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Valve's 'Steam Box' Console Is Real, Says Gabe Newell

Posted by Soulskill on from the come-out-right-after-half-life-3 dept.

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.'"

6 of 298 comments (clear)

  1. Microsoft's Biggest Mistake by GeneralTurgidson · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Arguably, Valve probably wouldn't be pushing full "steam" ahead on this if Microsoft hadn't dreamt up a Windows Store. This is in my opinion a real game changer for the PC ecosystem and the future of Windows.

    1. Re:Microsoft's Biggest Mistake by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Microsoft's biggest mistake was putting a tablet interface in their desktop OS.

  2. Re:What I'd like to see... by the+real+darkskye · · Score: 5, Informative

    We already have Ubuntu variants which boot straight to an application (XMBCbuntu), and use the official repos for updates.
    Chances are someone will mix up a Steamuntu, even if its not officially supported by Valve but gets all the official Ubuntu updates.

    From what I can tell of the beta Linux Steam client, its responsible for its own updates rather than adding a new repository (like Google Chrome does) and relying on the user to keep their OS up to date.

    --
    Music is everybody's possession.
    It's only publishers who think that people own it.
    Fuck Beta
    ~John Lenno
  3. Knowing Gabe by Kryptonian+Jor-El · · Score: 5, Funny

    It won't make it past its 2nd iteration

    --
    All your 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 are belong to us
  4. Steam Still Locked to One Concurrent User by deweyhewson · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Until this is resolved, I'm wary of locking myself into Valve any more than I already am. The thought of a locked down environment worries me, too; that seems antithetical to what has made PC gaming and enthusiasm what it is.

    Still, it's Valve, so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt, but being trapped in one more walled garden not only with software but hardware is not the direction I like the industry to move.

  5. Re:What I'd like to see... by Curupira · · Score: 5, Informative

    Chances are someone will mix up a Steamuntu, even if its not officially supported by Valve but gets all the official Ubuntu updates.

    Yeah, someone already did just that :)