Valve Announces Source 2 Engine, Steam Link In-Home Streaming Device, and Steam Machine Launch

By David Yee

During GDC 2015, Valve brought forth a slew of new updates on its Source 2 Engine, Steam Link in-home streaming device, SteamVR, Steam Controller, and Steam Machines. First off, the Source 2 Engine has officially been announced and will be free to developers. Source 2 has been long rumored to be in development at Valve and was previously assumed to have been soft launched with the release of the DOTA 2 Workshop Tools in 2014. With this official announcement, we can get a bit more excited what this means for upcoming unconfirmed games from Valve. Source 2 has been confirmed to be available for the Vulkan API, previously called Next Generation OpenGL or glNext.

The Steam Universe website has now been updated with information on Valve’s new PC gaming technologies. Earlier during GDC 2015, some of these announcements appeared, but were later taken down. Steam Link is an upcoming in-house streaming device that extends Steam content from Windows, Mac, Linux, and SteamOS systems to the rest of the home on a local network. Featured connectivity are three USB ports for peripherals, an Ethernet port for low latency streaming, and an HDMI output that supports 1080p 60Hz video. Steam Link will be available in November for $49.99.Steam Link

Information about the Steam Controller and Steam Machines have been updated with a launch later this year in November. The Steam Controller is currently priced for $49.99 and a number of Steam Machines with varying configurations from several system builders including Alienware, ASUS, GIGABYTE, Origin, and more will be available. Alienware Steam Machine

Valve has also announced their own virtual reality headset in partnership with HTC which you can read more about here. The Developer Edition will be available in spring and a consumer release is expected before the end of the year. The optional pair of room scale tracking base stations is called Lighthouse and will be free to any interested hardware manufacturer for integration into “televisions, mobile phones, headsets and input devices.”HTC Vive Developer Edition

This is some exciting news for PC gamers. The openness of SteamOS and now SteamVR and Source 2 means we can expect more content besides video games such as movies, TV shows and music through Valve and their Steam content delivery system within a year or two or…three.