Valve is looking for a much brighter future this year, and to start off, the company has revealed that the ‘Steam Universe’ will expand in 2014, with announcements related to the Steam-based TV features and how it will offer more straight from the user’s living room. While nothing has been said officially, we believe that some kind of an announcement could also be made here related to the highly mysterious Half-Life 3.
The official Valve site now shows a clock that’s running down to the day of the announcements, while also stating “Last year, we shipped a software feature called Big Picture, a user-interface tailored for televisions and gamepads. This year we’ve been working on even more ways to connect the dots for customers who want Steam in the living-room. Soon, we’ll be adding you to our design process, so that you can help us shape the future of Steam.”
While all the talks related to this upcoming announcement from Valve is hyped around the arrival of the long awaited SteamBox, there is also a small probability that Valve actually decides to take this opportunity and announce (or at least, tease) something related to Dr. Freeman's next adventure of the popular Gordon Freeman.
There has been a huge mystery involving the possible existence of the next Half-Life title, with earlier reports claiming that the game may or may not be in development under Valve. Back in August, a Reddit user took a tour of Valve Software and held an AMA related to it.
When asked about the prospects of Half Life 3 and if the user managed to get any kind of hint related to the game, the user stated: “No. I didn’t ask him [Gabe] about it until we were leaving either. He said ‘If I told you anything about it you’d just have more questions. We only have elements. Bits and pieces of game. No structure. No story’.”
On a similar note, The Guardian, on the current Half-Life 3 situation, stated: “Valve's refusal to provide information-on-demand absolutely baffles the internet. Not that it stops things: instead, every site relies on a merry-go-round where no link is too tenuous.” Guilty.
“Beyond the fact that Valve have an internal email group called 'Half-Life 3', there is not enough evidence on Half Life 3's existence to fill one good article, but it has been the topic of countless thousands and leaves some writers resenting Valve's sheer effrontery in the face of their desire to know. The game has almost become of secondary importance to confirmation of its existence.”
Apart from the prospects of Half-Life 3, it seems like fans might also get some tangible information on Valve’s long-awaited SteamBox. For those who are not aware, the SteamBox is a hybrid between a PC and a console that the company has been hinting at for years, but awaiting an official announcement.
