculously low pricepoint because they can subsidise it with Steam.”
I’m not seeing the “win” for Valve here… they subsidise PCs with Steam’s profits and get… what exactly? Apart from lower profits. Why subsidise anything? People already have PCs, their customers already have PCs so the only reason to sell a standard-spec Valve-branded PC (which is all you’re talking about really) would be to make them money not cost them money.
Also you don’t need hardware engineers for any of that.
13/04/2012 at 13:11 bear912 says:
I don’t want to sound like a curmudgeon, but if I wanted subsidized hardware I would buy a console.
13/04/2012 at 14:11 Vagrant says:
Truth! He speaks it. I dunno about the rest of you, but play computer games.
13/04/2012 at 13:58 dazman76 says:
None of that would require the electronics experience being requested, as Sneetch pointed out. Those skills are clearly ground-up hardware design and build skills – if you were making a high-spec PC, you’d just use existing processors, motherboards and RAM – absolutely no low-level electronics or thermal experience required.
13/04/2012 at 18:44 DrGonzo says:
That’s not simple, it would cost hundreds of millions at least.
13/04/2012 at 21:27 Net_Bastard says:
Sorry, but that sounds awful. If I wanted standardized gaming I’d get a console. Also, in my entire lifetime of PC gaming, I never had any trouble with drivers. PC gaming is not a minefield that involves driver tinkering for every game only for it to crash in 20 minutes, as much as console gamers would like to believe that.
13/04/2012 at 12:51 Roshin says:
Steam OS. I wants it.
13/04/2012 at 22:18 Khemm says:
You want Valve to have a total monopoly? They control 90% of PC gaming market already.
13/04/2012 at 13:47 lordcooper says:
Episode 3 is actually a console. You heard it here first.
13/04/2012 at 14:05 JayeRandom says:
They’re going to make buying hardware a condition of playing Ep3, aren’t they? Just like they used HL2 to make everyone install Steam…
13/04/2012 at 13:52 dazman76 says:
OMG Valve make HL333333333333333333!!!
Phew, sorry guys – really not sure where that came from. Well, I guess this could be quite interesting – or it could go the same way as Valve’s (previously) major franchise, which they’ve completely ABANDONED OMG make HL33333333333!
Lord, this is difficult. I better go and have a word with myself.
13/04/2012 at 16:44 Bork Titflopsen says:
Is that the same as ´giving yourself a hand´ ?
13/04/2012 at 14:11 Brun says:
Bet it’s hardware to support their biometric gaming research. My guess is that it’s a peripheral of some sort that will ship alongside one of their new games.
13/04/2012 at 18:22 SexualHarassmentPanda says:
This is the most likely suggestion I’ve seen.
13/04/2012 at 14:17 trjp says:
Valve have said, several times, they’re working on hardware to enable games to be played on bigger screens – specifically your TV in the living room.
They don’t need an engineer to design a mini-PC – I suspect they’re working on something which sends your games to your PC in some way (either OnLive-stylee or something like that – using your home network perhaps).
Now THAT is speculation which is interesting :)
13/04/2012 at 14:28 HothMonster says:
Its called “The Big Picture” mode. I believe its pretty much done already and just waiting on a release. It isn’t hardware, it just a steam interface for TVs that supports input modes other than K&M and yes the software to stream it around your house. Possibly a small piece of hardware so you can connect a TV that isn’t internet-ready to your network, like a cat5 input with a hdmi/component output.
http://www.joystiq.com/2011/02/28/steam-big-picture-mode/
http://www.steampowered.com/steamworks/thebigpicture.php
13/04/2012 at 14:30 sneetch says:
Something like these you mean?
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_6_8?url=search-alias%3Delectronics&field-keywords=pc+hdmi+wireless&sprefix=PC+HDMI+%2Celectronics%2C395
13/04/2012 at 14:19 Skabooga says:
Honestly, I’d settle for that crowbar controller.
13/04/2012 at 14:28 Merus says:
It sounds like Valve saw everyone freak out about the Steam box and they thought, ‘huh, I guess we should look into that’.
13/04/2012 at 15:39 ResonanceCascade says:
I’m interested to see what they have in store this E3. Rumors of new IPs and such have been brewing (I’m not expecting any Half-Life), so hopefully they have something new to show off with some of their new hardware ideas.
13/04/2012 at 15:40 ResonanceCascade says:
Wow! Not even in the right story. Ultra reply fail.
13/04/2012 at 15:55 Wyrm says:
They are obviously creating the big red “Brainvalve” PC-Cranium interface device.
13/04/2012 at 16:23 edit says:
Even some basic biofeedback could change gaming forever. Interested to see what they cook up.
13/04/2012 at 16:27 Novotny says:
Big bottoms, big bottoms – talk about mudflaps, my girl’s got em. Ah.
13/04/2012 at 16:44 Iskariot says:
Instead of news about Valve’s hardware plans, I would rather hear some news about Valve’s Half life plans.
13/04/2012 at 17:41 Vandelay says:
To add potential weight to the controller argument, Valve have worked quite closely with Sixense, the makers of the Razer Hydra. As well as allowing them early access to Portal 2 assets to create special Hydra levels, they are currently working on implementing direct motion control into other Source games.
If Valve worked with Sixense on motion controls, rather than the crummy support Razer have given, I would be very interested.
13/04/2012 at 18:05 noproblem says:
Wow I thought I recognised Jeri Ellsworth, she had a group on the element14 community. I had no idea she was working for Valve! I am really glad for her! It must be a dream job for a dream company!
13/04/2012 at 21:15 jellydonut says:
Mystery solved: wearable computing. http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/abrash/
This is what they’re hiring for, and it’s what those clever people whom you didn’t expect to see at Valve (Ellsworth and Abrash for instance) are working on.
14/04/2012 at 00:26 fitzroy_doll says:
That’s a hell of a post.
14/04/2012 at 01:27 Wubbles says:
Half-Life 2: Episode 3 console confirmed???
14/04/2012 at 04:40 Streambeta says:
This is EXACTLY what I was thinking Valve was going to do when they first announced they were going to do some hardware stuff. Then out of nowhere all the gaming sites had to through around that stupid rumor of a “Steam box”, which made zero sense at all.
14/04/2012 at 06:02 Jambe says:
I invite you all to watch the videos of this guy:
http://www.youtube.com/user/bkraz333
He is Ben Krasnow, and is the “I can’t believe we get paid for doing this” fellow in the second video in Jim’s post. He’s also an employee of Valve.
15/04/2012 at 09:21 Cryo says:
Edible clothing + wearable computing = EDIBLE COMPUTING.