Steam page shows 3 announcements coming

[VulgarDisplay]

3 big announcements. Half life 3, left 4 dead 3, team fortress 3? Is 3 the motif of their announcement?

Tf3 I doubt, I'm sure one of them is the steam box.

 

[lilrayray69]

The announcement will be that there will be further announcements coming, to be announced.

 

[slpdLoad]

Steambox + New kind of controller + Game to show off 1&2?

 

[KaOTiK]

I'm thinking Steam box is actually a PC streamer for the living room so you don't need to have a PC hooked up to the TV. A good PC streamer that comes with a controller (and works with others) could bring PC gaming to the living room in a easy way as there really aren't any good easy cheap solutions out there for the average person. Turn it on and it launches Steam on your PC and is in big picture mode.

 

[Grooveriding]

I'm thinking Steam box is actually a PC streamer for the living room so you don't need to have a PC hooked up to the TV. A good PC streamer that comes with a controller (and works with others) could bring PC gaming to the living room in a easy way as there really aren't any good easy cheap solutions out there for the average person. Turn it on and it launches Steam on your PC and is in big picture mode.

Sounds reasonable. Alternately Steam starts a service similar to onlive. Their entire catalog available online via a small streaming box with included controller, but the actual game/save files stored remotely and streamed to your television.

Nvidia is starting to produce hardware intended to deliver content in this manner.

 

[thujone]

I'm thinking Steam box is actually a PC streamer for the living room so you don't need to have a PC hooked up to the TV. A good PC streamer that comes with a controller (and works with others) could bring PC gaming to the living room in a easy way as there really aren't any good easy cheap solutions out there for the average person. Turn it on and it launches Steam on your PC and is in big picture mode.

i'd be sooooooooooooo into this.




my prediction:

1. steambox
2. HL3
3. Family share plan or whatever they're calling it... where you can share games you own on steam with other friends on steam.


not sure if the last one is a big enough deal to fit with this big of an announcement build up though

 

[thujone]

also could be one of the AR projects they've been working on...

 

[mizzou]

i dont' know if they are ready for a new source engine yet...but let's all be realistic and say Half Life 3 will NOT be coming out until a new source engine is released

 

[slpdLoad]

I'm thinking Steam box is actually a PC streamer for the living room so you don't need to have a PC hooked up to the TV. A good PC streamer that comes with a controller (and works with others) could bring PC gaming to the living room in a easy way as there really aren't any good easy cheap solutions out there for the average person. Turn it on and it launches Steam on your PC and is in big picture mode.

I'd totally buy this. :thumbsup:

From what I've read, the Nvidia Shield streaming pretty much requires your host PC's screen and all resources to go to playing the game just like if you were in front of your computer. If the SteamBox could background that so the host PC was useable for basic tasks at the same time, it'd be perfect.

 

[Regs]

Hl3 will be a game that will be used to jettison some form of new technology into the market more or less how Hl2 jettison SteamWorks onto the market. One has to wait on the other.

 

[VulgarDisplay]

i dont' know if they are ready for a new source engine yet...but let's all be realistic and say Half Life 3 will NOT be coming out until a new source engine is released

How could they not be it's been almost 10 years. Some companies have gone through 3-4 different engines in that time span.

Also, I would imagine that the voice actor who said Valve wasn't working on HL3 because of MoCap issues was probably misinformed. They were not working on HL3 on the Source Engine because it was outdated as crap and the MoCap in that wasn't what they wanted. That would be my wager.

 

[Dankk]

Steambox.

Left 4 Dead 3.

New Source Engine.

This is honestly the most reasonable and accurate prediction right now. SteamBox, new engine, and L4D3. All of these things are concrete enough at this point to guess they'll be revealed soon.

Although... Half Life has always been their flagship series for showing off new engines. Half Life 1 debuted with GoldSrc, and Half Life 2 debuted with Source, so naturally you would think Half Life 3 debuts with the new engine. It seems ideal.

