Valve confirms move to gaming hardware market with job posting

A job posting that went up on Valve's website today confirms rumours of where the game software company is headed: to the highly competitive world of gaming hardware.

But if some of the other tidbits of information out there are correct, it might not be quite what you're expecting.

On September 4, a job posting for an "Industrial Designer" went up on Valve's website. Here's how it starts:

"As an Industrial Designer at Valve, you will join a world-class group of electrical, mechanical, software engineers and designers who are busily defining new entertainment experiences through both hardware and software. We're hoping to add your expertise in product design and manufacturing, ergonomics, usability, aesthetics, and surfacing to our team."

[ Related: Valve working on 'Steam Box' PC gaming console: report ]

The post goes on to say how Valve is "frustrated by the lack of innovation in the computer hardware space though, so we're jumping in."

While the company hasn't announced it outright, the listing suggests that Valve is preparing to challenge the way games are traditionally played on consoles.

Back in April, Valve announced it was hiring an engineer to help with hardware design in its research and development department, The Verge reported. But one month prior, Valve's VP of Marketing Doug Lombardi said Valve had no plans to ship any hardware in the near future. Instead, Lombardi told Kotaku they were partnering with hardware manufacturers for its Steam Big Picture Mode user interface. The new mode would enable players to play games purchased through Valve's Steam store on their home televisions. Currently, players are limited to playing Steam games on their personal computers. Big Picture Mode will be entering beta testing later this month.

But with the job posting, there are renewed beliefs that Valve might not have given up on the idea of the 'Steam Box' just yet. As Forbes points out, it's unclear if Valve is looking at new peripherals for existing consoles or PCs (which would compliment Big Picture Mode), or if they're looking to create an entirely new console. And trying to get anyone from the company to give any more clues away is likely to be virtually impossible.

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What might prove to be the most interesting piece of information from the Valve rumour mill, however, is the revelation back in April that the hardware Valve is working on will incorporate wearable computing in some way.

Valve developer Michael Abrash wrote a blog post confirming that yes, Valve would be hiring a hardware engineer for the R&D stage of a wearable computing product, but not one that they planned on introducing for quite some time. Later in the year, Valve CEO Gabe Newell talked about testing out augmented reality glasses in Abrash's office at the Casual Connect game conference. Despite the fact that the particular 'system' he was experimenting with cost $70,000, Newell went on to discuss many of the problems that come with the heads-up display of products like Google's glass project. His complaint was that traditional virtual interactions need to be more robust, and there needs to be a way to improve the amount of interaction a player does with their hands, not just with what they see.

Unfortunately, we're still stuck speculating exactly what it is Valve has up its sleeves — virtual or otherwise — until they come out with a concrete announcement. But with today's job posting, it looks like we're one step closer to finding out what that product is.