It's not an official confirmation but it's probably about as close as we'll get for now.
Rumors of Valve's plans for a Steam Box console have been doing the rounds for a while now. Things got started back in February when Gabe Newell said in an interview that while Valve had no reason to believe it was any good at selling hardware, they had to continue to innovate, and if that meant developing and selling hardware, then so be it. Today, a job posting points to the existence of said hardware, which could be either a game console or a PC.
A job posting for an Electronics Engineer over at Valve says in no uncertain terms that the company is looking to get into the hardware game.
"For years, Valve has been all about writing software that provides great gameplay experiences," the post reads. "Now we're developing hardware to enhance those experiences, and you can be a key part of making that happen."
Just in case that leaves any room for doubt, the posting continues, "We're not talking about me-too mice and gamepads here – help us invent whole new gaming experiences," with an invite to join a "highly motivated team that's doing hardware design, prototyping, testing, and production across a wide range of platforms."
Valve says interested applicants will be required to have hands on prototyping experience, lab and measurement skills, system-level design experience, knowledge of embedded systems/microcontrollers, experience with high speed serial interfaces, experience with schematic entry, and experience with circuit simulation. Additionally, the company would like if the candidate also had an idea of doard layout (analog and high speed digital), Hardware Definition Languages (HDL) for FPGA and chip design, and a whole host of other things (including experience with thermal management and ARM / X86 system design).
Hit up Valve for full details. There's also a screenshot below in case the job posting is pulled (click through to zoom).
Jane McEntegart is a writer, editor, and marketing communications professional with 17 years of experience in the technology industry. She has written about a wide range of technology topics, including smartphones, tablets, and game consoles. Her articles have been published in Tom's Guide, Tom's Hardware, MobileSyrup, and Edge Up.
A Bad DayWhile you're at creating a new console, where's our HL2 Ep3 or HL3?
that will be a launch title, how else will they get everyone with a pc to get this?
If what they are doing is going to basically be a PC at heart but with a set specification etc i could see this going well as it will make pc gaming homogenous with console gaming as the game would be the same, just if it detects the console pc it will use a specific rendering path etc and the pc version can be the full deal with maximum graphical control and your bog standard pc game scheme etc.
>> that will be a launch title, how else will they get everyone with a pc to get this?
Everyone minus 1. That would be the day I bought a console because I wanted to play HL2 Ep3. Moreover, an HL2 Ep3 that was an exclusive to said console! I'd just stick it to the Man. I don't need another company moving to console exclusives.
mauller07If what they are doing is going to basically be a PC at heart but with a set specification etc i could see this going well as it will make pc gaming homogenous with console gaming as the game would be the same, just if it detects the console pc it will use a specific rendering path etc and the pc version can be the full deal with maximum graphical control and your bog standard pc game scheme etc.it's called ps3 with linux.
__-_-_-__it's called ps3 with linux.
That does not mean it can play games due to the ps3 using a completely different processor architecture, as long as they make their system based on x86 then the homogenous software can work if written correctly.
