When Valve, the Washington-based video game company behind the massively acclaimed Half-Life series, hinted that it would reveal “three big announcements” over the course of the week, many, including tech website Tekrieg, believed that the developer was finally gearing up to unveil the third installment of the Half-Life franchise. Unfortunately for fans of that particular first-person shooter series, Valve’s three announcements involved hardware and updates to its innovative digital software distribution platform, Steam; announcements of new gaming titles were notably absent.

According to an article from CNET, the three announcements were spaced out over the course of the past week, with the first coming on Monday and the last dropping on Friday. Monday’s announcement revealed a new version of the Steam software built for Linux operating systems, while Wednesday brought news that Valve was developing a piece of Steam hardware for PCs that 300 lucky gamers would get the opportunity to beta test later this year.

Arguably the most intriguing announcement was that of Valve’s new Steam controller, which breaks new ground for gaming control devices. The prototype designs of the new controller resemble console based gaming controllers offered by companies like Microsoft and Sony for their gaming platforms, with one major departure. Instead of using joysticks or thumbsticks, the new Valve controllers will allow players to navigate new worlds with circular tracking pads, not unlike those offered on laptop computers.

In fact, the laptop aesthetic may be precisely what Valve was going for. The company indicated that the new controller is designed partially to translate the precise feel and control that PC gamers love so much about the mouse and keyboard combination into a handheld controller. The controller is also meant particularly for big screen gaming and has a higher bandwidth than previous controller units, so players can get more of the gaming experience – from more nuanced control to improved vibration capability – than they do from other handheld devices.

Still, while the controller is a neat innovation, many gamers are likely wondering whether Valve will ever take a break from its hardware and software pursuits to develop more major series games. Gaming enthusiasts have been waiting for Half-Life 3 ever since the second game released almost nine years ago. Since then, Valve has focused on games for its Steam platform, and even made a splash in console gaming a few years ago with the Left 4 Dead series, but the chances of a third Half-Life game ever seeing the light of day seem to dwindle each time the company makes an announcement about some other project.