valve

Move over, Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo. Valve Software today revealed a new television-friendly version of its massive Steam digital video game distribution service.

Aptly named Big Picture, the new view transforms Steam into a more polished experience for the big screen. The optional redesigned interface represents a departure from the traditional Valve design used in the Steam application for Windows and Mac, instead falling in line with the easy-to-navigate layouts commonly seen in streaming media devices. … Read more

Windows 8 FUD is starting to hit the fan.

That would be fear, uncertainty, and doubt. As in, "I think that Windows 8 is kind of a catastrophe for everybody in the PC space."

That was said yesterday by Gabe Newell, a former Microsoft employee and managing director of Valve Software, which makes games such as Half-Life and created the Steam gaming platform for Windows and Apple's OS X.

Newell's company is now moving Steam to Linux. Thus the comment, "we're trying to make sure that Linux thrives" from Newell (in the same … Read more

Apple fans joined gaming fanatics in frenetic speculation when Apple CEO Tim Cook was reportedly recently seen at the headquarters of Valve, the maker of ginormously successful games like Half Life and Portal.

The supposed visit was hot on the heels of Valve's job posting for someone with hardware skills. "For years, Valve has been all about writing software that provides great gameplay experiences," the post said. "Now we're developing hardware to enhance those experiences, and you can be a key part of making that happen...We're not talking about me-too mice and gamepads here -- help us invent whole new gaming experiences."… Read more

Quite a stir was caused last week by reports that Apple's Tim Cook had paid a visit to Valve headquarters in Washington state.

Speculation ran rampant over why the CEO of the world's most famous hardware maker would pay a visit to the popular gaming software maker after AppleInsider reported the rumor. Might a gaming console for the long-awaited Apple TV be in the works? Or perhaps a challenger to Google Glasses, the augmented-reality specs the Web giant is working on?

Apparently, the excitement spread to the Valve campus, the software maker's CEO, Gabe Newell, explained to … Read more

The tantalizing prospect of a future collaboration involving two of tech's powerhouses has set off a frisson of excitement about the possibilities for redrawing the technology firmament.

Last week, reports placed Apple CEO Tim Cook in Bellvue, Wash., on a visit to game maker Valve. Word had it that Apple was eying a business partnership with Valve, well known for creating software hits like the Half Life and Portal series, as well as for creating Steam, a digital game distribution service for PCs and Macs.

But any sort of future gaming effort would be intensely complicated and have to … Read more

Tim Cook reportedly visits Valve headquarters in Washington state the same week that the gaming company posted a help wanted ad for someone with serious hardware skills? Holy conjecture, Batman!

Reports that Tim Cook was seen at Valve HQ have yet to be confirmed, even though they're flying all around the inform-ether today. What's definitely true, though, is that Valve is looking for a couple of hardware geeks for an unknown project, as the job description itself indicates:… Read more

We start out today's show with a very important message to all you copycats out there: give credit where credit is due! And that's all we have to say about that.

Whew! Tomorrow's iPad event means we can finally stop talking about the elusive iPad...3? Or maybe it's the iPad HD? Or maybe it's the iPad YouKnowYouWantOne? We'll find out tomorrow, where undoubtedly a million points will get on the board. And then we can finally put that baby to rest.

Also on today's show, we talk about something not Apple related (if you can believe it), play our Yay or Nay game (copyright, trademark, all rights reserved 2012), and count how many accents Emily whips out. (Our last count was nine.)… Read more

Valve--the company behind the hit computer game Portal and the popular online game-downloading system Steam--has been working on hardware and software for a "Steam Box," a set-top console that would rival the Xbox 360, the PlayStation 3, and even Apple TV, according to a report.

Citing unnamed sources, The Verge reports that Valve could choose next month's Game Developers Conference or June's E3 to unveil the Steam Box, which could shake up the industry.… Read more

First it was Microsoft to release an Xbox Live companion app onto the App Store, and now Valve is following suit with a similar piece of software--the Steam app--though it seems to be much more functional than Microsoft's.

The app allows users on the platform to keep in touch with their Steam friends via Steam Chat and also provides access to the entire Steam store. Like the Xbox Live app, players can browse their friends list and see who is online and playing what.

Of course the Steam app doesn't deliver mobile games to iOS and … Read more