Respected tech reporter Joshua Topolsky is putting it all out there over at The Verge, reporting that the chatter about Valve Software getting into the hardware business isnāt a tease.
He says Valve is making a console and that weāre going to be finding out about it soon, maybe next week at the Game Developers Conference, or maybe in June at E3.
This oneās wild.
The Valve consoleāwhich seems like more of a hardware standard than say, a Steam 64 or ValveStationāwould be a set-top box that can run PC games and use Steam or even competing services such as Origin, according to the report. Unlike the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3, multiple manufacturers could be allowed to make it. Game developers wouldnāt have to pay for a licensing fee to Valve for the privilege of making games for this console, bucking the standards of Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft, which charge game creators to make games on theirs.
The box would support configurable game controllers as well as a bracelet or some other sensor that would incorporate a playerās biometric data to affect games (similar to how Nintendoās never-released Vitality Sensor was supposed to read a players bloodflow and stress to tweak the way a game played out in real-time.)
https://lastchance.cc/wii-vitality-sensor-too-mellow-for-e3-5564461%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Apparently meetings were held during CES to demo a hand-built version of the device to potential partners. Weāre told that the basic specs of the Steam Box include a Core i7 CPU, 8GB of RAM, and an NVIDIA GPU. ..
Part of the goal of establishing a baseline for hardware, weāre told, is that it will give developers a clear lifecycle for their products, with changes possibly coming every three to four years. Additionally, there wonāt be a required devkit, and there will be no licensing fees to create software for the platform.
Topolsky builds his case by combining the rumors heās heard with recent statements from Valve boss Gabe Newell about a willingness for Valve to make hardware and a wariness about the expanding influence of Appleās closed, tightly-controlled app store.
Valve has earned legions of admirers for their games (Half-Life, Portal) as well as for Steam, the leading PC gaming service for connecting players and selling games online.
Read the whole Verge piece. Weāve asked Valve for comment, and our ears are certainly perked up. If we hear more about this from anyone, weāll let you know.
Soā¦ maybe Valve was saving the next Half-Life to launch on their first console? Couldnāt be!
Exclusive: Valve said to be working on āSteam Boxā gaming console with partners, could announce at GDC [The Verge]
