Valve’s first hardware beta set for 2013

Valve is planning its first hardware beta for next years, the studio’s Jeri Ellsworth has said.

One of the biggest companies in PC gaming has made headlines with its forray into hardware development and a self-stated goal of taking charge of the platform they helped to revolutionise.

The first-year target of the newly formed hardware division is "to make Steam games more fun to play in your living room," Ellsworth told Engadget.

The trouble, she explained, is making the PC games common to steam more accessible to console gamers who prefer to sit comfortably in their living room, or are simply too used to a gamepad to switch to a mouse and keyboard layout.

Working with the team behind Steam’s new Big Picture Mode, Ellsworth’s team is working on a control solution to breach these barriers.

Though cryptic concerning details of any prototype, Ellsworth said there are several already in internal Beta at Valve.

There’s even a production line ready for short runs, meaning the chances of a beta test next year are good.

Ellsworth was less forthcoming about wearable computing however, and only said that it was a longer-term goal of "two-to-five years," and "on any given day you could snap a photo of my office and find a variety of prototypes laying around."