'Steam Box' was quite the buzz word in the PC gaming space in the past month or so. The thought of a Steam-created console brought all the Valve fanboys' happiness levels to new heights only to be squashed when Valve dismissed the rumors of the hardware console. However, a recent job posting on Valve's official site for an “Industrial Designer” paints a different picture from an internal point of view within the halls of Valve. The important bit to take from the listing is this paragraph:
“Valve is traditionally a software company. Open platforms like the PC and Mac are important to us, as they enable us and our partners to have a robust and direct relationship with customers. We’re frustrated by the lack of innovation in the computer hardware space though, so we’re jumping in. 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.”
After having read this it's hard to imagine that a company would feel so passionate about the hardware scene by making comments like the ones above without wanting to get their hands a bit dirty themselves. So, will we see the 'Steam Box' someday? Perhaps. It would be more than exciting to see what they have in mind for innovating the “basic input, the keyboard, and mouse”. This could be big people, let's keep our eyes and ears open on this one. Here's hoping that Valve keeps up with it's record of changing it's mind on this one topic.
