While we didn’t get the Half-Life 3 announcement we weren’t expecting, Valve did come to GDC prepared with some goodies. Here is a breakdown of what Valve had to offer us this year:
Source 2 Engine:
Perhaps the biggest announcement out of the company was that they would be releasing a brand new engine, Source 2. Coming 11 years after it’s predecessor, Source 2 will be free to all developers, as Steam hopes to increase “creator productivity” with the new engine:
“Given how important user generated content is becoming, Source 2 is designed not for just the professional developer, but enabling gamers themselves to participate in the creation and development of their favourite games. We will be making Source 2 available for free to content developers. This combined with recent announcements by Epic and Unity will help continue the PCs dominance as the premiere content authoring platform.”
No word yet on when Source 2 comes out, so stay tuned for any updates.
Steam Link
Furthering their commitment to living room-esque machines, Valve also announced the Steam Link, a device that allows users to stream any content from a PC or Steam Machine at 1080p and 60Hz. The Link should be out some time in November for $49.99, just in time for the Steam Controller and the first batch of Steam Machines. Check the link above for the Steam Store page.
SteamVR/Vive
Already announced earlier in the week, Valve made sure to bring it’s new VR headset to the show. The company’s VR device is being brought to the market in partnership with HTC and it’s recently announced Vive headset. Not much was shown off for the device, but Valve did talk about two new technologies that will be part of their SteamVR device; Lighthouse, a speed tracking software that will be used to achieve higher resolution in games, and another “VR Input system”, that we don’t know much of yet.
Valve has also announced that developer units will start shipping in April for developers, and a possible November release window for consumers. Check back for more updates on all of these stories as GDC continues to plow through the week.