 

[DeadFred]

1. The cake is not a lie

2. The cake is a lie

3. That is all

 

[tviceman]

I would like to see Valve have their own hardware and platform to compete with the consoles. The days of massive PC hardware purchasing for me are nearly over and if I can get the benefit of mods (steam workshop), keyboard & mouse, and the Steam platform on dedicated fixed-spec hardware then whatever I'm fine with giving up tweaking hardware, game settings, and upgrading every 12-18 months so long as the steam box capabilites are initially sufficient. I'd like to see a solid solution being able to play my current library of games on a steam box though. Losing 400+ games because of the switch to Linux is not appealing.

I think Valve has a really big opportunity to successfully milk the living crap out of a steam box platform if it's priced appropriately. An updated steam box can be released every 12-24 months (in the same vein of new iPhones / tablets / GPU's / etc.), guaranteeing backward compatibility but also pushing hardware capabilities ahead so newer games can utilize more performance on newer systems, but also dial back settings automatically on older systems. It would completely trump the fixed-spec hardware consoles have over their lifespan and expand interest in such a platform by keeping the hardware constantly fresh and updated.

 

[imaheadcase]

Steam trading cards are now available on Origin.

TF2 Hats are available in BF4

BF4 Knife animations are in TF2

 

[Nintendesert]

I would like to see Valve have their own hardware and platform to compete with the consoles. The days of massive PC hardware purchasing for me are nearly over and if I can get the benefit of mods (steam workshop), keyboard & mouse, and the Steam platform on dedicated fixed-spec hardware then whatever I'm fine with giving up tweaking hardware, game settings, and upgrading every 12-18 months so long as the steam box capabilites are initially sufficient. I'd like to see a solid solution being able to play my current library of games on a steam box though. Losing 400+ games because of the switch to Linux is not appealing.

I think Valve has a really big opportunity to successfully milk the living crap out of a steam box platform if it's priced appropriately. An updated steam box can be released every 12-24 months (in the same vein of new iPhones / tablets / GPU's / etc.), guaranteeing backward compatibility but also pushing hardware capabilities ahead so newer games can utilize more performance on newer systems, but also dial back settings automatically on older systems. It would completely trump the fixed-spec hardware consoles have over their lifespan and expand interest in such a platform by keeping the hardware constantly fresh and updated.

I'm not sure what price range you'd be looking at for a box that you'd be required to update that regularly to enjoy top of the line graphics and features. What would you be willing to pay?

 

[Nintendesert]

There's been a shitload of evidence.

http://half-life.wikia.com/wiki/Future_of_the_Half-Life_series

Linked above is a comprehensive list of all the news and information surrounding Half Life 3's development, no matter how vague. The juiciest, most telling piece IMO, is the following:



So yeah, as of 2012, it's safe to say HL3 is very much an active work in progress.

Seriously?


Edit: We've been getting worked up for a HL3 announcement for what? 10 years now? It's ridiculous and something we see every single time Valve announces a new game. I'll be happy for a HLF3 as I still think HL2 is one of the best games every made. This workup and excitement however got old a long time ago. I just can't do it anymore.

 

[TheSlamma]

If they do a console.. then it was nice knowing them.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Its almost certainly going to include the Steambox as Gabe said they're going to talk about new hardware just a few days back. So unless they punk out and just announce a controller and Valve branded mice and keyboards and stuff, it pretty much has to be.

My guess is Steambox, they'll announce that Half-Life 3 is being developed (but won't say a release date or give much info about it, although maybe they'll drop a bombshell and say its exclusive or free to Steambox when it does come out), and then L4D3 which uses a new game engine.

I actually won't be surprised if Steambox turns out to be a special Linux distro on a bootable thumb drive paired with maybe Valve developed controller. To me that seems like a safe way to start in the market. It lets people get used to Linux and wouldn't cost too much I would think. Plus they could integrate the wireless receiver (for the controller) into it, and have it function as a hardware backup/encryption of your Steam info. You just take the dongle with you to a friends house and plug it in and it has all your Steam info all ready.

I have a dream!

Wow, that does pretty clearly look like the logo. That makes me really think there will be a Half-Life related announcement.

Maybe it's wrong, but maybe it's not.

