Sounds like they might not be jumping in the deep end with a full on console or critical hardware, but instead going for the periphery market. Keyboards, mice, game pads etc... might be their primary focus early on. It could be a neat earner for them.


If they went console direction - eh - I just don't see it. That is a hard market to break into now with the PS3 and XBox dominating the field. If they could break into that market they would need to have a slew of developers on board to have a powerful release into the field with a great opening of games. Not impossible, but certainly would drain resources and could fail utterly if they don't have the on release titles to their name.

PC hardware side - eh - they could try to compete with Alienware and go for full custom builds and computer hardware of their own. A big step, but I would argue more in line with the company and its current features and services than jumping ship to the console market. Plus fairly light competition with only Alienware really being the big "Games machine" making company.

I think it will likely be something I won't be interested in.

I guess you lose the flexibility but I think it's worth it if they leave their hardware open when it comes to gamer.

Speaking of Apple, yes they have that advantage but their prices? Not so much. Your last point about specific computer part issue, I think you can send it in for repair but considering it's apple, their prices will not be ideal for gamers.

I'm with you on this one. Seems like they're more interested in being a distributer than a developer at this point.

Well, if this makes at least a part of "no steam - no sale crowd" sod off and leave PC gaming communities, I'm all for it.

This made me lol.

I admit that will be problematic.

Valve didn't confirm that, the article misinterprets the entire thing.

The hardware production at valve is research & development. It might turn into real products later, but no one knows what it'll be of it will actually happen. They're hiring people for it simply because they have the money to spend on people to tinker around with circuit boards and screwdrivers.

What Valve have confirmed is that they want to enter the hardware space and so are looking into the possibility of doing so.

When a Valve-branded circuit board is announced for $99, that's when Valve confirms it's entering the hardware space.

Still though it could happen judging Valve's dislike of Windows 8

Personally, I would like it if someone developed a PC-Console that allowed the owner to easily swap hardware for different pieces. My biggest worry when fooling around with installing parts into my computer is crushing a crucial capacitor or otherwise killing the hardware, so having computer components that work like console cartridges would be very nice for me.

My guess is they are more interested in peripherals than making a dedicated console. Mainly from the part that said:

"We're frustrated by the lack of innovation in the computer hardware space though, so we're jumping in," Valve declares. "Even basic input, the keyboard and mouse, haven't really changed in any meaningful way over the years. There's a real void in the marketplace, and opportunities to create compelling user experiences are being overlooked."

That sounds like them wanting more gimmicky controls like the wii-remote and kinect for PC. Which holds no interest for me. I am happy with kb/mouse and a controller as my options. I have a Wii, but only a few games that can't be played with the classic controller, and no kinect or a ps-move.

If they are making a console then, imo, they are in for a shock if they think Half Life 3 or whatever will make it a huge success. They may have a big fanbase on PC, but that won't translate to moving large numbers of consoles. Plus I doubt retailers will be lining up to sell a no used games, no rentals, (almost) always online system. The PSP Go says hi.

It's an operating system that is specifically designed for playing games. You can install on a PC along with a Windows or Linux OS, or (if you are a hardcore gamer) you can just have the gaming OS on your system.

I wrote a huge post, but decided to delete it... one word expresses my opinion... "meh".

Unless they introduce something that can compete with either ASUS' range of G7X laptops, or Microsoft's Surface Pro, don't really care.
Its the Store they dislike, because it would cut away from their casual market... if anything, they should like the OS as their games run better on it compared to previous Windows OSes.

my money is on some horse shit like this.

look, denying that Gabe is trying to get back into the OS market is silly: the leak about the Steambox was one thing, the leak about the steam box + Valve's sudden support of Linux (as if the Linux just popped up on the market the other night) + announcing that they will start selling non-entertainment software through Steam + opening up a hardware engineering department ... come the fuck on man, stop sticking your head in the sand like an ostrich.

Gabe is aiming to start up his own OS platform, and is most likely planing on doing it by hijacking the Linux kernel to tie into a proprietary hardware specification; that way he can get away with mooching open source software and running it as a closed source platform.