Valve big cheese Gabe Newell hinted at a Steam box reveal next week during his keynote address at LinuxCon.
There’s been a lot of talk over the past year or so about the “Steam box,” a sort of PC-console hybrid that promises to bring all the pleasures of Steam to the comfort of your recliner. Of course, in fine Valve form, most of that talk has been denials of rumors; one of the few things Valve has actually confirmed (sort of) is that it will be a Linux-powered machine.
It’s no secret that Newell doesn’t care for Windows 8 and today he reiterated his belief in and support for Linux as a gaming platform, saying during his keynote at LinuxCon that “Linux and open source are the future of gaming.” That’s a bold statement to say the least and one I’m not sure I buy, but his prognosticative talents notwithstanding, he also promised that Valve’s contribution on that front will see the light of day very soon.
“Next week we’re going to be rolling out more information about how we get there and what are the hardware opportunities we see for bringing Linux into the living room,” he said.
That’s not exactly a pronouncement carved in stone, but given what we already know, is there any way that “hardware” plus “Linux” plus “living room” adds up to anything but Steam box? I don’t think so. And while it won’t necessarily be a flashy, E3 press event-style reveal, at this point even just a look at the specs of the thing is welcome – and long overdue.
Source: Ars Technica
