Valve working on 'Steam Box' gaming console with hardware partners

Here is what i hope will pan out:<p>1. Steam OS will be powered by Linux + OpenGL<p>2. It will have unparalleled gamer-bias and developer-bias instead of revolving around publishers (meaning its truly gamer focused as what has been Valve's MO)<p>3. It will be just good enough in the graphics department but will instead lower the friction in the assets pipeline department, virality and player-analytics<p>4. Graphics will now take a backseat to story, AI, art-direction and pacing (due to the hardware spec being fixed and player measuring tools)<p>5. crowdsourcing features will be baked in thru APIs (Team Fortress hats as a precursor)<p>6. social multiplayer features baked in thru APIs<p>7. a standard controller will be mandated<p>8. optional accessories like bio-measuring gadgets (measure opponent's sweat, heart-rate and track gaze) will be sold online.<p>If any of this comes to pass then it would have made PC gaming much much more evolved.

This article doesn't mention a very important and very relevant point (maybe they assume everyone is aware):<p>Valve are also the developer and publisher of some of the most popular video game titles around. This puts them in an exceptionally good position to build something like this because with the backing of some of their own titles (For example releasing Half Life 3 as a "Steam Box" exclusive) would immediately encourage sales. Portal, Portal 2, Left 4 Dead, Half life and Team Fortress 2 are all hugely popular Valve games and their platform "Steamworks" is again used by some huge names, Call of Duty, Football Manager, the list goes on. They have their platform directly integrated with a large amount of popular games and a lot of new releases go with Steam for their PC releases.<p>There are some interesting Steamworks and Steam statistics and information in this PDF: <a href="http://www.steampowered.com/steamworks/SteamworksBrochure2011.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://www.steampowered.com/steamworks/SteamworksBrochure201...</a>

Well, this clinches it. The next generation of home consoles from Sony and Microsoft are going to, of necessity, run on minimally-customized, commodity hardware, with the end-user experience as sole differentiator. It has seemed like an obvious choice following the diminishing returns of Sony's adventures in exotic supercomputing architecture, but with a competitor at last combining a stationary-target PC with existing vertical integration and massive mind share and market share, they'll have no choice if they want to remain competitive. This industry is in for interesting times.<p>And heaven help them all if Apple brings apps to the Apple TV.

There were rumours a while ago that Valve was working on Linux support for their infamous source engine which powers most if not all their games. What if it wasn't just support for linux but Steam running on a Valve tailored Linux kernel. Obviously most games would still need Windows for DirectX but all of Valves games and many others could work on this super thin Linux kernel.<p>* <a href="http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&#38;px=ODE4Mw" rel="nofollow">http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&#38;px=ODE4M...</a>

This sounds interesting and all, but who is going to be their customers? The 30 or so millions of their users obviously already HAVE their own hardware.<p>So is it going to target the current console owners? And persuade them how? "It's like your box, but you can install mods. It's like a PC but with less freedom."?<p>Anyway I'm looking forward to the development. The three big console manufacturers need a kick.<p>Edit: Also Steam doesn't have their own OS obviously. So is every box going to need a Win licence?

Am I the only one that sees this as a bad move? Microsoft had os development, directx, intel this is why they pivoted into the console market. I think valve should expand steam even more - bring steam to xbox, ps3, wii make buying games cheap easy and fast.

I wrote a post about this a year ago[1], and concluded that it was unlikely that either Microsoft or Apple would sell them OS licenses cheaply enough to make such a product viable.<p>The third alternative is Valve using Linux, or something, which isn't enormously plausible.<p>1: <a href="http://bbot.org/blog/archives/2011/05/08/valve_isnt_going_to_make_a_console/" rel="nofollow">http://bbot.org/blog/archives/2011/05/08/valve_isnt_going_to...</a>

I'm not a hardcore gamer, but I still have a Windows box I keep up to spec to play the latest COD et al when they come out. I still also enjoy playing a few old school games that aren't available for consoles, hence I don't have one<i></i>. The only use I have for this box is gaming, as I do everything else on a nice portable 11" MBA. I would prefer to be able to use the MBA for gaming too, I can connect it to a monitor, mouse, gamepad, etc but it doesn't have the graphics power. I've used OnLive a few times which has been great, but their catalogue is rather limited. Personally I would rather see Valve buy (or build) something like this so I can game anywhere.<p>(N.b. If you haven't tried OnLive give it a go, they have trials for most games, Just Cause 2 is pretty fun and is a good example of the graphics it can do)<p><i></i>*I also don't have a HD TV which I guess is another reason.

If this is true, maybe that's why Valve has been working on Steam on Linux for so long. People over at Phoronix have been talking about it for years, but nothing official has ever been released.<p>After all, it doesn't make sense to pay Microsoft the Windows tax for every console, and they couldn't use OSX.

I recently bought a 1.7GB game for my Android phone (Modern Combat 3), that you can optionally connect to a HD monitor using a HDMI out cable.<p>Quad core mobile chips are already in production and PS3 capable mobile GPUs are 6 months away (ARM Mali T-658).<p>Why is a console, a console and not simply a power/cooling/connectivity dock for a suitably powerful mobile device ? Id's flagship game, RAGE, has been supremely playable on an iphone for ages now.<p>Consoles like PS3 and Xbox already lag desktop-grade video hardware by 5-6 years, yet have a large market - so why cant the same be true for mobile hardware ?

Hmmm. They must have something special planned because I doubt it's another console.<p><a href="http://www.chrisnorstrom.com/2011/02/creation-the-steam-console-no-its-not-another-set-top-box/" rel="nofollow">http://www.chrisnorstrom.com/2011/02/creation-the-steam-cons...</a><p>(above) What I predict Big Picture mode is suppose to be. But seriously, how is a $300-$600 console suppose to compete with a $800-$2,000 mid to high end gaming pc? And shouldn't Valve be working on bringing movie and music to steam first before taking this on? I don't know, but I'm dying to find out.

If they are too loose with their hardware specifications then writing software for it will be a nightmare. Ideally it would be a rigidly specified but open platform. Actually, I wouldn't mind if it was a locked down platform like the iPhone but I wouldn't have to buy an expensive dev kit to develop for it. I've always wanted to develop something for the XBox or PS2/3 but couldn't because I would need the big bucks for the dev kit and approval to be a part of the developer program. Apple's proven that their model of development works.

Ha, about five years ago I thought about how I wanted Valve to compete with Alienware in the gaming PC business, and how they would brand their rig the "Steam Box". Interesting to see something happening here. Also, I bet a Valve-branded "SteamBook" laptop computer would be spiffy.

A bold move but it makes perfect sense. Manufacturers bring no value in the games business, its now all about contents and distribution. Apple and Valve will have growing power over the old business models.

I want Steam OS on my desktop. Optimized for gaming and little else.

KB+M and user mods please. I'll drop xbox in a heartbeat.