I wasn't inventing the "H-L3 isn't worked on due to MOCAP issues" part, you know. It's John Patrick Lowrie (voice actor) who said that. Apparently, he said (as far as he knows) Valve wasn't/isn't working on H-L3, period (for now) due to technologies in the MOCAP industry not meeting their expectations, or whatever it is they don't like about the latest MOCAP stuff around. Do I think that Valve went bunkers if that's true? Yes. Simply because to me H-L2's animations were more than enough to convey, portray and express believable-enough emotions without the need of cut-scenes or quick time events to tell a story. They managed to do it with H-L2, all they had to do for H-L3 was to increase polygons count and textures resolution and they'd still have sold millions.

Do I know for sure what Valve is up to? Of course not I'm just Mr. Joe everyone without much evidence other than what John Patrick Lowrie said. But am I ready to immediately disbelieve what he said? No. That's simply because... well, you know, Episode Two was released in 2007, we're in 2013 and the next big Valve project appears to be L4D3. I certainly think that something isn't right concerning H-L3, even if the true reason isn't the MOCAP stuff that supposedly bugs them that much. It could be something else entirely, maybe they're waiting to see if they could release it for Linux as well, or maybe they're developing it for the XBOX One and/or PS4 and want a multi-platforms release. I don't know what's going on but what I do know right now is that H-L3 is freaking overdue and should have been released at least two years ago by now.

If, however, they do announce Half-Life 3, I'll probably be the first to come back in this thread and kick my own ass for apparently being naive (albeit with a reason that is called "waiting since 2007 for a damn sequel").

He's a voice actor, like he's going to know that much about what Valve is doing. He won't be tasked with much on HL3 until they've already got the engine up and running and all sorts of other stuff. I'm not buying the mo-cap was preventing them from even starting on the game like that guy seemed to suggest. Supposedly the big hangup there is that in the cutscenes they couldn't get the mo-cap to auto-adjust to looking at characters that are speaking, which just sounds silly as its not like its a total rework of animation from how they did it with HL2. Plus, L.A. Noire has pushed facial/head/movement mo-cap to a new level and that's been what 2 years now?

 

[gorcorps]

Wow, that does pretty clearly look like the logo. That makes me really think there will be a Half-Life related announcement.

Before you get all excited, look at the actual steam page and not just as the OP's photo

 

[KaOTiK]

Before you get all excited, look at the actual steam page and not just as the OP's photo

Don't you ruining the dream!

 

[Barfo]

Well Gabe hates the number three so they are actually going to announce Team Fortress 4, Left 4 Dead, and Half Life 4. It'll be a new thing like 13th floors.

Team 4tress, Left 4 Dead, H4lf Life

 

[tviceman]

I'm not sure what price range you'd be looking at for a box that you'd be required to update that regularly to enjoy top of the line graphics and features. What would you be willing to pay?

Look at it from this perspective: the latest iPhones are not required for new apps, and even optional every other year steambox purchase would be less expensive than what many pc gamers pay for upgrades over the course of several years.

But to directly answer your question, I think that given Valve is doing business directly with hardware designers and not 3rd parties like Newegg, $500 can get some decent hardware if a small portion ($50-$100) of the cost is subsidized.

 

[tential]

They referenced Big Picture mode and living room.

I think it will be the Steam Box, a Linux Platform maybe? (He did say he wanted to move to linux and hated windows 8) for gaming, and some tyep of game/engine (source engine).

So
1. Steam Box
2. OS (Linux) for gaming (Partnership perhaps with a bunch of developers with promises to release fully compatible Linux versions)
3. Source Engine.

I think that's pretty reasonable and falls in line with trying to get people to move Steam into competing with the Xbox and Playstation. It hits all the 3 things too people would be worried about. Not having a decent platform to lead the assault (steam box), Windows being too bloated (Linux) and having a game engine to drive it all (New Source Engine).

Look at it from this perspective: the latest iPhones are not required for new apps, and even optional every other year steambox purchase would be less expensive than what many pc gamers pay for upgrades over the course of several years.

But to directly answer your question, I think that given Valve is doing business directly with hardware designers and not 3rd parties like Newegg, $500 can get some decent hardware if a small portion ($50-$100) of the cost is subsidized.

I highly doubt much of anything will be subsidized. Valve's goal is to get a LOT of people making steam boxes. They don't want to be the only one, they are just spearheading it. This is similar to Nvidia releasing the shield. They're just showing what the concept will be like then letting other people take it further.

 

[Coffinmaker]

Starbound