Valve will be making three this week, according to an e-mail that has been sent to all major news outlets and websites reporting on gaming news. The announcements will be staggered, beginning on Monday.
Valve additionally revealed a website that would act as a countdown timer to the announcements. The website shows a blue planet-like object with the words, “The Steam Universe is Expanding in 2014.” Below it are three markers which denote the announcements, and below those are timers counting down to the announcement.
A line of text below the images also announces part of what Valve is planning to reveal, specifically that they want user input for the future of the Steam platform:
“Last year, we shipped a software feature called Big Picture, a user-interface tailored for televisions and gamepads. This year we’ve been working on even more ways to connect the dots for customers who want Steam in the living-room. Soon, we’ll be adding you to our design process, so that you can help us shape the future of Steam.”
My theory is that this is not an announcement for a game, nor will it be anything to do with Half-Life 3. Valve is however working on the Source 2 platform and has been working on a sequel to Left 4 Dead 2 for some time now. A Portal 2 sequel is also a likely possibility given the fact that the planetoid object also looks like the portals that are generated by the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device (the gun in the Portal universe).
The countdown timer for the first announcement will end on 23 September 2013 at approximately 19:00 South African time. Valve has not announced any venues for their announcements, making it likely that information will be added to the site as it goes up, leaving it to journalists and the public to make up their own mind about what they’re seeing.
Gabe Newell has previously revealed that Valve will be showing off their work in hardware.
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