Valve reiterates games hardware gambit
Controller roller
Valve has once more underlined its desire to enter the hardware market, "jumping in" to deal with a "lack of innovation" in the space.
The company's plans were revealed through a job posting for an industrial designer, set to join the team to "create compelling user experiences" currently overlooked.
"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," reads the ad.
"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," it said.
We've already reported that Valve experimented with new methods of computer interfacing, including the wacky concept of tongue control.
It was also speculated Valve would produce an OnLive-type streambox, after a previous job post reached out for a new member of the hardware team to "conceive, design, evaluate, and produce new types of input, output and platform hardware."
The latest posting goes on to say, "we can’t wait to see where you’ll take us", so perhaps the firm is simply employing boffins to instigate ideas.
While it remains unclear as to exactly what Valve has up its sleeve, something is undoubtedly simmering in the kitchen.
The world may continue to wait for another serving of Half-Life, but perhaps Valve is without the cutlery for us to eat our cake the way it envisions. If there's any cake to be had, that is. ®
COMMENTS
Steam powered console? Have they not heard of electricity?
Congratulations, that's the stupidest thing I've read on here in ages.
Re: It's whatever you're used to.
Mouse is generally better suited for anything involving looking and aiming. For those things it is genuinely better than thumbsticks, simply because of the response time involved in executing an action. Turning around can take several seconds, and fine aiming longer. With a mouse I can do it in a fraction of the time. (I play frequently on both kinds of controller.)
I wouldn't like to say that the console controllers are inherently less accurate, as I'm sure some people are daemons at aiming with them. For me, they are. I can aim to a much finer degree with a mouse, in much less time, with much smaller adjustments possible, and I find myself often cursing on console FPS games along the lines of "I wish I had a bloody mouse for this bit".
Plus, I can adjust the speed/resolution of my mouse via a couple of hardware buttons, letting me switch instantly between aiming types. That's useful in games like Killing Floor when I'm moving between my primary murder machine (say, a SCAR) and my secondary run-and-gun weapon (say, a shotgun). I can aim insanely accurately when the muties are at range, and when they get a bit cuddly I can switch weapons, jack the res and run for it.
Not that I game much. *Cough*
Steam-powered console with Half Life 3 as an exclusive launch title, cross-platform with PC only. Let it be known, I called it here. ;-)
@JimC
Have you tried getting a mouse mat with a built in wrist rest? I've used one for years and never suffer from wrist strain even after a long session of FPS'in (I've had the same mousemat for, god, over 10 years now).
