The latest blog from Valve in-house-economist Yanis Varoufakis reads like the missive of a Mary Shelley protagonist, relating uncanny new wonders he can barely describe. After an email from one Gabe Newell intended for deletion piqued Varoufakis’ interest, the video game illiterate economist visited Seattle and soon became enamoured with Valve, who he says have allowed him to “see the future” in hardware.
“You see, in addition to their game software, Valve has started developing hardware,” wrote Varoufakis in a blog post translated by NeoGAF user alexandros. “Worried by Microsoft’s and Apple’s tendency to claim a bigger and bigger cut of its profits (in order to allow users access to Valve games through the computers that run their software), Valve has started experimenting with its own machines that give you the ability to run these games without a (Microsoft or Apple-controlled) computer.
“I’ve signed an NDA so I can’t reveal much more,” he continued. “I’ll just say that I really saw the future. (it’s not a small deal to see a virtual but highly realistic alien stand beside a real human in the same room with you, walk around the room and wink at you. And all that without a screen, a projector or even a computer near you…).”
What on Earth can he be talking about? Have Valve really developed Star Trek tech somewhere in the more cavernous reaches of their Bellevue offices?
Thanks, Kotaku.