Rumors are swirling about a new "Steam Box" hardware joint venture project with "Apple" after CEO Tim Cook was seen visiting the "Valve" main offices.
Both companies are rumored to be working together on revolutionary projects involving an Apple Smart TV and Valve's gaming hardware called Steam Box.
Valve, a video game development and distribution company, is well known for bringing successful titles such as Half-Life, Left 4 Dead, and Portal 2 to gaming consoles and PCs. What Valve also works on is its game distribution platform called "Steam." Over 1,400 games are reported to be in its network with 30 million active users.
Gamers are dreaming at the possibilities of what these two firms can do together. Perhaps a Valve gaming console that's integrated with Apple's next-gen TV set? Or even running Half Life, Portal, or other Valve game titles on Apple iOS devices like iPhones and iPads?
Though this is wishful thinking, the Apple TV and Steam Box projects could be the real deal. In an interview with "The PA Report," Valve's co-founder Gabe Newell hinted at the possibilities of Steam Box but still considers it a rumor.
"It's definitely not the first thought that crosses our mind; we'd rather hardware people that are good at manufacturing and distributing hardware do that...[I]f we have to sell hardware we will," said Newell.
Though Valve has denied the rumors, reports have said that the new Steam Box hardware was presenting in closed door meetings at CES 2012.
If the Steam Box comes out, Valve would work on hardware and software spec so that third party companies can license them in order to create games that could support Steam's distribution platform.
The Steam Box could be a next-gen console that's currently under development based on reports that Valve posted a job listing in search of electronics engineers. In the posting, it describes that the engineer's responsibilities would be to " conceive, design, evaluate, and produce new types of input, output, and platform hardware."
Also according to gaming blog site "MyNintendoNews," an engineer from the company tweeted that Valve is working on a next-gen console called Steam Box.
Apple has been even more secretive about its possible smart-TV product. This past week Philippe Starck, an acclaimed French designer, hinted that Apple is currently working a new revolutionary product that is scheduled for release in eight months.
"Indeed, there is a big project together which will be out in eight months," said Starck in an interview with Everything and Its Opposite.
Speculations are that Apple may be working on a new 50-inch TV. Apple Design Head Jony Ive, was reported to have a 50-inch Apple TV prototype secured in his design studio. The late Apple CEO Steve Jobs was also commented in an interview with biographer Walter Isaacson saying that the secret to building an integrated easy-to-use TV would need "the simplest user interface you imagine."
It also appears that smart TV features have been making its way into gaming consoles like Microsoft's Xbox 360. The trend is likely to continue and the possibility of Apple working with Valve on an entertainment product to compete with Microsoft may not be too farfetched for future gaming consoles.
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