Valve's first hardware to hit beta next year

Valve has been relatively mum about the hardware it is working on. We know it has been tinkering with wearable computers and virtual reality, and it is bringing gaming to the living room with its Big Picture Mode. And they have stressed that they aren't happy with the innovation of mouse and keyboard technology lately. Whatever it is, Valve said that the first beta for their super-secret projects will be coming next year.

In an interview with Engadget, Valve's Jeri Ellsworth played coy about what exactly the company was working on. The immediate goal, however, is to "make Steam games more fun to play in your living room." Whatever that means.

Betas are planned for all of their pending projects. Valve wants to get prototypes into players' hands, so a short production run has already begun, as has internal beta testing. She said "on any given day you could snap a photo of my office and find a variety of prototypes laying around." You may want to keep an eye on her YouTube channel to see the madness at work.