14 DAY TRIAL // Video game developer Valve seems to be very interested in branching out into hardware developer and one of the most interesting fields for the notoriously forward-looking company is that of virtual reality.
Chet Faliszek, one of the leaders of Valve, told VG247 that, “It’s super-cool. It’s more that we’re just looking at the future and making sure that we’re prepared, trying to understand how everything will work, what the limitations are, and what problems could we run in to.”
He added “If you’re not playing around with ideas in that space already you’re going to be really behind the game. So yeah we’ve started playing around with it, and there’s a whole bunch of stuff the hardware guys are just goofing around with and having some fun with.”
The developer revealed that one of the biggest inspirations for those who are working on hardware at Valve are the pinball machines that are spread throughout the offices and even forced the company to re-route power at one point in order to make sure that they all stayed on.
Faliszek acknowledged that virtual reality devices have been seen as the future before but that the hardware failed to impress actual games.
However, he also believes that this time around the technology is better and has a bigger chance of becoming commercially viable.
Valve is best known for creating the Half-Life series of shooters and for maintaining and updating the Steam digital distribution platforms.
Recent rumors have suggested that the company might be interested in creating a set-top box which will run Steam, perhaps in order to compete with Windows 8.
Its hardware division also suggested that as early as 2013 it might start running limited beta phases for some of its most promising devices, which might include the new virtual reality tech.