Last month, Valve said that the company was "a long way" from shipping any kind of gaming hardware, let alone a dedicated games machine as some people had expected. Some new job listings for "electronics engineers" with the company, though, show that more people are at least being hired for that "long way" in the future.
Seemingly far more specialised than someone hired to work as an engineer on Valve's own Steam infrastructure, successful applicants will join a "highly motivated team that's doing hardware design, prototyping, testing, and production across a wide range of platforms. We're not talking about me-too mice and gamepads here — help us invent whole new gaming experiences."
Interesting. Especially since it's not too long ago we also got a look at a weird control pad the company had been working on.
Here's the ad in full:
Electronics Engineer
For years, Valve has been all about writing software that provides great gameplay experiences. Now we're developing hardware to enhance those experiences, and you can be a key part of making that happen. Join our highly motivated team that's doing hardware design, prototyping, testing, and production across a wide range of platforms. We're not talking about me-too mice and gamepads here — help us invent whole new gaming experiences.
Duties:
Work with the hardware team to conceive, design, evaluate, and produce new types of input, output, and platform hardware
Requirements:
Hands on prototyping experience
Lab and measurement skills
System level design experience
Knowledge of embedded systems/microcontrollers
Experience with high speed serial interfaces
Experience with schematic entry
Experience with circuit simulation
Four years relevant experience
Recommended:
Board layout (analogue and high speed digital)
Hardware Definition Languages (HDL) for FPGA and chip design
Power supply management
Thermal management
Design for test
Low frequency analog
RF and antennas
Signal integrity analysis
DSP
ARM / X86 system design
Manufacturing pilot runs
Failure analysis
FCC/CE/UL certification
Remember that just because Valve is looking to ramp up hardware engineering, like the control pad patent shows, it doesn't necessarily mean we'll be seeing a Steam games system/custom PC. It might "just" be some strange new interfaces and peripherals!
Electronics Engineer [Valve, via Engadget]
Comments
Or it could be for server infrastructure
Valve don't always stick to what they say.
http://au.ps3.ign.com/articles/993/993592p1.html
If "Game Dev Story" has taught me anything, this means Valve will be able to develop a console of their own. Though finding hardware engineers is pretty rare, they would be better off hiring a hacker, maxing out their stats, and using a job change item to turn them into a hardware engineer.
Nooo! I was beaten to the GameDev reference!
GASP! NOW THEY CAN DEVELOP A CONSOLE!
It's better to train your staff in every single career and then change them to a hardware engineer, because the monkey doesn't show up until year 15 or so and his stats stink.
I'll just leave this here
https://twitter.com/#!/jeriellsworth/status/189233696124055553
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeri_Ellsworth
Hate to burst the bubble here, methinks it's most likely due to a little game called Dota 2. Valve will most likely be ramping up it's beta phase or planning ahead for the huge onslaught of players it will inevitably attract.
Several weeks after that leaked photo of the alleged console prototype. I smell either a new console or another ValveTroll to add to the books.
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