Valve: Steam Box prototypes could be ready in 3-4 months

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Exec also talks potential heart rate monitor as a game control accessory.

When Valve' Co-founder Gabe Newell said late last year that the long-rumored "Steam Box" living room-based PC-in-a-console would be available some time in 2013, we figured the company would take its time and aim for a holiday rollout late in the year. Turns out we may have been too pessimistic. Newell told the BBC at last night's BAFTA awards that Valve would be "giving out some prototypes to customers to gauge their reactions, I guess, in the next three to four months."

A limited summer release of a prototype system could help Valve iron out any kinks in the design before a wider release later in the year. After all, at that point the hardware would go up against Sony's PlayStation 4 and Microsoft's widely expected (but not officially announced) follow-up to the Xbox 360.

Newell went on to say that one of the biggest challenges in designing the Steam Box hardware so far has been keeping the heat and noise levels down to an appropriate level while still making sure the hardware inside is sufficiently powerful. Valve is still nailing down the final controller design, Newell said, and the prototype will likely use "a couple of different [controllers]" so Valve can "examine different play patterns" and decide which one is best for the final release.

Speaking of controllers, Newell was surprisingly forthcoming about the potential for Steam Box to have some kind of integrated heart rate monitor. This would trigger changes in gameplay based on the player's measured emotional state. "If you think of a game like Left For Dead, which was trying to put you into a sort of horror movie, if you don't change the experience of what the player is actually feeling then it stops being a horror game," Newell said. "So you need to actually be able to directly measure how aroused the player is—what their heart rate is, things like that—in order to continue to offer them a new experience each time they play."

The mention of biofeedback brings to mind Nintendo's plans for a Wii Vitality Sensor, which was rolled out to great fanfare at E3 2009 before being practically never heard from again. But Newell said he still sees potential for this kind of biofeedback controller both for Valve hardware and "outside of Steam Box as well."

And yes, while the BBC reporter did ask, Newell merely smiled as he dodged questions about the development of Half-Life 3 and a potential second sequel to Portal. Nice try, you crafty journalist you.

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