SteamBigPictureMode
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Valve's testing a new look for Steam on TVs
The November release of Valve's fancy Steam Controller is right around the corner, and the company seems to be getting the rest of its platform ready for launch day. Specifically, Valve is giving Steam's Big Picture Mode a visual overhaul, redesigning UI navigation in the TV-interface's game library with a more dynamic layout, making tweaks to game-specific pages within that library and updating the look of user profile pages. Valve is also adding FLAC, OGG, Vorbis and M4A support to its music player, as well as experimental Streaming-host support for Macs. Curious? Try it out for yourself by opting into the Steam beta client in your settings menu, or simply check out the gallery below.
Valve hardware engineer Jeff Keyzer on Steambox: 'It's going to be different things for different people'
There isn't a hardware standard for Valve's upcoming Steambox concept. While the goal of the initiative is to move PC gaming from the desk to the living room, that doesn't necessarily involve a single hardware standard or minimum spec, Valve hardware engineer Jeff Keyzer told Engadget in an interview this morning at CES 2013. "It's going to be different things for different people. We're interested in investigating an ecosystem of devices that don't necessarily have to share a common spec," Keyzer said. Nothing's set in stone, of course, and Valve's still very much in the exploratory phase of its Steambox push. "We're exploring the space, and trying to understand what the tradeoffs are and how that impacts the user experience -- what it's like to actually use this hardware and play games," he explained. Beyond specs, he pointed out that all the prototypes of Steambox on display at CES share one common feature: "they don't look totally out of place in a living room." Keyzer and the hardware team at Valve certainly seem to understand the challenges ahead of them in 2013. In true Valve fashion, their approach to tackling those challenges lies in iteration and openness. "We're planning to be open and involve users, so I think over the coming year you'll hear from us, and it won't be this big secret. I really think that it's going to be quite open," Keyzer said. And there's that hardware beta we heard about last year, lest you forget. Steam's Big Picture Mode -- a TV- and controller-friendly version of Valve's widely used digital gaming service -- is the first volley in Valve's big living room push. Keyzer pointed out that several devices already on the market are essentially doing what Valve hopes to do in the coming year with its own hardware. "There are a lot of computer manufacturers that are making computers like these now that you can buy presently and are supporting Big Picture," he said, referencing the three non-Valve PCs on display in the booth. "But we think that there's a lot of fertile ground for innovation and exploration in that area, so that's what we're doing," he added.
Valve engineer explains Steambox comments: 'No current plans to announce anything in 2013'
When Valve hardware engineer Ben Krasnow gave a speech at a German technology conference back in December, he spoke to the much ballyhooed "Steambox" concept we've been hearing so much about in recent months (among other, vastly different subjects). Following that speech, a report on Golem.de (translated at the Neogaf gaming forums) posited that Krasnow indicated a reveal of said Steambox at this March's Game Developer's Conference, or perhaps at this June's E3 gaming trade show -- but Krasnow tells us he didn't say that exactly. "With regards to the Steambox news -- there has been a lot of things stated in the media which I didn't say. For example, it's true that we are working on getting Steam into the living room, and are planning for a hardware box, but we have no current plans to announce anything in 2013," Krasnow said in an email. "The box might be linux-based, but it might not," he continued. "It's true that we are beta-testing Left for Dead 2 on Linux, and have also been public about Steam Big Picture Mode. We are also working on virtual and augmented reality hardware, and also have other hardware projects that have not been disclosed yet, but probably will be in 2013." Valve also chimed in with a boilerplate statement, which explained the company's presence at this week's big consumer electronics show. "Yes, Valve will be at the show to meet with hardware and content developers in our booth space. Many PCs optimized for Steam and Big Picture will be shipping later this year. We are bringing some of these as well as some custom HW prototypes to our CES meetings." We saw one such example of a PC optimized for use with Steam's Big Picture Mode last night in Xi3's Piston modular PC -- the first of many of these setups we expect to see in 2013. Valve continued, "These custom prototypes are low-cost, high performance designs for the living room that also incorporate Steam and Big Picture. We will be sharing more information to the press and public in the coming months."
Valve's first hardware beta starting by next year, wearable computing still far off
Valve Software's hardware division is still in its infancy. Despite having existed for over a year, recruitment is still its primary concern -- "prototyping is almost secondary," longtime inventor/hacker/now Valve employee Jeri Ellsworth told us in an interview this week. As the team ramps up, production becomes more and more prolific, of course; Ellsworth lights up when she talks about the work her team is doing now. She gets verbose when asked about corporate culture at Valve, about how she's never worked at a company where risk and failure are so acceptable -- even encouraged. She's visibly excited about the prototypes she's creating at Valve's new prototyping facility, but manages to contain herself enough to not let slip exactly what her and her team are working on. When asked what the team's immediate goals are, she obliquely states, "To make Steam games more fun to play in your living room." That's the team's one-year goal, at least. The challenge is making games that require a mouse and keyboard palatable to people who are used to a controller, or to people who just don't want to migrate PC controls to the comfort of their living room. Working in tandem with Steam's newly beta'd "Big Picture Mode," Ellsworth's team is creating a hardware solution to the control barriers found in many Steam games. She wouldn't give any hints as to what that solution is exactly, but she left no options off the table -- from Phantom Lapboard-esque solutions to hybrid controllers. Regardless, it sounds like gamers will have a chance to give feedback on those designs, as Valve's hardware team is planning a beta for its various products. Ellsworth is hoping to have one for the team's first product in the coming year -- we'll of course know much more about the product by then, she says. Internal beta tests are already underway, and a variety of the team's prototypes are available in the office for other Valve employees to tool around with. The next step is getting prototypes into gamers hands -- she says Valve already has a production line for short runs, making a beta possible -- and iterating on design before launch. As for how the beta will be handled, she posits it'll be tied to Steam in some way, but no logistics are anywhere near nailed down.
