We’re waiting for you, Valve. In the sweat chamber. Show us what your mad wearable computing tech can do, instead of all this teasing. Latest report is that they’ve come up with kit which can measure assorted bodily responses, including heart rate, facial expression, brain waves, eye movement, pupil dilation, body temperature and, indeed, sweatability. Based on how you appear to be feeling, the game will alter factors such as difficulty and intensity to suit.
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Gabe Newell doesn’t just spend his time making himself look like Austrian Santa Claus – he also heads up gaming software titan Valve. And, soon, gaming hardware titan Valve. Their ‘Steambox‘ PC-as-a-console concept isn’t a secret anymore, and indeed Newell now claims the first units might well be in the wild within the next three to four months.
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Valve’s designing its own hardware. This has been known – in various forms – for quite some time. But, more and more, it sounds like Gabe Newell’s mighty lair in the (kinda occasionally) frigid wastes of Bellevue, Washington is converting into full-on Santa’s magical toy shop mode. Admittedly, wearable computing‘s still the stuff crazy future fever dreams are made of, but in the meantime, Valve’s churning out prototypes right and left. Its goal? “To make Steam games more fun to play in your living room.” And, according to a new report, a lucky few of us will get to continue Steam’s slow-but-sure conquest of our homes as soon as next year.
RPS Feature Valve Time Machine
Valve enjoys keeping secrets. And while I’m beginning to suspect that Half-Life 3 will ultimately turn out to be a giant ray gun that erases all memories of the Half-Life franchise from our brains forever, there’s one thing Valve’s been uncharacteristically upfront about: its fascination with the future. Wearable computing, augmented reality, and – perhaps most pertinently, given recent extremely promising developments – virtual reality. During QuakeCon, I got the chance to sit down with Valve’s most vocal proponent of these new technologies, programming legend Michael Abrash. However, while Valve’s obviously putting some serious work into breaking new technological ground, Abrash was quick to point out that it’s still all in service of a singular end goal: entertainment.
Valve doesn’t like to say things. Where’s Half-Life 2: Episode Three? Silence. Why has Left 4 Dead 2’s Cold Stream DLC taken nearly a year? Silence. What does Gordon Freeman’s voice sound like? Silence. Yesterday, though, a Valve job listing seeking out new hardware tech wizards for its shadowy developer coven got the whole Internet talking. And, somewhat shockingly, Valve’s decided to talk back.
