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Valve's 'Steam Box' Console Is Real, Says Gabe Newell
symbolset writes "The Verge is reporting that the Steam Console we discussed in November is a real thing. Gabe Newell said it will be a locked down platform for the living room. The source is a Kotaku interview with Newell at the Video Game Awards. Newell said, 'Well certainly our hardware will be a very controlled environment. If you want more flexibility, you can always buy a more general-purpose PC. For people who want a more turnkey solution, that's what some people are really gonna want for their living room. The nice thing about a PC is a lot of different people can try out different solutions, and customers can find the ones that work best for them.'"
It's a terrible thing for gamers, because it reduces the target for PC development to that of shitty low-end aged hardware, just like the consoles run. Yes, we can still build and run our own rigs of any extreme, but there won't be nearly as many of us as there are console-owners and Valve-Box owners. So they'll port their shitty games to the shitty "PC Console" and that will be that. No sense developing expensive engines with insane textures and complexities when you can just port it to the $300 Valve Box and say "there, we've done our PC job".