On Tuesday, Valve Software continued its Game Developers Conference-related trickle of news by confirming scant details on a variety of initiatives. In addition to a few more details about SteamVR and a previously unannounced living-room streaming box, dubbed Steam Link, the company confirmed that its 11-year-old graphics engine, Source, will finally receive an upgrade in the form of the Source 2 engine.

The Source 2 news, which came via press release, confirmed that the engine would be made available to all budding game and graphics developers for free, and that it would receive a Vulkan-compatible build (previously known as Next Generation OpenGL). However, the news was otherwise incredibly light on details, meaning no license-cost information, no release date, and no new or upcoming games attached to the engine.

The original version of Source has powered every Valve-developed game since 2004's Counter Strike: Source, and Valve has previously dodged questions about an updated engine by claiming that the engine had been iterated on to adapt to newer computer and graphics solutions.

Valve did attach a November release window to Steam Link, a $49.99 device that will "stream all of your Steam content from any PC or Steam Machine on the same home network" to any TV or monitor at 60 frames per second in 1080p resolution. The streaming box will launch alongside the upcoming, sold-separately Steam Controller, which will also retail for $49.99 in November. Steam Link was revealed with photos and its own storefront page in the Steam Marketplace (update: the page, which contained a few images and a brief description, has since been taken down), but the latest version of the Steam Controller wasn't revealed just yet.

Valve hinted to at least two Steam Machines appearing on the GDC show floor this week, including one made by Falcon Northwest that has been advertised as strong enough to run the latest version of Unreal Tournament at 4K resolution. The company also clarified that SteamVR will include a "room-scale, absolute" tracking sensor called Lighthouse and a "SteamVR controller."

We're not sure whether that controller will differ wildly from the previously announced, Steam Machine-compatible Steam Controller, and Valve's press release comment on the matter was pretty vague: "The work on the Steam Controller gave us the base to build upon, so now we have touch and motion as integrated parts of the PC gaming experience." We imagine we'll find out about all of Valve's controller options very soon, as the GDC showfloor will include SteamVR demos from at least ten companies, including Fireproof Studios (iPad game The Room), Bossa Studios (Surgeon Simulator), and even Google.